Specter's 'card check' stance explained?

The die-hard Republican right-wingers here in PA have never liked Specter but they have found him to be a useful idiot up until now. But he's lost the middle of the state with this one, too, not just his old support base in Philly. It's pretty much guaranteed that Specter won't get cross-over voter support in the primary now, union backing or not, and that means he's doomed.

Specter will never even make it to the general, and that means his seat will be in Democratic hands in 2010.

The rust belt states like Ohio, Pa and Michigan etc are not going to be voting Republican for a VERY long time, the Repubs have gone over board when it comes to union bashing and they've alienated virtually everyone up here.

Specter spurned the Democrats, and the Republicans don't want him back. His only chance of winning as an independent depended on pulling off labor support as a base, and he pissed that hope away yesterday, when he pissed on workers' rights. Arlen Specter may be running for reelection, but he's a dead man running.

Specter's senate seat will be going to the Democrats in 2010.

To be opposed to the "so-called" Employee "Free Choice" Act is to uphold employees' free choice to vote for or against a union. A SECRET ballot is essential to FREE CHOICE. This title of this Act is just a sneaky way for a union to have an advantage by taking away the right of individual employees to have their choice unknown to the union organizers. If only 30 percent of employees' signatures (not 50 percent) are required for an election, as is the case now, the opportunity and necessity for coercion of individuals by organizers to sign is greatly reduced.

Specter has stradled the fence one too many times.

At one point in time I had a great deal of respect for his thoughfulnes on many issues but that has quickly eroded.

He has become just one more political hack that votes according to "political correctness" instead of a Constitutional basis.

He's been there for 30 years - it is time PA had new representation.

Republicans are not true Americans. Not anymore. They care more about their party coming back into power than they do about the average ordinary American - Just ask their leader, Boss Limbaugh. Their decrepit ideology seems to be one of turning the entire middle class into $10-an-hour slaves to the tiny wealthy class. They do not believe in the precepts of "Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness." Except for the chosen few, whom they defend to the death. Massive losses are being felt in the tech industry, the auto industry and pretty much any job base that sustained a middle-class living, or at least the illusion of one. Now, millions of people find their skills devalued to the point where $10 hr. jobs are a very realistic future. It's the New Feudalism. And Obama can't do much about it in the short term. It is prece\isely what he wants to address with his budget plan to get the economy going again. Of course the Republicans objected! They literally want everyone - EVERYONE - to fail except their banking and brokerage buddies.

I thought Santorum was the "useful idiot" Repcan from PA.

Anyway, one thing fascinating about Arlen is: he has exactly the same midwestern accent as Bob Dole.

Because they both grew up in Russell, Kansas.

I don't know why he doesn't want to retire & enjoy life a little.

Specter is toast.

Even a repeat of Gov. "Eddie" Rendell's version of "Operation Chaos" isn't going to save Specter sorry ass this time around.

Unions seem to take absolutely no blame for the demise of the US auto industry. Instead, they counter with the necessity for the open union ballot. I used to love reading on the swamp the dems attacks against republicans who dared defy the automotive manufacturers during the first handout; then the second handout; not so much now as they prepare for the third handout. These jobs are not as difficult nor specialized as they would like you to believe. Unions cannot compete in a global marketplace. This isn't your grandfather's economy.

You can always count on the ridiculous Republicans to lie, when it comes to the unions. That is all they offer the worker !! The EFCA is to take the elections out of the control of the owner/management tag team at a given factory, so they can't threaten to fire the workers, that want to unionize. I know, I was part of a factory situation, where we voted in a union, in spite of the lies and threats of management and the owners !! Unions give workers the stature to deal with owners/managers, not to be the owner/managers slaves and pay the worker, any wage they want to pay them !! For the last 40 years, the Republicans have tried to bust organized labor and they continue to fail, because everyone knows, it is a great idea, for the workers and for America !!
SUPPORT OUR TROOPS, BRING THEM HOME, ALIVE AND WHOLE. NOW.

Memo to RHINO Specter RETIRE and move to Florida.

VJ Machiavelli
http://www.vjmachiavelli.blogspot.com
NO MORE SCHUMER
NO MORE PELOSI
NO MORE RANGEL
NO MORE ENGEL AN HIS MILLION DOLLAR HOME IN MARYLAND.

Unions cannot compete in a global marketplace. This isn't your grandfather's economy.

Posted by: ObamabotsACTIVATE | March 25, 2009 9:39 PM

You're right. We need to work tirelessly to ensure that American workers make no more than the lowest paid people in this world. We need to get the American blue collar worker making third world wages. That will make America great. Think of the profits to be had when autoworkers are making so little. The CEO's will be fabulously wealthy, and that's all that really matters. So what if American workers won't be able to buy cars? That's their grandfathers economy. This is the new american dream: Give up on any hope of doing better than before, embrace making far less (Unless you are upper management) We don't need a middle class, we need cheap impoverished workers and a coddled upper class living in luxury, nothing more.

Specter is a blight on the Senate, along with every other Constitution-trashing liberal there. I hope he gets primaried.

Voters approve 52 - 33 percent of the job Specter is doing, with a 71 - 16 percent positive score from Democrats... ~ F.J.
-------------------------------

This poll confirms what we die-hard repugnant ridiculous untrue American Republican right wingers already know. The guy is a big RINO, far more popular and consistently aligned with the leftists then his alleged own party. Therefore, if he is taken out, what is it that we die-hard repugnant ridiculous untrue American Republicans will have lost. Like Lincoln Chafee, he will not be particularly missed. If Susan Collins, Olympia Snowe, and Voinovich were to join him, no real great loss will be accrued there either. PA, ME, and OH needs Real democrats so that their economies can become the venerated industrial models that MI and RI already are. And get those taxes on up there too, to look more like MA and NY. democrats know how to get that done. The big city mayors can surely be counted on to do their part. Philly-Town has already sprung into action.

It is troubling to be in disagreement, at least philosophically, with the greatest of all American Presidents, but If this were a marriage, TX and OK, a few others, should be seriously thinking divorce ~ Dereliction of Financial Responsibility. A good Philly lawyer could sort all of that out.

It is troubling to be in disagreement, at least philosophically, with the greatest of all American Presidents, but If this were a marriage, TX and OK, a few others, should be seriously thinking divorce ~ Dereliction of Financial Responsibility. A good Philly lawyer could sort all of that out.

Posted by: Django - N Exile somewhere in/around the 30th Parallel | March 26, 2009 10:01 AM

Let them go. They'd become impoverished third world tin pot dictatorships in no time at all..Chuck Norris, Presidente for Life!

third world: we reap what we sow.

In a global market, which you or I, no matter how much we try to isolate the US cannot prevent, it is education and innovation which will provide financial reward. It is not assembly-line manufacturing jobs. These will be filled by those with lower education and a lower standard of living. Not even the UAW can protect you then. Witness the calamity that is the US auto industry. Ultimately, as those standards of living are raised in other countries, some equilibrium will be restored as those workers raise their expectations.

LABOR COSTS PER HOUR, wages and benefits for hourly workers, 2006, Forbes.

Ford: $70.51 ($141,020 per year)

GM: $73.26 ($146,520 per year)

Chrysler: $75.86 ($151,720 per year)

Toyota, Honda, Nissan (in U.S.): $48.00 ($96,000 per year)

According to AAUP and IES, the average annual compensation for a college professor in 2006 was $92,973 (average salary nationally of $73,207 + 27% benefits).

Bottom Line: The average UAW worker with a high school degree earns 57.6% more compensation than the average university professor with a Ph.D. (see graph above, click to enlarge), and 52.6% more than the average worker at Toyota, Honda or Nissan.

Many industry analysts say the Detroit Three, and especially Ford, must be on par with Toyota and Honda to survive. This year's contract, they say, must be "transformational" in reducing pension and health care costs.

What would "transformational" mean? One way to think about: "transformational" would mean that UAW workers, most with a high school degree, would have to accept compensation equal to that of the average university professor with a Ph.D.

- from Carpe Diem, Mark Perry, Professor, U of M, Econ/Finance

Lou,

I respectfully and totally disagree.

For one thing, we do have a real product or two that someone outside of the Blue States of America would very much want to have a trade agreement for. Second, we do not view our politicians as celebritees, for whom we would be willing to bend over and do anything that may occur to them in and out of a dream.

We love Willie and his acoustic guitar with the big ole hole in it. We don’t want Willie to be in charge of nuthin’. We tend to think too that individuals are capable of making many of their own personal decisions. Most people do not need to be micro-managed.

Taxes are a necessary cost of government, but food, housing, transportation are necessary also. You can’t make essentially nothing worth nothing, provide everyone with free stuff, and continue to raise income, property, sales, and FICA taxes on the rich AND the middle class to pay for all of the free booty, until the cumulative tax load in excess of 100%.

We are all for education but the homeowner cannot assign every incremental $ to the public school system. We are for alternative forms of energy, but when there is no wind, there will be no electricity. Electric cars with a range of 45 miles and a re-charge time of 6 hours in a 24 hour day, and in a county the size of Harris County have a few serious details to be worked out. We are not that anxious to push an entire Economy over the edge due to a climatic temperature increase of 0.4 C and +280 ppm CO2, based on not really Physical Geological Science but Political Movement Science.

The French, Nigerians, Iranians, Palestinians, etc. all have the legitimate right to exist, but so does Texans, Okies, and even the fine people of the Commonwealth of Taxachusetts, and the Land of Lincoln. No one needs to apologize for any of that. We don’t. Chuck does not go around offering apologies for his very shadow. We like that a lot.

Sweden is a modern country, industrialized to some degree, and has a very skilled work-force, but have you ever observed Swedish subjects of the Sweden welfare state dance with each other? Those over 40 are the abject picture of misery. Many Texans, of German and Polish ancestry, got some stupid looking dancing traditions, but miserable, they are not. I think that we could get by without ANY of the Blue states much better than the Blue states could get by without us. Whatever. I have 7 words for Rick Perry, the non-celebritee governor of Tx, ~ Naphthenic Lube Oil, $5500 per quart, American. Let the Blue States pay to trade as they Socialize each other into oblivion. Have a nice day in your part of America N Transition.

Posted by: ObamabotsACTIVATE | March 26, 2009 3:16 PM

Interesting that you choose to show 2006 numbers. The 2007 UAW contracts gave huge concessions on pay and benefits.

Also interesting to note is that the figures above are misleading as noted. The Labor cost per employees noted includes the cost for retiree pensions and healtcare. Having been operating in the US for many more years than the japanese companies, the US automakers have much higher retiree costs. The reality is that , even in 2006, the average Toyota worker actually got paid MORE than average UAW member.

http://www.wzzm13.com/news/news_article.aspx?storyid=69568

Other interesting facts that the right wing anti-worker schills never mention:

in 2007

Ford CEO pay : $21.67 Million

GM CEO pay :$15.7 million

Chrysler CEO pay: $ 9.6 Million

Toyota CEO pay $903,000

Honda top 26 executives pay (total) $8.27 million

Nissan top 9 executives pay (total) $21 million

So who's greedy again? Who needs "transformational change"?

Don't listen to the lies. Don't believe the propaganda. The UAW worker isn't the problem.

Go for it Django. Mexico needs to get back it's northern provinces. They'll overrun you guys in a week . Generalissimo Norris won't have a chance. Don't come crying to us when they do. We'll all be laughing too hard to help out you treasonous losers. Can you please take Rush Limbaugh with you when you go? He'd make a great Minister of Propaganda for the Norris Regime.

Well, Lou, I am very fond of the Pretty Latinas as you may or may not know. So, I would surely be making the most of that arrangement. I would show the fellas some neat jazz chords. They would probably show me some complex rhythms. Its all good.

We are not much into kings, faux messiahs, and the like. I really don't think Chuck is either. If Willie were in charge, the pot heads would be the invading entities. No Messiah to genuflect to, but yeah, the welcome mat would be out for Rush, Hannity, Beck, Levin, Ann, Laura, and my personal favorite, George Will. The Socialists could come too and would, in all likelihood, be treated very graciously. Please, though, for the love of all things honorable and decent, Don't Stay.

Treason is a Jimmy Carter kind of thing. Let's not call it that. democrats are good at mis-naming things. We will sugar-coat that term and call it something else. Gotta get out of here today, but I'll think of something slick. Hopefully though, we could just part in peace.

Blue States, drop those RINOs. Get yourself some Real Leftists. Naphthenic Lube Oils - $6500 per quart, American. Its all good. Have a nice day in Transitional America.

Union: Interesting to note that you display base pay numbers sans benefits, OT, etc.. for hourly employees but provide total compensation numbers, including free falling stock values, for execs. "Huge concessions" at Ford on the part of the UAW included retaining hourly wages in 2008, as Ford lost $14.67 B in '07, it's third consecutive year of losses.

I do not think CEO's should be rewarded for failure, any more than I think that liberal Matt Damon should collect $24M annually for pretending to be someone else or Terrel Owens $7M to catch passes and whine to the media. My point is that the world economy has evolved and the education and skills of the American worker have not kept pace, yet we demand the same (or improved) standard of living. It's not sustainable. No union will protect that floor when the bottom falls out.

Finally, a U of M Professor of Economics a schill (sic) for the Republican party? Really?

OA, I see your point. So I assume you have demanded that your pay be cut so that your employer is more competitive on the world market, right? I assume you have gone into your bosses office and told him/her that you want less healthcare coverage so that your company can do better? How much have you willingly sacrificed of your standard of living? The UAW has made sacrifices. What have you given up, friend? I'd be willing to bet nothing at all. No, not you, you're special, not like those lowly workers. The american dream isn't for them. It's just for guys like you, right?

Never mind that the Toyota workers actually make MORE, even when benefits are taken into account, as the article shows. Nope, it must all be the union workers fault. Those greedy greedy union workers! That's why the US auto companies are failing. All the unions fault, never, ever the special management guys like you. You deserve everything you get, You're not greedy, just those union guys are.

Talk to me again after you have demanded that pay cut.