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Beck and McKinnon agree: SEIU wants to "drag the standard of living down"

November 17, 2009 6:46 pm ET

From the November 17 edition of Fox News' Glenn Beck:

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    • Author by worrierking (November 17, 2009 6:54 pm ET)
      5  
      So a labor organization's main objective is to drag the standard of living down?

      Damn, I worked as a union official for most of my working years, in addition to working my full time union job. I worked my ass off to raise the standard of living for everyone. When I negotiated raises or increased benefits, all of the non-unioon shops also raised their salaries and benefits.

      But I guess it's the opposite now. I mean, this nitwit wouldn't intentionally lie or twist the facts around would he?
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      • Author by jjamele2880 (November 17, 2009 7:17 pm ET)
        4  
        Coming next: "The Sun's main objective is to make you cold."
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        • Author by Civic Racecar (November 18, 2009 2:09 am ET)
          1  
          You have to admire that Beck can craft such an argument with a straight face. I'm not sure if I understood it because it was so asinine, but here goes, "The unions raise the cost of the product to a point where we can't sell it abroad and that is going to cause businesses in the US to scale back the standard of living for workers in the US. So we should get rid of the unions and allow the corporations to decrease wages and reduce the cost of living for workers in the US." All I have to say is, wow. I'm not sure if anyone else picked up on that. I'm an educated person, but even I had to listen to it a few times just to confirm what I actually heard.

          On to your comment, "The Sun's main objective is to make you cold." I think a more Beckish comment would follow the lines of: "The Sun's main objective is to make you cold. So what we should do is just get rid of the sun because then the Sun can't make us cold anymore."
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      • Author by blueline99 (November 18, 2009 11:16 am ET)
           
        Beck means, drag the standard of living down for the top 2% of this country.
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    • Author by drempala (November 17, 2009 6:56 pm ET)
      4  
      Nothing punctuates a plea for the little man like an advertisement for gold by G. Gordon Liddy.
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    • Author by epkklk851 (November 17, 2009 6:59 pm ET)
      5 1
      Historically, labor unions have always raised the standard of living for the average worker. They made the American Dream possible. But, Glenn is right, they would like to see the standard of living of the ultra-rich like him. Really, no one needs to make $23 million a year for talking and writing stupid books. And I know that he is small potatoes compared to his master, Ruprick. If the ultra-rich had less, there would be more for the rest of us. And no, this isn't wealth distribution. Explain to me what is so great about a system that allows some to be so obscenely wealthy and others to live in cars and starve on the streets.
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      • Author by The_Cat (November 17, 2009 7:07 pm ET)
        3 1
        Some troll on another thread suggested the minimum wage was actually bad for the lowest tier of workers. I said fine, let's do away with the minimum wage, and instead we'll have a maximum wage. I think $1 million a year is plenty enough for anyone, and anything after that would be taxed at 100%. They never really replied to that. Of course, it would permanently closing all the special 'rich only need apply' loopholes in the tax code, but, that could easily be done.
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        • Author by epkklk851 (November 17, 2009 7:15 pm ET)
          2  
          Yes, when I took Econ last year, I had a professor younger than myself. He was a student of Supply Side Economics. He really, really worshipped Reagan. He was opposed to minimum wages and most other regulation, because it interferred with free market. I kept pestering him with questions about a collapsing economy. He ignored me. I haven't had the guts to write back and see what he had to say about the mess that happened in last September, I finished his class in June of 2008 with an A.
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          • Author by ifthethunderdontgetya™³²®© (November 17, 2009 7:57 pm ET)
            3  
            That's the Chicago School for you.

            They look at the disaster their policies have resulted in, and recommend more of the same.
            ~
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            • Author by christopher howard (November 17, 2009 8:05 pm ET)
              2  
              Sort of ironic that, for all the right's fulminating against Chicago, the foundations of their economic ideology hails from the Chicago School.
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    • Author by The_Cat (November 17, 2009 7:10 pm ET)
      2  
      So, hang on a minute, Glenn. You're arguing that union leaders have been busily shipping manufacturing jobs to China, India, Mexico and beyond to destroy the middle class?

      You're just that ignorant of what the wealthy execs have been doing, or you're following the 'distract them at all costs while we rob them blind' talking points of those who hold your leash, right? Right. Very very very far right.
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      • Author by snoopy (November 17, 2009 8:03 pm ET)
        2  
        Your statement reminds me of an argument forwarded during the late 60's and early 70's I ran across. The claim was that Britain raised the taxes on the wealthy which justified them moving production to other countries. It has been forwarded for years now that the elite use guises like the aformentioned claim to march manufacturing around the globe 1000 times over as a method to continually improve the economic base of the world as a whole. For it to work one must accept as fact that the country manufacturing leaves deteriorates at a much slower rate than the country manufacturing enters improves, thus creating some net positive overall.

        I've never seen it actually demonstrated as a successful model. I have long since forgotten what kind of political philosophy that argument was based on.
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    • Author by shaggles (November 18, 2009 12:03 pm ET)
         
      Yeah. That's always been the goal of unions. <rolleyes>
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    • Author by dregre (November 19, 2009 9:03 am ET)
         
      His point is that these people are more concerned with bringing the standard of living down for the upper class. That we should somehow match a global standard of living. As to all the comments about about people making to much money, really. Do you really think if that rich person makes less you will somehow make more? That logic makes no sense. It assumes that there is a set amount of wealth to be made and that the rich are hogging it from the rest of us. So your thinking is that if they make less then that money would be distributed out to the rest. The rich typically employ people so this could cost jobs. Alot of first generation rich worked thier tails off to earn that money, why do they owe it to you. At some point people are going to have to realize life isn't fair and not everyone can live lavish. Instead of sitting back in envy, assuming someone owes you something, how about looking at the success stories as a model for your own. As to why jobs are shipped over seas thats pretty straight forward; Cost of labor and government regulation. Cost of labor is directly tied to minimum wage and unions. Did the assembly line workers with no college degree really deserve all the money and benefits they received? Unions used to be a good thing but now they are all about forcing companies into doing things beyond whats right. Government Regulation is the other issue. Companies can move overseas and not have to deal with all the hasles and red tape. But yet you people want programs like cap and trade. That will drive a lot more jobs to countries who don't have this BS regulation.
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