Editorial cartoonist Stuart Carlson has the unique ability to look at current events and bring them from that far away place where news is made and into the homes and daily lives of his readers. His material not only targets politicians and recognizable media figures, but it also covers topics that hold up a mirror to everyday Americans and sends them into action, wanting to take on the issues in their own lives.
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Comments (47) (Please sign in to comment)
PianoGuy24
said, 5 months ago
Right, let the unions allow their workers to sell their souls to earn a few extra bucks so that their dues will go straight towards funding democrat campain funds.
capndunzzl said, 5 months ago
…the new monopoly money is being printed.
mickey1339
said, 5 months ago
For my purposes this toon is accurate in the disparity between
CEO’s and almost anyone else in a company. To my knowledge unions have suffered downsizing type unemployment but rarely wage decreases. Obviously there are a few exceptions. Unstated is the stagnation of wage growth (not applicable to unions) in the working classes in general in the last 30 years. The private sector unions are currently 7% and declining and the municipal unions are under pressure because there are so many states and cities that are almost bankrupt trying to fund benefits and pensions. FDR, as big a supporter of unions as he was, said he thought unionization of the public sector was a bad idea.
We have embraced cheaper products from 3rd world countries and it has pretty well denigrated the manufacturing sector of our economy (now 9% and shrinking). The wage disparity alone has made it almost impossible for American manufacturers to compete. We don’t even have the infrastructure any longer to significantly increase manufacturing capacity. I also think this has a lot to do with the wage pressure on the middle class.
IMO trying to legislate these changes (CEO’s salaries) is a huge mistake. If you don’t like a companies compensation policies, quit buying their products.Boycotts work wonders on Board of Directors management compensation decisions. Obviously we have lots of complex problems facing the country, I just hope Washington can put our interests ahead of their politics.
I Play One On TV said, 5 months ago
@mickey1339
Well put. One can easily find abuses both by management/ownership and by union members/management. And they both have their value, as well. But abuses always come back to money and power, familiar themes that end similarly eventually.
Bill Ewing
said, 5 months ago
Having unions, or any entity, demanding membership before one can get a job is evil.
It should be up to the individual job seeker and his desire to pay ‘dues’ which are going to fund things that the worker doesn’t believe in, be it politics or the looting union heirarchy.
Most responsible companies pay a wage that is cominsurate with the job to be done from the burger flipper to the corporate officers.
Henry Ford was just that sort of responsible manager/owner in that he paid high wages to keep crooked unions out of his plants, wages that were much above so called union shops.
His son, Edsel Ford, the first Ford failure, was too weak to stand up to the unions as his father had. He was intimidated, through in plant thuggery, into accepting unions in tha late 1930s. Because of this, Ford workers’ take home wages went down because of the union ‘dues’ they were forced to pay.
Corporate entities don’t have clean skirts by any means. But Union intimidation is beyond the pale especially when their thuggery doesn’t fatten the wallets of the workers, just those of the union bosses’.
Respectful Troll said, 5 months ago
@mickey1339
Another well stated comment Mickey!
I’ve nothing to add, except to Bill Ewing’s comment about forcing union membership being evil. While I agree with his statement about Edsel Ford and his relationship with unions of his day, modern unions need resources in order to maintain the gains in safety, pay, quality, and retirement that has taken over a century to acquire.
Respectfully,
C.
Ms. Ima said, 5 months ago
In a right to work state we have 5.5% unemployment and unions thrive. People have the CHOICE to join or not or pay dues or not. Unlike the ‘NO RIGHT TO WORK’ states.
Michyle Glen said, 5 months ago
One thing the CEO’s forget is that the American Workforce is getting older and whats coming into the workforce is not interested in working in a factory (or for that matter working). China is demanding higher wages and the cost of Transportation is growing. Apple is talking about returning to the US and other companies are getting tired of paying bribes. Soon enough the American worker will become a rare and valued item.
meetinthemiddle said, 5 months ago
@mickey1339
I agree with a lot of what you say, except for the “boycotts work wonders on Board of Directors”… BOD are among the most in-bred, back-scratching, incentive perverting systems in existence. They further unhook the correlation between executive compensation and performance, letting executive pay skyrocket in all circumstances while letting the society around it implode.
Corporations like HSBC, BP, etc pay fines amounting to a few percent of their criminal activities but none of the executives responsible even have any of their bonuses clawed back, much less go to jail. Corporations aren’t people because they can’t go to jail, but they shouldn’t be able to shield the real people in them from doing so.
Conservatives tend to think, rather tautologically, that if someone’s a wealthy CEO that they must be virtuous for having gotten there – that wealth makes virtue (except for a Kennedy). Anyone who worked in a .com in the .com era knows that, at best, it’s uncorrelated.
thegreatack said, 5 months ago
Keep in mind that unions DO keep people OFF the welfare rolls by providing decent wages and medical benefits. 8% of the American workforce are working poor. That will rise in the RtW states and the state tax burdens will GROW in those states.
Dycel
said, 5 months ago
@HOWGOZIT
Because howzit without unions they would not have gotten the wages and benefits they have/had.
The fact that the disaster capitalist’s aka Bain types milked Hostess to death, it isn’t the fault of the union.
But then your on a bus circling the faux noise black hole how would you know the difference!
Justice22 said, 5 months ago
Look at the salaries of CEOs compared to working people’s over the past many years. Actually EOs. In the past 15 years, the executive “Pay” increased by 400% to 600% compared to no increase for the workers. This "right to work "can only broaden the gap.
Justice22 said, 5 months ago
@HOWGOZIT
How about the millions given to the Hostess execs after Hostess’s decision to close?
J Ellis said, 5 months ago
@Justice22
And lets not forget that many of the benefits we all enjoy, like the 5 day work week came form unionism. If a worker does not choose to join the union, should that worker get any of the union beneifts of salary and reasonable job protection. If we are in a race to the bottom, Michigan is leading the way!
ahab
said, 5 months ago
@Justice22
He probably feels the executives deserve the millions because they are job creators. Oops!