Unions

        Right, so this is a fairly heated topic. I am going to try to make sure that no one gets too offended. I won't lie, my general view is that unions are bad for America. They served their purpose long ago, and now they simply are not needed. Here is why.
        Unions were created at a time when workers were constantly being abused, people had almost no power, and the minimum wage was nothing more than a pipe dream. It was a time of absolute, unadulterated, runaway capitalism. Hours were long and conditions were terrible. Companies abused the poor, and the poor had absolutely no power whatsoever. And because they were so poor, they depended on these jobs. Many were indebted to these companies, and as a result they were forced to deal with all sorts of abuse. Then workers got the idea to join together and stand up to the companies -- and it worked well. Instead of it being an entire company against the individual, it was the company against an entire organization of workers who, together, had much more power than all the executives combined. By use of several tactics, chiefly strikes, these early unions were able to persuade the companies to treat workers better and improve working conditions. This created a balance of power which helped to make America the industrial power house that it once was. But over time, as happens, these unions became corrupt. A whole hierarchy was created, and the power-elite grabbed control of them. This brings me to the modern day.
        Now labor unions are acting much like the early industrial companies were acting. They are using coercion to keep people from leaving, and they are making it very difficult to survive outside of them. Unions are to blame for a variety of problems in today's society. One of the big ones is outsourcing -- jobs are going overseas because labor unions are demanding too much. The companies simply can't justify keeping those jobs here when there is such a large and willing work force elsewhere. And the problem is even more prevalent with small businesses. Small businesses can't handle unions because they have limited budgets and can't afford to pay all the demands made by the unions. That is the fundamental issue -- either unions demand so much that a company has to close its doors, or the profit motive takes over and jobs are shipped elsewhere. And the final issue is this: unions have too much power in government. Obama is in bed with numerous unions and organizations of unions -- the AFL-CIO, the ACLU, and the SEIU, just to name a few. And you don't need to take my word for it; at a town hall in Iowa, Obama was quoted as saying "I'm a pro-union guy." That says it all, doesn't it?

Link to town hall video