pafret Loc: Northeast

Some economic indicators are better, some international tensions are being ameliorated and if Trump sticks to his goals, our troops my not be fighting incessant wars soon. Real attempts have been made to clean up Obama's immigration mess (also Clinton/Bush) as well as the disastrous effects of the Kennedy legislation. Anyone with a half-brain knew the NAFTA treaty was painfully obvious as to what was going to be the effect on our industrial base and this imbalance must be addressed. Each of these is being accomplished or attempted under Trump but under Obama all we got was jive talk about hope and change. A leader at the very least, has to recognize that we have a problem before it can be resolved. Obama was forever being surprised by articles in the New York Times which was his source of information and guidance according to him.

Lonewolf

We can't vote ourselves out of this!

straightUp Loc: California

Dave... it's good to see that you can step away from party allegiance and make an independent assessment on the issue. I agree... as a rule, I am also against forced arbitration. This isn't about ideology this is about justice. Arbitration can be a good way to resolve minor issues, in fact I advocate as much arbitration as possible, just like I advocate a knock on your neighbors door to let them know they're being loud BEFORE calling the police. But forced arbitration is a different thing, especially when companies are violating labor laws - in those cases, I think every citizen and every tax payer should have access to the justice system provided by our republic. Blocking citizens from that justice is in my opinion a crime against workers and their families.

straightUp Loc: California

Excellent point... and if the the state is totalitarian, I would totally agree with you, but if the state is highly democratic then representation would be one huge difference because unlike a state that can range from free democracy to forced dictatorship, a corporation has no such variation, it is always totalitarian. We just don't normally think of it that way because corporations don't have the authority to kill or imprison people, but that doesn't mean a state won't do these things on their behalf.

straightUp Loc: California

This has nothing to do with Obama or his regulations. The court decision AND the legislative refusal to act has "corrected" a law that was established in 1935 to protect American workers from abuse. I suggest you try reading up a little on this issue. You might surprise yourself. The National Labor Relations Act of 1935 gave Americans the right to collectively arbitrate, a major factor in what made the United States a relatively safe and fair place to work. Before 1934 American workers weren't any better off than workers in third world countries. This is currently being undone while your busy brown nosing.

So, if you want to bury your head in the sand of emotional hangups that's your prerogative. We just won't count on you to help us save the American workers and their families.


When someone is willing to ignore the attacks on the working family for the sake of brown nosing the authorities, a statement like this rings pretty hollow.

straightUp Loc: California

Actually, we can. :)

The 5-4 decision on this issue could have gone either way... Gorsuch himself said it was a weak decision where they decided to err on the side of NOT legislating from the bench, though given the weight of the issue I would call this a cop-out. But the point is, Congress can fix this. If in 5 months people can elect enough representatives that are willing to stand up for the American worker, we can push for them to pass a law to prohibit forced arbitration or at least allow for collective bargaining. In her dissenting opinion, Ruth Bader Ginsburg said as much. Congress needs to act.

To those conservative loyalists out there, I'm not even suggesting that you have to vote against your party. Trump failed to get Congress to repeal the ACA because there were Republicans that dissented. I remember a large number of Republican governors in particular expressing concern about repealing that law because of the potential consequences to the working classes in their respective states. Obviously, *some* Republicans DO have an allegiance to the American people. So if you HAVE to vote Republican, please seek out THOSE candidates.

I think by the time November rolls along, forced arbitration will become a talking point... at least for the candidates trying to represent the workers. Between now and then, we will most likely see a constant stream of reports about workers getting screwed and not being allowed to appeal to the courts. Chipotle has already made the headlines as they asked a court to exclude 2,814 workers from a massive wage theft lawsuit because they signed mandatory arbitration agreements.

The choice is ours, we can choose to support Trump and his bullshit or we can choose to support the American worker.

Lonewolf

Agree let's see what we can do

old marine Loc: America home of the brave

Agreed.

Floyd Brown Loc: Milwaukee WI

We hear about trade imbalances but are quick to leave out the effort behind them to help American businesses to set up in foreign countries.
While letting them keep their profits over seas untaxed.

straightUp Loc: California

Holy crap! He has goals? Can you PLEASE explain what they are? ...because hundreds of sovereign leaders and millions of people all across the country and around the world are scratching their heads trying to figure that one out. It seems like Trump's presidency has become a great big guessing game, not even his own staff seems to have a clue and if there's one phrase Trump has repeated enough times to own, it's this one... "We'll see what happens."

To be honest, I don't think Trump HAS any goals... At least not worth sharing with the American people. I mean he's got his slogans like "Make America Great Again" which is great emotional fodder for campaign rallies, but actual goals are more specific requiring specific strategies. So can you tell me specifically what goals and strategies Trump has introduced to make the incessant wars go away?


How exactly are they cleaning it up? Deportations have dropped since Trump took office while arrests have increased. That's not a sign that things are getting cleaner, if anything it's a sign that things are getting more messed up. Then there's the question surrounding childhood arrivals... Obama, who understood the law enforcement role of the Executive Branch, had asked Congress to pass a law on the matter. I don't see Trump pushing that at all. He seems to think immigration can be handled entirely through his own executive policies, but we aren't supposed to be a dictatorship, we're supposed to be a republic. So now we have sanctuary governments refusing to cooperate with the Trump Administration... That's a mess that never happened under Obama. Immigration is ten times the mess it was before Trump turned it into a holocaust where children are being ripped away from their parents and and in many cases lost. As of now, 1500 children are unaccounted for. So, you can say real attempt have been made if you want, but the results indicate all those attempts have failed.


Is this what you were saying when Bush I was drawing up the plans for NAFTA, or is this just yet another Trumpy Tweet that you're subscribing to? Anyone "with half a brain" should know that NAFTA was an effort to promote free-trade ...as in, "reducing government control". Anyone "with half a brain" should also know that any "imbalance" is more a result of economic conditions over the long term than any provision in the treaty itself. Things change pafret... Free-trade was the holy grail of Reagan-conservative politics because it gives a clear advantage to highest bidder and back in the
Reagan-Bush days the highest bidder was almost always American. But that's changed. NAFTA hasn't changed at all, but the economy has, now it appears that Mexican and Canadian parties are placing higher bids so free-trade all of a sudden doesn't seem like such a good idea... to Americans.


Obviously, you weren't paying attention.


Are you incapable of objective reasoning pafret? I ask because all your statements are based on vague comparisons with questionable opinions about Obama. Newsflash: Obama isn't the president anymore. Any assessment of a presidents performance should be based on the problems at hand, the solutions the president provides or supports and the effect of these solutions. A lot of the problems change over time so each president is dealing with a different set of problems, making comparisons like your's kind of stupid (no offense). Trump does the same thing... He can't seem to get through a single rally without comparing himself to his own impression of Obama. Obama was dealing with a different set of problems, such as the economic disaster that Bush left him with... And now that Obama fixed that, Trump doesn't have to worry about it - in fact he's been taking bows for the residual effects of Obama's incredibly effective economic policies.

In summary, your attempt to distract the conversation from forced arbitration is based on vague, generalizations and symbolism. There is no truth or fact in any of it. Meanwhile, the fact that Trump has endorsed the effort to block citizens from the justice system is still the topic of discussion here, so why not learn a little bit about the issue and leave the circus to main stream media?

Voice of Reason Loc: Earth

Just curious, while you're tying your panties in a knot over employees (who are fired for not doing the job they're paid to do) being unable to sue their (former) employers, do you still support the right of all employees to pay confiscatory union dues, whether they want to or not?

Floyd Brown Loc: Milwaukee WI

Well I worked in union shops & in non union jobs.
For the most part of my life I was self employed.

I never regretted paying union dues.

I will say this to you.
If you are happy where you are at be thankful.

Enjoy the day.

Voice of Reason Loc: Earth

I only worked one job for a few years that was unionized. Joining the union was mandatory for the job. The union negotiated to their benefit, not the members', and prevented management from firing bad employees who deserved it. Not much else.

When it comes to labor disputes, like most things, I try to see the issues from both sides. Kinda like divorce. There's two sides to every divorce, yours and shithead's.

More often than not, most employers are fairly generous when it comes to salary and benefits, and as President Trump has proven, would be even more so were it not for expenses due to government though both taxation and regulation. Unions had a time and a place, as did steam locomotives. Both are anachronistic now.




Trust me on this. I am. Very much so.



Thanks. You, too.

pafret Loc: Northeast

Surely you jest. His list of goals was the foundation of his candidacy and I for one am tracking to see if any are abandoned. You may be confused by the execution and some of his goals just may never be attained but at least they are enumerated and publicly stated, and he has shown great fidelity in satisfying the promises he made. Obama promised nothing and essentially destroyed our healthcare system while at the same time enacting onerous laws which forced small business people to convert their full time positions with benefits to part time positions, with none.

Floyd Brown Loc: Milwaukee WI

I take it you never had a job where a person with a stop watch & a clip board followed you around.

Where if you had a couple hundreds of second not doing some thing they would retime jobs & give you more to do.
Well I was on a job they had retimed & added a lot for me to do.
I was on that job because the man who had the job before wasn't on it any more .
While the department boss was chiding me for not giving an honest effort I saw the person whos job it was setting & doing nothing.
I said get the man whos job this is back I want a pass to go home.

After that I was put on job after job that had been mistimed

I had nightmares of that line running with not much time even to take a deep breath.

Working on all those different jobs made it clear to me that any job can be broken in to pieces & I could do it.

Sorry that I got a bit carried away there.

There are jobs today that nobody real wants. but need the work, Ending up with a wore out body.
Having to meet the increase in production to keep the profits flowing.

Well I was a good worker & set6 out on my own. I did what I wanted & charged what I though was fair.

The better the deal I gave them the more they asked of me.
I never lacked for work. I was fine until my body wore down & they stopped calling.
I helped them fill their pockets but the moment I slowed down a little they stopped calling..
I lasted until I was 78.

In life there is those that give & those that take. It is all clear at the end of the day who is who.

At the end it was how much they did for me, with out a take you for all i done.

The other day one of them call me & felt I should have called & thanked him for all he did for me. Ha!