People who don't understand how the wealthiest control the government are the same people who scapegoat unions. I'm not surprised, but the crooks who ruined the mortgages for millions haven't been convicted and most work in Washington Dc currently. Unions, huh? Don't think so--you need to investigate deeper.

Those evil unions, fighting against the powerless and fragile multi-national corporations and the lap-dog governments that serve them (communist, capitalist, same masters, the uber-wealthy.) Maybe if we got rid of them there'd be more money for the elite, where it was intended by our fore-fathers in the bill of rights and the constitution and god. (Yeah jerkface, that's a lower case g.) And rivers would run with chocolate and gold would grow out of the turd of your pretzel logic. Hey look, Exxon-Mobil made 149 Billion Dollars this year, maybe if we give them a few billions more in tax-payer subsidies, we'll only pay $7.00 a gallon by the end of the summer. Yeah de-regulation! GO TEABAGGERS!

I grew up in Bolivia and these pics are only a fraction of the big one. Bol miners go on strike/protest every week; and have been since the 1952 MNR revolution where they beat the military junta hands down. It's like a rites of passage for the Eastern Bolivian male and female. Labor unions in Bol are influenced by Trotskyites that have never adjusted to modern times. Thus the endemic labor strikes, complete with dynamiting miners, school closings that last for months, blocking of major highways, even airport runways, sometimes even the entire nation goes on strike. Sadly, Bol's worst enemy is itself. I love the country and its people; they treated me like a brother the 15 years I grew up there. But their politics are Soviet style 1920s. Something in the water there? Nothing but NOTHING ever changes, except for the faces of the sour looking caudillos, like Evo, and the weather.

It's the unions taking the hit lately, for all the economic and political struggles that have occurred because people are broke.

You ought to investigate deeper and you'll see unions aren't the crooks. The crooks who caused the mortgage fiasco that currently work in Washington DC and never served a day in jail even though they ruined the housing market, all the while knowing that what they were doing would create a crisis for millions of middle income homeowners.

Buddy, it's not the unions you should poke at. Look at the wealthy investment houses and read about those people. Watch "Inside Job" it will teach you who is really to blame.

Oh yeah! The working men and women, around the world, are tired of the bullsh** dished out by corporate greedy money mongers. Corporations buy governments around the world and US corporations epitomize the worst of the worst.

margie- 3278065

What does the mortgage crisis have to do with Bolivian mine workers? let go of the US problems. They have nothing to do with this event.

There is nothing wrong with unions except they usually have an entitlement attitude which is wrong. No one is entitled to anything they don't earn. To just be there is not earning, it's believing they are deserving because they want something.

Typical union stance is that everyone is entitled to a livable wage. Jobs should pay what they are worth not what the union demands. Thats what helped the auto industry get in trouble and many other industries to fold or leave as they couldn't compete. The unions being short sighted.ME, ME and ME attitude.

Not all jobs are going to or capable of, paying a livable wage. That doesn't make the company a bad employer, it illustrates what the job is worth.

Last but not least two more things.1) No one forces someone to work for a company they don't want to. It's a choice they make. 2) Unions always pit the employee against the employer. Which is simply wrong. The loyalty should be to the employer not a third party. Unions promote the belief that the employer is the enemy.How foolish is that?

Maybe when someone applies to a company,they should have to state where their loyalties are before being hired.

That may change a few things.

@tippy88: If jobs paid what they're worth, teachers would be millionaires and football players would live in subsidized housing. While I'm not fan of unions, I'd have to say that if jobs paid what they are worth the guy who risks his life busting his hump in the mine should be paid more than the soft-handed white collar paper pusher in the corporate office.

Miker-3057253

No question sports figures are over paid. Maybe that's because we have sports worship mentality in this country.

But ,why is a person in a mine or any other manual position "busting his hump' and a white collar worker a soft-handed paper pusher? Do you have a complex?

Just maybe people that work with their brains instead of brawn, have worth too. Or are the teachers you mention soft-handed paper pushers because they don't bust their hump?

Grow up. People of all walks have worth. The real issue is society places a higher value on white collar positions then blue collar. So typically,but not always, they pay more. So maybe the person that gets an education at their expense recognizes that and benefits from it. That doesn't make them worthles paper pushers any more than a person in a manual positon, for lack of an education, is worthless.

As for teachers pay. It is a well known fact that teaching in public schools is not the best paying job. Who is to blame for that? It's not the white, or blue collar worker, it's the people in the community, and their leaders that refuse to pay higher taxes for education.

Go figure

Tippy88 How backwards are you? The original Henry Ford was said to boost wages to 5.00$ per day in the early 1900's to raise the standard of living at the time. WRONG! AT the time Detroit and the automotive industry was short of labor and a majority of people were still living on the farm. He had to pay higher wages to get them off the farm! You just want to have people have a share cropper attitude which is thank you Master for letting me live is your tool shed . In fact Your attitude is one of a plantation owner before the civil war who felt threatened by change of that all humans beings have rights. The plantation owner wasn't worried about the workers he was worried about his economic ability to discriminate agains people of color because of their color. Maybe Employers should state their loyalties to propectus employees with a list of terminated employees and contacts about the company !!! That may change a few things!

Grow up? Maybe you need to do that. I have a college degree. Two of them, in fact. I worked a bunch of blue-collar jobs to pay for that education and I worked a few blue-collar jobs even after I dropped out of law school. I've also worked in the cubicle farms and worn a tie to work. I never said white collar paper pushers were "worthless." That was you. I merely suggested they shouldn't be paid big bucks while people who literally risk their lives at work get paid minimum wage.

Here's what I've observed generally in my white collar jobs: the white collar crowd rolls in around 9:00-ish, spends about 30 minutes drinking coffee and talking about golf or their kids' soccer game the night before, spends a good bit of time in meetings where most attendees contribute nothing but they sure make some impressive-looking Powerpoint slides, then they head out for some sushi at lunch which lasts an hour. The rest of the day is making copies, talking on the phone, and complaining that the air conditioner isn't working very well. As often as not, they leave early because they have some sort of appointment or they've got to pick up their kids or something and nobody seems to mind. Keep in mind, those aren't just things I've imagined. Those are things I've SEEN.

When I worked as a mechanic (on military vehicles) I had to punch in at 7:30 sharp, got two 15 minute breaks and 30 minutes for lunch, drew blood more days than not, sweated every day, and suffered a concussion once, moved 400 lb. tires around as often as the white collar types make copies, and didn't have to worry about the air conditioner or heat working because our shop had neither. God forbid I ever needed to take time off during the day or punch out early. If I did, my check was just a touch smaller that week, unless I wanted to use some of my vacation time. Which really didn't matter because I never had enough money to go anywhere for 5 days anyway. But, the vehicles I fixed were ones that people depended on for their lives and I loved that job.

So, no, I don't have any complex, but I guess you're right. I should get paid more to sit in a carpeted, air-conditioned office because I get no real sense of accomplishment out of the work and generally have to put up with people who either do have some kind of complex or just aren't very interesting to be around. Your point is taken, but I never said or even inferred the conclusion to which you jumped. I agree that people at both ends of the spectrum have value. I just also happen to think that there are way too many people sitting around in offices drawing a fat paycheck who wouldn't know what work was if a box of it fell on their heads.

I'm sorry, how does destroying government property going to get them a pay raise? Here's a fair scenario: The government should sit down with negotiators and say, "OK, we'll restructure your wages as soon as you reimburse us for the $765,000 (guess-timate) worth of damage you caused during your protest."

Do they deserve more money? - certainly. Do they deserve to work in a safe environment? - absolutely. Will parading aroung like cavemen, bashing everything they see, and blowing massive holes in the pavement, the way to go to get them there? - probably not.

You do realize that when the dems had a chance to can Ben, they would not listen to Ron Paul(r). Why doesn't Obama agree that the fed has too much power and is screwing things up? Because in truth he is one of them. Look where he looks first to get money to run. Yup, all those banks that got bailed out. When he has gotten all he can from them, he moves to the next group which is the unions. When that group is tapped out he moves on to the little people and convinces them to anti up what little money they have to keep in office so he can keep Ben.

Ben is only doing what his corporate daddies are telling him. And remember children, don't pay any attention to the men (because let's face it.. all men) behind the curtain.

Ouch... Head hurts... So much economic ignorance. Ok first, clearly QE2 done by the fed worked, we just had the best jobs report in years. Core inflation is around 2% which is right about where the Fed wants it. The Fed has a tough job that needs to be apolitical like the courts should be. He needs to fight inflation when that is too high by raising interest rates and fight unemployment when that's too high by increasing the money supply. If he's subject to the political machine he will have to pander to one side or the other and not make the tough decisions based on the economic data.

Also tontosh, you must not understand how international currency exchanges work. The Fed printing more US dollars makes the dollar weaker against other currencies and makes products bought from the US cheaper which would have a deflationary not inflationary effect in countries outside the US. China is the exception because they have pegged their currency to our dollar. If they would let their currency float, our exports would become cheaper to China and their inflation rate would drop.

So if you want to spout ignorant statements about how it's all the current fed's fault continue doing so, however you might want to back up your statements with some actual data instead of what some right wing nut told you. The truth is the right's hypothesis that tax cuts and deregulation lead to economic prosperity was proved to be a myth in the crash of 2008. Now they need a scapegoat so they don't have to examine their economic philosophy.

You need to take something for that headache. The Fed's mandate is NOT to watch unemployment, period. Inflation is too much money chasing too few goods, the Fed. is printing too much worthless dollars that's chasing too few goods, period. I hope you are kidding with your comment about QE2 worked. We have very high unemployment, most of the jobs created now are very low pay with no benefits. We have record people on welfare, food stamps, over 55 million with no health insurance, foreclosure crisis, health care costs going through the roof and you still think it worked? OH YA, I forgot you get your cheap i phones and i pads and the stock market is up and so everything is A OK. It was Clinton and his gang who were at fault with deregulation.

No look at his boss

Want to see a crook sitting on his a$$ ? Step inside any corporate office.

Dear sandtrich, Do away with all your "crooks" and you'd be living in a place that resembles Libya.

I agree the modern unions are much improved. I was in the Steelworkers Union at the time the company I worked for filed bankruptcy and if it wasn't for them A VEBA fund established in the Bantrupcy agreement it would not have been set up to help the retirees with our medical costs. However the company was allowed to bail out of our pensions so today I get a pension payed for by the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp funded by all Manufacturers. Many like myself that are able to get a monthly pension are grateful that these companies have been forced to contribute to this fund. But as more companies go under adding more former employees to receive pensions this way the possibility of this fund drying up is real. The only way it can survive is if more of my fellow retireees expire making room for the baby boomers who may face the same fate in the near future as our generation.

In addition when I started working in 1948 (yes that makes me an old man) my first job payed .50 cents an hour and no benefits. As time went on I got a better salaried job at $55.50 a week and again no benefits,next job was $78.00 a week again no benefits. None of these jobs were Union jobs. Eventually (1959) I was able to get a job in a steel mill where I finally was payed a better now a Union wage with benefits and was happy to be there as my growing family now had insurance coverage. I feel sorry for those families struggling with minimum wage jobs and no insurance. Now we have state governments trying to destroy the peoples chance at the same protection that we had gained earlier. Lets hope that common sense can prevail and protect our country from being destroyed by the political parties working so hard to destroy it.