I haven't posted for a little while here but it hasn't been for any lack of opinions on what's going on. I just haven't really been able to formulate words for all the ridiculousness going on in the world around us.
First there was the fiasco in parliament, with the Liberal party forming a coalition to boot out the Conservatives who had only been in office for a few weeks. Their leader was someone that nobody liked and who had already announced his pending departure due to record unpopularity.
Now they've replaced him with someone they've appointed and who has stood up to no real scrutiny whatsoever. But that's beside the point. They're like a bunch of squabbling children up there in Ottawa and there's really nothing I need to add to the commentary in the news.
Then there's the city of Toronto. Our money-grubbing mayor just introduce a new plastic bag tax that we have to pay at the grocery store if we want to carry our stuff out in plastic bags. All the discount places already charge 5 cents a bag. This new tax just forces everyone else to charge the same. The premise behind this was to divert all those bags from going to landfills and have us use reusable bags instead.
This sounds all well and good except for the fact that just days after implementing this, they announced that we can now recycle those exact plastic bags! We can bundle them up and put them in the stupid giant recyle bins the mayor spent a fortune on, and they'll be kept out of the landfills. So then… more tax… no benefit. Seems about par for the course for this mayor.
Now today, while reading about the failure of the auto industry bailout, I found this quote too good not to repeat.
From this article: http://biz.yahoo.com/zacks/081212/16364.html?.v=1
"If a union can only deliver the same pay as a non-union shop, why pay the union dues?"
This pretty much sums up the value of the unions to me. All those workers for companies like Honda and Toyota who are being treated fairly and will probably still be employed once all the dust settles are probably asking the exact same question.
I believe the implication is that the union's purpose is to bend the company over backward and get the employees more than their fair share at every opportunity. Otherwise, how do they justify their dues? If all is well and everyone is treated fairly, can't they just say it's because of them and leave well enough alone? Why do they always need more?