What is your viewpoint or opinion on more regulations vs. deregulation of various industries?

Deregulation is what the capitalists want. Capitalists can benefit society, but not because they want to, only because it's the fallout of their activities. We have workers' compensation, disability insurance and agencies, unemployment compensation, fair labor standards, health and safety legislation, environmental protection and agencies because of the activities of organized labor and concerned citizens over generations. These activities have been effective because politicians (the world's greatest whores, but whores who f*ck their clients in the same sense that clients f*ck whores of the ordinary type) wanted their votes, but more than that, they wanted their money. It is said in the House that when Representatives are sworn (January 3rd, every even-numbered year), they immediately begin running for re-election.

The problem these days, though, is that huge amounts of money are spent on election campaigns, and ordinary citizens are not the source, unless they are contributing to political action committees. A PAC can give $5000 to each candidate in each election cycle. Senators serve six years, and are less influenced by election contributions. Senators also have less need to "work" their states in order to get re-elected. Representatives are up for election every two years, and in these times of big money campaigning, they really do start campaigning on January 3rd of the years when they are sworn in. Representatives have the greatest power of incumbency, because they only have to "work" their congressional district, and they have franking privileges (free mailings to their constituencies). Nevertheless, campaigning is expensive and all Representatives are up for sale.

Regulation at the federal and the state level protects us from polluters and unscrupulous manufacturers and marketers. That is precisely why capitalists, whose only interest in the bottom line and improving the bottom line, want deregulation. My personal opinion is that business and industry are not regulated stringently enough. One tactic of presidents and of congress is to starve regulatory agencies which they cannot or will not attack openly. Basically, regulation protects us from personal greed and its consequences. The notion that capitalists will take all of their marbles and go home if they are taxed and regulated is ludicrous. They don't want their money sitting around doing nothing, they want it making more money for them, and for many wealthy individuals, it is all about money and power, and so they are the enemies of regulation. To put that in perspective, while Republicans whine about taxation, those whose incomes come from capital gains already have a sweetheart deal. The capital gains tax is 15%. Only working class people who make less than $38,000 a year pay 15%. A working class man or woman who makes $40,000 per year pays 25%. Congress funds their often questionable activities on the backs of the working class. It's a cinch that the one percenters with their 15% capital gains tax aren't paying the bills.

These people don't give a rat's ass about you and me. Capitalists can be useful, but they need to kept on a short leash.

Unions are a form of corporate management. The fact that they are construed as separate organizations from the capitalist corporation really just makes it easier for them to solicit the cooperation of workers for the benefits of capitalist management. It's basically a way of using good cop v bad cop to control workers for the benefit of efficient management.

E.g. collective bargaining simply works around the free market inefficiency of negotiating contracts, wages, etc. with each worker individually. It's easier and more efficient for the corporation/capitalists to farm out contract negotiations to a centralized agency, i.e. the labor union. Collective representation is then promoted to the workers as a way of gaining bargaining strength in numbers, when in reality it is a way of usurping their independent voices and negotiating rights as individuals.

Notice that unionists always tell you that you will be powerless against management without them. That is a tactic for getting people to surrender to management through the union. It could just as easily be the corporate manager who directly tells you as a worker that you have no power against the corporation so you must submit and resistance is futile. With unionism, however, the worker is consoled with the fantasy that the union is on their side and not just an extension of management. In Marxian terms, you could say unions are the opium of the people in their fantasy of resisting corporate domination & submission.

Ultimately, the power against corporations and capitalism comes at the individual level of saying no to what they are selling and/or the jobs they are offering. If you want a certain wage or schedule or whatever, make them an offer and if they don't take it, go find another buyer for your labor. If you don't want to support that company because you don't like them for not appreciating the offer you made them, don't buy their products and tell your story publicly and recommend other companies by explaining publicly what those companies do that's better.

We already saw the results in Detroit. Not that it made any impression on the minority of people.

Unions Make the Middle Class.
Without Unions, the Middle Class Withers.

https://able2know.org/topic/449344-1

Is withering.

Unions should rise and fall based on the extent they serve their paying members, not in the ability they have to extort payment—and political votes—from people who don’t want their services.

I hope unions prosper because of services they provide.

I also hope the people begin to VOTE to ensure that business and billionaires lose the ridiculous preferential treatment they got through the travesty of Citizens United.

People who don't want the services of a union should not be included in CBAs.
They should be able to work for minimum wage if they want.

You voted for the presidents that appointed the supreme court justices that were in the majority on the citizens United case.

I've had extensive experience managing companies with labor Unions ( Metal and Construction Trades.). The great advances touted by Union management ( i.e. 40 Hour week, overtime, Holidays, etc.) are now all mandated in law. Good achievements, but unions are no longer a requirement for these protections or, in most cases even a fair wage.

In general unions work hard to get between the company and its employees, and they usually succeed in wiping out any real commitment to the goals of the company among the unionized workforce. They resist any changes in either job description or working conditions that might improve productivity, and eventually render the companies infested with them no longer able to meet the challenges posed by their competitors. As a direct result most new industrial investment goes to Right to Work States, and the former heavily unionized industrial establishment in the Midwest has more or less collapsed. Today the vast majority of all union workers are in Federal and State government agencies where they enjoy government-sanctioned monopolies. They are disappearing from the private sector.

As a related matter the number of Right to Work states in this country has increased from about 15 to 28 over the last two decades - Even formerly union dominated states such as Michigan have recently passed Right to Work Laws and with widespread public support.

The Building Trades Unions are a bit easier to work with, but they function mostly as a racket, protecting the jobs of dues paying members at the expense of others, and thriving mostly only where they enjoy Federal or State protected Monopolies on all their construction projects, and significantly lowering labor productivity and raising the costs of the projects they staff.

Public sector unions are no better. The AFT has contributed a great deal to the continuing decay of our Public School system.

Biologists often note that "An intelligent parasite doesn't kill its host" ( I guess wasps are an exception), In any event most unions have shown that they are not intelligent parasites.

Who do you consider responsible for Citizens United?

The people who elected the presidents who appointed the justices who ruled in its favor.

The police can enforced this law by pulling you over and giving you a citation for holding and talking on cell phone while driving.