Where is the US economy headed?

That's a rather stupid and juvenile attempt at denigrating her. It says nothing about her and makes you look foolish.

Unions
Clearly, unions are much more powerful in Germany than in the US. They are huge, and they don't bother to bargain with individual employers: they talk directly to the employer's associations in the different fields. For instance, there is a single union representing everyone working with metal, and if this union decides to call for a general strike, a substantial part of the German economy stands still. If they win a regional contract, it will usually be adopted nation wide and will then apply to all employers in the field alike. Several large unions have recently merged in order to increase their power. It's virtually impossible to work in Germany and not have a union negotiated contract. There does not exist a minimum wage law, and there is no need for one. Only recently have some employers (mainly in Eastern Germany) tried to leave the employer's associations in order to avoid being bound by these contracts.

By contrast, American unions in most fields are weak and splintered (with some notable exceptions: police, construction, airline pilots, automobile industry, teachers). Often, different unions fight against each other. The historic alliance between unions and the mob is the most likely cause for the low moral authority attributed to US unions. This allows American employers to openly state their goal of keeping unions out of their business. A statement like that would create a huge outcry in German public debate, and it would not go unpunished. US unions are often hostile towards strike breakers and force all employees of a unionized company to join the union. This is not the case in Germany: if you don't want to join, you don't; you will still get the benefits of the negotiated contract. German unions often see themselves (and are sometimes seen) as working for the public good, for example when they try to come up with programs against joblessness; American unions are much more focused on their member's narrow interests. Here is an appalling example of this: the union of Californian prison guards actively lobbies for longer prison sentences. Another instance of this is that American police unions usually come out on the side of the officer in police-abuse cases, while the German police union typically sides with the abused party.

The whole bargaining process appears much more civilized in Germany. When the contract runs out, the parties meet, they can't agree at first, there's a strike which usually is only symbolical, and then a new contract is written up. Everybody pretty much agrees that this is a good process. In the US, individualism is so deeply rooted in the public mind that many people outright deny the right of workers to organize and bargain collectively (no one denies the right of capitalists to organize in huge corporations though...). Labor fights are often ugly and war-like and go on for a long time: employers hire replacement workers right away, they try to fire union organizers and other strikers (which is illegal in the US, as it is in Germany), strikers try to keep the replacement workers out etc. To a German, it looks a lot like the Manchester capitalism that seemed to have been overcome a long time ago.

Management of airlines in the US have figured out that by filing for bankruptcy, they can get out of their contracts with unionized pilots, flight attendants and mechanics, and can shed expensive health benefit and pension plans at the same time. All American airlines have now filed for bankruptcy. There is no public outcry whatsoever.

The management of US corporations is generally seen to be responsible only to shareholders. In Germany, management is seen to be responsible to shareholders and employees alike, even though this seems to be changing slowly in the American direction.

. If she has one shred of decency, she could try to right herself by posting not only an apology, but one that has some measure of sincerity.

Any disagreement with you, or somebody that tells you your opinions are wrong, you take it as an insult.

obviously I have no decency...

Quote:

. If she has one shred of decency, she could try to right herself by posting not only an apology, but one that has some measure of sincerity.

Oh good God okie..
You have no platform to call for decency from others. You post so much **** here and then you turn around and deny you wrote it. Decency and honesty have no place in what you post so I don't see how you can call for it in others.

When you claim Obama doesn't love his country. You are clearly implying he hates it. Your weasel argument is nothing but another of your many attempts to not be honest okie.

If you were honest, you could tell us what strong emotional feeling Obama has for his country that is not love. But you can't do that because it would show you are lying when you claim you don't intend to say Obama hates the US.

She hasn't committed suicide yet, which makes her an insult to all women and to all normal, law abiding citizens

Again, I have explained for you in the above what I think in some detail, which I do not believe contradicts previous posts of mine. You accuse me of lying all the time. Now, you did come up with the example of me calling for Obama to be impeached, which I had forgotten, and when you posted it, I apologized for my error of memory in that regard. Now, if you can find any quote of mine wherein I said Obama hated the country, I will apologize again, however I do not recall ever saying those words. You have accused me of saying all kinds of stuff here for which you have provided no evidence, parados. I would suggest you be man enough to find my quotes to back up your claims or be man enough to apologize yourself, as I have done when I found out about the impeachment statement that I made. I tire of people like you that I feel distort and misquote what I have said, so I think its time you produce the goods or quit your accusations, one or the other.

I guess you can apologize to POM then okie if you want to set this as your standard.

How bout we all just move on from this? It has nothing to do with the economy at all.

Cycloptichorn