I want so badly to support Barack Obama. I agree with him on many sundry political issues, and I love his powerhouse economic advising team. But when I look at his spelled-out economic policy beliefs, I am confronted with a deep philosophical dilemma. How can I support a candidate with such stupid ideas?
There are a million reasons, economic and moral, that I don't like unions. They inflate costs by extorting above-market wages, hurting businesses and consumers, and they prevent improvement through their absurdly restrictive policies, their tangled bureaucracy, their rampant corruption, and their general sloth-like nature.
Many of my objections to unions are summarized in this video.
It disturbs me that Obama supports pro-union policies. Of course I understand that he needs to say things he might not mean to get elected, and maybe he is doing so here. But how many times can I give him the benefit of the doubt? I've already tried to ignore his NAFTA-bashing, his "outsourcing" tirades, and his Hillary Clinton-esque corporation slandering. At the end of the day I am left with two competing visions of Obama: either he is a classic liberal (read: socialist) when it comes to economic policy, or he's a devious politician who has concocted a vast, overarching network of lies to cover up his true beliefs. If he's the former, I don't want him as my president, and if he's the latter, then I'm downright scared of him.
5 comments:
Growing up, I've never really heard much about unions from my family and neighbors. The only images of unions to me were of blue collar workers in steel mills or nuclear power plants from the 60's fighting evil factory owners from cheating them of their benefits. Perhaps, the answer is that unions are more of a thing of the past and aren't as important/relevant in today's economy. Why? I believe that workers today have much more mobility between jobs than they did fifty years ago - either through better education, better communication technologies, greater flexibility, lower transition costs, etc. Nowadays, rarely does a person stay at one job for a lifetime. Because of this employment mobility, "evil" factories cannot force low standards on their workers. If they did, workers could simply change jobs. It seems reasonable that unions were great in the 50's because of job immobility and large community's dependence on single employers. However, that is not the case today. Perhaps, unions are relics of olden days when workers had more to lose. But, today unions seem to do less for workers than they are imagined to do.
Like Tri, I don't know all that much about unions, but I will say that I agree with Andy in my economic and moral disapproval of them. (A forewarning: my parents are self-employed small business owners and for as long as I can remember, have voiced their negative opinions regarding unions, which I'm sure has influenced my perspective as well...)
My problem with unions is this: why is further governmental support necessary when it seems like they do just fine on their own? Union members are provided relatively high, stable wages, offered medical benefits, job security, and attractive retirement packages. If they're unhappy about something, they can strike...and often do.
I also agree with what Tri said about unions being "relics of olden days." Employers today often provide much of what unions do (for example, health insurance). In those instances, I think unions have even less of a place in the economy and elicit even more negative externalities.
Another thing to note: The majority of unions are focused on blue-collar workers and trends have shown that the proportion of blue-collar workers in the U.S. continues to decline. I'm still undecided as to whether or not this fact makes unions more attractive or less attractive to me; I can see arguments for both. However, I'm sure this fact is critical in Obama's reasoning behind supporting unions and getting the blue-collar vote.
I agree with Andy in wanting so badly to like, even love, Obama. As a voter, I think we have to take what Obama says seriously. It would be outright irresponsible to vote for a candidate who we disagreed with on many economic issues because we felt he was just trying to appease voters. Many of Obama's policies center around the idea of integrity and fairness.. and by thinking he could be putting on a facade to American voters should undermine much of his appeal and legitimacy.
I love Obama's commitment to changing our current political situation. But like Tri and Pat said, I have a hard time supporting his socialist economics.
I'm sure some of that sentiment comes the reasonable expectation that with a good college education, I will be paying for much more than I receive. That is, many of his proposed programs are to help low skilled workers. Contrasting Obama's views with many of McCain's, I feel like by electing Obama we're paying for change and hope.
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