Re: [tlug] (OT) The enigma of Japan (was: UNIX jobs on TLUG)

["Stephen J. Turnbull" <stephen@example.com>]

JC Helary writes:
 > 
 > On jeudi 04 juin 09, at 10:39, Stephen J. Turnbull wrote:
 > 
 > > Busting the UAW, however, can do nothing but
 > > good for the U.S. economy.
 > 
 > Busting a union good for the economy ? That's news to me...

Yes.  And if it's news to you, you haven't been looking at youth
unemployment rates in Spain and France recently.  Unions are not about
the workers who get hurt most by economic downturns, unions are about
protecting their members.  If that hoses the rest of the people in the
country, well, "my job is safe, you take care of yourself, Jack!"

Some unions are necessary.  Managements are not nice people, they're
profit maximizers (or a reasonable facsimile as far as the workers are
concerned), and they do have and exploit monopsony power vs. their
workforces.

 > > that not only could they put up those obscene towers in Detroit, but
 > > they could pay $70/hr in direct compensation (wage + benefits) to the
 > > *average* worker.  And this insanity has been going on for half a
 > > *century*.
 > 
 > Insanity to pay workers decent wages when there is not social safety  
 > network around ?

Excuse me, but I wonder how many people on this list make the
equivalent of USD 80,000/year at the age of 37, with expectations that
that will rise to USD 140,000/year by retirement, and that they'll
retire on over USD 100,000/year with 10% deductibles on everything
health-related from contact lenses to open heart surgery?

Without attending college, and with "tenure" (ie, you have to murder
your boss to get fired once you've been on the job for 5 years)?

And yes, it's insane, when Toyota is paying 60% of what GM et al do.

 > You are not comparing what the Japanese State invests in public  
 > education/health etc to what the US State does are you ?

No.  I'm comparing the lower-than-Japanese levels of payment to the
unimaginable-by-Japanese-standards high quality of care that the UAW
medical plan provides to its members.