Obama and free trade: Appease big labor
9th June 2011
George Will is shocked (shocked, I tell you) that the Obama administration is attempting to buy the votes of the union goons upon which his re-election depends.
President Obama is sacrificing economic growth and job creation in order to placate organized labor. And as the crisis of the welfare state deepens, he is trying to enlarge the entitlement system and exacerbate the entitlement mentality.
My, what a surprise. Aren’t you surprised? I’m sure surprised.
In 2001, when approximately 80,000 people worked in 7,500 music stores, the iPod was invented. Largely because of that and other technological changes, today only about 20,000 people work in 2,500 music stores. Should those 60,000 people be entitled to extra welfare because they are “victims” of technology? Does it matter if the 60,000 have found work in new jobs — perhaps making or selling electronic devices?
The Democrat answer is, ‘They don’t? Well, we’ll fix that!’
In 2008, Americans bought 1.4 billion books made of paper and 200 million e-books. Soon they will buy more e-books than paper books, and half the nation’s bookstores will be gone. Should the stores’ former employees be entitled to special assistance beyond unemployment compensation?
If they don’t, they soon will. Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid will make sure of it. All those votes to buy, and all it takes is borrowing more money from Communist China. What’s not to like?