Irony of dockworkers strike
A union boss should not be running the economy
Before I delve into today’s subject, I must address this report by Zero Hedge: “Kamala Harris’s husband Doug Emhoff reportedly assaulted his ex-girlfriend by hitting her in the face so hard ‘she spun around,’ according to a bombshell new exclusive by the Daily Mail.”
They call him the Second Gentleman but he’s no gentleman. No real man slugs a woman. That he was drunk was no excuse. Whatever you say drunk does not count. What you do does.
Now for the matter at hand.
The International Longshoremen’s Association went on strike on Tuesday, a move that undoubtedly can dash Kamala’s hope of being elected president. Harold J. Daggett, president of the ILA since 2011, a job his dad once held, has more power over the national economy than anyone, including the Hobo of Rehoboth Beach and Jay Powell.
In a video, he explained what this strike means: “You know what’s gonna happen? I will tell you. First week, be all over the news every night. Boom, boom.
“Second week, guys who sell cars can’t sell because they’re coming in off their ships. They get laid off.
“Third week, malls start closing down. They can’t get goods from China. They can’t sell clothes. Thy can’t do this. Everything in the United States comes on a ship. They go out of business.
“Construction workers get laid off because their materials aren’t coming in. The steel’s not coming. The lumber is not [coming] in. They lose their job.
“Everybody’s hating the longshoremen now because [they] realize how important our jobs are. Now I have the president screaming at me. ‘I’m putting a Taft-Hartley on you.’
“Go ahead. Taft-Hartley. Means I have to go back to work for 90 days. That’s a cooling off period. Do you think when I go back for 90 days those men are going to work on up here? It’s gonna cost the companies money to pay their salaries while they go from 30 moves an hour maybe [to 8]. They are going to be like this.”
Daggett then pretended to choke himself.
He continued: “Who’s going to win in the long run? You’re better off sitting down and let’s get get a contract and let’s move with this world.”
As I said, he is the most powerful man in the economy today. He runs it, not the Federal Reserve. Right now he is treating the economy like a Rottweiler with a ragdoll.
Daggett also said, “You know how many people depend on our jobs. Half the world! It’s time for them and time for Washington to put so much pressure on them to take care of us because we took care of them. And we’re here 135 years and brought them to where they are today and they don’t want to share. I’m done!”
He’s got legs and he knows how to use them. Covid showed how important the longshoremen are. He’s putting his members first as he is supposed to do. What a pleasant — if evil — change. A politician delivering on his promises.
Now for the big irony in all this. You know who gave him that power? The Chamber of Commerce and those idiots who bought into trade with Red China under the guise of free market capitalism. There is no capitalism in Red China. It is a communist state that will go Kim Jong-Un on anyone.
Forbes reported in 2011 — a decade after we allowed Red China into the World Trade Organization — “China Executes 14 Billionaires in 8 Years, Culture News Reports.”
Billionaires are just for show. Ask Jack Ma how much his money saved him. And lecture me National Review, once again, about how I don’t understand Adam Smith. We are up against slave labor.
As for the Chamber of Commerce, it has pushed for moving American jobs overseas for 50 years. The chamber cited those darned greedy unions — you know the ones who enabled a man to take a job at a factory, marry, provide for a wife and kids, and buy a new automobile every three years back in the 1960s.
We had it all, like Bogie and Bacall. But the U.S. Chamber of Commerce went international, taking with it our jobs. Inflation in the 1970s forced mothers to work, which disrupted the social compact. There is no direct link of this to today’s licentious lifestyle of sex and drugs and abortion, but that is where we are today.
I live near Charleston, West Virginia. For decades, the chemical industry was the largest employer, not the government which is pretty farout in a small state capital.
But Union Carbide got greedy and moved jobs overseas to places like Bhopal, India. How did that work out for them?
The Department of Motor Vehicles now has more workers than Charleston’s entire chemical industry.
The longshoremen’s union is fighting automation just as it fought container shipments back when they last struck in 1977. The containers reduced the number of workers needed and reduced the cost of transporting clothes, pharmaceuticals and everything else — which increased the benefits of shipping jobs overseas.
Those containers increased the power of the longshoremen’s union, which is cashing in with this strike.
Axios said, “According to the American Farm Bureau Federation, the affected ports handled 75% of the country's banana imports.”
Yes, we have no bananas today. Or tomorrow. Or at least until Christmas, maybe.
Conservative and Christian Chris Loesch is very, very angry.
He tweeted, “Hey, Longshoremen. I know you rejected the 50% pay raise offer and reject any automation because you want American shipping to be the worst in the world.
“I know you don’t care about the millions of people who won’t be able to rebuild or even eat after a historic storm has destroyed their lives. I know you don’t care that America is still in terrible economic conditions because of the idiotic COVID lockdowns and the moronic economic policies of the Biden administration (who you praise). I know you don’t care that we are just ahead of the Holiday season. I know you don’t care that the Middle East is on the brink of all out war. But maybe you should care.
“Maybe your greed and backwards thinking should take a back seat while some of these problems get worked out and your fellow countrymen get back on their feet. Maybe you could take an unheard of 50% raise and be happy for a few years. Or maybe you don’t deserve the jobs as you try to make America a third world country. Shame on you.”
A 50% raise over 6 years barely runs ahead of inflation.
I refrained from tweeting in reply, “Hey Chris, why don’t you go down to the dock and work those cranes?”
Don’t blame the longshoremen for America not having the stuff it needs. We used to make that stuff here. The decision to import everything put the guys who unload the ships in charge.
Huff Post reported, “The ILA has been pushing for significant raises in its next contract. Members currently top out at a $39-per-hour base wage, and the union has been calling for a $5 raise in each year of the next agreement, or $30 over the full duration. The ILA also wants protections against automation at ports that it said would destroy jobs.”
Oh those greedy longshoremen who make almost $80,000 a year in straight time.
The Fed reported in January, “Congratulations! Average Federal Salary Now Tops $101,000.”
The longshoremen’s union has a shady past and present.
The Telegraph reminded everyone, “Harold Daggett: How union leader who fought mob tie allegations is holding the U.S. economy to ransom.”
The feds tried to get him twice and failed. None of his union members care as long as they make almost as much as a federal worker — more with overtime.
The story also said Biden won’t impose Taft-Hartley, which allows a president to arbitrarily force strikers back to work. That will tank the economy just before Election Day. Biden is Kamala’s BFF, Best Frenemy Forever.
This situation reminds me of the story about how the organs of the body decided who would be in charge.
“I should be in charge,” said the brain, “I run all the body's systems, without me nothing would happen.”
“I should be in charge,” said the heart, “I circulate oxygen and nutrients all over.”
“No! I should be in charge,” said the stomach, “I process the food that gives us energy.”
“I should be in charge,” said the legs, “without me the body couldn't go anywhere.”
“I should be in charge,” said the eyes, “I allow the body to see where it goes.”
“I should be in charge,” said the anus, “I make shit happen.”
All of the other body parts laughed at the anus and insulted him. So he shut down. Within a few days, the brain had a terrible headache, the stomach was bloated, the legs got wobbly, the eyes got watery, and the heart pumped toxic blood. They all decided that the anus should be the boss.
Now we have an asshole in charge of our economy for the very same reason. Daggett is using the power we foolishly gave the longshoremen, who are now America’s Bottleneck. The best way to make the ILA less powerful would be moving jobs back to America.
Of course, that would expand the middle class and make people less reliant on government. We cannot have that, can we?
After all, the government will be run next year by a woman finally! A woman who married a man who previously cheated on his wife and knocked a nanny up. After his divorce, he slugged a ex-girlfriend in a drunken rage. Now I now know why Taylor Swift endorsed Kamala. They share something in common — bad choices when it comes to men. Almost as bad as Gwen Walz.
