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Strategies & Market Trends : Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: ajtj99 who wrote (108918)	2/24/2010 11:33:38 PM
From: mishedlo	7 Recommendations Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 116555

Union Cannibalization: Laid-off CTA workers upset with unions, management globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com In every downturn, unions cannibalize their junior membership, throwing them to the dogs. This downturn is no different, except that cuts will be much deeper and far more lasting. Mish By the way, I am ahead of the curve an proud of it Bloomberg Banker Bonus Anger Is Shifting to Government Workers: Joe Mysak bloomberg.com To any extent I am helping fuel that sentiment I am grateful. Mish

To: ajtj99 who wrote (108918)	2/24/2010 11:44:21 PM
From: mishedlo	3 Recommendations Respond to of 116555

I just added this to the tail end of my post. Ahead Of The Curve I have been ahead of the curve on this issue and proud of it. Bloomberg is catching on: Banker Bonus Anger Is Shifting to Government Workers: Joe Mysak To any extent I am helping fuel public sentiment I am grateful. By the way, unfunded obligations of state pension and medical benefits for public union retirees in Illinois is $25,000 per capita. That does not include the obligations of cities and the county. Although Illinois is one of the worst in the country, many other states have horrible liabilities as well. And states, unlike the federal government cannot just print the money. The only way those obligations can be met is by massive tax hikes or reduced benefits. I am hoping for the latter. This is a very big issue. I think one of the most important issues the country faces.

To: ajtj99 who wrote (108918)	2/25/2010 1:03:36 AM
From: Hawkmoon	8 Recommendations Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 116555

This whole argument/debate has gotten out of hand. For one, IMO Mish needs to remove his ban on Trig and both of them need to shake hands and agree to disagree. It's alright to do that.. Really. As for public and private unions and fair wages I think the following is a pretty simple guideline: 1.) Public compensation and benefits should not outpace the average benefits in the private sector for similar work. 2.) Government wage negotiations likely need outside and objective compensation analysis that looks not just at the government wage/benefits package, but also the ratio of gov't employees to private sector jobs. We simply cannot sustain an economy where there are more government employees than private sector workers paying the taxes for their salaries. 3.) We need to SERIOUSLY look at corporate compensation and the disparity between compensation between management and labor. Sure... I want to reward GOOD management, but I also want to see workers reaping benefits of their productivity via ESOPs and other profit sharing agreements. I also want to seem more bonuses in the form of long-term equity rather than straight cash payouts. If there is overt income disparity, then maybe we need to look at managerial wage cuts before we start tearing into the workforce. 4.) MAINTAINING SKIN IN THE GAME IS KEY to long-term economic productivity, IMO. This casino mentality of short-term gains/profits over longer term market share and productivity gains has got to stop. Laying off workers at the drop of a hat is also not the answer as these people are not just workers, but also consumers. Lay them off and the demand side deflates, followed soon by supply. 5.) We need to get more p*ssed off about the financial "churning" that is transpiring on Wall St. and lack of productive use of capital to finance new technologies. We also need to just lay down a line in the sand on CDS contracts making it clear that if you have no clear insurable interest in investing in them, then you will be last to be paid off, if you're paid off at all. Then we need an international regulatory agreement that sets capital requirements and oversight. Personally, I would rather just do away with CDS altogether, but that's probably easier said than done. Again.. we need to have spirited and thought provoking debates on the issues and tolerance for views that we might disagree with, but which are argued in a manner which suggest someone put some thought behind them. Hawk