Posted by
Playful Walrus on Tuesday, December 16, 2008 6:18:01 PM
Some letters to the Los Angeles Times display the entitlement mentality so destructive to success.
Thomas Schelly of Hermosa Beach wrote:
Some non-union workers, rather than viewing lower wages as a problem to be remedied by demanding higher wages, attack the wages of union workers, asserting that they should make less.
We don’t complain when we have a choice about whether or not to support those wages through our purchases. It is when our tax money is used to support those wages that we have a problem.
When working people stop agreeing with attempts to lower their pay rate and their standard of living -- and stop buying into the belief that wages need to come down and be brought in line with reality -- maybe then Americans can retake their rightful place as the most prosperous people on Earth.
The fact of the matter is that with the rise of the information age aided by telecommunications and networking, and the speed and which people and things can be transported from one place in the world to another, it is unrealistic to demand compensation so high that it makes financial sense for someone to hire labor to do the exact same job elsewhere. If someone is offering you the same gallon of milk as the guy down the street, but is charging twice as much, you're going to go down the street, especially if both guys are strangers to you.
People will seek the best value for their dollar – at least, as long as they are free to do so.
Matt Talansky of Los Angeles wrote:
By making the auto bailout a fight about unions, Senate Republicans have once again shown their disdain for workers.
It is about the unions. The only reason the Democrats are trying to keep the auto companies from entering bankruptcy reorganization is to protect union funding. Refusing to cave in to unreasonable demands by unions does not mean I disdain workers.
Roderick Gates of El Cajon wrote in to bemoan that the Senators opposing the bailout are "mostly from the former Confederacy" and the "adversarial relationship between states and regions".
Guess what, Mr. Gates? Our industries are not supposed to be run by a central government.
Turning to the schools, Marlin Sobbota of Arcadia wrote:
Tenure laws keep a teacher from being fired without just cause. What's wrong with that?
Nothing, but it also does a lot of bad things.
Your editorial does acknowledge that there must be protections against vindictive firings, yet it fails to mention how exactly this could be accomplished without granting tenure.
Haven’t you ever heard of wrongful termination lawsuits?
Also, you neglect to mention that public schools are required by law to do what no other government agency, company, private school or charter school is willing to do: accept everyone who walks through their doors.
Which is another reason we need separation of state and school. Why should schools be forced to accept anyone?