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    ReburnsABurningReturnsHamilton Nolan
    2/29/16 4:47pm

    Your assertion about unionization is missing the reason that union membership declines.

    It declined primarily because capital found lower cost substitutes to unionized labor, primarily in the form of it becoming viable to tap massive labor markets abroad and automation. Over the last 30 years, effectively available labor supply has grown in an exponential fashion, much faster than demand has.

    Attempting to prevent the utilization of those substitutes can create a bad game of economic malaise wack-a-mole. People grousing about, say, NAFTA, are always short on specifics because they know if they propose them, no economist worth their salt is going to agree with their alternatives. Attempting to stop the transformation that is currently happening would be massively destructive to our economic competitiveness. The smarter thing to do is to try and alleviate the side effects of it via more progressive taxation. Maybe over the long run, unions can rise again, but for the near future, I think they’ll remain something that only certain types of workers will be able to reliably form.

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      DuddyKravitzReburnsABurningReturns
      2/29/16 4:54pm

      Here’s one bad thing about NAFTA. It opened the door for corporations to move most of the manufacturing sector offshore thanks to cheap labour there. That has in turn led to weakening of unions.

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      festivusaziliReburnsABurningReturns
      2/29/16 5:04pm

      There’s also the problem that the service unions have to offer is significantly less appealing to the last two generations. We grew up in an era when working your whole life at one company, or even in one industry, was not something to aspire to.

      Unions have not found a way to effectively appeal to a mobile workforce.

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    cuntybawsHamilton Nolan
    2/29/16 4:33pm

    IKEA should start designing their self-assembly guillotines now, for future demand.

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      Hip Brooklyn Stereotypecuntybaws
      2/29/16 4:35pm

      Don’t trust IKEA guillotines, they always fall apart. Someone could really get hurt.

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      Carrie Mathisoncuntybaws
      2/29/16 4:45pm

      Whoa, whoa, don’t say crazy stuff like that.

      It’s easier to move to Canada than ever!

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    JustActSurprisedHamilton Nolan
    2/29/16 4:47pm

    Is this the death rattle before the end of Sanders’ campaign? You guys used to churn out 5 articles a day on him and now it’s just 1 or 2 tangentially connected. It’s almost as is something big is about to happen.

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      clickSuckaJustActSurprised
      2/29/16 5:13pm

      Fair-weather birds...I’m with: #winning

      Plus, the bro-calling terrorists seem to be #winning

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      Meanwhile, ElsewhereJustActSurprised
      2/29/16 5:26pm

      .

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    ARP2Hamilton Nolan
    2/29/16 4:49pm

    Yes, but that inequality is due to crony capitalism and high taxes. If only, Obummers cronies and thugs weren’t “rewarding our friends and punishing our enemies,” more people could get rich. But those who are rich, are Republicans, and work harder and are smarter than everyone else. We need to treat the wealthy better because they are job creators. If we just lower taxes a bit more, these job creators will invest and create more jobs. We just haven’t lowered taxes enough in the past 30 years to finally accomplish that.

    [I tried to mash every conservative argument together.]

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      ThatFatScatCat fucking loves muddy puddlesARP2
      2/29/16 4:56pm

      You forgot to finish by jumping in the air, clacking your heels together and yelling “Reaganomics!”

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    Hollow_LogHamilton Nolan
    2/29/16 4:40pm

    When someone like Bernie Sanders rails against a “rigged” economy that is fueling inequality, some believe that he is espousing a radical view.

    But he’s a god damn socialist! This is America, amber waves of grapes and nipple mountain magic peas! Love it or leave it, Hamilton.

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      caekislove-caekingitupHamilton Nolan
      2/29/16 4:34pm
      GIF
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        curiousHamilton Nolan
        2/29/16 4:42pm

        None of this is true unless Trump says it is. And then denies he said it.

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          JohnThorntonHamilton Nolan
          2/29/16 4:37pm

          “The hard part is motivating people to do something about it.”
          I spent the weekend canvassing for Bernie. You have a bigger platform.

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            Roll with the SquanchesJohnThornton
            2/29/16 8:46pm

            Ditto. You gotta move them mountains somehow.

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          hntergrenHamilton Nolan
          2/29/16 5:11pm

          There’s a storm coming, Mr. Wayne. You and your friends better batten down the hatches, because when it hits, you’re all gonna wonder how you ever thought you could live so large and leave so little for the rest of us.

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            Richard M TysonHamilton Nolan
            2/29/16 4:50pm

            And this shit here is why I like Gawker so much. An intelligent take on a complex set of issues and numbers. Maybe we should make a red-state gawker, or one day just take over FoxTrot Alpha with a bunch of Hamilton Nolan posts and see what happens.

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