Organized labor isn't what it used to be. Less than twelve percent of the workforce belongs to a union. But this hasn't stopped union leaders from talking to the president as if they were his boss, too. They suffer from a political hallucination that imagines their power as it was sixty years ago. Their calls for infrastructure "investments," a federal jobs program, and other boondoggles makes sense once one realizes that Washington's spending spree that has killed private sector jobs has been a boon for unions--whose dues payers are mostly government employees now. Read my piece @ FrontPageMag on how Big Labor needs Big Government now more than ever.

I remember Trumka standing shoulder to shoulder with Obama, both speaking of a partnership with government and organized labor.

But Trumka represents the kind of labor that Obama has little interest in: private labor. Now, just as most others have found out, Trumka discovers that Obama is a duplicitous flim-flam man whose only interest is growing government and not the private sector.

There is a way to expand union membership, expand the economy, and fund the infrastructure projects that we need. If we were to open up all of our domestic oil and gas reserves for drilling while building more refineries, we could employ millions of people in a very short period of time. Such a move would end the current recesssion.

Furthermore all of these workers in the oil industry would be high paying union employees. The tax revenue from these oil and gas projects would generate the necessary revenue to pay for the infrastructre projects that Mr. Trumka correctly understands that we need. This would also help us to pay down the national debt.

Such a policy of opening up all oil and gas reserves for drilling and building more refineries would have the added benefit of lessening our dependence on foreign oil suppliers. This would mean less money would be available to people who don't like us and we would have more leverage in negotiations with other countries as well. In time, we might even be able to become energy independent and we might even be able to become a net energy exporter.

There's so much to gain from the suggested policies and so little to lose that its hard to beleive it hasn't already been implemented. The only reason for not doing so would be either because someone is blinded by their ideology or they are fundamentally anti-American. I serioulsy don't expect the current leadership to implement any of this. At least not without being forced to do so.

"Teamsters President Jimmy Hoffa had some profane, combative words for Republicans while warming up the crowd for President Obama in Detroit, Michigan on Monday.

"We got to keep an eye on the battle that we face: The war on workers. And you see it everywhere, it is the Tea Party. And you know, there is only one way to beat and win that war. The one thing about working people is we like a good fight. And you know what? They've got a war, they got a war with us and there's only going to be one winner. It's going to be the workers of Michigan, and America. We're going to win that war," Jimmy Hoffa Jr. said to a heavily union crowd.

"President Obama, this is your army. We are ready to march. Let's take these son of bitches out and give America back to an America where we belong," Hoffa added."

How long will it be before a union thug can talk another more activist thug into taking this to a violent level on the streets?

So much for civility, eh?!