A friend of mine works here in Minneapolis, and lives in Chicago (6 hour drive, 1 hour flight). Last Friday he noted his flight was filled with nurses. He asked what was up, and found their union was paying for hotel, airfare and a per diem to join some Chicago protests the following day.
The nurses were rather visible at the NATO summit, officially calling for a tax on financial transactions, among other things. The nurses my friend spoke to had little interest or understanding of what they were protesting, just noting it was part of being in a union, and going to be fun.
Nurses, presumably, have strong opinions on Tobin taxes. Who knew?
The nurses were rather visible at the NATO summit, officially calling for a tax on financial transactions, among other things. The nurses my friend spoke to had little interest or understanding of what they were protesting, just noting it was part of being in a union, and going to be fun.
Nurses, presumably, have strong opinions on Tobin taxes. Who knew?
7 comments:
We should re-invent orphanages. Then defund of her of all government support. Having kids shouldn't be an excuse for government funding. If you can not support the children then they should have the right to move to an orphanage. This removes the free rider problem without imposing externalities ont he children.
You just illustrated Murray's thesis. As a member of the cognitive elite, you have no understanding of the working class.
Nurses are one of the best paid occupations available to the working person. There is a scarcity of nurses. Nurses know exactly why it is so: it is thanks to the union. They had a deep interest and understanding of what they were doing by flying to Chicago. It was serious business.
Why do you think they understood what they were doing? My friend told me they had absolutely no idea about the specifics of the financial transaction tax, and really no strong feelings about it. The issues presented at Chicago were very tangentially related to Minneapolis nurses, which is why they didn't really care, they were about to have a fun weekend with their friends.
@Eric: J is right. I'm not saying they care about financial transaction taxes but they really care about supporting the union.
And, obviously, it's even better if they can have a fun weekend at the same time.
there are about 3 million nurses in the US
time to embrace change
Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want and deserve to get it good and hard.
H. L. Mencken
“Nothing sways the stupid more than arguments they can't understand”
Cardinal de Retz quotes
the HFT crowd is already imposing a tax on the markets. why not have it go to the people?
nurses tend to have really good intuition, unlike right-wing zealots, who will kill the economy to prevent their taxes from going up, if they can
It's escalation. The right uses astro turfing, the left follows suit. Pretty soon we're all Jokers.
Jim Gordon: What about escalation?
Batman: Escalation?
Jim Gordon: We start carrying semi automatics, they buy automatics, we start wearing Kevlar, they buy armor piercing rounds, and *you're* wearing a mask and jumping off rooftops. take this guy: armed robbery, double homicide. Got a taste for the theatrical, like you. Leaves a calling card.
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