GOP's Anti-union World

The unintended consequences from the loss of unions here and worldwide--is that the trade unions trained its workers and the workers were getting a living wage healthcare, and a pension--will be felt by all of us. Unions usually trained its members for four to five years and then they were journeymen, who could expect good wages and continued training as needed. At the end of their working careers, workers, who were usually between the ages 52 and 55, had a living-wage pension to live on--now this is threatened on both fronts--union pensions and Social Security. When workers turned 62, they could receive Social Security and Medicare, which they paid into. They would not need much government assistance, in fact, they could be contributors to the social infrastructure as volunteers. But this is in an ideal world. We live in a GOP-anti-union world where the money people made it their dream to destroy the unions, and the union members stood by and allowed it to happen. The state-by-state destruction was achieved by using the right to work laws, which were voted into law in 27 states and counting. If not a union person or household, then 35 percent have nothing saved for retirement. Few may have $73,200 saved, which is about 15 months of median household incomes. About 10 percent of household have around $413,000 in a retirement account. The top 10 percent makes an average of $162,000 a year. The middle class workers make about $56,516 annually. They are not saving nor can they. In 1979, 38 percent were getting a set monthly check in their golden year from a private-sector pension. Now, unless you work for the government at the city, county, state or federal level or become a career military member, otherwise your pension will be up to you unless you are one of the 11 percent still in a union—if not, you might want to be nice to your children, who hopefully have jobs and will allow you to move into their basements. The GOP are in a position to finish off the remaining unions and are now contemplating destroying Social Security and Medicare and the Affordable Care Act. Social Security and pensions are the only two safe and reliable forms of retirement security—NOT the Stock Market. I bought some stocks just to try it out. It is a nauseous roller coaster ride with all the ups and downs. There is absolutely no way that placing people's hard earned savings through Social Security into the Stock Market would be a good idea because of the way the market is manipulated. It may take years for me to earn back the money I invested to prove my point!