I was at the northern castle last weekend and had to catch up with an old friend, Don Schmidt.
He asked me to forward his respects to Scott Walker, so I shall let Don do it himself:
OK, maybe respect wasn't the right word...
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
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Fat cats? Did you see the wedding ring that guy is sporting. It's laced with diamonds!
ReplyDeleteDo you see how old he is?? Maybe he saved his pennies year after year...or his wife took a second job to earn enough money to give him a new ring for their 30th wedding anniversary. Or maybe it's Diamonique.
ReplyDeleteTrust me...I have known Don for years...and the man just gets by...certainly is not well off. To make any snap judgment like that is absurd! Don is a good man...but to insinuate that he somehow is well off...is totally preposterous.
ReplyDeleteDon's former old friend...Dan
I'm going up there this afternoon. I'll tell him you said hello.
ReplyDeleteThank you...I am sure he will remember me well.
ReplyDeleteDan
Tell him that Jimmy has my email address...if he wishes to reconnect. It has been years...and we have a lot to catch up on.
ReplyDeleteTell him that I still say he caught that big brook trout at the local fish market!
Ha! Oh, now you know I will!
ReplyDeleteCan I assume you also share his love of the muzzle loader? The "Capper" pseudonym name sake?
ReplyDeleteNaw, nothing that romantic. Just a nickname from my misspent youth. Short for captain.
ReplyDeleteA Misspent youth...sounds as though you and Don have that in common...LOL.
ReplyDeleteHe has some stories to tell...and I lived in milwaukee for 8 years...so I knew exactly what he was talking about. I graduated from Carroll College and Marquette University.
The last time I was in west allis...by the mitchell domes...no one spoke english! Lots of major changes.
Don was apparently a pistol pete when young.
Oh, Don is still a spitfire. But he is good people and I'm lucky to have him as my neighbor.
ReplyDeleteOh...neighbor...by him in Iola? On one side was the impaired older woman...and on the other side was Felix Tassi...I also knew Richard Recker and the Dana way down on the end. Where are you?
ReplyDeleteDon is a very good guy...but he definitely is not at all well off.
The pine trees in his yard and on the property line were from me. As was the cool picnic table he has.
Felix was my grandfather. We bought the land before he passed six years ago.
ReplyDeleteRichard is also gone, killed in a car accident in 2005.
Dana is still hanging in there with the help of the neighborhood.
Lot of people, including Don, are selling their places and moving out for various reasons. The impaired woman sold her place last year. Don's been trying for about a year and a half.
I knew Felix well...and when we were a family yet...took him with us to Perkins for breakfast.
ReplyDeleteWhere on earth is Don going now?
Don wants to move back to Appleton. It's getting to be too hard for him to keep the place up.
ReplyDeleteThat place was his dream..and he will not enjoy being back in the city. Is his health still failing him?
ReplyDelete.................................................................................
He will not ever get his value out of selling now...the market simply is not there.
You could say that. He's had some rough times and he's not a spring chicken anymore.
ReplyDeleteIt didn't help when the woman uphill sold her land at ridiculously low price and that half the neighborhood is up for sale.
The real estate market sucks right now...but seriously...why is Don moving...what is up? Something more has to be going on.
ReplyDeleteWhere I live...houses are cheaper than cars...and presently there is less than 5,000 in the entire county. half the schools are now boarded up...and the last major employer left...perfect for me.
ReplyDeleteLike I said, Don is getting older and has had some medical issues. They want a place that is easier to keep up and closer to their doctors, most of whom are in Appleton.
ReplyDeleteYup...Don always had medical issues...gout, bone spurs, to arthritis to panic attacks and clinical depression...but I suspect he will have more issues once he lives in the city. Likewise...there comes a time to draw the line on healthcare providers. If you were to listen to then totally...you would have no quality of life at all. This from a man who used to have Dr. in front of my name (still do I guess...just never use it).................................................Sometimes you need to use common sense.
ReplyDeleteJust delete my posts please...as apparently Don is fine...he simply does not wish to deal with me anymore...so be it.
ReplyDeleteI suspect that Don was literally thrilled to hear from me...as thrilled as Jimmy was. I really do not understand...but you cannot worry about things beyond your control.
ReplyDeleteAch, Dan, I'm sorry. I meant to get back to you last weekend and got tied up in other things and forgot.
ReplyDeleteDon and Charlotte were both genuinely glad to hear that you're doing OK. They said that they were worried about you and had nothing but nice things to say about you.
Sometimes...it is best to let sleeping dogs lie.
ReplyDeleteI cannot honestly say that Jimmy made me feel welcome...not at all...and if they wanted contact...you know my email addy...Jimmy knows my email addy...and they would have been in contact.
We both know...that is not going to happen.
C'est La Vie...so goes life.
I still think it is amazing what talented taxidermist can do with a big black horse sucker...to make it look just like a brook trout.
ReplyDeleteYou can tell him I said so!
With that I am gone...bye....
Don is a very good person...but that does not say I agree with his politics. We could not be farther apart that way. I see unions as legalized group extortion..."pay me a very high (generally excessive) amount to do the unskilled job I was hired for, or we will all strike". The days of grabbing a union job right out of high school...with no real applicable skills...and making high union scale wages in a paper mill...until you die or retire...are now long gone. I do not see the UAW faring any better. I also am not impressed with the well established link between unions and organized crime. Jimmy Hoffa and the Teamsters was bad enough...but the Longshoreman's union affiliation with the mob is legendary. "Free Labor" is anything but free, and it costs us all dearly.
ReplyDeleteThe biggest cost to labor now is health care. That problem arose when it was deregulated in the late 80s, early 90s. It's not the union workers' fault that the health care execs, insurance execs and pharma execs don't think they can live on less than tens of millions of dollars every year.
ReplyDeleteThat is extraneous to my point...that being that unions tend to hold us all hostage...to get wages that are out of line...for people who are basically unskilled labor. It has absolutely nothing to do with benefits costs.
ReplyDeleteI agree that insurance companies own us, and I also am not really happy that they are having so much say in the structuring of our latest nation health care system. To me, that is like a fox overseeing the hen house.
That a kid...fresh out of high school...with absolutely no acquired skills what-so-ever...can step into the UAW or the paper mills and make the absurd wages they do (with or without benefits packages)...is unconscionable...and it costs us all.
And where there is no union? The people make less, a lot less, but it saves the consumer no money. I'd rather see the money in the hands of those who will spend it and keep the economy moving than in those who hoard it for themselves and let the rest suffer.
ReplyDeleteThat money they make comes from somewhere...and that somewhere is the rest of us.
ReplyDeleteThe unions had a purpose when employers were patently abusive, and workers exhibited more strength as a united group...against such abuses.
If such abuses exist at all now, the government benevolently (?) steps in.
"A government big enough to give you everything you want,
is strong enough to take everything you have."
Thomas Jefferson
Now...it really is only about the money...as either benefits or direct income.
Money does not magically come from out of nowhere...and if you are giving it to one group that has your blessings...it has to be taken from someone else.
Taking it from one group of people...and giving it to another...does not create more discretionary income in the over all picture.
It does not add to the economy at all...it merely blesses those with a union card...favors them...above others in the population.
One group wins...but the rest lose...just the way things work in the real world.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I do not agree with the idea of a trickle down economy (espoused by GW Bush)...but I also do not agree with trickle up poverty (espoused by our current administration).
Again I turn to Thomas Jefferson, as apparently he had great foresight (the only glaring exception being the way congress has given themselves too much...and has created an entire class of millionaires...with benefits and excessive incomes).
"The democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work and give to those who would not."
Thomas Jefferson
"A government which robs Peter to pay Paul, can always depend on the support of Paul."
ReplyDeleteGeorge Bernard Shaw
The unions have been steadily eroded over the last forty years with the mentality that the government has rules for that sort of thing. Now we are seeing said rules going away. Child labor laws are being relaxed,if not completely rescinded. Workplaces again are becoming less safe. Wages have remained stagnant, if not lessened, over the years while CEOs take away record breaking numbers.
ReplyDeleteWithout the middle class, the economy falters and we all hurt. And without the unions, there is no middle class.
The government robs Peter to pay Paul, so that Paul can pay Peter. Except Paul is no longer paying the government or Peter anything. That is an unsustainable situation.
You saying it...does not make it so. Cite examples please for us...especially the changes in the child labor laws that are allowing abuses to occur.
ReplyDeleteAlso...since the liberals have been in power for a while now...how would any such legislation get passed in the first place? I certainly have not seen any new laws.
I was in unions...and I worked for years in them....even through a strike. When I sat the union steward down to show him on paper how he was gaining nothing by pushing the strike, and how even a few days off meant we all lost. His response was numbing. "Do you like your job...then shut up!"...and this idiot was supposedly on our side. The strike occurred...not because it was necessary...but because they were going to show management who was boss. After being out on strike for a month...they settled for far below what the company had offered in the first place...plus they lost all the income for the time out on strike. It was a total lose...lose situation. The union rep simply wanted to move up the ladder within the union...and that was the only real motivation he ever actually had...and we all paid.
At the strike against IP in De Pere...the last thing the workers did before they left, was turn dials that had not been touched in thirty years...blatant sabotage. Within a week or two however, the management running the mill was producing paper faster and more efficiently than ever before. The entrenched members of the union...the ones with seniority...were hurting productivity...but could not be touched. Again...everyone lost.
My take...unions in general benefit mediocrity...in lieu of meritocracy. Instead of the best man for the job...you get the longest employed...those with seniority in charge. But if the business is not competitive...eventually everyone loses...regardless of seniority.
Blue collar workers are no longer the majority of the middle class...and that has been the case now for quite a while. You are likely referring to the teachers.
ReplyDeleteMy Father was a teacher and eventually in the administration...and all of my uncles were teachers. To be a teacher back then, you took a vow of poverty. My Dad never had much to show for his years...until just before he retired. Being in administration meant he was in management, but he also shared in the benefit packages given the teachers. He went from struggling to get by...to comfortably well off...with the new system. "The teachers always shoot for the moon in negotiations", he used to say "...as when it goes to binding arbitration...the middle ground is also way too high". Before he died however, he used to always say, that it was out of whack and some day it was going to have to come crashing back down to reality. It had become an excessive burden on the school systems. This from a teacher. He really hoped that he was not around to see it...as it was going to create some very hard feelings. As it turned out...he got his wish...but his words spoken back in the 1980's...proved to be quite prophetic.
You said: "Blue collar workers are no longer the majority of the middle class...and that has been the case now for quite a while."
ReplyDeleteThat is the point I just made. With the decline of the unions came the decline of the middle class.
And it's not that the workers are asking too much. That would be counterproductive, since without the employer, they would be out of work. The issue is that the CEOs and the Boards of Directors and the other ultra-rich are to reluctant to allow anyone else even a modicum of success, such as living above poverty.
Perhaps if the rich paid their share, and the companies paid their share, there would be no crisis.
As for the child labor laws, your position disappoints me. There's this thing called Google. A minute on it gave me stories on Maine, Missouri, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin.
Click on each of the state names to get the article.
ReplyDeleteThings are changing. No one is going to get paid what they did in the sixties and seventies…for a job that can be done faster and more dependably by a robot on an assembly line. The blue collar workers no longer represent the majority of the middle class…because technology has made such boring and repetitious work superfluous. Machines now do the totally boring job that I used to do in the paper mills. The switch to white collar from blue collar jobs was inevitable. What is killing the middle class right now, is not the paucity of blue collar union jobs, as they were going the way of the dinosaur anyway. What is killing the middle class, is the banking and wall street interests…neither of which do we own…but both of which we bailed out with tax dollars…and there was no accounting. Germany is buying the New York Stock exchange out right. The bonuses paid to members of the stock exchange have been absurd as well, but we are lucky if we even get the money back that they got under the bail out.
ReplyDeleteBanks being to big to fail is ludicrous…and we bail them out with the good old TARP program…so they repay us with illegal foreclosures. There never has been a thorough and complete independent audit of the Federal Reserve either, and the liberals fight doing so tooth and nail. One congressman on the conservative side (Ron Paul) was demanding it..as was one liberal democratic representative from Florida (Alan Grayson)…but the representatives of the Fed…will not even answer pointed questions. See - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PXlxBeAvsB8 and be amazed as to how little they respond to direct inquiries. They simply plead ignorance.
JFK wanted to get us out of the federal reserve…via executive order #11110…and that order is still on the books…but no one remotely pays any attention to enforcing it…much like the laws on the book pertaining to illegal immigration. They can ask you to identify yourselves…and you must comply by law…but it is against the law to ask any such thing of the illegal aliens among us? That is totally absurd. The illegals have more rights than the legal residents. Watch the information about executive order #11110 on you tube…and be amazed - http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=JFK+was+getting+us+out+of+the+federal+reserve&aq=f
As for the child labor situation…I get news every single day from a very large variety of sources…dozens of the XLM RSS feeds daily (UPI to Reuters, the BBC, Yahoo! has a dozen different feeds alone, Wired News, CNN, Slashdot, CNet, and the PBS…plus the Huffington Post daily updates that come via email…though I draw the line with the Washington Post, as they work under the principle that if you repeat the same lies often enough, they eventually become the truth)…and no where has there ever been a single mention of issues with child labor practices in the US.
I am much more disappointed with you…for telling me to "google it". If it is real…and it is there…give us the URL…not just such sweeping statements. Good Grief…did you never write any term papers?
I am informed to the max…and I spend hours digesting the latest news every morning…but I have not seen anything regarding changes in the child labor laws.
I googled the following "us child labor law, current issues"…and there is absolutely nothing by the way of current events…just historical items. If you have a valid point to make…do not just tell somebody to "Google it"…give everyone the Uniform (universal) Resource Locator (the URL) - http://www.google.com/webhp#hl=en&cp=33&gs_id=3m&xhr=t&q=us+child+labor+law+current+issues&qe=dXMgY2hpbGQgbGFib3IgbGF3IGN1cnJlbnQgaXNzdWVz&qesig=uMPROfQG6_bpUchN6tda2g&pkc=AFgZ2tnQyfYZdcIFVqVkeIAgJNG0KcsmFn0PF6eC_Olo3SfLtizcoLbOEFeRQ9hEyZXt7t1d7eJmmY2G7qj6lQYI9Hr8LxzS1A&pf=p&sclient=psy&site=webhp&source=hp&pbx=1&oq=us+child+labor+law+current+issues&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&gs_sm=&gs_upl=&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.&fp=4d552213b5e06225&biw=698&bih=385
Things are changing. No one is going to get paid what they did in the sixties and seventies…for a job that can be done faster and more dependably by a robot on an assembly line. The blue collar workers no longer represent the majority of the middle class…because technology has made such boring and repetitious work superfluous. Machines now do the totally boring job that I used to do in the paper mills. The switch to white collar from blue collar jobs was inevitable. What is killing the middle class right now, is not the paucity of blue collar union jobs, as they were going the way of the dinosaur anyway. What is killing the middle class, is the banking and wall street interests…neither of which do we own…but both of which we bailed out with tax dollars…and there was no accounting. Germany is buying the New York Stock exchange out right. The bonuses paid to members of the stock exchange have been absurd as well, but we are lucky if we even get the money back that they got under the bailout.
ReplyDeleteBanks being to big to fail is ludicrous…and we bail them out with the good old TARP program…so they repay us with illegal foreclosures. There never has been a thorough and complete independent audit of the Federal Reserve either, and the liberals fight doing so tooth and nail. One congressman on the conservative side (Ron Paul) was demanding it..as was one liberal democratic representative from Florida (Alan Grayson)…but the representatives of the Fed…will not even answer pointed questions. Check it out and be amazed as to how little they respond to direct inquiries. They simply plead ignorance.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PXlxBeAvsB8
JFK wanted to get us out of the federal reserve…via executive order #11110…and that order is still on the books…but no one remotely pays any attention to enforcing it…much like the laws on the book pertaining to illegal immigration. They can ask you to identify yourselves…and you must comply by law…but it is against the law to ask any such thing of the illegal aliens among us? That is totally absurd. The illegals have more rights than the legal residents. Watch the information about executive order #11110 on you tube
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=JFK+was+getting+us+out+of+the+federal+reserve&aq=f
As for the child labor situation…I get news every single day for a very large variety of sources…dozens of the XLM RSS feeds daily (UPI to Reuters, the BBC, Yahoo! has a dozen different feeds alone, Wired News, CNN, Slashdot, CNet, and the PBS…plus the Huffington Post daily updates that come via email…though I draw the line with the Washington Post, as they work under the principle that if you repeat the same lies often enough, they eventually become the truth)…and no where has there ever been a single mention of issues with child labor practices in the US. Get me the URLs as the links do nothing.
ReplyDeleteI am informed to the max…and I spend hours digesting the latest news every morning…but I have not seen anything regarding changes in the child labor laws.
ReplyDeleteI googled the following "us child labor law, current issues"…and there is absolutely nothing by the way of current events…just historical items. If you have a valid point to make…give everyone the Uniform (universal) Resource Locator (the URL). Let me try it on firefox and chrome to see what gives.
No go at all on Safari, Firefox, Chrome, nor on Opera
ReplyDeleteIt really is not pertinent anyway.
ReplyDeleteThe pros and cons of unions and the destruction of the middle class...have nothing to do with Child Labor abuses.
That is peripheral to the discussion at hand.
But now you do have me curious...so hit me with the URLs...use email if the browsers are not getting me there.
Maine: http://www.sunjournal.com/state/story/997624
ReplyDeletePennsylvania: http://paindependent.com/2011/08/lawmakers-move-to-update-child-labor-law/
Wisconsin: http://host.madison.com/ct/news/local/govt-and-politics/capitol-report/article_77bf08b2-93c5-11e0-8876-001cc4c03286.html
Missouri - http://www.inthesetimes.com/working/entry/7002/missouri_legislator_wants_to_increase_child_labor/
Missouri and Maine:
http://www.nclnet.org/worker-rights/82-child-labor/494-state-child-labor-laws-under-attack
Thanks for the information.
ReplyDeleteThese are "proposed" changes to state laws...putting them aligned with the federal regulations.
I do not agree that kids should be working such long hours at such a young age...but I remember that I did...and at multiple jobs also...especially in summer.
No one ever followed the laws on the books anyway, and the extra hours were simply off the books.
Many of my high school classmates also worked full time year round...quite a few did actually...despite the laws.
Enforcement was extremely lax...essentially no one cared...and things have not changed a whole lot.
These are merely proposed changes...but the unions do not like it..because the kids are seldom (if ever) in the union...ergo were not paying union dues.
When I worked in the paper mills though, I had to pay my union dues, but was never afforded union benefits...not ever...as I was "college help". My experiences (first hand experiences) soured me with regards to the self serving unions.
This occurring now, is something out there, that is strictly due to the present economic climate.
When I was a kid...if I wanted to go on to college...I had to work...and save as much money as I could.
Kids these days do not think that way, and most simply want to acquire material goods...an iPad or iPhone...and possibly a mode of transportation...and of course all the beer they can drink (which also is against the law...but that never stopped anyone).
The parents are really responsible for what occurs with minors...but most parents say very little...if anything.
I sort of slid it by my parents...but it did not effect my GPA...so they did not go there.
I was driven...achieving...and they allowed me more leeway because of that.
In college, I worked full time...and went to school full time...plus took a double load of the heaviest science courses.
I have a BS double major in biology and chemistry...as well as enough courses for a physics minor.
I had to work...not to buy things...it was to eat, buy text books, and pay tuition.
The child labor laws being union turf is a stretch at best anyway...and it has absolutely nothing to do with unions...nor this discussion...not really.
ReplyDeleteMost of my jobs were nonunion, as most were small mom and pop businesses...ergo...no unions involved at all.
I suspect that is still quite likely the case.
It simply does not fit the discussion, as it is not really union business...never has been...and never will be.
Unions are reaching for any straws...any raison d'être...to justify their existence.
It most certainly is not their domain of expertise.
The Obama administration is also attempting to push the Dream act once again...with twice as many more recipients...than jobs that are available...in one state alone.
Headlines like this also do not help - "Wisconsin activist says illegal aliens more deserving of jobs than unemployed Americans"
Even liberal dems are distancing themselves from Barack Hussein Obama now.
He is now considered to be a "toxic asset".
Capper...say hi to Don and Char for me.
ReplyDeleteBest of luck...bye
I did not phrase that correctly...please tell them good bye for me.
ReplyDeleteDebating with a typical big city liberal...is an exercise in futility anyway...no matter how you slice it.
ReplyDeleteIt is as though it is a religious crusade.
Wow. I didn't know standing up for basic rights and decency was something to be scorned or ridiculed.
ReplyDeleteFelix Tassi is my great grandfather. I LOVED going up to Iola to visit him. It still remains one of my favorite places in the world. If I could own the land his house is/was on, I would in an instant.
ReplyDelete