Speaking of which, there was a Union protest in Dublin yesterday. The Irish government is going to have to pay back their EU bailout, (and people are surprised about this?) The government will have to cut spending to do it. This means fewer benefits: Allow fewer people on the dole, spend less on public health care, and reduce the number of 'public sector' jobs. This of course, upsets the Unions, who are angry the government wants to reduce the number of street sweepers, telephone sanitisers and meter maids. Basically, the Unions are mad they can't milk the government any more. Wah! Wah! Boo hoo!
Yesterday the SIPTU (Some Ignorant People in the Teachers Union) staged a protest that blocked O'Connell street for half and hour. My bus sat in the same place on the Quay for 1/2 an hour while idiots waved red flags over the Liffey. And you want to know what I was doing? I was going to work on a Saturday. You know, the job I went to college for.
So let me get this straight... Union people are protesting the fact that the government will have to reduce the number of civil service jobs... by stopping people from getting to their legitimate jobs! Yeah that makes sense.
Or think of it this way, Unions are protesting government's austerity measures by doing something that costs the government thousands of euro to police and clean up after. Now Dublin has to pay 100 more Gardaí to work on a Saturday, and then run extra street-sweepers to clean up the inevitable public protest litter. I think if the government wants to save money they should get rid of the Unions.
Well said!
ReplyDeletehaha thanks. I went on a bit of a rant there. I just got kinda pissed off that my time was being wasted. Honestly, I went to college, I did my homework, I got an education. It's not my fault that other people decided to party... and now they have crappy jobs flipping burgers or working in the mail room. Now they're bitching and moaning about being low-paid-workers and getting their benefits cut. Boo hoo. Aesops Fables is full of stories about ants & grasshoppers and farmers with lazy sons. You can't say you weren't warned at an early age.
ReplyDeleteWe have the same problem here in the U.S., though. Everyone wants their handouts, but they have no idea how it actually gets paid for (um, hello, taxpayers?). I think in general, the world economy is experiencing a wake-up call. We can't continue to spend, spend, spend without some consequences.
ReplyDeleteGood point Jen. People are always saying they need 'more benefits' and they think the government simply waves a magic wand to make the money appear. It doesn't work that way. We have to sell bonds, raise taxes, and basically sell our debt to China to come up with the money. The people with their hands out begging for money don't seem to understand: The U.S. gross national debt as of this month is 15.03 trillion dollars. China holds 26 percent of all foreign-held U.S. Treasury securities. Holee crap! Do we really want to sell our souls to China so that Wal-Mart shoppers can have more Welfare?
ReplyDeleteOne Thanksgiving, as we all sat around the table. My Husbands Grandmother refused the gravy. When asked "why", she said it was how she was weaned from the teat and that she has never liked gravy since.
ReplyDeleteLet me tell you, after an uncomfortable pause, there then ensued a river of said gravy from my brother-in-laws nose and quite a few snickers.
Best Thanksgiving ever!