The precusor to the Mafia was a group of men intent to stop the French invaders. Eventually power corrupted and the rest of that story has been well chronicled.

Likewise unions organized to ensure working people would have better working conitions and decent compensation and benefits. Unfortunately over the years union and especially public unions made unreasonable demands based not on fair exchanges but rather because union organization had to justify their existence, pretty much like politicians. Politicians being weak caved in to the demands of public unions in exchange for votes without regard as to the negative effect it would have and now has on state budgets. The demand in compensation and benfit increases were not accompanied with increased in production and quality. In fact I would argue it resulted in complacency, to wit the loss of our competitive edge in the auto industry.

I grew up around union men and was forced in my earlier years of working (closed state) to join both the teamsters and steelworkers unions while I attended college nights. to say the least I was disgusted to see so many men "feathering their nests" that when I did run across a hard working guy I congratulated him.

If there is any light at the end of this dark tunnel its that many young Americans now facing financial hardship will come to understand the evils of government dependence and the desire for financial independence.

What is of great concern to me is the flippant nature of so many Americans concerning the damage being done to this nation by politicians who are more interested in being popular than effective. Of course I place Obama at the top of this list. Apparently for some their egos are so fragile that the need to be right supersedes right