Interesting comments by David Brooks on the railroad settlement

[question everything]

I'm a little — not that I'm singing solidarity for every — every morning, but, basically, the government took away the workers' right to strike or their ability to strike.

And that imbalances the negotiation going — if the railroad companies think, oh, well, the government will step in and take away the ability to strike, then that alters how they're going to negotiate. And so it alters the balance.

So, I worry a little about the — sort of the moral hazard of government stepping in. And, somehow, it reminds me, in sort of an inverse case, I thought the bailout of the banks in 2008 was the right thing to do. Nonetheless, it is clear that the moral hazard, the way the government behaved had long-term moral and cultural effects on this country, because people thought, the system is rigged.

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/brooks-and-capehart-on-the-democrats-plan-to-shake-up-the-presidential-primary-calendarhttps://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/brooks-and-capehart-on-the-democrats-plan-to-shake-up-the-presidential-primary-calendar

[2naSalit]

1. His myopic view...

Doesn't help anyone. When he retires, it will benefit journalism in general.

[question everything]

2. Wise people judge a content of an opinion before passing judgment based on whose

opinion it is.

You may want to try it sometime.

[NewHendoLib]

3. Brooks has been a hypocritical hack for decades

I can't stand him

[NoMoreRepugs]

4. THIS.

[Paladin]

10. AMEN.

Just more wasted space in the NYT Opinion section. Not as big a waste as Ross Douthat's drivel, but pretty close.

[NewHendoLib]

11. Stephens, Douthat, Bruni, Brooks ..hacks one and all

[2naSalit]

5. So...

You've judged that I have not reviewed the content? Interesting.

[NoRethugFriends]

6. I read it.

He was a hack and still is. He couches his statements as if he's avoiding stepping on landmines.
The government should have coming out swinging against the bastard railroad execs

[rubbersole]

8. Brooks is past his expiration date.

He still thinks the repubs can be reasonable. Not anymore.

[littlemissmartypants]

13. He and Jonathan Capehart have a point counterpoint thing that they do on the PBS NewsHour

Once a week, I think. Mr. Capehart makes him look like a bumbling fool on the regular. ❤️

[rubbersole]

14. I quit watching them after Mark Shields retired.

Capeheart is brilliant and makes perfect sense. Just can't watch Brooks rock back and forth as he talks.

[littlemissmartypants]

15. His doofus grin that he flashes after every, what he thinks is, a clever statement is

Very annoying. Mark Shields was a once in a lifetime kind of soul. I really miss him! ❤️

[rubbersole]

16. I've tried to seriously limit my exposure to right-wing opinions/opinion makers.

I just get pissed off, and for what? In a rare defense of Brooks' existence - he would occasionally condemn tfg's bullshit. Good for him. Too little, too late.

[brush]

7. Now that the strike is avoided, Joe should get all the principles...

involved...union and management...and hammer out a sensible sick leave plan that works. I mean here we are in 2022 and a major industry's workers don't have sick leave.

Come on, come out of the 19th century. The railroad industry somehow slither through the whole 20th century without giving workers sick leave. That's sick in itself.

[TiberiusB]

9. I can't stand David Brooks, but like a broken watch...

He is sometimes right, and this is one of those times. The decision to intervene on the side of corporations here sends a disastrous message to the working class and unions in particular. It was the anti-labor Chamber of Commerce that called for Congress to intervene and force a resolution.

Let's be clear, Pelosi and Schumer could have ignored Biden's request to pass the bill without modification and advanced a single bill to the Senate, rather than splitting it so the sick leave could be voted down separately. Convenient. They could have forced the rail companies to accept an agreement just as easily as they can force the unions. Odd how that seems to never come up.

And Jonathan Capehart's assertions that the unions didn't have any leverage? Ridiculous. A strike at the busiest retail period of the year is massive leverage. It's the kind of leverage that should have been able to effectively hold the rail executives feet to the negotiating fire. Except they weren't budging, were they. That's the benefit of being an oligarch with market dominance and virtually guaranteed government backing.

I get the fear that the economic impact could have been immense, but coming down on workers and letting the massively wealthy skate has 2024 election trouble written all over it.

https://www.commondreams.org/news/2022/12/02/betrayal-railway-workers-ignites-working-class-fury-toward-biden-and-democrats

[question everything]

12. Thank you