August 30, 2001
The Yinzers may run me out of town on a rail for this one, but here goes:
Surprise, surprise, the steel industry and the unions are bitching again about how the current administration needs to "do something" about these evil companies who have the audacity to undercut the U.S. industry. I got news for ya, USX and USWA: It's your own damn fault.
The unions, which were necessary when they started, eventually drove up overhead so much that the companies had to start charging inflated prices for their product. And the companies went along, to avoid bad PR. And now they're all screwed.
Modern steel workers are, at best, semi-skilled workers. I doubt half of them know what element steel is comprised of, let alone how the process works. They just know how to read the dials in front of them, and where the manual is if one of the warning lights comes on.
So now they want Dubya (and Billy-boy before him) to create some ultra-protectionist tariffs to protect the steel industry. Never mind that the suddenly higher prices will fuck the auto industry (among others), it'll keep these overpaid workers in their cushy jobs for a while.
