Senator Casey is coining “greed-flation” to describe the current economic pain of Pennsylvanians. Once the gimmickry is removed from his talking points there is only the reality that failed policies of the Biden administration and continued neglect from policymakers such as Sen. Casey are truly to blame.
We can agree with Sen. Casey that more need to be held “accountable for taking advantage of American workers and their families.” Accountability is not a fickle thing and must be spread equitably especially for the sake of American workers. I hope that his next “Greedflation” report notes the continued annual drop of union membership nationwide as workers exercise their right to not join a union. However, many policies that Casey/Biden advocate for are unabashedly unions-only and both frequently acknowledge this publicly. The flaw in this approach is that unions represent roughly less than ten percent of workers. So, their policy approach places most workers, just as the construction workers we represent, at an intentional disadvantage.
Removing semantics of the word greed, it certainly isn’t to the benefit of a majority of American workers who have chosen to be non-union, and their families, to penalize their earning potential for their choice. What should be done is candidly look inward and ask if the approach of supporting a lowering union base is the strategy that lifts all other workers and their families. The personal greed and arrogance to overlook that practical question at a time when it means so much to Pennsylvanians is truly startling.
Leadership is a privilege to better the lives of others. It is not an opportunity to satisfy personal greed — or the greed of union leaders that seek to satisfy their own ends over most others. I welcome the opportunity to share more for consideration in his next report.
G. David Sload is CEO the of the Associated Builders & Contractors, Keystone Chapter.
1. Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC) is a national U.S. trade association representing the non-union construction industry founded to advocate “for free enterprise and open competition in the U.S. construction industry.”
2. Most of the Greater Philadelphia suburbs does open shop (union membership is not a requirement) for majority of construction jobs already. And cost of construction has skyrocketed in the Greater Philadelphia suburbs since 2019. The cost of everything has. Companies charge what customers are willing to pay. If it is too expensive then no one will buy, and prices will go down.
3. If you look at Monetary Base, which measures the supply of liquid money (circulating currency and bank reserves, which is a subset of M1: (a smaller subset since 2020 than it used to be), notice that Monetary Base did not undergo a redefinition like M1, yet Monetary Base increased by 52%, from 3.442 trillion in January 2020, to 5.248 trillion in January 2021. This is due directly to money creation during that year.
4. Roughly 60% of employees work for gov or companies that have contracts with gov. Real gross domestic product (GDP) increased at an annual rate of 3.2 percent in the fourth quarter of 2023, according to the “second” estimate. In the third quarter, real GDP increased 4.9 percent. The increase in the fourth quarter primarily reflected increases in consumer spending, exports, as well as state and local government spending.
5. The Gov (feds and local) and Big Corp have lots of extra cash. They are willing to pay much higher prices. The average citizen apparently is also willing to pay these higher prices. Once people stop paying then the free market will correct pricing. Politicians constantly get paid by lobbyists to keep interfering with free market.
Good analysis Michael – facts are often lacking when politicians speak. You can add the semantic device of “shrinkflation” to the list as well. I only wish that someone in the Administration in Washington could tell me how “shrinkflation” caused me to pay more for one gallon of gas, one pound of butter, one dozen eggs, one pound of bacon, one pound of coffee, or one quart of orange juice. Of course we recently had GAry Pilnick, the CEO of Kellogg’s, say on CNN that “”Advertising cereal for dinner” is a way to deal with the steep cost of groceries right now. If you think about the cost of cereal for a family versus what they’d otherwise do, that’s going to be much more affordable.”