We are constantly bombarded with liberal philosophy. I express the conservative view, but I am also familiar with countervailing points. Of course I realize that working in a coal mine can be hazardous to your health, and I know that big corporations have a moral duty to provide reasonable protection for their workers. If industry fails, then government should enforce reasonable safety standards to protect the workers. But it is wrong for the government to reap financial gain when they enforce safety standards to protect workers. What is happening is that the government is using this ploy to bring money into its coffers, not operating to actually protect workers.

          View a video if you have time, which was produced by PBS. It is a history of steel and steel workers. Obviously working in a steel mill, is not like working at Disneyland. It was a hard job, certainly government has a roll in protecting the health of workers, and if industry failed, then so did government oversight.

          Working conditions at Bethlehem Steel, the second largest steel company in the world, was demanding, required skill, and supported an entire population and smaller businesses. Bethlehem Steel employed hundreds of thousands of workers during its existence. At one point these jobs paid more then being a lawyer, doctor, school teacher, and so many of the workers during WWII where actually professionals who could not find employment.

          When unions invaded the plants they too failed to protect the worker's health, and while unions increased the labor wage, they did little or nothing else for the workers. Eventually government regulations, government taxation, union benefits, and local politicians destroyed the second most successful steel company in the world. The high costs of production, not simply higher wages made it impossible for U.S. Steel and Bethlehem Steel to compete against less expensive foreign steel.

          The PBS special gives the impression that steel workers were under enemy fire. That the job was hazardous, but of the hundreds of thousands of high wage earners who supported themselves and their family, PBS did not take the time to cite how many were killed or injured. It was miniscule and there were more people dying of lung cancer at asbestos plants around the country where the government also dropped the ball. Workers died both because of corporate greed and government inefficiency.

          The fact is that steel workers who did not have a college education knew how to perform their jobs. Now instead of steel for ships, railroads, skyscrapers, instead of employing thousands, that industrial site in Bethlehem Pennsylvania now hosts a gambling casino.

          The casino employs about 80 people.  In 1967 Bethlehem Steel employed 165,000 people and produced 23 million tons of steel that added to the Gross Domestic Profit. Now the casino produces nothing of value for consumers. It diverts assets that could be used for the education of children, for healthcare, for other more useful purposes. Every dollar that is dropped into a slot machine is a waste of a valuable asset, and is one less dollar to add to the GDP.

          When you watch the video, you will hear of wasted employee resources. It as not what the company would have chosen. This waste was imposed by union leaders. For each dollar more that those employees earned, there was one more dollar for the union to tax, and that meant more donations to politicians who perpetuated further waste.

          For the first 25 years after WWII, munitions plants, were transformed into the most powerful industrial machine in the world. Now America is but a shadow of what it once was. Those industries are now in China. They are producing the steel for our tanks, and our enemies are drilling for oil to run them. At this rate the U.S. will never recover from this depression to once again become the greatest and most powerful nation in the world.

          Workers in Poland, who once wanted to come to American for high paying jobs, now wouldn’t think of coming her because they have better jobs there in Poland. That’s a pretty sad commentary,