[[email protected]]

((MMalkin (she is not referred to by initials because as Guzzardi says
those designate a more famous individual for all time) brings up some
good points though I would argue a certain amount of union muscle is a
good thing in the bigger scheme of things. Bret))

The UAW's Money-Squandering Corruptocracy

By Michelle Malkin

"Nero fiddled while Rome burned. The UAW golfed. While carmakers soak up $17 billion in taxpayer bailout funds and demand more for their ailing industry, United Auto Workers bosses have wasted tens of millions of their workers' dues on gold-plated resorts and rotten investments. The labor organization's money-losing golf compound is just the tip of the iceberg.

Last week on my blog I noted that the UAW owns and operates Black Lake
Golf Course—a "championship caliber" course opened in 2000 that's part
of a larger "family education center" and retreat nestled in 1,000
acres of property in Onaway, Mich. Spearheaded by former UAW president
Steve Yokich, the resort also includes "a beautiful gym with two full-
sized basketball courts, an Olympic-size indoor pool, exercise and
weight room, table-tennis and pool tables, a sauna, beaches, walking
and bike trails, softball and soccer fields and a boat launch ramp."
Like everything else we're subsidizing these days, the UAW's
playground is a money pit. The Detroit Free Press reported earlier
this year that the golf course (valued at $6 million) and education
center (valued at $27 million) have together lost $23 million over the
past five years. While membership in the union has plummeted, the UAW
retains assets worth $1.2 billion.

Curious about how the UAW will be spending my money and yours, I
sifted through the union's most recent annual report filed with the
U.S. Department of Labor (which you can find at unionreports.gov). Who
knew hitting the links was so central to the business of making cars?

In May and November 2007, the UAW forked over nearly $53,000 for union
staff meetings at the Thousand Hills Golf Resort in Branson, Mo. In
September 2007, the UAW dropped another $5,000 at the Lakes of Taylor
Golf Club in Taylor, Mich., and another $9,000 at the Thunderbird
Hills Golf Club in Huron, Ohio. Another bill for $5,772 showed up for
the Branson, Mo., golf resort. On Oct. 26, 2007, the union spent
$5,000 on another "golf outing" in Detroit. In May and June 2007, UAW
bosses spent nearly $11,000 on a golf tournament and related expenses
at the Hawthorne Hill Country Club in Lima, Ohio. And in April 2007,
the UAW spent $12,000 for a charity golf sponsorship in Dearborn,
Mich. In August 2007, the UAW paid nearly $10,000 to its for-profit
Black Lake golf course operator, UBG, for something itemized as "Golf
2007 Summer School." UBG had nearly $4.4 million worth of outstanding
loans from the union. Another for-profit entity that runs the
education center, UBE, had nearly $20 million in outstanding loans
from the union.

Perhaps, the union bosses might argue, they need all this fresh air
and exercise to clear their heads in order to make wise financial
decisions on behalf of their workers. If only. UAW management has
proven to be a money-squandering corruptocracy with faux blue-collar
trim. Former UAW head Yokich, who built the Black Lake black hole, is
also responsible for bidding $9.75 million of workers' funds in a
botched bid to purchase the gated La Mancha Resort Village in Palm
Springs. The 100-room walled resort with spas, poolside massages and a
"croquet lawn lit for night use" was on the verge of bankruptcy with
$5.2 million in debt. Despite outrage from rank-and-file union members
who thought one gold-plated golf resort was quite enough, leaders
defended the La Mancha bid because, as union spokesman Paul Krell put
it, "You can never tell if you are going to become snowbound." Always
putting the workers first!

That deal didn't go through, but the UAW's quixotic dalliance with a
failed airline did. In February 2000, the union poured $14.7 million
into Pro Air, a Detroit start-up airline that, well, didn't get off
the ground. Plagued by safety problems, the feds shuttered the company
less than a year later. The union didn't fare much better in its
venture with a liberal radio network. In 1996, union heavies got the
bright idea to invest $5 million in United Broadcasting Network, a
left-wing precursor to Air America that the UAW hoped to use to spread
its corporate-bashing propaganda. They shelled out for a $2 million,
state-of-the-art studio in Detroit and incurred years of losses of a
reported $75,000 a month before closing the network down in 2003.

And while the UAW and carmakers cry poor, they've operated massive
joint funds for years that have paid for lavish items such as multi-
million-dollar NASCAR racer sponsorships and Las Vegas junkets. The
dire economic downturn hasn't changed the behavior of profligate union
bigs at the front office or the shop floor. Local Detroit TV station
WDIV recently caught local UAW bosses Ron Seroka and Jim Modzelewski—
both of whom make six-figure salaries—on tape squandering thousands of
hours of overtime on such important labor security matters as on-the-
clock beer runs and bowling tournaments.

At least the groveling Big Three CEOs gave up their corporate jets.
Where's the public flogging for the greed-infested UAW fat cats
reaching into our pockets to keep them afloat?"

http://www.vdare.com/malkin/081230_uaw.htm

[Clyde Slick]

On 31 Dec, 00:17, wrote:
((MMalkin (she is not referred to by initials because as Guzzardi says
those designate a more famous individual for all time)

Marky Mark?
Mary Martin?
Marvin Mandel?