For the Obama administration, yesterday was nothing more than a day to kiss some serious union tuckus.  Barack Obama and Joe Biden made their appearances at their respective union rallies, where it was clear that the battle lines have been drawn.  When introducing Barack Obama at a rally in Michigan, Teamsters President Jimmy Hoffa had this to say:

"We got to keep an eye on the battle that we face: The war on workers. And you see it everywhere, it is the Tea Party. And you know, there is only one way to beat and win that war. The one thing about working people is we like a good fight. And you know what? They've got a war, they got a war with us and there's only going to be one winner. It's going to be the workers of Michigan, and America. We're going to win that war …President Obama, this is your army. We are ready to march. Let's take these son of b*tches out and give America back to an America where we belong.”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zuoEPsMbsVw

What did Obama have to say to Mr. Hoffa?  He told this goon how “proud” he was of him.  This is called “toning down the rhetoric,” a familiar part of the leftist dialogue.

It sure sounded like Hoffa was promoting a bit of violence, didn’t it?  Violence?  Unions?  Surely not!  But before you read on why don’t you check out this link.  Michelle Malkin has put together some videos of the Top 10 Union Thug Moments of the Year.  Careful though.  The people in these videos are not what you would call nice.  You will hear foul language and witness attacks on people who don’t necessarily share the Goonion point of view. 

There .. .did you watch tie videos?  Did you see the grinning union supporter calling tea party members d__k suckers?  Did you see the union mob outside the home of a Verizon executive?  Great people.  So now you can read on ………

Next up is Joe Biden at an AFL-CIO rally in Cincinnati.  He’s ready for a war as well, a war against the “barbarians.”

“This is a different kind of fight … this is a fight for the heart and soul of the labor movement.  It’s a fight, literally, for our right to exist.  Don’t misunderstand what this is … you are the only folks keeping the barbarians in the gates.  You are the only non-governmental power that has the power and capacity to stop this onslaught … The other side has declared war on labor’s house and it’s about time we stand up.”

Barbarians .. sons of b*tches .. these are nothing but desperate cries from a dying movement that a shrinking number of Americans seem willing to save.  Less than 7% of private sector American workers now belong to a union and that number has been declining for decades.  I assume that when Jimmy Hoffa talks about “giving America back to an America where we belong,” he is talking about the days when 35% of Americans belonged to a labor union.  But if Americans were so concerned about returning America back to where we belong (aka. when unions dominated) then why would people be fleeing unionized states for right-to-work states in droves?  And how do you claim that unions are good for workers and jobs when over the last 25 years, right-to-work states have created more than twice as many jobs as unionized states?  You can’t.  Jimmy Hoffa and his union goons are not concerned about the supposed war on workers.  What they are really concerned about is losing their power.  The less people they have in their precious unions, the less power they have over workers and less clout they have with politicians.

I believe that Americans genuinely do want shared prosperity in the sense that if we all work hard we can grow the size of the pie and that is better for everyone.  But Americans do not want Obama and the labor union’s version of shared prosperity, which is to take prosperity from the people who actually earned it and give it to someone who didn’t, simply because they wear a union logo.  A redistributive view of shared prosperity is not about growth, it is about power.  The fact is that unions do not contribute to economic growth and prosperity .. in fact, they are prosperity leaches.  Take a look at some of these statistics highlighted in this post on RedState.com:

• … a company with 10 percent of its workforce unionized could experience 2.6 percent higher unit labor cost, and 21 percent lower before-tax profit than its non-union counterpart unless the union impact can be offset by charging higher prices.

• … a winning certification election has, on average, about the same effect on investment as would a 30 percentage point increase in the corporate tax.

• Unionized firms have profits that are 10% to 20% less than non-unionized firms

• Capital investment of an average unionized firm is 6% lower than that of a comparable nonunion firm

• The average unionized firm made 15% lower annual expenditure on Research & Development

• In studying 510 manufacturing firms, median growth of non-unionized firms was 27%, while the growth rate of unionized firms was zero.

Labor Day provided a nice backdrop for these union goons to get up and rally the troops, but their troops are dwindling.  Wisconsin was the mini-battleground for labor and the recent recall elections were supposed to be a sign of what is to come in 2012 and beyond.  After all is said and done, and labor unions poured millions of dollars into their recall campaigns in Wisconsin, the people of Wisconsin voted .. and it doesn’t look good for the labor unions.  Americans are finally waking up.