I’m sure most of us have heard how unions came about, the sad plight of thousands of children being forced to work long hours in dangerous conditions, and having no choice but to toil on. It’s a great way to get someone’s attention, but it has no bearing on the company-killing unions of today. Back then, people were desperate for money, and they didn’t have options. There were no rules pertaining to children working, and no safety guidelines either. This has all changed today, but the unions are here to stay. Why?

The union has stayed for a very simple reason: the short sightedness of workers leads them to believe that by demanding higher wages they will earn more money, and be happier. Believe it or not, this is only true in the short term.

You may think I’m crazy, but take look at the liberal argument about outsourcing our future. For years, many have been harping on the loss of industry in America, and the increase of Chinese manufactured products. It’s very true: many of our companies have moved offshore and/or outsourced their manufacturing facilities. This creates bountiful stories about poor workers who lost their high paying jobs and had to struggle to survive with a job at their local fast-food restaurant or no job at all.

Let’s take a look at the types of companies that have outsourced their employee base. They are mostly manufacturing, as others have noted. Why did they outsource? If you ask a liberal, it was because they were greedy, and wanted more money. Ok… so what about the workers? They aren’t greedy by wanting a higher-paying job? In truth, both wanted more money, but the workers lost their jobs because they tried to force the company to pay them more than they were worth.

Yes, I am blaming this on the unions. Let’s say that you own a company that produces a product, and you have a large manufacturing facility in the United States. You have about a thousand workers spread out over a huge facility. Unfortunately, they have formed a union. They threaten to all quit unless you pay them twice as much as the job is worth. Note: Yes I do think many of the union manufacturing employees are getting twice as much as the job is worth!

So you try to refuse, but they go on strike. You try to bring in scabs, but only a few make it inside the building, and they head straight for the first aid kit. What are you supposed to do? If you pay the workers as much as they want, the price of your product is going to skyrocket! Yes, think that one through again. If you have to pay the employees twice as much as they should be paid, the price of your product will rise.

Wait, say the liberals, that just means that you make less money. Prices won’t rise! That’s not true. The price of the product is directly proportional to the cost of making it. You are making money, but if you make any less, it’s not going to be worth your time to run this business anymore.

You have three choices. 1) Run a stagnant business. You don’t have any extra capital to invest or grow. You are just making ends meet if you pay these people as much as they want. Your price will rise, and nobody will be very excited about buying your product anymore. This is not a viable option, because business must grow, or else they will fail. 2) Outsource your manufacturing. This is a big move, but they are millions of workers in other countries who are willing to work for less and be quite happy doing so. Even with all the fees and import costs, you’ll still be making more money than manufacturing at home. 3) Go bankrupt. This is the option taken by GM and Chrysler, due to the insanely high wages they had to pay their workers.

In the end, these are the options that the union worker has as well. If they didn’t demand more than they were worth, they would still have their job. If believe that assembling a car is worth $70 an hour, you need to have a refresher course in tightening a bolt. In reality, the jobs are repetitive, simple, and could be done by almost anyone who could lift a tire, as long as they weren’t on welfare. These are jobs that should be left to the free market, not to unions who extort money from the manufacturer.

So next time you hear a sob story about outsourcing, take a closer look into why the company moved. Make sure you know how much the employees were paid, and for what, before you pull out your hankie.