Political Quotes

“Mr. President, I just came from a rally--a meeting--with more or less 100 middle-class workers from Wisconsin, West Virginia, my State of Ohio, and all over the country. There were teamsters and mineworkers dressed in camo shirts. There were also bakery and confectionery workers, carpenters, and electricians. They were here because many of them--maybe all of them--are about to lose 50 percent of their pensions. They are about to lose their pensions because 10 years ago, in the end days of the Bush administration, which was when our economy plummeted and people were losing jobs--800,000 jobs a month in the last months of the Bush administration--and when companies were going out of business, a lot of the employers of these workers went out of business. When you put on top of that the Wall Street greed, you can see why these pensions are in jeopardy. Too often in this town, the White House, frankly, and my Senate colleagues don't understand what collective bargaining is about. Collective bargaining is negotiating at the bargaining table the giving up of wages today so as to put money aside and have pensions and healthcare in the future. That is what these workers did, these teamsters and these confection workers and these ironworkers. That is what they did, but they are paying a price. There is nothing they did to cause this, but they are paying a price.…”