Remember that threatened railroad strike that might hae started this past Friday if it weren’t for the heroic intervention. of the Biden administration? Before the administration took credit for the proposed deal with the unions, had anyone heard of this crisis before? Yes, it could have been a crisis and no, most of us had no idea the economy was about to hit, not a brick wall, but a solid steel wall as when fright trains stop, so do most of the items bought in grocery stores and retail, as well as products required for manufacturing(wood, steel, aluminum, oil, rubber, etc.).

The issue with the unions, believe it or not, had little to do with pay or even benefits, but with time off from work as in the last several years, the railroads have downsized to the point where workers don’t receive adequate time off, in some cases, even to take vacation. So yes, the workers probably were happy with the pay stipulation of the agreement, but what about what was most important, time off? It looks like just as the celebration concerning inflation, that the administration may be taking credit where none is due, yet.

This article was a real eye opener, especially since we’e already been told that the crisis has been resolved and we can go back to our lives because Uncle Joe is. looking out for us. But what if, as the article poses, the untions do not agree to the settlement and instead strike, and only a few weeks from the midterms. Who will the administration blame? MAGA Republicans? Will the unions then become extremists as described by this president in recent speeches? Ofr course, as the article states, not all unions have to vote against the tentative agreement for it to fail this coming week. A single union’s negative vote could toss the entire proposal into the trash.

What then? Does the process begin again? Will there be an interim strike or will that somehow be prevented? No one wants the railroads to shutdown, even for a short time. Anyone spell ‘recession’? Stock market? That red line will drop so fast Wall Street will have to stop trading. Job losses? Well, if businesses cannot get the materials required to operate, that’s next. No, there’s no good outcome. Hopefully this crisis will be averted by the workers themselves.