This is a really great 4th of July story.

July 1, 2015

The Nantucket Historical Association (NHA) (click here) is pleased to announce the recent acquisition of an 1833 engraved facsimile copy of the Declaration of Independence as a gift from David M. Rubenstein, a nationally-renowned philanthropist and history enthusiast. It will be on display in the Overlook Gallery at the Whaling Museum, 13 Broad Street, beginning Saturday, July 4, 2015.

In 1820, John Quincy Adams noticed that the original Declaration of Independence was deteriorating and suggested creating duplicate copies to preserve the document for years to come. With Congressional approval, he commissioned engraver William J. Stone to create a facsimile. It took Stone three years to finish the copperplate engraving, in which the image of the original embossed Declaration was cut into a surface with carved lines or sunken areas holding the ink for printing. Two hundred and one copies were printed on vellum and distributed to the surviving signers of the original document, current and former presidents and vice presidents, governors, and educational institutions, among others. Just over a quarter of these vellum prints are known to have survived....

Give Missoula their own water facility, now !!!!!!

I don't believe this mess. Carlyle can't even allow a town it's own water supply?

June 30, 2015
By Dennis Bragg

Attorneys for Mountain Water (click here) are asking a Missoula judge to delay the order setting a price for the utility, at least until an appeal can be heard by the Montana Supreme Court. 

Earlier this month, Missoula District Court Judge Karen Townsend ruled the City of Missoula can use the power of eminent domain in its efforts to take over Mountain Water from its present owners, the Carlyle Group. 

The ruling started a 30-day period for Mountain Water to give a price for the utility to city, setting the stage for a possible agreement, or further legal action. 
Carlyle has appealed the ruling to the Montana Supreme Court. But the clock is still ticking for the order to give the city the asking price for the water utility. 
Attorneys asked the Missoula court on Tuesday to stay the valuation process, pending a ruling from the Supreme Court. In a prepared statement, Mountain Water President John Kappes said the company believes allowing that valuation to proceed while the case is on appeal "puts taxpayer funds and the water system itself at significant risk." 

Kappes says there's a chance the city may take over Mountain Water, only to have to "hand back the keys" if Carlyle wins the appeal.

Parnets need to be sure they are receiving notices like this when Cord Blood Registries changes hands.

June 29, 2015 
By Amy Or

GTCR reached an agreement to sell (click here) newborn stem cell business CBR Systems Inc. to publicly traded AMAG Pharmaceuticals Inc. for $700 million.

Waltham, Mass.-based AMAG said in a news release that the acquisition would add additional products and services in the consumer-health and maternal-health markets.

Founded in 1992 and based in San Bruno, Calif., CBR Systems does business as Cord Blood Registry. The company preserves umbilical-cord blood stem cells and cord tissue samples for potential future medical use.

Cord Blood Registry houses more than 600,000 preserved umbilical-cord blood and tissue stem cell units, or more than half of all privately stored cord units in the U.S., AMAG said in the release, citing estimates from the company....

When companies are bought and sold there can be a change in contracts with their customers. Parents need to look into this. I don't know if there are regulations regarding Cord Blood and it's registries. 

...Last year, the company generated a pro forma revenue of about $126 million and an adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization of $45 million, AMAG said.

 

GTCR took a majority stake in Cord Blood Registry in September 2012 for an undisclosed amount. The investment was made from GTCR Fund X LP, a $3.25 billion fund raised in 2011, according to a news release at the time ....

This is a service to customers. I think. That is a really good income from registering Cord Blood.

...Data provider IBISWorld says U.S. blood and organ banks are a $11.9 billion business that is poised to grow at 2.9% in the five years ending 2019. It said the continuing health-care reform enables more individuals to afford such services, and technological innovations that enable researchers to create transplants from stem cells will likely stimulate demand for biobanking and related services....

According to this reporting, the sales and investment activity in these companies/products has been vigorous. I think the federal government needs to take a close look at this. A committee might be interesting.  

Dodd-Frank exposes non-compliance reporting. Why wasn't this in place before?

June 30, 2015
By Francine McKenna

Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. KKR, +0.79%  (click here) will pay $30 million in fines to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, including a $10 million penalty, for misallocating more than $17 million in so-called “broken deal” expenses in its private equity funds. KKR is a publicly traded private equity firm that specializes in buyouts and other merger and acquisition transactions. Its executives advise and manage its main or “flagship” private equity funds along with co-investment vehicles and other accounts that invest with these funds.... 

...According to the SEC’s Director of Enforcement Andrew Ceresney, this is the first SEC case to charge a private equity adviser with a violation of this kind....

...In its most recent 10-Q filed on May 7, KKR disclosed the pending SEC investigation and said it had $25 million, $5 million less than this total penalty, reserved for it and all of rest of its legal contingencies. That list of lawsuits includes at least five class action lawsuits that allege breaches in fiduciary duties related to inadequate disclosures to investors, price fixing, bid rigging, and restricting the supply of private equity financing. 

The SEC’s probe of KKR began with a 2013 inspection. Most private equity firms are now subject to the agency’s inspections after the Dodd-Frank law of 2010 required them to register with the regulator. Monday’s SEC press release announcing the settlement of the allegations faulted a lack of policies and procedures governing broken deal expense allocation and a weak compliance program for the lapses. Marshall S. Sprung, co-chief of the SEC Enforcement Division’s Asset Management Unit, said in the announcement that a “robust compliance program” can ensure that clients are not “disadvantaged and receive full disclosure about how fund expenses are allocated.”...

KKR stated the fines involved historic data. KKR defines historic as 2006 to 2011.

March 6, 2015
By Chris Witkowsky

...The SEC’s probe of KKR (click here) began with a 2013 exam that looked at the years 2009 to 2011, according to a Jan. 21 article from the Wall Street Journal. The exams are part of the new regulatory regime to which most private equity firms are subject after being forced to register with the SEC by the Dodd-Frank Financial Reform act.

According to KKR’s annual report, the SEC is now examining prior years going back to 2006....

"Examination Priorities for 2015" issued by OCIE otherwise known as Office of Compliance, Examinations and Examinations (click here)

Excuse me. But, with Mr. Snowden's download, USA contractors are allowed to participate in other computer networks while still a US government contractor?

25 June 2015
By Reuters

Carlyle Group, (click here) the US private equity firm in which Abu Dhabi’s Mubadala Development Company owns a 7.5 percent stake, said on Sunday it has agreed to pay $120 million for an undisclosed stake in Chinese logistics firm Shanghai ANE Logistics Limited (ANE) as it seeks to benefit from China's booming e-commerce business.

Carlyle said the transaction, financed from its Carlyle Asia Partners IV fund, is expected to close in the third quarter.

ANE, founded in 2010, operates distribution centres and franchised stores for smaller "less-than-a-truckload" deliveries of goods between 15 kg (33 lb) to 3 tonnes.

The Chinese firm had previously secured investments from Sequoia Capital and Warburg Pincus, according to its website.

It looks as though Carlyle has money to spend.


June 29, 2015

Private equity firm CarlyleGroup LP (click here) said on Monday it agreed to pay $115 million for an 18.5 percent stake in Chinese company JIC Leasing Co Ltd, the firm's second investment in China in two days.

Carlyle said the transaction, financed from its Carlyle Asia Growth Partners IV fund, is expected to close in the second half of the year.

Beijing-based JIC Leasing, a unit of state-owned China Jianyin Investment Ltd (JIC), focuses on leasing of equipment in the information technology, healthcare and alternative energy sectors. It had 8.64 billion yuan ($1.4 billion) in assets at the end of 2013, according to JIC's website.

ADVERTISING

Carlyle said on Sunday it would pay $120 million for an undisclosed stake in Chinese logistics firm Shanghai ANE Logistics Ltd (ANE) ($1 = 6.2085 Chinese yuan) (Reporting by Elzio Barreto; Editing by Prateek Chatterjee)

Did the churches have lightning rods?
I think it's NASA or it could be NOAA that has a satellite that records lightning strikes. There has to be a record somewhere. It was both NASA and NOAA.

The Washington, DC Lightning Mapping Array (click here) is a joint demonstration project involving NASA, NOAA, and New Mexico Tech. The network locates the total lightning activity inside storms using a network of ten stations around the greater metropolitan DC area. 

Here is another:

Over the past five years, (click here) the Earth Networks Total Lightning Network™ (ENTLN) has expanded to cover large areas of North and South America, India, Africa and Australia – providing data on storm formation and intensity to help to protect lives and livelihoods around the globe. With more than 800 sensors that monitor lightning in real time deployed, the ENTLN is the world's largest lightning sensor network.

There are weather apps for handhelds. I don't know if they are simply a warning system or it might record the specifics of local weather. If a call goes on to the people there might be some interesting APPS and knowledge behind them.

The truth would be best. This probably isn't strike location, but, it could be.

What Is StreamerRT? (click here)
  

Same sex marriage.

I am glad they are resigning. Marriage is a joyful event, who needs hate behind the marriage license desk. Enough already. They should quit.

There is a separation of church and state, if people covet their jobs in a government office with the understanding their souls come first, they don't have the right job. It is very dysfunctional to carry a grudge against other people.  

Can children go into a classroom with LGBTQ children and not have their souls contaminated? This entire 'stuff' all started with "W" and his extremist agenda. It is outrageous.  

The government doesn't hire someone for their soul, it hires people who can do the job IN THIS WORLD, not any other! 

During the Clinton Administration permission was provided for government employees to bring their bible or any other religious artifact to work to place on their desk or in their draw. When that permission was provided it was in an office full of diversity. There is no guarantee that government will protect souls above all else while casting the country into hostile bigotry.

Can atheists get marriage licenses? 

Then wants the problem?

End of discussion.

Police, lighting and closed circuit televisions.

Church burnings. The FBI should be investigating every one of them.

Every Sunday across the south there are police officers directing traffic out of church parking lots. Perhaps that should be a law so that every church has a police officer in the parking lot every Sunday at every service. Perhaps cities could receive reimbursement to their police officers serving on Sunday. It would be helpful and sanctuaries may be more safe. People would feel cared about.

I realize the faithful will continue being faithful even after violence leveled against them. That isn't good enough for me. I want the faithful advocating for their safety and make elected officials pay attention, too. I want every member of the faithful safe in their places of worship. I don't want chance taking the priority of safety. 

Are there closed circuit televisions on places of worship? Tie them into the police department and/the faithful leader's home and office. Put flood lights on the property to illuminate the church. Not lights on the church itself, but, on very pleasant looking steel poles with under ground wiring. This all takes money, but, where a congregation cannot get credit to install these very minor but effective provisions, the legislature should be tapped for this one time upgrade of all places of worship.  

STOP BEING VICTIMS. 

COMPLAIN.

Noah didn't expect the Lord to provide a hole in the water, he built a ark.

Madeline.

Required for college:

Institutions(click here)  that provide on-campus housing must inform students about meningococcal disease and vaccine and must document receipt of information and whether they choose to be immunized (Health and Safety Code, Sections 120395-120399)*

Madeline was school mate. From our very first days in Kindergarten. We graduated high school together. Our class dispersed into some of the finest universities in the country.

September came with a phone call from home. Madeline had died from spinal meningitis.

This isn't about vaccines, it is about disease. Has the public looked at the list of disease prevented from vaccine medications?

I have said this before; I think parents can withhold vaccines until after the first birthday. If the child is in child care outside of a family home environment the parents really should vaccinate.

As far as mercury? Really? Mercury? It is a toxic metal. What's it doing there? 

Tetanus is probably the biggest success story in the USA. It is virtually wiped out. The populations that succumb to tetanus are the elderly and Hispanic. The opportunity for infection of tetanus is always present. A wound from a fall off a bicycle can cause death if there is no resistance to tetanus. The elderly are always immune compromised. They probably haven't been given a booster. The Hispanic at any age, except those in school, may not have received vaccines by ignorance and/or language barrier and/or financial problems.

Weekly

April 1, 2011 / 60(12); 365-369 (click here)
 
Tetanus is a life-threatening but preventable disease caused by the toxin of Clostridium tetani, a ubiquitous, spore-forming, gram-positive bacillus found in high concentrations in soil and animal excrement. Reported tetanus cases have declined >95%, and deaths from tetanus have declined >99% in the United States since 1947, when the disease became reportable nationally. To update a previous report (1) and to determine the populations at greatest risk for the disease, CDC analyzed cases reported to the National Notifiable Diseases Surveillance System (NNDSS) during 2001--2008. This report summarizes the results of that analysis, which found that 233 tetanus cases were reported during 2001--2008; among the 197 cases with known outcomes, the case-fatality rate was 13.2%. Average annual incidence during that period was 0.10 per 1 million population overall and 0.23 among persons aged ≥65 years. Incidence among Hispanics was nearly twice that among non-Hispanics....

I have never met a parent with a dead child from vaccines IN THE USA. There may be some, but, I don't see documentation about it. There may have been lawsuits. 

Most of the deaths from vaccines occur outside the USA. They occur frequently because there is something wrong with a particular bottle of the vaccine. It may not have been refrigerated or it wasn't handled correctly when administering, but, it is a very rare occurrence when there is a death of a child in the USA from vaccines. 

The authority to require vaccines falls into the public health of any hospital or institution. Public health is about the majority of Americans and what will protect them from any health danger. The vaccines do their job. They protect the majority.

There has been no clear link between vaccines and autism. I think there are issues with vaccines, but, CLEARLY the benefits outweigh the problems. The USA is a compassionate country and if there is a danger to health all the red flags go up. There may be a need to complete independent research to develop better vaccines, but, in all honesty it is a better in the USA because their citizens receive vaccines.

I think it's appropriate to continue to demand better vaccines and more precise effects on children, but, to completely eliminate vaccines we would have to live in a sterile world. That will never happen. At the very least, human beings have benevolent bacteria in their digestive system. There will never be a perfect world to eliminate vaccines. It is a fact of life.  

Mercury Releases and Spills (click here for report from EPA)

Enforced and institutionalized racism.

June 30, 2015
By Grizzard

...The area that houses(click here) this church has long been a hot-bed for racial issues in South Carolina. Kingstree High School, which serves much of Williamsburg County, is one of many high schools in South Carolina that look very similar to the way they looked prior to the Supreme Court's integration mandate in Brown v. Board of Education. More than 95-percent of that school is black, while most white parents take refuge by sending their children to historical segregation haven Williamsburg Academy... 

The movement to destroy public schools and replace them with Charter Schools facilitates segregation. Charter schools in states with problems of racism should not promote or allow Charter Schools. They are being used in parts of the country to further the "fear of each other" and stymie integration. 

Kindly notice, the confederate flag has caused an increase in violence. This is directly from government that enforces segregation.  

The pick-up truck parade told the tale. It was carried out to warn the populous the 'boys' are powerful. It is time law enforcement was powerful and not racism. Dylan Roof is only scraping the surface. Governors in the southern state should have the National Guard at the ready. The churches and their neighborhoods should already be observing National Guard troops in my opinion.

The denial of the real problem of church burnings will only escalate the violence. The sooner church burning is viewed as a hate crime, the sooner the violence will end. 

Church burnings are reaching a double digit number it is a very valid reason to deploy the National Guard while protests of hate exist.  

What is that spike in the fourth quarter of 2001 all about?

Martin Zwilling
Founder & Chief Executive
Startup Professionals
Phoenix, Ariz., mentor and advisor to startups.
 
Even for professionals (click here) who didn’t lose family, friends and co-workers on September 11, 2001, that day prompted soul-searching about the value of sticking with high-paying, seemingly secure jobs, compared to following their dream and being more in control of their own destiny. The result was an immediate surge in entrepreneurship and startups across the country. Of course, most found out that startups are tough, so we haven’t seen any improvement in the failure rate, which still seems to indicate that 50% are gone within the first five years. 

Despite the challenges, I see an increased respect for the role of the entrepreneur in our culture, one that has put entrepreneurs almost on a pedestal, as the pioneers of change in the world, up from second-class citizens who couldn’t qualify for high-paying roles in corporate America. Maybe 9/11 was the wake-up call we needed to get American business thinking back to its roots. 

And values changed with local economies coming into view as a satiation of personal values and a return to quality of life.

Marc Compeau
Director, Reh Center for Entrepreneurship
Clarkson University, Potsdam, NY

Work, family and fun (click here) have long fought for space on life’s goal lists. The 9/11 aftermath brought some rebalancing—and an urge for simplicity. Upstate New York has seen a rebirth of many downtowns, filled with energetic and innovative entrepreneurs comforted by the notion that no terrorist cares about downtown Saratoga Springs. “We have seen many more visitors who don’t just wish they could live a simpler life, but actually open a store front and make a go of it,” says Erin Draper, Director of the Adirondack Business Center in Saranac Lake, NY. “The migration of urban entrepreneurs has really transformed many of the small towns we work with.” Susan Hirschfeld, a fashion consultant for several major retailers, is one of those who sought simple. “I was always running, so tired all the time but never taking a break long enough to realize it,” she says. So Hirschfeld moved to Lake Placid, NY, where she launched her own line of snowboard clothing, Hardway Apparel: “I don’t have anywhere near the disposable income I had but I have traded that cash for peace,” she adds. “Life is so simple–and so fulfilling.”

Trade Agreements

What is balance of trade all about?

The US has a trade deficit. What is that spike at 2001 fourth quarter all about?

Why is the balance for services different than the trade of goods?

You know this. It is some of the easiest understanding a person can draw on to oppose additional trade policies as huge as the GENERALIZED trade agreements opposed by unions across the Pacific and Atlantic? Are these agreements static in their number of members? 

Balance of trade. 

When trade increases in a country there is a shift in jobs and communities to their ability to take care of themselves. The trade in the USA caused a huge shift in the stability of jobs in the USA. The jobs went to cheaper labor outside the USA. In that lies the understanding when good paying jobs are lost to trade negotiations it effects all jobs left within the USA. The jobs remaining within the USA are faced with a glut of workers. There is no reason for good paying jobs to exist at all in the USA if there is a glut of available workers within the economy.

Large number of labor workers in the USA is a "? what word do I want to use ?"

Large numbers of labor workers in the USA are a push back against the power of a union. Why not simply end a contract with a union and venture into the available labor pools? So a glut of workers is a Wall Street dreamscape regardless of the country. 

I always encourage a government that struggles to develop a Middle Class to invite established unions into their country to assist with upward movement. Unions are ambitious by nature and can change the way people view work and it's rewards. Unions also develop these new perspectives among the citizens so a country like the USA is not removing monies from the country's GDP. It is important. Citizens need services, such as health care and good homes to live in, etc. Unions do that within the population and not from without. Unions are very beneficial to a country's treasury, especially in emerging world countries.

I know, I know. Wall Street might even lean on governments to outlaw unions. That is a mistake. If every country had a Middle Class it would sincerely stabilize the global economy. It might be boarding for Day Traders, but, who should care about them?

But, as to a trade deficit.

Let's use percentages. If 100 percent of an available labor source is employed the economy is stable and might even lend itself to inflation because labor is so important to companies manufacturing. There might be jobs that remain unfilled and they are usually the low paying jobs. Who wants those? That is where immigration comes in. Immigration is an ENTIRELY DIFFERENT discussion. 

But, the very stable economy is static. A conservative government is brought into office for social reasons alone. As part of their agenda is opening up trade to other countries and agreements are signed. The population of the country sees it as a good thing. They believe trade is benevolent to the people and other countries in providing a moral content to a country's international identity. Such loyalties invite allies. The strength of a country to impact other countries in a benevolent responsibility is about sovereignty of both countries. That relationship is another discussion. Back to percentages.  

So, the trade agreements 'open end' the impact on employment. Jobs are shipped overseas. The average person isn't really interested in how that impacts jobs or IF that impacts jobs at all; all they want to understand is a feel good feeling about the relationship between other countries. 

The trade agreements in this idealized example costs the country 20 percent of it's jobs. The number of unemployed increases and the economy's cost to business drops. No taxes change, but, a CEO can now manipulate their HUMAN RESOURCES (depersonalized words to personnel) for greater profits and the CEO looks like a genius. The CEO receives enormous bonuses and all is good with Wall Street. Or, so they think. The Wall Street financial environment lives on hubris because it works. Hubris is a component to the instability of an economy. If hubris works to increase profits Wall Street will reward that paradigm like contributions to the political candidates that created this at one time elusive dreamscape. The elected officials don't care about the national debt because it is invisible and can be covered with loans from banks, etc.

Why did the national debt begin and/or go up? Because there is less income to the country's treasury. Twenty percent are facing unemployment. The twenty percent would be a rolling number because the shift doesn't happen like a virus. The shift is like a cancer.

What happens to the twenty percent unemployed? To begin they accept jobs that are still open and even growing because of the new trade relationships. BUT, the jobs they now have pay lower and aren't unionized. The vulnerabilities of the worker glut are exposed and the worker now has to earn their pay with growing responsibilities written into the job descriptions, so quality of life is sacrificed and job stability/security is gone, too. 

After about a decade the DEFINITION of high wage changes. The shifting paradigm is never really exposed as a political failure. The shifting paradigm now is THE ONLY JOB a worker can find and the slide of quality of life is now a fact of life. The jobs in the economy are service jobs and dock workers and a college education is diminished. There are so many high school grads every June, Wall Street is as happy as a pig in s%&t. The contributions to political enablers continue to secure the high profits. The NEW economy is designed by Wall Street and states the immorality of the loss of quality of life is the responsibly of the government and not Wall Street. 

Now, the lack of jobs is tapped for regulation changes and hence a toxic political environment (some would say a Third World environment) starts to dominant the political speak in the country. Now, regulations are viewed as toxic to job creation and the people expose their well being as well as their quality of life. 

The draconian Wall Street and it's political candidates are more willing to say there are profound problems with BIG GOVERNMENT. Shrinking government will relieve tax burdens but at a cost. There is now increasing unemployment rates, the workers will now accept lower and lower wages as the employment glut continues.

The USA has suffered greatly for the development of other countries with a trade deficit that cannot be surmounted by the current government incumbency. 

Any trade agreement has it's impacts on the USA populous. The impacts in the USA are directly related to well being of Americans. The quality of life as understood by previous generations has been bargained away in a very interesting Wall Street strategy. That is real. Our people suffer as Wall Street profits increase and the worker has now become a burden to businesses. 

TRADITIONALLY good paying jobs can only be found in a smaller and smaller percentage of workers as mechanization takes place and unemployment continues to increase. The American worker is estranged from work, sometimes in large percentage. Wall Street in it's profit paradigm has completely justified it's immorality as CAPITALISM.

The loss of INTEGRITY of the Middle Class in the USA was never even recognized. The American people are convinced unions and regulations and big government is the next hurdle to finding relief to their impoverishment.

Then comes the "Right to Work" legislated agenda from ALEC. The country's economies continue to degrade and workers don't realize how important unionization is to maintain their QUALITY OF LIFE rather than HOPING for an economy of well being. 

The reason there is a static jobs market in the 'trade economy' with the USA is because there are more imports than exports. The very imports in the USA have created jobs, but, they aren't the traditional well (not good) paying jobs that paid the national debt. 

The USA trade deficit has caused impoverishment with poor wages and quality of life has been completely sacrificed. The politicians point to the gain in trade jobs. Sure, there is going to be a few more jobs in the trade economy, but, that won't return quality of life to the people. The pay rates are far too small to give the USA the uptick it needs to rid itself or even punch a hole in the national debt. 

The reason the trade deficit has grown to such an enormous state is because there are no other quality goods manufactured in the USA. QUALITY GOODS are more expensive than cheaper foreign imports. There is more and more imports and the USA has less and less goods to trade so the balance of trade is way out of line. 

When the trade deficit in the USA increases, more jobs are lost, the jobs now available pay far less, offer no benefits and cast families into poverty. Good conscience gives way in government (on occassion) to food stamps and other government subsidies. But, the glide path the USA is on under Republican demands for their cronies will ultimately destroy the USA. The USA has less monies in it's treasury with every Republican majority and the future of the USA become has become perilous. 

I hope I added some clarity. I am never sure if I did or it is just because Wall Street has added more money to election coffers. 

But, 2016 is seeing a return of direly needed advocacy for the American people, including the Undocumented. The American people are handling more and more of the USA economy at a local level. That is a good thing. It disperses Wall Street draconianism on a more diffuse basis. 

No matter how the trade agreements are coined it effects the QUALITY OF LIFE of the American people. I don't know of any trade strategy that will result in stability of the USA economy or the integrity of it's people. Remember now, the reason other countries want to practice capitalism is because they believe capitalism paves the streets of the USA with gold. The streets in the USA are no longer gold and capitalism has become an enemy to even the USA military and it's costs and budget.

 Oh, while I'm thinking about it, a complaint about the legitimacy of fees to unions and the right wing union busting laws should be litigated before the NLRB on a CASE BY CASE basis. It is far more equitable and benevolent to the employee and employer if the arguments are made on PARTICULARS of the fiduciary relationship. 

Why are unions entitled to their fees? This is easy. 

Let me get rid of the nonsense about unions. 

What do unions do? They negotiate. 

What do they negotiate? 

Pay, fairness - grievance representation by member and possibly a lawyer - benefits - basically unions set the standard for upward movement, fairness in job advances, fairness in job practices, no that is not all of it, fairness and stability in job practices (unions set standards based in reality of expectations of human beings), safety in the work environment and it is the link between the human being working in employment and the employer. 

I don't know of any organization more important in the free world than unions. 

If there are widespread unions in Greece, they would working to help the companies stay in business and in turn the government to balance their budgets. That is the power of unions. It is more than additional monies in the paycheck.

The problem in Greece is the collapse of the global market in 2008. It ripped the Greece treasury out from underneath the people. If Greece can hold banks responsible for it's problems, of which one is sovereignty, it should sue them for continued assistance with national debt with supervision from the IMF. I think Greece is a study in civilization, sovereignty and the responsibility of the plutocrats. When Wall Street runs roughshod over a countries population and take all their money they should held responsible. Tell me that Wall Street isn't better off post 2008 than most countries on Earth. What was it Romney said, "The money didn't disappear in the global economic collapse; it goes somewhere." Indeed, it did.

Now, they do they deserve their fees? Why is the work statues of the Republicans dangerous to our democracy?

The unions deserve their fees. Their fees are not a burden. They make sure they are a burden. It costs real money to organize and maintain a union. Most unions have lawyers on consultation. Going into an executive meeting of a union, it is not unusual for a lawyer to be present to assist in the best way to deal with an employer. Grievances are real and a vital part of a union's advocacy.

So, do unions deserve their fees? Do they deserve fees from everyone employed in what is known as "a union shop?" 

Unions EARN their fees. The increase in income of the employee due to the actions and expertise of the union provides for THE OPERATING EXPENSES and the continued practices of unions. The non-members in a union shop receive benefits from the union. The non-members receive pay and benefits from the contract. The contract applies to everyone and there are reasons why a union will include all employees. Unions don't want the idea floating around in a 'union shop' that they are coerced to join. Employees should exhibit free will and join for the best and moral reasons. Coercion is a real problem among people earning a living from WORK. As a matter of fact coercion is illegal. 

Coercion is illegal in the actions taken by a person within a 'union shop.' The only way a union can help with a member's behavior in employment is to remove the reasons they would carry out certain behaviors. Creating a beneficial work environment is a unions prerogative. That doesn't mean stress goes away. Work includes certain types of stress. That is work related. The unions seek to be remove any stressed that might be theirs. It is correct to do so and it is moral to do so. I don't know of a union that doesn't support their members through work shops and guest speakers at meetings. It is all good. Really. Unions can and should be beneficial to an employer. I wish sometimes there were financial advisers at union meetings to create a continuum of a balance of the employer and the realistic demands of unions. But, in the year 2015 there is need for that because Wall Street is skyrocketing. That is another question, why is Wall Street skyrocketing, but, that goes with the first question. 

So, the contracts include everyone to a certain point. The Union dues to the non-members are in proportion to the benefits they receive in the contract. Usually 50% of the fees to members. So there is fairness in the difference in the union dues.