"Work to rule" is one way of putting it. "Slowdown" is another, rendering the operations unworkable, and making a shutdown necessary.

Logic, Tom, logic! If working to the rules results in a slowdown so severe that the business must be shut down, don't you think it's possible that there's something wrong with the rules--the current contract under which they're working? I really have to wonder about any business so badly run that a slowdown makes a shutdown necessary--that's too close the edge of viability.

Then: A paranoid, conspiracy-minded person might wonder why the unions out here, which have long been stuck to the back end of the Democratic party like a lamprey, would choose now to throw this monkey wrench into the economy. I would love to get a look at the e-mails between the ILWU and the DNC over the past couple of months...

Now: I showed the two sides of the argument, and you're only listening to one of them.

Ha ha ha ha Ha ha ha ha Ha ha ha ha Ha ha ha ha Ha ha ha ha Ha ha ha ha Ha ha ha ha Ha ha ha ha Ha ha ha ha Ha ha ha ha Ha ha ha ha Ha ha ha ha Ha ha ha ha Ha ha ha ha Ha ha ha ha Ha ha ha ha Ha ha ha ha....good one, Tom!

Contrary to popular belief, it is not the President's job to catch every economic sparrow that falls in the private sector.

That's a pretty big sparrow, Tom; the loss is estimated at a $billion per day. Apropos that...

And the air traffic controllers were Federal employees, prohibited from striking. Whole different kettle of fish.

That's the technical point that empowered Reagan to break PATCO. But as I recall, his reason for acting was damage to the economy, as one component of national security, citing the air transportation segment as a crucial chokepoint...

...Much like the West Coast ports shut down by PMA's lockout.

To get serious for a moment...the economy really is a component of national security. The point is illustrated pretty vividly these days, as Bush prepares to launch a midrange war in the near future, and long run wants to restructure America to engage in permanent war, while the economy is in the toilet. How's he going to pay for it all if he doesn't pay attention to the state of the economy?

"It's the economy, stupid!" redux....

--Robert