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DEL.ICIO.USAuto bailout bound to be a train wreck
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
When it came down to the final U.S. Senate vote Thursday night, the essence of truth was revealed.
While the United Auto Workers have pledged to grant concessions to help save their jobs and the companies they helped destroy, they balked at taking wage cuts next year that would bring the Detroit industry’s wages in line with those of Japanese carmakers. General Motors, facing bankruptcy, reports hourly labor costs of $69, including benefits, while Toyota’s are about $48. Of that, the average hourly UAW worker earns $29.78, in line with Toyota’s roughly $30. Benefits for active and 432,000 retirees and spouses account for the labor-cost gap.
The UAW refused, however, to make the concessions by a specific date next year. Its contract doesn’t expire until 2011.
With the union unwilling to budge, the $14 billion emergency bailout failed. UAW President Ron Gettelfinger blamed — though I would say credited — the defeat of the bailout on Southern senators who are, to his mind, anti-union and anti-Detroit. “They thought perhaps they could have a twofer here maybe,” said Gettelfinger on Friday: “Pierce the heart of organized labor while representing the foreign brands.”
But no worry that the bailout bill failed. The Bush administration will divert money from the $700 billion financial industry bailout fund, which has about $15 billion remaining, until Congress reconvenes “and acts to address the long-term viability of the industry,” said U.S. Treasury spokesman Brookly McLaughlin.
The temporary loan to come should be straight up, without the “car czar” or any other element of the House-passed bailout legislation.
The fact is that Democrats will control Congress next year and any UAW pledge to make concessions is subject to revision, as are the sums of the bailout, the authority of the car czar, or the terms of the merger between politicians using public money and the industry.
Inevitably, the politicians who launched the subprime mortgage disaster by encouraging lower lending standards will dictate the failure of the Detroit auto industry as a free-market competitor to what Gettelfinger derisively calls “the foreign brands.”
The left has long despised the U.S. auto industry because it made cars and trucks that sold, including Hummers and SUVs, instead of the tiny, fuel-sipping car-ettes that it wanted to push on America. The political party where leftists congregate now has full power to write laws and spend public money in ways that will dictate to Detroit not only what vehicles it should build, but what conditions should apply, in terms of other countries’ environmental, wage and labor rules, to the imported parts used to build them. When the cars that politicians prefer don’t sell, they’ll be able to offer tax credits, thus forcing taxpayers to subsidize at the point of purchase the cars they were just forced to subsidize in building.
Politicians will be able to dictate, too, the wages to be paid to union workers here, and they will furthermore be able to use government to drive up the costs of cars made by Detroit’s competitors.
The better alternative is bankruptcy, a clean bankruptcy that forces the industry and its union to confront realistically its uncompetitive operating costs. The Bush White House thinks “a precipitous collapse of this industry would have severe impact on the economy and it would be irresponsible to further weaken and destabilize our economy.”
With bankruptcy, the industry would restructure quickly and regain competitiveness, smaller and with fewer brands.
Except with massive sums of public money, Washington can’t keep private companies in business. Once their executives and unions are no longer desperately in fear of the free market, they’ll be content to turn decision-making over to car czars or any other agents of the poltical ruling class in return for public money. Their mind-set will be: We’ll build or accede to anything politicians are willing to pay for. And if they don’t, the bankruptcy that awaits them now will occur.
The “foreign brands” the UAW finds objectionable are cars and trucks built by non-unionized American workers in the South.
If, however, American buyers are getting vehicles they want that are built in American factories, it ultimately matters little what the ownership structure is.
I’d much prefer Japanese ownership of factories that build cars to compete in a free market rather than have U.S.-owned car companies run from Washington. Once a car czar, always a car czar
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Comments
By ron
December 13, 2008 8:24 AM | Link to this
Good morning,Yesterday my ISP decided I didn’t need S so it failed to P. This is far to common with satelite service.Will it collect M for no P? Yes.
The auto bailout failed because the Southern Republicans do not want same.Had the UAW capitulated,then the reason for a no vote would have been different.
Southern Senators have their own auto manufacturers to protect and they will do this.A collapse of the Three will be a boon to them.The job losses will not be in their state so whats’s to worry about?Now is the Southern Republican’s finest hour.The chance to prove that their fiscal conservatism is the way of the future.
I don’t understand,though,why they allow Toyota to pay as high as $30 dollars an hour wage when they’re born knowing that the minimum wage is the scourge of the business world.
By Glenn
December 13, 2008 8:35 AM | Link to this
I guess the UAW knows something Management decries: That the industry will live to see wholly Democratic rule come — oh, let’s see — next month. When I worked for the teachers’ unions we prided ourselves on being the very deliberate last-gasp of the moribund Labor Movement. UAW has shown again why the nails already were in the coffin.
By Tom
December 13, 2008 8:40 AM | Link to this
1000s of white collar employees at the Wall Street firms and banks that have been bailed out (and I’m not talking about the CEOs) make more than the UAW workers, but I don’t recall a requirement that their pay be cut. How come the Senate Republicans (and Wooten) only complain when the issue is blue collar pay?
By Glenn
December 13, 2008 8:52 AM | Link to this
Tom,
Mr. Wooten has written for days now about the Congressional hypocrisy of calling for scalps from Management. Congressional pay-raises go into effect in two weeks. Moreover, the writing is on the wall: the states willing to bypass UAW, Michigan, are home to auto makers riding out this terrible storm. What’s the difference between those (mostly Southern) states and Michigan?
A: UAW.
By Aquagirl
December 13, 2008 8:54 AM | Link to this
Jim, this entire column is a tribute to your ability to blame libs or dems, while attempting to misdirect attention from those you deem “real Americans.” Yes, the auto companies will get their bailout courtesy of your beloved Dubya. A big, fat, corporate booty-kissing check from a big, fat, corporate booty-kissing socialist. End of story.
You rush past Bush’s determination to bail out the big three, despite the will of the people being clearly expressed through elected representatives! If the White House chickenhawk tried to do the same for gay marriage, you’d have a stroke. Oh, but you have to find someone else to blame for the crappy state of America, yes? It certainly couldn’t be the guy handing out the freebie tax dollars right now, we need to find some bogyman leftist of your choosing.
You deserve a 9.7 out of 10 for such mental gymnastics, Jim. Pretty impressive. And it gives your right-wing sheeple mindless talking points to spout, lest they have to admit any responsibility. Good job.
By Glenn
December 13, 2008 9:06 AM | Link to this
Come on, Aquagirl:
You’re a reasonable person. A columnist simply doesn’t have the column-inches necessary to hand out even blame for a story this big. Be fair in context, then: This is one of a running series of pieces about this cluster-messup. And UAW bears a huge share of the blame. Now’s the day to tell THAT story, and not another. Gettelfinger yesterday morning was as FOS as I’ve ever, ever heard a labor leader be.
They can be full of too, yunno.
By Redneck Convert
December 13, 2008 9:26 AM | Link to this
Well, you might of knowed this Nichols wouldn’t get the Death Penalty with a bunch of Those People on the jury. If the jury was made up of a bunch of us godly rednecks this Nichols would of been strung up in a week. It just goes to show what happens when you give Those People the vote and let them serve on jurys. The judge tried as hard as he could to get the Death Penalty but the jury wouldn’t budge. Anyhow, best I can tell, Nichols is in for something like 250 years in prison with us taxpayers picking up the bill for most of it.
I’m awful proud of our godly Southren senators for making sure them yankee workers don’t get paid more than us rednecks. A union is just pure evil. It ain’t right for a bunch of workers to gang up against a rich owner and make him pay them more instead of just replace them with people that will work for less. I’m awful glad I live in a Right to Work state where a union don’t have a chance.
My buddy Jim Earl don’t agree. Says the only way we can compete with the foreign car makers is pay our workers a buck a hour and have them eat rice and fish and live in straw huts. Or have the guvmint shovel money to the car makers the way the foreign guvmints do their car makers. Jim Earl is a awful smart guy but sometimes he don’t have a lick of sense.
Anyway, when this Obama takes over next month we will see all kind of pro-union stuff. The U.S. car makers will get money from the guvmint and the workers won’t get their pay cut none. A guy that screws a lug nut on a wheel will get paid more than a guy that hauls beer for a living. That’s what happens when you elect one of Those People as President of the U. S. of A.
I’m just disgusted. Have a good day everybody.
By ron
December 13, 2008 9:29 AM | Link to this
Dear Glenn,The UAW definitely is to blame for a large part of this auto problem,but they deserve a chance to correct their mistakes.I don’t believe the head of the Uaw is authorized to tell anyone that concessions will or will not be made by a certain date.I believe that decision is up to the individual memebers.That International representative of unions are FOS is no surprise.To be a representative of a group of citizens being FOS seems to be a requirement.
By Glenn
December 13, 2008 9:50 AM | Link to this
That’s true in the absolute, ron — that a representative has got to represent how FOS any considerable chunk of the polity will tend to be on a given matter. But I wasn’t dealing in absolutes; rather, was attributing to Mr. Gettelfinger a superlative: I’ve never heard a labor leader so completely full of itself as was he, yesterday — nor so completely full of excuses.
Of course, of course there’s blame-to-go-around on this, and blah-blah-blah, but UAW has had since Chrysler’s reorganization to get its act together (and that was back when all Corporatedom was scared to death of Tokyo), and so saying now, in 2008, that “they [UAW] deserve a chance to to correct their mistakes” is a bit like saying that, I dunno, Governor Blagojevich or Casey Anthony deserves a chance so to correct.
I don’t buy it. And as a taxpayer from Georgia, I won’t pay for it, either. Screw Michigan. Let the dead bury their dead.
The states have been feeding on each other’s industrial bases for years now, and it’s time for Michigan to feel the hurt. The claptrap about downstream sub-contractors is just that: claptrap. The widget-makers make money off of all the makers, or else they die too. The corporations, for their part, figured out long before most of the legislatures did that the money will flow to where the taxes are most favorable. Michigan never learned its lesson, and it must be taught.
By Aquagirl
December 13, 2008 9:55 AM | Link to this
Glenn @ 9:26, sure, I’m reasonable to Jim writing about the UAW sinking the ship. If the US auto industry fails, the UAW goes with it….and good riddance.
What I won’t excuse is Jim whining it’s the UAW’s fault Bush decided to hand out goodies. Jim’s complaining about dollars that may be spent irresponsibly. Those dollars will only be available thanks to King George the Idiot. What a pathetic attempt to blame others for the actions of the executive administration. They are 100% responsible for any money allocated from the bailout to the automakers. Congress said no. In Jim’s world of populism that should be the final word. However, Jim only applies populism when it suits his needs.
Whatever happened to “the buck stops here?” Current Republicans seem to interpret that saying as an excuse to filch money, not a statement of personal responsibility—-which they preach ad nauseum. So h3ll no, I’m not into letting Jim hide behind the UAW’s skirts.
By Glenn
December 13, 2008 10:09 AM | Link to this
Aquagirl,
Now I see what you mean. Yes.
My thinking is that the GOP has a long way to go if it’s to restructure itself around fiscal responsibility.
But I don’t think that Jim Wooten is hiding, behind UAW or anybody else. Were I personally to hide ride now on that front, I’d probably have to take refuge behind the manly skirts of Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Lord knows he’s got nothing to teach about how to stand up to UAW or anybody else with plastic in their hands…
By lea
December 13, 2008 10:12 AM | Link to this
The reason GM can’t be conmpetitive price-wise is largely influenced by BENEFITS, not wages. If we had national healthcare, the burden of providing for retirees and active employees could be spread across a much larger base in this nation, and not priced in car-by-car. Msny more companies than GM face this dilemma.
How can we compete with Europe and Asia in manufacturing when benefits like healthcare, retirement, et.al are not borne by private enterprise in those countries? The USA will have to move to that model— The only question is how much pain we endure before getting there, and how long it will take. Productivity cannot compensate for the continued cost differentials caused by our national policies. If we continue down this mean-spirited Republican path, our entire country will be unemployed and living in poverty (aka “third-world country”). Capitalism, creativity, and productivity CAN co-reside with the government ownership of key programs/ deliverabls.
I am willing to pay more taxes (and I definitely pay my fair share now) to get to a better social and economic model. We need solutions now, NOT lectures. It is not an accident that our economy is where it is… this has been building for a while. We are continuing to EXPORT PROFITS— which drive growth. Why is that so hard to understand. Without driving profits, we are strictly wage-slaves with little impact on the world economy, with decisions being made in foreign countries. I am so weary of stingy, mean-spirited Republicans who only care about themselves. I wish they’d all move to Alaska with Sarah Palin— then the rest of us can vote that state out of the union, and start over.
By the way, every lasting improvement to our society has occurred on the Democratic watch, with the exception of the Civil War leadership from Abe Lincoln.
By Ragnar Danneskjöld
December 13, 2008 10:17 AM | Link to this
Good morning all. I cannot improve on Jim’s arguments. As I noted here yesterday, Bob Corker really impressed me with his proposed conditions for a “bailout” as the substantial provisions were sufficient to make the US auto industry reasonably competitive. And I am even a bit sympathetic to the idea that the taxpayer owes the automakers a bailout, as it is the elected representatives of the taxpayers - and in this case, mostly leftist Congressional democrats - who have broken the industry. (Doesn’t that always seem to be the case?)
I credit Ron Middlefinger with having sufficient courage to walk away from a deal that would have saved the jobs for some period in the future; not many labor leaders will knowingly break their own industries for the sake of ideology.
I would have one ounce of sympathy for President Bush and his decision to use the Congressional largesse to grease the skids for GM and Chrysler had he required a definitive statement from Chauncey preferring same. He did not. Thus portion is Bush’s bailout.
By zeke
December 13, 2008 10:18 AM | Link to this
RIGHT ON, JIM! UNIONS AND DEMOCRATS WILL DESTROY EVERYTHING THAT MADE THE USA THE GREATEST COUNTRY IN THE HISTORY OF THE EARTH!
By ron
December 13, 2008 10:19 AM | Link to this
Dear Glenn,You should be aware that gaining what seem to be excessive compensaion from a company by a union hardly compares to a trying to sell a Senate seat or possibly to kill a child.I reject your comparisons.
During times of a roust economy no one really cares how much money a union asks for unless it is an absolutely stark raving crazy amount.Companies make huge profits from the labor of their employees,who in turn feel they should be given a share of the profits.This is where bargaining comes in.When the ecconomy comes to a down turn,and the unions stil ask for the same compensation they need to be turned down.This is where management comes in.Apparently in the case of the UAW, management didn’t come in often enough.No matter how it’s sliced or diced,a union does not run the company.They can only be issued so much of the blame.
By Glenn
December 13, 2008 10:28 AM | Link to this
lea,
Aside from your ignorant statement about the GOP vs. the Democratic Party, I agree with you, except that BENEFITS are the sum and substance of UAW’s claim on control of the U.S. auto industry. The so-called “legacy costs” are a UAW legacy that is a sea-anchor to the old-guard Big Three and their sentimental thang involving the State of Michigan and its little statelings elsewhere.
Hey, wanna buy stock in GM? If so, I gotta warn you: A big part of your first hundred dollars will go toward paying BENEFITS for people who no longer produce for GM.
By Derek
December 13, 2008 10:28 AM | Link to this
Why isn’t anyone arguing to increase the wages of the transplant? If history proves (and it does) that great Nations are built upon a solid middle class and a strong manufacturing sector, shouldn’t we ALL want to see an increase in both? When will we ALL realize that the American model of imbalanced trade is truly the problem. Every single American deserves to make a good wage, have access to proper Health care, and should be able to comfortably enjoy his or her retirement. I personally would rather pay more in taxes to see my fellow AMERICANS prosper than Nationalized businesses from abroad.
By Simple Answers
December 13, 2008 10:59 AM | Link to this
Wooten: …it ultimately matters little what the ownership structure is.
I’d much prefer Japanese ownership of factories…
Coming Monday, why Wooten thinks Chinese ownership of America’s financial institutions is preferable to a US govt. bailout.
Q: Why does Jim (along w/ Shelby, Corker, and Demint) hate America, favoring instead foreign ownership of our nation’s manufacturing base?
A: Simple Answers can’t get his head around this one. SA always thought that selling out your fellow Americans to foreign interests was the very definition of treason, but apparently it’s OK if you are a Republican.
By Aquagirl
December 13, 2008 11:03 AM | Link to this
Were I personally to hide ride now on that front, I’d probably have to take refuge behind the manly skirts of Arnold Schwarzenegger
That’s a lotta skirt, Glenn.
Derek @ 10:28, sober up, son. What imbalance of American trade are you babbling about? People buy Toyotas or Hondas because they are better products at a better price. That’s the American way, sweetie. If you suck, you go out of business. Bye-bye, Detroit! I personally have no desire to reward lazy Americans. If you feel like doing so, I can direct you to panhandling locations. Just keep your—and their—-grubby paws off of my money.
By Just Nasty & Mean
December 13, 2008 11:20 AM | Link to this
G’mornin Jim, et al.
My work associate from Russia says, that in 1987, when the elite ruling class and politicos determined there was no way the USSR would dig their way out of their financial mess, they proceeded to pillage and strafe the government for everything it could.
The politicos sold off government-owned industries and utilities to the private sector at bargain basement prices (now owned by only a few Russian billionaires) , and took the cash and distributed it—in the form of LOANS (that never had a chance of being paid back).
The USSR collapsed.
Anybody see any similarities of what is going on here Massive Federal money supposedly LOANED to the giants and elites in different industries (Goldman Sachs, bankers, Wall Street, AIG, GM etc.), with little or no accountability or recourse if the money just—- disappears! Paulson will resign at the end of Bush’s term, having dispersed the $700B to who-knows-where and obligating the taxpayer to untold debt obligations (reported as $7 TRILLION) and head off to the Bahamas with his money bags overflowing and the US taxpayer left holding the bag.
All his cronys will be RICH with no accounting or strings attached on repaying their largess.
There it is folks. The blueprint of the end of the USA as we know it.
By the Carnivore
December 13, 2008 12:12 PM | Link to this
Why doesn’t the UAW just dissolve itself? That way, the Big 3 would be free of the contracts that have been hurting the industry. Seems like a return to competition would be quickest with no union in the way.
By Glenn
December 13, 2008 12:29 PM | Link to this
To skirt or not to skirt? Aye, there’s the rub.
To nationalize or not? And if to nationalize, then with which apron-strings? Which will most stimulate?
(Try not to exploit this rhetoric unduly now, y’all..)
By jm
December 13, 2008 12:36 PM | Link to this
Mr. Wooten fails to mention one other result of bankruptcy. It would allow the big 3 to get out of all of their dealer contracts as well.
Also, those pensions that the big 3 rid themselves of, will be picked up by the taxpayers. The retiree’s will receive less but they will be paid by the taxpayers.
By david wayne osedach, san diego/ U.S.A.
December 13, 2008 12:36 PM | Link to this
Any bailout now will only put off the ultimate bankruptcy of the big Three. Thank you UAW for not coming to the negotiating table. Merry Christms.
By Glenn
December 13, 2008 12:55 PM | Link to this
UAW believes that it need never come to the table because it owns the table by dint of its partnership stake in the candidate and party that won the election just now. No longer does UAW have to drive a hard bargain, nor even to drive a giant industry into the ground; as far as the union is concerned, with nothing but Democrats in view it need drive no bargain at all.
By One Voice
December 13, 2008 1:07 PM | Link to this
Jim,
Wow, you really wrote some nonsense today. You wrote that “The left has long despised the U.S. auto industry because it made cars and trucks that sold.” First of all, which side is trying to save the U.S. auto industry and which side is trying to kill it? Newsflash: The left is trying to save it and the right is trying to kill it. And you said they made cars and trucks that sold? Umm, I think the whole point here is that they didn’t sell, or at least they didn’t sell enough. Newsflash: If they sold well enough, the companies wouldn’t be in bankruptcy. Dang, you’re dumb.
And your party sure has made a clusterf$%# of it. The southern senators are representing the interests of foreign automakers while trying to drive down the wages of American workers during the worst recession since the great depression. They are essentially ensuring there will be 3,000,000 more unemployed Americans on top of the already-rising numbers. If you thought that Republicans had any chance whatsoever of holding seats in 2010, it’s now gone. It was already a longshot that you’d maintain the senate seats, and now you’ll probably lose at least 10 more.
But the Bush administration is doing the right thing, for once, by counteracting the southern simpletons and trying to make sure the companies don’t go under and the recession doesn’t get worse. Clusterf*^% indeed.
And you don’t see a problem with foreign companies owning all car companies and the U.S. owning none? It doesn’t matter who the owners are? Are you kidding me? Are you aware that the U.S. is now the world’s largest exporter of raw materials, the largest importer of finished products, and the world’s largest debtor, all terrible circumstances? We used to be the largest importer of raw materials, the largest exporter of finished goods, and the world’s largest creditor, all desirable conditions. But no longer. We are currently in a terrible position and you’re proposing that we send even more American money to foreign countries while at the same time lowering the wages of American workers. It seems to be the Republican’s bedrock platform to ensure that the bulk of Americans are low paid service workers and that the country regresses to the status of a third world nation. Unbelievable. You think you’re in the wilderness now? Wait to see what happens over the next ten years.
By Sin City
December 13, 2008 1:52 PM | Link to this
Ah yes. Chicago Democrat arrogance at it’s finest. Can’t wait to see what the next four years beholds with Democrat leadership, irrespective of the current Chicago Democrat scandals………….
CHICAGO – President-elect Barack Obama asked the White House if his family could move to Washington earlier than normal, but aides say the White House couldn’t give them the official guest house as early as his family wanted.
By Classy to the end
December 13, 2008 2:16 PM | Link to this
CHICAGO – President-elect Barack Obama asked the White House if his family could move to Washington earlier than normal to allow their daughters to begin school at the start of the new term, but aides say the White House wouldn’t give them the official guest house because several White House officials had planned elaborate going away parties for themselves at the Blair House.
A highly placed Bush Administration source, who asked not to be identified, said, “Screw that pickaninny. We’ll leave when we’re damn good and ready.”
By Glenn
December 13, 2008 2:24 PM | Link to this
Sin City:
The Obamas are welcome almost anywhere in Washington, DC just now, except at Blair House, which already is host to guests of our government Mr. & Mrs. Obama so presumptously sought to put out. I trust that the New First Lady will have by Innauguration Day a discreet and executive Chief of Protocol.
By ron
December 13, 2008 2:31 PM | Link to this
I see nothing has been solved during my absence.The UAW is still the scape goat.
Madoff’s ponzi scheme is going to take out a lot of the elite in this country.They won’t be buying any more new cars.Their investments are worthless.The only winner is the U.S.government.People paid taxes on profits that didn’t exist.You’ve got to love this one.This has become The Age of The Fraudster.
Brian Nichols is to live.I don’t know how many life sentences the judge sentenced him to because I don’t want to read about it,but he probably oversentenced him so a retrial or an immediate release will be in the offing.This has been a strange case.An open and shut case turned into a circus,and still going on.Nichols should hae been executed by now.
Anyway,Merry Christmas to the UAW from the Southern Republicans.
By Mike
December 13, 2008 3:47 PM | Link to this
I am so sick of unions. They jack up their lifestyle by negotiating unstastainable contracts for their members. Then ( when to the surprise of no one ) the companies go bankrupt trying to keep up , they demand that the taxpayers foot the bill. WHY THE HELL SHOULD THE REST OF US WHO WORK JUST AS HARD FOR FAR LESS KEEP PAYING OUR HARD EARNED MONEY TO THESE UNION THUGS TO SUSTAIN THEIR OVER THE TOP PAY AND BENEFITS? Let them renegotiate or go bankrupt and lose it all. Simple as that.
By Simple Answers
December 13, 2008 4:29 PM | Link to this
Wooten expended a lot of words lamenting the sad state of our polity as reflected by the corruption of Blago, but has been very quiet about the FBI investigation of Minnesota Sen Coleman on suspicion of bribery.
Q: Can we expect Jim to condemn Coleman like he did Blago?
A: No. Jim will complain more loudly about Minnesota officials counting every vote that was cast in the last election than he will about Coleman selling his office.
By DD
December 13, 2008 5:58 PM | Link to this
Wooten thinks slave labor is good.
By deegee
December 13, 2008 6:59 PM | Link to this
JW lost me in the first few paragraphs of his polecat hash of an essay but here is what I find intriguing. Take the average $30.00 hourly Toyota wage and multiply by 40 hours and then multiply by 52 weeks. You get an annual income of freaking $62,400.00!!!!! Why would you need a union if you can rake in that kind of dough without one? Wouldn’t it be better if the car czar would just cut them all back to $15.00 an hour so we could buy a decent car for $14,000.00 instead of having to shell out somewhere around $21,000.00?
By DJ
December 13, 2008 7:00 PM | Link to this
You have to love the arrogance of the UAW. The CEOs have taken their salary down to $1 NOW . The shareholders have lost 98% NOW. But UAW can’t take a “haircut” until 2011. They just don’t get it. The bankruptcy ride will be painful but worth it to bring American Big 3 car companies into parity with non-US companies.
By ron
December 14, 2008 9:08 AM | Link to this
Well,good morning,And a fine morning it is.I can still wear my sandals so everything is well with the world.
John’s creek bars are closing 2 hours earlier,so going out for a cold one when I get up is out of the question up there.Not that I ever did,mind you,but it was nice to know I could have if I had wanted.One less trip a week for Redneck.One less meal at Ryan’s.See how a diminishing economy works?
Many people borrowed the full equity of their home back in the heyday of the housing bubble ,only then to find that the value had slipped to under the loan value,and the loaned money that was invested has disappeared for various reasons.Undoubtedly Bernie Madoff got some of it.Now their houses and their savings have also disappeared.Wonderful system.
The economy has now gone beyond the point where anyone can predict what results may come from any action.A trillion dollar stimulus package may or may not work.No one knows.Same with an auto bailout.There is little data to draw from for decisions.The same attitude that the young lions used to completely demolish Lehman Brothers may exist in Obama’s dream economic team.Just something for you to ponder over your morning oatmeal.
Rahm Emanuelle and Barak Obama are not the focus of the Illinois governor probe.Nor will they be.Any smoke blown by Republicans on this issue will be blown up their own asses.I still refuse to trust Obama but I don’t believe he’s stupid.
Stephen Chu,The Energy Csar,has a grant of $500 million from BP to develop alternative energy.His Berkley Labratory has accepted this grant.Their focus is to be on certain grasses to be used in place of corn for ethanol like fuel.BP is to advise whether or not a certain process is feasible for production .BP will,naturally,own all rights on processes developed.To me this means that the common denominator of future energy will be petroleum.Some advancements are going to be made in the field of alternative energy,but I don’t believe oil will be replaced in this direction.This is a scheme that will bear watching.
By Anthony
December 14, 2008 9:45 AM | Link to this
All you morons that against Unions are just plain inbred idiots from the South who haven’t the faintest clue of what a unions entails. First why when the bailout was given to Wall Street were there no stipulations on the wages of those involved? Here you have a bunch of redneck Republican’t Senators from the south with multiple foreign automakers in their backyard that are playing politics with the livelihood of the BIG 3 workers. Price parity in wages what a joke ……..have these MORONS ever heard of the cost of living up north? Better yet why don’t all these Hillbilly Republican’t Senators from the sticks show some wage price parity and work for $13 and hour because I am willing to bet that these worker work 300% harder than any of those Republi-Facist Senators south of the Dixe line.
By DJ
December 14, 2008 10:27 AM | Link to this
Anthony, Anthony stick to the decaf.
By Redneck Convert
December 14, 2008 10:42 AM | Link to this
Well, if towns like Johns Creek start closing bars earlier pretty soon I’ll be out of business. Good American beer like the kind I haul ought to be handy any time of the day or night. An old drunk like ron should be able to go out in his underwear and sandals to have a cold one at 4 in the a.m. if he wants to.
Like I said yesterday unions are unAmerican. Workers shouldn’t be able to band together to get good pay. Besides, they drive the price of the stuff they make way up. They ain’t any better than the good rednecks that work for peanuts in auto plants in KY and Alabama and other Southren places. I’m sure the capital gains tax fits in the argument somewhere but I’ll leave it to Raghead to figure out how it fits.
The Rev. Postlewaite was in good form down at the Church of Holiness today. Blasting this Obama and talking about how unions is a sin against God and how guvmint bailouts is the devil at work. I just wish he was more like the Rev. Jim Bob Buice, but the Rev. Jim Bob can’t come to church no more on account of the police not letting him be around kids. And all because of the police making a mistake when they saw him buck-nekkid in the bushes with this kid he was trying to rescue.
Have a good Sabbath everybody and don’t go near Ryans in a couple hours when me and the missus will be there. She don’t like to wait long for her chow and when there’s a long line at the buffet she gets real mad. You don’t want to be within a mile of the missus when she’s mad.
By Jackie
December 14, 2008 11:24 AM | Link to this
Did you notice that most of the growth in the foreign car manufacturing in the USA has taken place in the “right to work states?”
Were these the same Senators who voted to require a rollback of legacy contract benefits, union negotiated wages and benefits and the mandate for the Big Three to become “competitive.”
They continued to perpetuate the lie that American auto workers make, on average, $70 per hour.
They fail to include the fact that foreign auto companies are being subsidized by the states where their manufacturing facilities are located and the governments where these companies are incorporated, subsidize these companies.
How do we, the American public, allow these “Senatorial patriots” to continue to be elected to office. They control our destinies and our economic well being, yet, they continue to make decisions that diminish our ability to make a living for our families.
Vote GOP and hurt your economic viability.
By jm
December 14, 2008 11:31 AM | Link to this
DJ@7:00 yesterday - I would be more impressed if those executives gave up their stock options. Also, I bet just like Delta, if they go into bankruptcy, the pensions of executives will be protected.
By Jay
December 14, 2008 11:52 AM | Link to this
In America’s past there was a time when orgainizations like the United Auto Workers, NAACP, and NOW were needed to push for changes and reforms. Unfortunately today with most of their issues satisfied, they’ve all evolved into nothing more than organized blackmail.
By Ragnar Danneskjöld
December 14, 2008 11:57 AM | Link to this
Dear Jackie @ 11:24, if I read your argument correctly, you suggest that the high tax/negative growth states refuse to offer any tax breaks to their most important industries and you affirm that is good. And you suggest that the low tax/high growth states have unlmited tax breaks for their most important industries, and that is bad. So rather than allow taxpayers in low tax/high growth states to subsidize their efficient companies, you would compel all taxpayers to subsidize the dinosaurs. That certainly is a novel leftist idea. Change we can believe in.
By Chaz
December 14, 2008 12:27 PM | Link to this
‘Car Czar’… the words conjure up the kind of thinking that led to automotive landmarks such as the Yugo and Trabant. Goverment-mandated car designs never result in something you’d actually want to drive.
By Aquagirl
December 14, 2008 12:40 PM | Link to this
Rag, I read Jackie’s argument differently. It is a simple point that government here is fine with subsidizing foreign companies, which is unfair competition. Perhaps I am biased by our Senators’ ugly record as fake capitalists, only applying rules to whomever they favor at the moment.
BTW, I’m sure Redneck is disappointed by your failure to include the capital gains tax in your answer. If you are run off the road by a beer truck, don’t come crying to this blog.
By Politicians-R-All-Crooks
December 14, 2008 1:21 PM | Link to this
The UAW has got to go…so my conditions for a bailout are as follows: 1) let chrysler fail as an example to all that we will pull the trigger, 2) eliminate health and welfare benefits to all retiree’s- both management and labor, they get their pensions and that is all, 3) cut wages by 30% for both labor and management, 4) eliminate bonuses for management and labor, 5) ban all foreign car and truck imports for a five year period, 6) bring all auto workers and mangagement into the State medicaid program in each respective state, with costs to the state fully reimbursed by the auto companies, thus eliminating the bloated heath insurance programs for autoworkers, both labor and management.
By GaLiberal
December 14, 2008 2:36 PM | Link to this
First, I would like to say Thank You to all the Rethuglicon senators (particularly ol’ Shameless) who filibustered the auto loan bill. You just ensured the Rethuglicon party will be marginalized for the next eight years. Now back to Moron Jim.
Moron Jim continues to prove why the Rethuglicons are just too stupid to get it. It’s not about bailing out the auto companies. It’s about the huge ripple effect their failure would have on the economy. Not withstanding the millions of auto workers that would be unemployed, you have to also look at the supplies that would also fail putting millions more out of work. And what about the stockholders of these companies and the BILLIONS that would be lost. These stocks are held by retirement funds and small investors so letting them fail will hurt just about everyone. But, hey Rethuglicons don’t care about you or me.
When you vote Rethuglicon, you vote against your own best interests. And the Rethuglicon filibuster of the auto bridge loan is living proof.
By catlady
December 14, 2008 2:38 PM | Link to this
I am okay with letting one or two of the big three fail. As my mama said, “you made your bed, now you lie in it.” If the UAW will not seriously negotiate, the government should not loan a single penny. Just as if the CEOs and other management must also give up their cushy perqs. Just as the other recepients of the bailout money should have been required to do. We should hold those who have facilitated this theft of our money criminally and financially responsible.
But, oh my God! Do you think those unemployed autoworkers from Michigan, Ohio, et al will flee to the South? Will we have to put up with them as well as the other refugees we keep having to support? (and I am not talking about the Latinos here. Most of them keep their mouths shut and WORK.) There is no sound more annoying than a Michigander whining about how up North they do it this way….
By Jason
December 14, 2008 2:50 PM | Link to this
Well said at 1:21 PM, Politicians-R-All-Crooks. Very well said. There is something severely wrong with an entity that bull dogged its way through benefits and wages where only one out of four members actively works. The other three being retired, laid off, or on worker’s comp and all still getting full pay and/or benefits. While certainly management is to blame some for the financial woes of the BIg Three, the fact that the UAW will not bend in the least to concessions - while simultaneously lashing out and vilifying non-union foreign car plants in this nation - says it all. Unions in general are outdated and came from an era before government labor regulations. They truly are their own worst enemy and constantly shoot themselves in the foot. This article says it all:
Angry UAW members lash out at Southern senators
UAW lashes out at senators in Southern states with foreign car plants after auto aid bill dies
DETROIT (AP) — Festering animosity between the United Auto Workers and Southern senators who torpedoed the auto industry bailout bill erupted into full-fledged name calling Friday as union officials accused the lawmakers of trying to break the union on behalf of foreign automakers.
The vitriol had been near the surface for weeks as senators from states that house the transplant automakers’ factories criticized the Detroit Three for management miscues and bloated UAW labor costs that lawmakers said make them uncompetitive.
Yes, the painful truth hurts. The UAW can lash out until hell freezes over. It sure won’t make me want to go buy an American car these days. Who the hell wants to buy something made by disgruntled workers? I love my Infinity and the wife loves her BMW, thanks. The only American vehicles I have bought in the last ten years have been one SUV and one pick up. The SUV (Chevrolet Tahoe) was a lemon and the truck’s transmission (Dodge Ram 1500) crapped out at 90k miles. My Toyota Tundra now has 125k non problem miles and will most likely go another 125k. American car manufacturers and the UAW have given me no reason to set foot in one of their showrooms. As a matter of fact, I will most likely be trading in the Infinity next year for a new one when my last payment is made. God bless America.
By catlady
December 14, 2008 3:27 PM | Link to this
Putting a severe tax on imported services might stem job loss and make it less profitable to move jobs overseas. For example, my xray was (very incorrectly) read by a group in India. Took several days for them to say I had no broken bones. Turned out I had FOUR broken bones. Even I could see them on the xray. Now, the hospital contracting with them “saved” money, but at my painful expense.
These large corporations want to send their servicing programs overseas? Fine, but tax the hell out of the “imported” service.
We should not be in the taxpayer funded business of propping up “competitive” private businesses. Period. This includes the stock market. You play the stock market, you gotta know it is not a sure thing.
By Bill Shipp
December 14, 2008 3:33 PM | Link to this
Unless you were under a rock, you witnessed last week the bombshell that exploded across the nation’s political landscape. FBI agents arrested Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich at his home Tuesday, having heard him via wiretaps and listening devices allegedly engaging in a conspiracy to sell his appointment to fill President-elect Barack Obama’s seat in the U.S. Senate.
Patrick Fitzgerald, the Chicago-based U.S. attorney who brought the charges, is considered the consummate professional - fearless, appropriately aggressive and completely apolitical. Unlike many (even most) U.S. attorneys, Fitzgerald is a career Justice Department lawyer brought to Chicago at the urging of former Illinois Republican Sen. Peter Fitzgerald (no relation) to clean up corruption in Illinois politics. He’s gone about the job with gusto, already having put George Ryan, Blagojevich’s Republican predecessor as governor, in prison for soliciting and taking bribes.
Watching Fitzgerald operate makes one wonder what he could accomplish here in Georgia if by some miracle he became the U.S. attorney in Atlanta. In contrast to the fearless and independent Fitzgerald, Atlanta-based U.S. Attorney David Nahmias is the consummate Republican team player who has served as cover for our state officials, most of whom now are Republicans.
Nahmias has not moved even an inch to take on political corruption here in Republican-dominated Georgia, with the exception of his takedown of former State Rep. Ron Sailor, an African-American Democrat who was arguably the least influential member of the General Assembly. Nahmias has remained on the sidelines even after media exposure of scandals that would have caused Fitzgerald (or even a less skilled and aggressive prosecutor) to start an immediate investigation.
The most obvious is Nahmias’ failure to inquire into the relationship between Gov. Sonny Perdue and Newnan-based real estate developer Stan Thomas. Perdue appointed Thomas to the state Board of Economic Development, a seemingly useful post for someone in the business of building major commercial and residential projects. As detailed by the Atlanta media, after his appointment, Thomas cut Perdue in on one of his major real estate developments in Florida to the tune of $2 million. In addition, Thomas has given hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign contributions to Perdue and has allowed the governor to use Thomas’ fleet of private aircraft. Not a bad trade if you’re Perdue - give Thomas a board seat and reap big rewards: a chance for a seven-figure real estate deal, hundreds of thousands of dollars in political contributions and a fleet of aircraft at your disposal.
We also learned from the media about Perdue’s manipulation of the legislative process to engineer a $100,000 state tax break for himself by making a new tax code provision retroactive. Perdue’s personal lawyer just happens to be a senior Republican member of the state House, who minded the effort to line the governor’s pocket.
Then we have Oaky Woods, formerly a state wildlife preserve. When the timber company that was renting it to the state moved to sell it, Perdue blocked a national environmental organization from buying the land on behalf of the people of Georgia. That just happened to allow a group of developers (a group that includes the governor’s friends and campaign donors) to buy the property and build Middle Georgia’s biggest subdivision. To top it off, Perdue had purchased land that he failed to disclose right next to the new development - land sure to skyrocket in value.
It’s safe to say Fitzgerald would pursue all of those matters with gusto, likely getting to the bottom of each of them and bringing charges against people who committed crimes, no matter who they were or their station in life. And who knows what else lurks in the closets of the crowd now running Georgia’s government?
Alas, we’ll be likely stuck doing it ourselves at the ballot box. Forgive me if I lack confidence in that possibility, considering that Georgians’ choices in the voting booths are what got us into this mess in the first place.
By Churchi;;'s MOM
December 14, 2008 3:38 PM | Link to this
Bested Republican presidential candidate John McCain on Sunday declined to say that he would back his vice presidential pick, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, if she runs for president in 2012.
“I can’t say something like that. We’ve got some great other young governors,” the Arizona senator said on ABC’s “This Week.” “I think you’re going to see the governors assume a greater leadership role in our Republican Party.”
By Dick Cheney--Herbert Hoover..
December 14, 2008 3:43 PM | Link to this
Senate Republicans’ dramatic revolt against a White House-backed auto industry rescue plan is fraught with political risk.
While the high-stakes gambit places them squarely within the mainstream of anti-bailout public sentiment, at the same time it exposes the party to potentially devastating criticism that its failure to compromise doomed the Big Three automakers and deepened the economic recession.
Republicans argue that their rejection Thursday evening of a $14 billion loan package came in response to the concerns of angry taxpayers who are unwilling to pay for an auto industry bailout on the heels of October’s $700-billion financial bailout package.
“I think it would appear that the people who voted against this are carrying out the will of the voters as expressed through the phone calls to our offices,” said Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa).
But that sentiment betrays the deep rifts the issue has revealed within the party, pitting Rust Belt and auto-state senators who joined Democrats in a plea for federal aid against their Southern colleagues who represent states where foreign-owned automakers constitute a significant economic presence. All of this takes place against the backdrop of an intraparty debate over whether the GOP has lost its core value of limited government.
“I’m not even thinking about the politics of it, I’m talking about the substantive part of it, the people who are losing their jobs, the suppliers and the automobile dealers,” said Sen. George Voinovich (R-Ohio), who faces re-election in 2010 and was one of just 10 Republicans who voted to advance the bill Thursday night.
By opposing the automaker bailout, Republicans now find themselves vulnerable to charges that they are insensitive to ailing American auto companies and the millions of workers reliant on the domestic auto industry, a problem compounded by their inability to rally around a clear alternative to the $14 billion package of loans that had been backed by Democrats and the White House.
“Clearly, it’ll be on their heads,” said Sen. Kent Conrad (D-N.D.). “It passed the House, and Democrats in the Senate and the White House are on the same page. They’re the odd person out here. It will be on their shoulders if it doesn’t go forward.”
Republicans furious at the government’s intervention to prop up the economy say the vote against the bailout marks the beginning of the party’s return to its small government roots. But even those members acknowledged the downside risk.
Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.), a fierce critic of the bailout, said the failure of the bill could hurt his auto-state colleagues, but noted, “politically, I think Republicans can show a real difference [with Democrats] here.” The bigger risk, he said, was pumping more money into companies whose problems were bound to get worse and would likely return to Congress asking for more money.
“I think the public is going to turn on all of us as we go through a deeper recession over the next few months because they are going to see all of this money being thrown at this thing and more and more people realize that the foundations of the recession were based on bad government policy,” DeMint said. Some strategists say rejection of the package could prove costly to Republicans in the industrial parts of the Midwest.
“The big question is what happens next, if the auto companies are still in business in January or March, whenever it happens to be, [there won’t be] much fallout,” Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) told Politico. “But if something dire occurs, if one of the companies or more face bankruptcy or layoffs and that has a dramatic negative impact on communities, families or the economy, then I think there are some questions to be answered to think whether this might have been enough to keep them in business and help them survive.”
Administration officials have been warning for weeks that failure to pass the bill could lead to an even deeper recession.
That was the message Vice President Dick Cheney brought to a closed-door Senate GOP lunch Wednesday, reportedly warning that it’ll be “Herbert Hoover” time if aid to the industry was rejected, according to a senator familiar with the remarks. A Cheney spokeswoman would neither confirm nor deny the vice president’s remarks.
The White House could still use its authority under the financial bailout law known as the Troubled Assets Relief Program to provide aid to the industry, but the Bush administration has strongly resisted that approach. Meanwhile, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke has warned that he could not be relied on as a backstop if additional loans were needed for the first quarter of next year.
That means the White House could take the blame both for spending money and failing to stabilize the auto sector.
Ron Bonjean, a Republican strategist, predicted “neither Republicans nor Democrats are going to get the blame because the White House will use TARP money.”
The Bush administration’s resistance to release the money has put the onus on Congress. But Senate Republicans stayed away from negotiating a bailout, allowing the White House to broker a deal with Democrats, which the House approved Wednesday night with 32 Republicans, mostly from auto-producing states, joining 205 Democrats in voting for the measure.
Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), who has auto plants in his state, has been torn between the warring factions of his party. He had waited until Thursday to announce his opposition to the bill, then later embraced a proposal by Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) to beef up the administration bill by setting out specific steps for bondholders and labor to take to slash General Motors’ debt and operating costs by the end of March or see the company go into bankruptcy.
Republicans had hoped to use the Corker proposal to deflect blame that they had no viable alternative.
“If we’re viewed as being proactive and trying to solve this problem with a good solution … I’m not sure they can argue we weren’t trying to fix the problem,” said Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.).
But Republicans failed to rally around the Corker plan until late Thursday, preventing them from properly explaining it to the public. McConnell dispatched Corker to find a bipartisan solution with Democrats, but the talks stretched through the night, and Corker ultimately failed to sell a revised plan to the GOP caucus.
Republicans will now have to convince the public that they sought a middle ground, but ultimately decided to side with the taxpayer.
Otherwise, “they look like they’re in disarray,” said one top GOP strategist, speaking on the condition of anonymity because one of his auto clients backed the $14 billion in loans.
By ron
December 14, 2008 3:47 PM | Link to this
Catlady,Just don’t understand why you want to pay a huge tax to get your x-ray read wrong.
By Dusty
December 14, 2008 4:40 PM | Link to this
Bill Shipp 3:33
As a veteran and well know editor still writing editorials for a local newspaper, why are you here on a blog presenting a long anti-Georgia diatribe against Gov. Perdue?
According to you, the governor’s offenses are obvious. Why don’t you present your evidence to legal authorities?
Sen. Stevens got his just desserts and looks like Blogo is going to get his. Why don’t you be the Lone Ranger and lead the local charge? That would be a nice feather in your Democratic hat. If Gov. Perdue is getting fat off the “gravy train”. ‘tis best that you can prove it before you “throw the switch”.
By Dusty
December 14, 2008 4:56 PM | Link to this
Churchill’s Mom @ 3:38
Are you still on Sarah Palin’s case? I thought Dems had cut your pay and moved on.
Now you want McCain to say for whom he is going to vote for president in 2012. Of course, you will tell us who the cnadidates are for Republicans and also Democrats. You can’t? Why not? Then why do you ask?
You simply want to write anything you can that might reflect on Sarah Palin. Good ol’ lib backstabbing in case Sarah Palin turns up on the next big election ticket. Insinuate and provocate, huh Mrs. C-Mommie?
By Jackie
December 14, 2008 5:36 PM | Link to this
@Ragnar,
I am saying that we all need a “living wage” to be viable economic entities for our families.
You purport to be a historian. Surely, you know of the story where Henry Ford told Walter Ruther (UAW) that he was planning to automate his auto production because the workers were lazy and were not working hard enough and often enough to allow his company to make more money.
Walter Ruther told Henry Ford, that sounded like a good idea but, who would have enough money to buy his cars?
As is usual, you folks that say you are “conservative” and are against taxes of any type, why does the “right to work states” continue to subsidize the foreign auto manufactures at the expense of the taxpayers?
Please explain this dichotomy.
I am sure that you will try to come up with a rational explination.
By Jackie
December 14, 2008 5:43 PM | Link to this
For all of those who constantly beat the drums about organizations that are no longer viable, I would love for someone to provide a cogent explanation as to it is not in your favor to have someone negotiate wages and benefits in your behalf.
Do you believe the companies will be generous and pay you what are you really worth?
Everyone that has mastered economic theories that will solve this problem, please present your ideas.
If you don’t have those answers, please help us understand how lowering taxes and wages will make things better for everyone in the richest country in the history of mankind?
By Jason
December 14, 2008 5:54 PM | Link to this
I would love for someone to provide a cogent explanation as to it is not in your favor to have someone negotiate wages and benefits in your behalf. Do you believe the companies will be generous and pay you what are you really worth?
Jackie: you pathetic socialist liberals do not have the mental capacity to understand that in the real world (ie: non-union), you are paid what you are worth based on your skillset and the market conditions.
I will not waste any time here giving you any other reason. Besides, I just love how unions bull dog there way into organizations and intimidate those who do not want to be a part of the union to be a part of one. Or, as in the case of an airline pilot buddy, force $2,400 from his paycheck mandatorily annually.
By Jason
December 14, 2008 6:06 PM | Link to this
And as a final point regarding wages, it is not your job to begin with. It belongs to the company. So long as you liberal socialists continue to force companies to pay a “fair” or “livable” wage - as defined by you and you only - jobs will continue to disappear and go overseas. I for one as a business owner will not stand for nor tolerate government - or unions - telling me I need to pay someone $25/hr. when the job is worth no more than $10/hr. The easier you are to replace, the lower your pay. It’s pretty simple.
By Jason
December 14, 2008 6:08 PM | Link to this
Can someone explain to me why libs are still so infatuated about Palin? What are you pinko left wing liberal skirts afraid of?
By h ryder
December 15, 2008 9:43 AM | Link to this
Galiberal, as well as others who flap their their mouths when your brain stops working, put cork in it and think logically. Then present a cogent argument that can only be rejected if facts are incorrect. I and many other people are disgusted with presentations based on emotion, biases, faith, incorrect facts, bigotry, or a lack of historical perspective or combination thereof.
By h ryder
December 15, 2008 9:44 AM | Link to this
Galiberal, as well as others who flap their mouths when brain stops working, put cork in it and think logically. Then present a cogent argument that can only be rejected if facts are incorrect. I and many other people are disgusted with presentations based on emotion, biases, faith, incorrect facts, bigotry, or a lack of historical perspective or combination thereof.
By T
December 15, 2008 11:45 AM | Link to this
Every month or two I check this blog and every time I do, I’m sorry I’ve dropped by. It continues to be filled with self-rightous, uninformed, utterly self-absorbed individuals intent only on bending current events to their own narrow-minded, inflexible perspective.
By Reality Check
December 15, 2008 12:13 PM | Link to this
Anyone who sincerely thinks that the free market dictated Detroit build Hummers and heavy pickups should Google “hummer loophole”. But I suspect most SUV apologists know that tax law fueled demand for Hummers and the like.
By American Made
December 15, 2008 3:42 PM | Link to this
Amen And as a final point regarding wages, it is not your job to begin with. It belongs to the company. It would say “employer” but company will do. When you are hired by your employer, you agree to the compensation. If you don’t like it, don’t take the job. Go find another job. Or how about this, excel and perform at the job you are doing and get promoted. Better yet, excel at your profession and start your own company where you can then pay your employees WHATEVER you want, because it is then your jobs that are being filled.