This article is supposed to be critical of Republicans and supportive of Democrats, at least the way I read it. Assuming that is true, then I really pray for the next four years, because what this article succeeds at showing is just how out of touch the Democrats and the auto industry really are on this issue. How can I say this? Well, I'll quote the article. According to CNNMoney.com, the Democratic leadership responded to the bailout plan with the following: "House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said over the weekend the House would aid the ailing industry, though she did not put a price on her plan. "The House is ready to do it," said Democratic Rep. Barney Frank of Massachusetts, chairman of the House Financial Services Committee. "There's no downside to trying."" We're gonna get it done (meaning billions more dollars to irresponsible companies) and there's no downside to trying, except maybe the socialist outcome or the plethora of companies waiting to see if the government will bail out the auto industry so they can beg for their piece of the taxpayer's pie. Now, that's the Democratic Congressional leaders. Here's what our next President said in regards to this issue: ""For the auto industry to completely collapse would be a disaster in this kind of environment," Obama said in a "60 Minutes" interview airing Sunday night on CBS. "So my hope is that over the course of the next week, between the White House and Congress, the discussions are shaped around providing assistance but making sure that that assistance is conditioned on labor, management, suppliers, lenders, all of the stakeholders coming together with a plan - what does a sustainable U.S. auto industry look like?"" Sustainable auto industry? How about a monopoly. Merge the three, get rid of some of the waste in management, actually build cars that people want to buy (SUVs that get 50 miles per gallon) and take advantage of the skilled labor you have. In addition, find someone who knows how to run a company and knows something about business (we'll come back to this). A sustainable auto industry in the U.S. does not include a bailout or "assistance" to people who have behaved greedily (the unions) and people who can't run a business (the CEOs).
At least the Democrats have politics to justify their positions. The company and the union are even worse. The union representative is quoted like this: "United Auto Workers President Ron Gettelfinger would not flat-out reject further concessions by members on top of the two-tiered wage system and other concessions the union gave the automakers last year, but he bristled at calls for further sacrifices by his members.
"Let's go to AIG, Bear Stearns, active and retired workers: Did anybody go in and ask them to give back wages and benefit levels?" Gettelfinger said on WDIV-TV in Detroit. "What about the bond traders? Did anybody ask them? What about the cleaners in the building? Why would the UAW be any different?"
"We made an agreement, and we made major concessions," he said. "So how can you blame the autoworkers?""
How can I blame the autoworkers? Easy, years and years of unreasonable demands that have resulted in some of the best benefits in the corporate world as well as the highest salaries. The auto workers are highly skilled laborers, so I'm told, and they deserve to be paid well, but they make more in Detroit than I do in Jacksonville, FL and that is laughable. I blame the union because they just don't get that if they don't stop being greedy, and that's all it is, then they'll drive the companies they work for out of business, period. As for the people who supposedly know something about business, here's what they had to say: But GM CEO Rick Wagoner, also appearing on Detroit's WDIV, said: ""This idea that you just go into Chapter 11 and hang around for three months ... this is a fantasy. This is not going to work. Most important to what is going to happen is most people will stop buying the cars of a bankrupt company."" So, this shows that the CEO of GM has absolutely no concept of what happens to a bankrupt company. Chrysler managed to pull out of it back in the 80s and people continued to buy Chrysler cars. Many other companies have done quite well using Chapter 11, airlines etc. This guy is clueless that people who want to "buy American" will do so regardless of whether the company is in bankruptcy. A lot of people want to buy American cars. It is just that the American car maker hasn't made anything worth buying for a long time. If Congress bails them out, then this same stupidity will continue. If we let them fail, as they should, then they can go into bankruptcy, get rid of the management waste and scale back significantly the unreasonable demands of the union and then maybe they can start building products people actually want to buy. That's how you fix the American auto industry. The bailout fixes nothing and simply puts more companies sitting under the dinner table looking for scraps.
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