The Southern Senate Republicans seem to want to start a new "Civil War" with
the northern Big Three Auto Companies
and the pro-Democratic Party United Auto Workers Union.
The #1 reason the automakers (including the foreign transplants) are in trouble now is: the credit crisis caused by the financial companies. Without credit, people cannot buy cars (including the foreign transplants--Toyota is closing some plants for the month of January). If not enough cars are being sold, the auto companies are not making money. Those same financial companies were given billions of dollars a few months ago with no conditions, no questions asked, no regulation, no demands. Just: "here, just take this money and keep acting just you have been acting..."
The American auto companies were made to beg and grovel; were vilified; were made to repeatedly concede and apologize and turn in homework assignments; and then still were denied a loan. The unions were given the blame for everything. The same unions that made the middle class in America; the same unions that helped enact child labor laws, the 40-hour workweek, vacation and sick time, health benefits, pensions, etc. The same auto makers who were called upon to build tanks and weapons for the WWII war effort (that's how the "Jeep" started) and were again called upon to "get America rolling again" after 9/11. As of noon today (December 12 2008), General Motors just announced it will be closing 21 factories in North America for the entire month of January--Merry Christmas!
The American car companies have been around for 100 years. The unions have been around for 70 years. The foreign transplant car companies have been in America for about 25 years. Yet the American car companies are being blamed for offering pensions and health benefits to their retirees who worked in the plants for 30 and 40 years; retirees who are living longer (and costing more) because of the good health care provided by their union contracts. The foreign transplant companies don't have people who have worked that long, so they don't have those costs; and their home countries provide the health care for them.
Of course, the Southern Senate Republicans who are making these "comparisons" and demands get an average annual salary of $169,000 plus the best retirement and health benefits available in America. They are vested in their pensions after only five years and get health benefits for life--paid for by the taxpayers. By the way, American autoworkers are taxpayers, too--when they have a job. They make an average of $50,000/year without overtime; less than one-third of what Senators make.
The Southern Senate Republicans consorted among themselves to do whatever it took to destroy any loan agreement for the Big Three unless the Big Three filed bankruptcy on their terms, claiming they were "protecting the taxpayers". They don't mention that they gave away billions in taxpayer monies in the form of tax abatements, incentives, FREE land, training, utilities and infrastructure, etc. to the foreign transplant auto companies to locate in their states.
The Southern Senate Republicans demanded that the American automakers become "viable" before receiving any assistance. That's like saying to a dying cancer patient, "get well first, THEN you can receive the radiation treatment that will keep you alive..." These Senate Republicans are out to "break the UAW" because they live in "right-to-work" states; and they are angry that the UAW is primarily Democratic and helped the Democrats win the recent elections in 2006 and 2008. They are also protecting the foreign transplants which are located in their states. Yet, during the Presidential campaign they claimed to be "more patriotic" and "more American" than Democratic areas of the country.
At this writing (noon on Friday, December 12 2008), it seems as if George W. Bush will step in and loan the Big Three the $15B left from the $700B bailout. Of course, $685B was GIVEN away; and the last $15B is a loan. Some people think GWB doesn't "deserve" to be seen as "saving" the auto companies. Some think that maybe this was all orchestrated to give him "the glory"; although after ignoring August 2001 warnings about 9/11; after lying to get America into an unnecessary and seemingly endless war; after letting New Orleans drown; after de-regulating the financial markets; after shredding the Constitution and the Constitutional rights of Americans; after stealing the 2000 and 2004 elections through dirty tricks, voter suppression, and hijacked voting machines; after having the lowest popularity numbers of any President in modern times--maybe he thinks he could use "a win" right about now.
It is up to ALL Americans to realize that manufacturing (yes, those blue-collar jobs) are the backbone of the American economy and the American middle class. Even as we move to "green" technology, those building the "green" infrastructure will still be "blue-collar", or at least "green-collar". Nobody can hire "Joe the Plumber" or tip "Wendy the Waitress" if they don't have jobs. All those "small businesses" that the Republicans say they care so much about cannot survive without clients and customers. Even Henry Ford I realized that it made little sense for the Ford Motor Company to build cars that his own employees could not afford to buy--that's why he instituted the "$5/day" wage structure.
The Republican Party lost all of these elections because of their us-vs-them policies of vilification and divisiveness. Here they go again. However, the #1 Republican will probably give the auto companies the loans they need to keep going and restructure; and then Democrats will be in charge. And we hard-working taxpaying Americans will NOT forget in January 2009 what they tried to do to hard-working taxpaying America (those who us who still have jobs and homes) in December 2008.
