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I am happy to see the GOP - the GOP I thought was dead - actually claw up from the grave and exercise some fiscal responsibility! The Big Three have been on a path to their demise for decades and the GOP senators have stayed true to their party’s roots now that the Bush era is FINALLY over.
The Big Three are Terminal. Unplug them and let them go.
Of course the problems are the UAW - and company management. But Unions in the 21st century are a problem to everyone. I grew up in Chicago, where the modern Labor movement was born. Yes we owe Organized Labor a debt of gratitude, for decent working conditions, a decent wage, and a 40-hour work-week. But all these changes came at the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th - a hundred years ago.
Watch any pity-party news network talking to workers in Michigan, and you'll hear something like this: "I've worked for GM here for 25 years, my brother-in-law for almost 30. My Dad was with them for 35 years and put us through school."
That's the problem. The UAW and unions in general haven't adapted to the 21st Century. We don't need to build cars here when it's cheaper to build cars ANYWHERE ESLE in the world and ship them here. That's because of the UAW. And those workers have been in this mode of entitlement for so long that anything else would we like driving on the left-hand side of the road.
And Salon - please, take a stand. When the Big Three were churning out low-mileage, sub-par vehicles you blasted them to be more like Japan and Germany. But now you're all sympathetic for them. Rewarding bad behavior will only encourage it. You have to treat these car execs and their UAW cohorts like children and say NO!
When those fat-cats are brown-bagging it to work, and eating in the plant's dining hall, then I'll start to believe they are making earnest cuts. That'll be about the same time California becomes a Red state.
But what about the workers? You should've seen this coming. Seriously. Again - you've lived in this world where you thought Big Brother - the UAW - was going to take care of you. Despite all the writing on the wall that your retirees are living too long and your membership numbers are at their lowest level ever. You stuck your head in the sand and hoped someone else would make it all better. If you didn't take an earlier bailout package and go back to school, then you're as foolish as your bosses.
IF the next administration is going to spend ANY money on helping out the auto industry, it should only be to pay for re-training those displaced workers into some sort of 21st Century WPA so we can repair our power grid, fix our roads and bridges, build solar farms and wind farms, and yes, even go so far as to spend money on parks and green-spaces.
