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Sunday, Nov 8, 2009
Damn I never thought we would become the new Mexico where foreign car companies want our non unionized workers.
The Republican Senators are all being dishonest. Compare the costs to the same costs in the countries where the foreign car companies come from and you get a more realistic picture.
The big three pay health care and benefits to retirees. The foreign companies come in and don't have to worry about sharing profits with workers because of no union and they have a younger work force with cheaper health care costs and no retirees to speak of.
And these Republican assholes say Detroit needs to get lean and mean? We need to do what the Japanese and Koreans did which is throw all foreign car manufacturers out of our country. The U.S. auto market should only have U.S. cars and we only let countries import cars that have a trade balance with us.
I could take any business that is over 40 years old and if I were allowed to stop paying pensions and all benefits to retirees then I could make it "leaner and meaner." WTF do they think chapter 11 is going to mean? The Republican senators have no souls and no morals. They would eat their own children if it kept them alive one more day. God help us.
This far into the debate, with smart people participating, we still have this misconception. The UAW only make about $2 per hour more than the others in the USA.
And the UAW's new hires only make $14 per hour, with no pension.
How many times do reality-based humans need to point this out?
P.S. The auto factory workers in Germany and Japan make much more than the UAW.
By blocking the loans to the Big 3 automakers, the Senate Republicans have given us their final farewell gesture. A fitting one too considering what they have done over the past 8 years.
Consider that when George Bush and the Republicans took over in Congress in 2000 that the Federal budget was BALANCED. Even more than balanced - it was running a surplus and we were paying down the Fed deficit.
In 8 short years they turned a $5 trillion deficit into an $11 trillion debt that our children's children's children will be saddled with. And not a word from the Republicans about fiscal responsibility.
They initiated a war in Iraq and testified before Congress that it would be paid for by oil revenues from Iraq. The Bush administration testified before Congress that the total bill to the US taxpayers would only amount to $1.8 billion for the entire war effort. $1 trillion dollars later we're still pouring billions down that rat hole. And not a word from the Republicans about fiscal responsibility.
What about that $9 billion dollars that was earmarked by Congress to go for reconstruction in Iraq? Remember that? It went missing - no one knows where it went. And not a word from the Republicans about fiscal responsibility.
What about the tens of billions that went to Haliburton to provide services in Iraq in no-compete contracts? They couldn't justify the exorbitant rates they were charging and we continued to throw money at them. And not a word from the Republicans about fiscal responsibility.
When they set up the Dept. of Homeland Security the Department took billions and billions of taxpayer dollars and spent it on things like a $200,000 bomb-dismantling robot that Grand Forks, ND received. The commission that investigated 9/11 said the Dept. was in a "free-for-all over money" that had nothing to do with homeland security. Just lots of loot for their political cronies. And not a word from the Republicans about fiscal responsibility.
When the markets started to free fall they said we needed to act and we needed to act today. They didn't really have the details in mind - in fact the "plan" on how to spent this enormous amount of money changed on a weekly basis. All we knew was that we had to spend it (right now) and that we shouldn't ask too many questions. One question that might have been asked is how is it that Wall Street is in such dire straits when only LAST YEAR they paid out $32 BILLION in bonuses. And not a word from the Republicans about fiscal responsibility.
So now we come to the auto industry. 3 million people whose jobs are connected to the industry are looking for some help from the Feds. Loans to help them through a time while they restructure. Didn't Chrysler repay its "bailout" in the '70s? (The answer is yes - with interest). But now the Republicans finally have something to say about fiscal responsibility to the American people. It's a raised middle finger, folks.
It's fairly difficult to underestimate the amount of fear and panic taking place here. Our economy has been very depressed for well over two decades now, but the dissolution of the American Auto Industry would fairly decimate us because a large bulk of the 3 million jobs that would be lost are located here.
This evening on the local news a woman was interviewed who just lost her job at a Chrysler plant -- she has five kids, one of whom is disabled. I find it impossible to imagine the fear this woman is experiencing as she tries think of ways to provide for her family, and during the holidays, as if things weren't tough enough. It's not like she can just go out and find another job: there quite simply are no jobs. Businesses are simply not investing in this state, and what little investment we have will leave if and when the Big Three collapse.
Seriously, it makes me so angry when I read some of the spiteful, ignorant and uncaring statements being thrown around by people who have NO IDEA what is at stake for everyday, hard working people who are just trying to take care of their families. And this is what makes me sick about the Southern squad of Good 'Ol Boys. Someone called them "Confederates" and I thought this was so appropriate. These are men that are out for nothing more than their own state interests -- not the interest of the nation -- and even more so, they are out to stroke the interests of their own political careers and their anti-union political ideologies, which the American people clearly revolted against with the result of this past election.
Pick up a history book and think about it: Do we really want to return to pre-union working conditions? Granted, unions are not without their faults, but without their efforts we would all be working 14 hour days, without breaks, and in unsafe working conditions. There would be no vacations, and no benefits. So many people take these things for granted that it's easy for them to act smart and run their mouths, but I'd like to see how they would survive a day here.
These corrupted Confederate turncoats aim to do nothing more than advance their own political success on the broken back of American workers.
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