I may not know much, but I know this: the only reason Republicans blocked the auto bailout is that they want to bust the unions. In particular, the UAW. For days the meme has been the outrageous wages of workers, repeated by every right wing talking head. And now they had their chance to act. (For the record, I'm not a knee-jerk supporter of all unions all the time: I might even write about that at another time...)
Having approved 700 billion for Wall Street, with virtually no restrictions at all, they balked at a tiny fraction thereof going to auto makers, with all sorts of strings. Having spent all the money on which they could get their hands for the first six years of Bush, happily running us into staggering debt (and, let us not forget, happily blocking all legislation to enforce higher CAFE standards, which might have saved the industry), it can't be about a trifling handful of billions. It's politics, pure and simple. Damn the consequences, damn the country, damn everyone's life savings, damn their futures. Mitch McConnell and his cronies see a chance to bust up the UAW, and take it come hell or high water. (We've seen the high water. Howdy, hell.)
What a pathetic bunch of unctuous, self-righteous and self-serving assholes. As long as idiots such as these keep getting elected by their thoughtless constituents, there'll be no such thing as bipartisanship. Those guys are not about solutions.
Not in the slightest.
We're screwed.
[Let it also be said: at some point the sponge-spined Democrats need to force the Republicans actually to stand there and filibuster, rather than let a small number of zealots kibosh legislation, one after the other. Let Americans see the spectacle; let them watch long enough to figure out what's going on. Why not? Because they're afraid of having the tables turned when they're back in the minority? Screw it. If it's worth doing, it's worth doing right.]
[Update: I'm not alone.]
[Even more.]
[More still, famouser and better-looking.]
[And now, a day later, the LA Times chimes in. I'm starting to think I'm right.]
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Sid, I don't think this is about unions, it's about the free market and companies that have been loosing money for a long time. I don't want a government run auto industry, and I don't want my tax money going to fund something like that. Why not take some of it(purposed bailout money) and make a fund to help the UAW employees get trained for new jobs in different industry? I think it's the wrong move to support the company because they have had years to change, this is not something that happened overnight. The companies should go bankrupt and their assets will be bought and used by someone else who can produce efficiently, and competitively.
ReplyDeleteI get the picture. Obama's friends continue to dig the Dems into a deep hole.
ReplyDeleteDo I win?
You can blame the unions, you can even blame the cost of healthcare, but the fact of the matter is GM and Chrysler wouldn't be in this mess if they could sell cars.
ReplyDeleteSimple marketing my friends, give the people what they want and they will buy it. Worship the high profit margins of Trucks and SUVs at the expense of compact fuel efficient autos and you relive the 1970's.
Geez, you'd think they would have learned the lesson the first time.