When the [not always] Right Reverend Jesse Jackson weighed-in in favor of $25b worth of low-interest federal loans for Detroit’s automakers, I couldn’t quite peg JJ”s angle. Jackson blathered-on about economic catastrophe and kids not being able to go to school. Well, now we have an indication of the real reason that JJ voted aye for the bailout. Automotive News reports “Desmond Roberts, chairman of the National Association of Minority Automobile Dealers, says his group has been urging members of Congress for most of the summer to provide $500 million in direct loans and loan guarantees to help minority dealers.” Yes, you heard right: NAMAD was into bailouts before bailouts were cool. “We were asking before the manufacturers went with their request,” says Roberts, owner of Advantage Chevrolet, of Hodgkins, Ill. “What we’re asking now is if they are going to appropriate $25 billion, can’t they carve out $500 million for the dealers who are in dire straits, whose absolute existence is threatened today? We’re the forgotten component.” AN says GM has about 340 minority-owned dealerships out of 6,550, while 271 of Ford’s 4,056 dealerships are owned by minority dealers. No flames now, but can someone please explain to me why minority-owned car dealers should get federal assistance when non-minority-owned dealers don’t?
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They shouldn’t.
And as someone who has dealt with Advantage Chevrolet over many years (Yes, I am from Illinois), I can say they deserve every bad thing that happens to them.
I never really understood the whole “minority privilege” argument.
IMHO resources used for those types of things should be used for people who are disabled who CAN’T help themselves.
Wow… this $25b for development of fuel efficient cars is becoming a free for all.
When whites assume affirmative action is the reason some blacks in government are successful, blacks get offended, even if’s a correct assumption.
Is Desmond Roberts suggesting that black dealers cannot compete with white dealers, without federal assistance?
You can’t have it both ways.
In the near future the whites will be the minority. How messed up with that be to the traditional minority causes?
If a bailout is actually given based on owner race I really hope a wealthy dealer group takes it to the Supreme Court.
“Wow… this $25b for development of fuel efficient cars is becoming a free for all.”
How about a federal bailout for everyone who has ever owned one of Detroit’s lemons?
I’d love to be reimbursed for all the post-warranty repairs I made on my ’96 Cavalier.
!!!FREE!!! MONEY!!!!! FOR EVERYBODY!!!!! (except the rich)
oh, wait. That’s somebody’s official platform position.
How many “disadvantaged minorities” can afford a new car? Adults in the US are disadvantaged by choice. You may be born a minority and be a disadvantaged child because of your parent’s lack of will or sense of entitlement, but everyone can make the choice as adults to improve one’s self. All these whiners should be required to spend a year in a third world country…then they will see what discrimination and disadvantage really is.
How about a federal bailout for everyone who has ever owned one of Detroit’s lemons?
That is the best idea I have seen all day.
I don’t understand why any dealers deserve a bailout, especially minority owned ones. There are way too many dealers. Are we going to keep sending money to dead businesses, because we are too afraid to make them find jobs society might actually need. It’s like us trying to keep carriage makers in business when there was no need for them to exist.
Well said 1996MEdition
“What we’re asking now is if they are going to appropriate $25 billion, can’t they carve out $500 million for the dealers who are in dire straits, whose absolute existence is threatened today?”
While the feds are at it maybe they can carve out, oh, $5 million for me. Really, compared to $25 billion it would be almost nothing.
And I promise to spend it in ways that will help the economy.
Instead of asking for free handouts maybe they could get Oprah to buy some Pontiacs off of them so she can give them away on her show. How many G3’s will $500 million buy ?.
I never really understood the whole “minority privilege” argument.
The idea is institutionalized poverty. If you keep a group down (or unfairly boost them, which never happens) throughout history, it becomes very hard for members of that group–today–to compete on a equal footing.
Try to imagine you grew up in an unstable family in the worst part of an urban slum. Crime is all around you, job opportunities are non-existent (who would run a legitimate business in such an environment?) and public education is functionally broken (can you imagine getting, or keeping, good teachers?). Even nutrition and healthcare are problematic; heck, you may have been set back from birth by virtue of your parents’ poor health choices.
Now, imagine you grew up in the lap of privilege. You have immediate access to people who are paragons of discipline and virtue, a ready-made network for future employment prospects and zero-barrier access to education. Needless to say, your mother took her folic acid supplements regularly.
Do you really think the child of a crack addicted prostitute in Compton has anywhere near the chances–even from birth–as the son or daughter of Nth-generation American aristocracy?
Now, where affirmative action falls down is that it tries to deal with what is really a class issue as a racial one. The problem is poverty, not skin colour or shared heritage, and what ends up happening is, instead of addressing the problems of poverty with grants and social programs, you start doing quota management, which results in a culture of victimization, which can actually make matters worse.
I highly recommend anyone interested in this topic read Walter Benn Michael’s “The Trouble with Diversity”, especially if you’re of the traditional political left. There’s a wonderful podcast/lecture on TVO’s Big Ideas here.
psarhjinian> Thanks for that thought out post.
I agree it is a class issue, and maybe an educational one. I don’t agree upon dividing it between black/white lines.
Without going into too much detail, I was born & still am legally disabled, yet have achieved what I consider success in life. I have a decent job which lets me afford a few toys and still build savings for a house. I recently got married had a huge (in my opinion) ceremony and now carry absolutely no debt I consider bad (no negative equity house, no wedding debt, no credit card debt). I have a car loan I’m not upside down on (20% downpayment)
In college, I was offered a job BECAUSE I was disabled and turned it down out of pride but found one shortly thereafter. My parents were semi-poor and qualified for government assistance but never took it out of pride. They told me to accept my disability and work around it which is what I have done. I took my own loans in college (only the last 2 years) and paid them back within a year or two after graduating. They told me to work hard & I would get what I want and that I was in control of my own destiny.
I agree with your assessment — Affirmative action should be focused on POOR people, not people of color. I agree a persons economic background & parents education is more indicative of future success than skin color. Every time I read or hear about people asking for handouts (which is what I consider affirmative action) or bailouts, it makes my blood boil!
There once was a place for affirmative action, but I believe that time has passed. Now we have a black man running for president, a woman running for VP of the right-wingers no less, and Oprah is one of the richest people in this country.
I agree that it is a poverty issue rather than purely race.
Fine, but I want my 40 acres and mule back.
As far as the minority owned dealership programs go, my familiarity with them was that they were really a pretty good thing. Basically, successful minority business men from outside the industry were teamed up with experienced dealership guys, or minorities with experience, but without capital, were helped to find capital through investors or loans. This is the sort of affirmative action that actually makes sense. Instead of quotas, direct action was taken to increase the number of capable minority players in a sector that lacked them. Little downside except…
…when you get into some of the people involved they turn out to be entitlement demagogues who we can only now assume arrived at their positions using talents for politics over business acumen.
Double shame on them for using their race as an excuse for government money when they have already arrived and should be making themselves into examples of how minorities can succeed.
its not a question of who deserves wat. it all goes back to the fact that minorities have been over looked because they are minority. say wat u will make all kind of excuses about it bein somethin else. they are asking for 500 million. thats cuhmp change compared to wat the automakers are asking for. i kno that it takes time for these kind of things. but it seems that the government has overlooked this being this is the first i have heard of this. and iam pretty sure many of u havent heard about this before today