Detroit News auto jeffe Manny Lopez seems to think there’s orchestrated opposition to a Motown bailout. In this he could not be more wrong. Not a single elected representative has come out against federal mammary provision to Motowns’ mavens. Lest we forget, Senator John McCain reversed his anti-Detroit-bailout rhetoric in time for the election. Besides, the $25b Department of Energy is a done deal, and TARP provisions for Detroit’s captive lenders are on their way. Still, paranoia rules! “I’m not buying the ‘Let Detroit die’ line that’s being promoted by people across the country. It’s tired. It’s simplistic. And it’s misguided… Most notably the jobs that would be lost, though the ‘thought leaders’ on the coasts and politicos in Washington, D.C., don’t seem to be giving that much consideration. Carly Fiorina is among them. The former chief executive of Hewlett-Packard Corp. said in Detroit this week that the government can’t rescue the auto industry. ‘The auto industry cannot be saved from its own bad bets,’ she told the Detroit Economic Club.” Now THAT took some balls. Not that Manny’s ready to cede the point (as if). But it does inspire some classic “this is not my beautiful welfare” rhetoric.
“Unfortunately, there are plenty of people who argue that helping the auto industry weather one of the worst markets in 15 years, or provide a boost in the way of tax breaks or research and development credits to meet the fuel economy mandates Congress has imposed is tantamount to ‘welfare.’ That’s not welfare. Welfare is what hundreds of thousands of workers and their families across the nation will seek if the domestic car companies fail. Unemployment levels will skyrocket. Small businesses will fold. Even more houses will go into foreclosure. Birds will drop from the sky. The seas shall roil in protest. The bowels of the earth shall open forth and disgorge a beast of incalculable evil.” Just kidding.
Anyway, Manny’s conclusion is surprisingly… conflicted. Unintentionally honest? You be the judge. “Detroit doesn’t deserve any handouts. But it doesn’t deserve to be buried alive, either.” Huh.
Of course it is not welfare! I wish it cost ONLY what welfare was costing. This bailout will cost us plenty more.
It was Reagan’s administration which negotiated voluntary automobile import restrictions with Japan. Today’s self-styled “Reagan Republicans” would scream Socialist!, Herbert Hoover!, Smoot-Hawley! and worse should a Democratic politician suggest the same thing today.
But, wasn’t the justification for those restrictions that the US automakers needed several years of breathing room to get their act together? What happened, did they or did they not get their act together?
We should not negotiate with terrorists or hostage-takers. That includes those who claim to hold jobs as hostage. The workers will recycle to their next tasks soon enough, same as everybody else has been doing.
If you don’t live in Metro Detroit then you obviously won’t care about what happens. Michigan has been in a 5-6 year recession and it is about to get a hell of a lot worse. Of course, all the haters will say that all Michigan needs to do is diversify its economy a bit.
Easier said than done.
If you lived in the Detroit area, your opinion would be much different. Now, keep in mind that I do not have a provincial “buy American” attitude. However, I like to support my neighbors first since their well-being may directly affect me more than the well-being of an out-of-work banker in New York City. One neighbor works at Toyota’s Tech Center in York Township while another works at Sterling Stamping. Everyone is either related to, or knows somebody who works in the auto industry here. It is what it is.
derm81
Total agreement and understanding about the diversifying your economy. Pittsburgh where I live went through what Detroit went through 30 years ago. To anyone around my age or younger, at one time steel was made in Pittsburgh. In fact around 30% of the world’s steel production was in the Pittsburgh area. We are talking plants with workforces in the 30,000 people range making enough money to live middle class lives. Now there are around 2000 steel workers in the Western PA region.
Did we collapse? No, but things are tough like everywhere else. Detroit needs to diversify or die. It is that simple. Use the universities and see what you can move into. Remember that it isn’t one or the other it can be both.
In the Nov. 10, 2008 issue of Forbes magazine, Steve Forbes said, “Congress recently voted for $25 billion in loan guarantees aimed at helping Detroit automakers. (This money is to be used not only to aid Detroit but also to prevent another flare-up of the credit crisis. If the Big Three defaulted on their debts, holders of credit default swaps–which in recent years have grown like toxic weeds–would demand payment from those who wrote the insurance on the automakers’ bonds. This would create another wave of losses for financial institutions.)” Maybe that is how GM can claim they are too big to fail?
Carly Fiorina nearly ran Hewlett-Crappard into the ground, never forget.
Okay, I will support giving them tax breaks. Let’s start with their property taxes, and then add on complete forgiveness of their other taxes.
No taxes on Ford, GM, or Chrysler for 5 years. Done. Will it work?
We could REALLY save Detroit though. Making Michigan a right to work state would be a good start. Then we start teaching the children about responisbility and justice so they don’t buy into the coming era of “social justice” that the rest of their peers around the country are going to have to choke on, and in 20 years, Michigan will be the best place in the USA. GM will be number 1, and most of their sales will be to capitalists in eastern europe.
Do you realize…that some companies have been spawned (from nothing but an idea) and have risen to the TOP in the time that GM has had to “earn” it’s keep?
Where would you be without your Intel-based computer …and your Google search-engine?
Intel came out with it’s first microprocessor in 1971!!!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intel_4004
These blowhards who spew such nonsense as the “jobs lost” argument are living in a drug-induced stupor.
They have NO CONCEPT of what it means to compete..none at ALL.
NONE!!!
Handouts, welfare, pity, …pathetic excuses…one after the other.
People, THIS is the danger of being a bleeding-heart “do-good” sympathetic person.
Why? Because you are NOT doing ANY GOOD WHATSOEVER!!!!
Democracy EMBRACES failure as much as it embraces success. LET GM DIE!!! IT IS NOT *BAD*…IT IS *GOOD*
LET THEM ROT, YOU WILL THANK THE GOOD LORD ABOVE FOR THE OUTCOME.
No more Saturn’s, No More Half-Assed Buicks, Cobalts, Coupe De Ville’s….El Camino’s…
In CA, only losers and Illegal “Immigrants” drive GM. And it’s for a GOOD REASON!!!
Even the Donner Party ate their own!! Out of necessity (Darwinism?). This is one of those times where we must let them die..you can dance a jig on their grave…and that’ll be THAT.
End of Story!!! No more “32” pins..no more 3rd-rate junk products…no more GM DEATH WATCH.
(Oh wait, what am I saying…this has been more fun than watching hockey players knock each other’s teeth out. :) THANKS Robert!!! :)
there wouldn’t actually be a net loss of jobs. That’s a common misunderstanding.
http://www.ridelust.com/ridelust-rant-gms-broken-window-fallacy/
The Green Manilishi says to let GM *DIE*:
Now when the day goes to sleep and the full moon looks
And the night is so black that the darkness cooks
And you come creeping around, making me do things I don’t want to do
Can’t believe that she needs my love so bad
Come sneaking around, trying to drive me mad
Busting in all my dreams, making me see things I don’t want to see
‘Cause you’re the Green Manalishi with the two-pronged crown
All night dragging us up, or you’re bringing us down
Just taking my love, and slip away
Leaving me here, trying to keep from following you
@ LandCrusher,
You are absolutely correct. Too bad you aren’t running for President… I’d vote for you.
Mom, is that you?
:)
Thanks, Wolven. Though I am not sure it’s such a great compliment anymore given the competition. While I appreciate and respect Senator McCain for all his service, he sure hasn’t executed too well lately.
Pittsburgh, good case. If Detroit had not been bypassing US suppliers, Detroit might gain a little more sympathy from Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Gary…
If the suppliers in Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Gary had not been bypassing local machine shops and component makers, they themselves might gain a little more sympathy…
Detroit has been bypassing its fellow Americans for decades in favor of cheaper offshore product, from car components to computer programming. And now it dares to wave the American flag.
I’ll say it again:
[Detroit’s] time has come. Like Constantinople or Rome before it the city has become a breeding ground for suffering and injustice. It is beyond saving and must be allowed to die. This is the most important function of the League of Shadows. It is one we’ve performed for centuries. [Detroit]… must be destroyed.
Let GM go bust and reorganize! I remember a Japanese auto maker that was losing market share and bleeding cash like a stuck pig and was about to go bankrupt. Then they got acquired and received new management that made some tough decisions and allowed the company to find a voice and direction.
What was the company called?…DATSUN!!…er…no…Nihon? Nippon?
Anyway, point is if you want to help GM out (who doesn’t want to do something nice), fine, but kick the bums out! If you see your friend get constantly abused by her boyfriend you don’t help him out! You get your girl to dump the loser!
Hee hee – I’m gonna make a bunch of people mad…
If I don’t buy an Impala and the plant closes, a bunch of Canadians are out of work.
If I don’t buy a Fusion, a bunch of Mexicans are out of work.
If I buy an Accord, a bunch of Ohians who have been working at that plant for TWENTY FIVE YEARS get to keep their jobs a little longer.
[I just bought Honda stock on Scottrade the other day. The GM and Ford that are in my 401(k) aren’t doing so hot.]
Philosophical question: Is it better for the economy if I (and a bunch of people like me) have to replace our cars more often because they wear out quicker? Do I have unlimited stacks of 25 grand or so laying around so I can subsidize auto workers every 4-5 years? Or are our national resources (money, steel, plastics, etc) more efficiently used if my transportation needs are taken care of with half the cars (if the cars I buy last 9-10 years) over my lifetime?
Carly Fiorina is among them. The former chief executive of Hewlett-Packard Corp. said in Detroit this week that the government can’t rescue the auto industry. ‘The auto industry cannot be saved from its own bad bets,’ she told the Detroit Economic Club.” Now THAT took some balls.
Having been an H-P serf during the Carly years, I can safely say that that bitch is one hell of a celebrity CEO – and damn little else.
As ferrarimanf355 says, she did little for H-P, and her tenure at Lucent was just as bad.
Carly is good for jetting around in corporate Gulfstreams and writting books braying “it wasn’t my fault!”, and damn little else about actually running a company. Sure, she claims credit for the success since she left, but her time as CEO shows otherwise.
And, as for telling the Detroit Economic Club to piss up a rope – well it either took balls, or a complete lack of tact. Hmmmm, I’ll go for the latter, given her “I’m so much smarter than you” baggage.
Bruce
I once asked my family when I visited Iran why their car industry was stuck in the dark ages. They told me that they had to make the cars in the most inefficient way possible to make sure people had jobs. Then they erected import barriers to force people to buy them. It always looks so strange when it happens someplace else…