I think it’s about time to dub Freep the official home of pro-bailout agitprop. When you make the Detroit News look like it’s being run by H.L. Mencken’s Tabasco-marinated ulcer, it’s time to rethink your priorities. Or adopt the tagline “fair and balanced.” Anyway, the Freep’s unabashed Detroit boosterism is reaching a fever pitch, with everyone capable of wielding subject and predicate pitching in for the noble cause of disguising self interest as principle. From old standby (and former Cassandra) Mark Phelan, to financial columnist Susan Tompor, to a condescending missive by the Freep’s editorial board, the latest issue rotates faster than a Baghdad Bob interview in Spin magazine. Let’s pop a Dramamine and take a look, shall we?
Even though Mark Phelan’s regular column came out two short days ago, he’s back to lead the good fight with “6 Myths About The Detroit 3.” Actually, it’s basically a rehash of his column “Assistance Deserved, But With Conditions.” Then again, the Freep’s strategy seems to be based on volume rather than originality, recrafting the industry talking points into a million columns and fact lists.
Speaking of which, Phelan’s “6 Myths” bears a striking resemblance to GM’s unpersuasive GMfactsandfiction.com site. Both list valid critiques of GM/Detroit with a massive side of reductio ad absurdum and then “debunk” them one by one. In the process, we learn that Detroit does sell cars, “the creaky, leaky vehicles of the 1980s and ’90s are long gone,” not every American car is a gas guzzler.
The moral of Phelan’s adventure in debunking: to make Detroit look good you have to contrast (carefully selected) reality with the crudest possible negative stereotypes. Paging Ron Ziegler!
Financial columnist Susan Tompor reveals that Detroit is now a “dirty word.” Her column’s entitled “Where’s The Love?” Of course, the column should be entitled “Where’s the $50b?” but whatever… Tompor’s fighting the good fight.
“I’ve always understood that many people do not like American cars or union workers or car company CEOs. I didn’t know that some really, really hate us,” writes Tompor as if she’d just had a DTS burnt on her lawn. And like Phelan, Tompor takes these haters to task for “rolling out so many of the tired clichés that applied to the Detroit automakers in the ’70s that I half expect to see these interviews filmed at Studio 54.”
Except that the only ones really bringing up grotesque clichés is the Detroit booster club. By twisting valid critiques into 70’s throwbacks and then taking them out, the Freep is playing “strawman and the flamethrower.” And as much fun as that game is, it’s not great for the old credibility. Nor is Tompor’s revelation that she “got so upset when a reporter on CNBC said automakers don’t deserve a bailout that my 10-year-old marched into the room and said: ‘I know how to fix this.’ And he turned the TV off.”
Another crucial aspect of the Freep’s propaganda offensive is rehabilitating the past. Specifically, casting the 1979 Chrysler bailout as a success and a blueprint for future action. These tasks went to business scribe Sarah Webster, who apparently took the assignment literally enough to title her pieces “How the 1979 Bailout Worked” and “Like 1979, Next Auto Rescue Won’t Be Easy.”
The first is by-the-books, describing details of the government plan and the fact that Chrysler was able to pay the government loans back. Webster does conveniently fail to note that the 1979 bailout “worked” in large part because Chrysler had several solid products with which to build its future.
The second piece also ignores the success of the “K” cars and minivans, preferring to credit government oversight for turning Chrysler around. And suggesting more of the same would work again. Of course, Webster also fails to mention that Chrysler employed more Americans in 1979 than all three Detroit firms now do combined. Not that it matters in any way.
Finally, the Freep lets us know what it really thinks in an editorial board polemic titled “Lawmakers Must Grasp Value Of Detroit 3.” Ironically it has more news and less opinion than some of its so-called “news” coverage.
Avg compensation per hour of labor:
Detroit – $73.21 per hour
Toyondassan – $44.20 per hour
This would be a terrible investment with my money; it is simply not sustainable.
http://blog.heritage.org/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/paygap.jpg
The Dance of the Fat Welfare Queen is a vile thing to behold.
Her minions of bastard children are twice as ugly.
Every sphincter muscle on Earth knows what to do with GM & Ford, except shareholders. Did any journalist has shares of either one of publicly traded companies? Are shareholders ready to walk away from any equity they have in companies? Neither senate or congress are asking their opinion, but giving them a great option to loose everything to future stakeholders.
If this is not reminiscent of Third Reich or Bolsheviks or Cuban revolution, what is? Perhaps people who actually OWN companies should have right to speak or actually being asked what they want to do? Not what union want to do (we sort of know), not the failed leadership desires (fairly clear), but what are intentions of rightful owners of those companies? Perhaps they will decide to liquidate and get what they can for factories, tooling and unsold inventories? They may get more what everybody is willing to offer.
Point 2:
Reality-Ford is improving reliability.
Generally Mediocre & Cryslur are below the industry average, overall, in CR, JDP VDS (IQS means zip to long term), and True Delta.
Hyundia spanks them, as do the usual suspects.
Get over it. Those two make a few reliable cars and a lot of mediocre to awful ones.
There is always a better choice.
Cherry picking the data is lame, jettison your letter sweater and pom-poms Phelan.
*o/* RAH!
Bunter
Avg compensation per hour of labor:
Detroit – $73.21 per hour
Toyondassan – $44.20 per hour
Did you know that there are almost 300,000 non-postal civilian employees of the Federal government making over $77,000 in salary a year. Toss in another $70K or so in lavish benefits that are simply not available in the private sector. That’s nearly 1/5 of all Federal employees. The cost of their salaries alone is $23.2 billion a year, not much less than the Detroit 3 are asking for. UAW employees may not be the most productive employers on earth, but at least they actually build stuff. What do all those GS-11s and above do that contributes to our GDP or GNP?
Rebee… do you really think that it helps the comparison to say that you could pay the entire federal payroll for a year for what GM wants?
It really doesn’t. Especially when you consider the raw fact that 25 billion is not the solution to the problem, but only the money to tide them over until the real bailout.
The entire 2008 federal payroll to tide them over until they can really pry some money out of the government! Doesn’t sound so cheap to me.
Say something like “its only 6250 Abrams tanks” or “half of Bill Gates” or “enough to host one Olympic Games” or something.
We shouldn’t be surprised that the local Detroit papers can be cheerleaders for the Detroit 3? After all, virtually the entire news media has been and continues to be cheerleaders for Obama, the crack about Fox News notwithstanding. At least Phelan doesn’t say that Rick Wagoner gives him a “thrill going up my leg” like Chris Matthews said regarding the Dear Leader-elect.
The Detroit News is center right. The Free Press is at least slightly to the left of center left so it’s no shock that the Freep carries water for the UAW and Democrats like Jennifer Granholm. While there are still some union stalwarts holding a grudge against the Freep for their JOA with the News, for the most part the Free Press is reliably in the tank for organized labor.
I’ve read both papers, pretty much daily, for more than 45 years. The Freep has probably had some more talented writers (with the exception of the late, great Tony Snow) but the News’ editorial page makes more sense. Coverage of sports is about equal, though Rob Parker at the News (formerly at the Freep) is insufferable.
The Detroit newspapers treat the auto industry pretty much the same way the LA Times covers the movie biz.
Except that the only ones really bringing up grotesque clichés is the Detroit booster club.
Uhm…yeah right.
The second piece also ignores the success of the “K” cars and minivans
Is TTAC really prepared to sing the praises of the K car as “solid” product? Sounds a little disingenuous to me. And BTW, the minivan didn’t appear until 1983, 4 years after the bailout.
Phelan, you’re failing!!!
toxicroach :
November 17th, 2008 at 4:34 pm
Rebee… do you really think that it helps the comparison to say that you could pay the entire federal payroll for a year for what GM wants?
Please reread my comment. “That’s nearly 1/5 of all Federal employees.”
There are about 1.6 million civilian non-postal employees of the Federal government. I was only talking about those at the level of GS-11 and above. There is far more waste in the Federal payroll than in the domestic auto industry.
We have two classes of people in this country, government employees, and everyone else. Unfortunately, many if not most of those employees not only think they don’t work for us, but the reverse, our job is to support their high salaries and benefits.
Did you get a raise last year? Federal employees got a 2.5% bump.
Ok you got me on the math.
But still… while I am way into cutting the federal payroll, the fact that they are a bunch of overpaid bozos is really no justification to protect another bunch of overpaid chaps. Two wrongs don’t make a right.
The K car made money. In that respect it was a success.
A Customs or Border Patrol officer with lots of OT can break the $80k barrier.
The Federal Government also employs many people with specialized skills sets and advanced degrees. People with PhDs in math or hard science don’t come cheap.
Its more the work rules, duplication and featherbedding that kills the no so big 3.
My last job was at a trucking company that serviced a GM parts distribution center. My anecdotal observation for their warehouse is that GM pays 150-200% of the going rate for labor while getting 60-80% of the norm for productivity.
The contract for warehouse workers has NO productivity standard. A worker could pick 1 part per hour and Every night (except Friday) the warehouse crew would screw around for the first few hours as they felt entitled to their 1-2 hours of daily OT. A typical worker would spend 1hr+ per day smoking, BSing on his cell phone, etc. Heck they had two guys who loaded trailers who would watch portable DVD players between activity. In any normal setting one person could cover both jobs working at a regular pace.
A Customs or Border Patrol officer with lots of OT can break the $80k barrier.
I was talking about GS-11s and above, while some long term Customs or ICE agents may reach GS-11 (and top out there), they hire in at GS-5 and GS-7.
The Federal Government also employs many people with specialized skills sets and advanced degrees. People with PhDs in math or hard science don’t come cheap.
Some scientists can be GS-11 or 12, it’s true, but I figure that my aunt knows something about the Civil Service and the federal bureaucracy. She retired as an administrative law judge for Social Security. I was talking to her today and mentioned those figures I quoted, that there were almost 300,000 GS-11s and above and her response was, “And what do they do? Sit on their asses all day”.
You mentioned productivity standards. What productivity standards do federal employees have to meet?
Casual Observer :
November 17th, 2008 at 2:37 pm
Avg compensation per hour of labor:
Detroit – $73.21 per hour
Toyondassan – $44.20 per hour
This would be a terrible investment with my money; it is simply not sustainable
Out of date – GM, Ford & Chrysler’s labor rate drops in less than fourteen months to within $1.50 of Toyota.
http://www.boston.com/business/globe/articles/2007/10/05/gm_pact_cuts_pay_in_half_for_those_in_noncore_jobs/
http://www.newsvine.com/_news/2007/11/02/1069322-ford-uaw-reach-tentative-contract-deal
Took all of five minutes to find this information out.