I would really like to know from people on this blog what they feel about the bailout of the auto companies. I, for one, am totally against it. Let ‘em file bankruptcy and go into reorganization as everyone else who can’t compete has to do. Hey, Michael, those labor unions, their wages and retirement are one of the reasons the automakers are where they are today in the marketplace. The Japanese make better autos, period. If they can cut $20 an hour off these ‘working wages’ those wages obviously are way to high. $50/hour for doing a spot weld? Sheesh! Why didn’t I move to Michigan back when I was a young guy. $30 an hour is the best I’m doing except when doing architectural and then it’s $80, but that’s still under the market.
Senate to Middle Class: Drop Dead …a message from Michael Moore
Friends,
They could have given the loan on the condition that the automakers start building only cars and mass transit that reduce our dependency on oil.
They could have given the loan on the condition that the automakers build cars that reduce global warming.
They could have given the loan on the condition that the automakers withdraw their many lawsuits against state governments in their attempts to not comply with our environmental laws.
They could have given the loan on the condition that the management team which drove these once-great manufacturers into the ground resign and be replaced with a team who understands the transportation needs of the 21st century.
Yes, they could have given the loan for any of these reasons because, in the end, to lose our manufacturing infrastructure and throw 3 million people out of work would be a catastrophe.
But instead, the Senate said, we’ll give you the loan only if the factory workers take a $20 an hour cut in wages, pension and health care. That’s right. After giving BILLIONS to Wall Street hucksters and criminal investment bankers — billions with no strings attached and, as we have since learned, no oversight whatsoever — the Senate decided it is more important to break a union, more important to throw middle class wage earners into the ranks of the working poor than to prevent the total collapse of industrial America.
We have a little more than a month to go of this madness. As I sit here in Michigan today, tens of thousands of hard working, honest, decent Americans do not believe they can make it to January 20th. The malaise here is astounding. Why must they suffer because of the mistakes of every CEO from Roger Smith to Rick Wagoner? Make management and the boards of directors and the shareholders pay for this.
Of course that is heresy to the 31 Republicans who decided to blame the poor, miserable autoworkers for this mess. And our wonderful media complied with their spin on the morning news shows: “UAW Refuses to Give Concessions Killing Auto Bailout Bill.” In fact the UAW has given concession after concession, reduced their benefits, agreed to get rid of the Jobs Bank and agreed to make it harder for their retirees to live from week to week. Yes! That’s what we need to do! It’s the Jobs Bank and the old people who have led the nation to economic ruin!
But even doing all that wasn’t enough to satisfy the bastard Republicans. These Senate vampires wanted blood. Blue collar blood. You see, they weren’t opposed to the bailout because they believed in the free market or capitalism. No, they were opposed to the bailout because they’re opposed to workers making a decent wage. In their rage, they were driven to destroy the backbone of this country, not because the UAW hadn’t given back enough, but because the UAW hadn’t given up.
It appears that the sitting President has been looking for a way to end his reign by one magnanimous act, just like a warlord on his feast day. He will put his finger in the dyke, and the fragile mess of an auto industry will eke through the next few months.
That will give the Senate enough time to demand that the bankers and investment sharks who’ve already swiped nearly half of the $700 billion gift a chance to make the offer of cutting their pay.
Fat chance.
Yours,
Michael Moore
Wow! Don’t you just hate those ‘bastard Republicans’? Guess I fall under that designation and apparently am opposed to “workers making a ‘decent wage’ “.
i sometimes wonder what this fat dude is smokin’. he makes zero sense and has no real grasp of the situation. its simple, they have way more money going out than coming in. how you fix that is to cut costs, but the union won’t allow it, so declare bankruptcy and then you can break the union. and ta da… you are then cutting costs. see how freakin easy that is? maybe if he put the crack pipe and the doughnuts down he would see things clearly.
Michael Moore? Is there really some Americans that are taking him seriously? This guy is a crackpot, an idiot, no wonder he likes Obama. Like attracts like.
There’s plenty of blame to go around. However, most conservatives, like myself, were against the bailout to the financial services companies, as well. I am against the Unions. I am not against what they once stood for. I am against what they are today. They are about making the American worker uncompetitive. They are about bringing socialism through the employers. They are about forcing the people who provide the jobs to do what they want.
Well, you know what, in doing so they have hamstrung the American automobile manufacturers. And for what? For more pay for less money. Imagine how much better American automobiles could compete if they didn’t have $2000+ in legacy costs. Imagine what $2000 could do for each vehicle?
But no, they would rather be like their brethren in the airlines. United, for example, filed for bankruptcy. The employees owned 50% (or 51%) of the company. Rather than taking pay cuts to keep people employed, they decided to force the company to go bankrupt. What did they end up with? Zero equity and people laid off. But, I guess it makes sense.
If I ever own a company and they decide to unionize, I will let them. Then I will promptly shut down the business. Why be held hostage to employees?
Oh yeah, it would help the middle class if they made cars that were more expensive but not as good as gasoline fueled cars. Not to mention they will be cars only a very small group of people want. That WOULD NOT help the car companies.
MM. You are a proven liar and hypocrite. You claimed to have grown up poor–you were upper middle class. You accuse Americans of being racist–yet hire almost no minorities to work for you. You “hate” white, wealthy, fat cats yet live in the whitest area made up only of very wealthy people. You claim to be for the little man but have been caught treating the little guy like dirt. You rail against outsourcing yet use Canadians for your crockumentaries and don’t provide benefits.
Michael, ESAD you self aggrandizing narcicist.
I admire so much how Reagan react to the illegal federal air traffic controllers strike in the 80’s. He said, you have 48 hours to go back to work or you will lose your job. The ones that ignored his threat got fired, I think about 12,000 controllers. This is the kind of President that the States needs. But Larry W. think he was too old… lol