No bailouts for Detroit's Big Three!
Posted by Scott "The Piper" St. Clair - November 25, 2008
Written by and posted for Bob Williams
Detroit’s Big Three automakers – GM, Ford, and Chrysler - have asked taxpayers for a massive bailout loan.
Why?
Many of us don’t buy their products.
Instead, for years they approved what they
knew were unsustainable wage and benefit packages for union workers.
For Example, GM workers make $81.18/hour in wages and benefits Toyota, on the other hand, pays an American worker $35/hr.
And it’s not as though this is new –
knowledgeable auto industry observers have long decried this situation, predicting the exact calamity we are experiencing today. It was in 2005 that the linked article reported that a forklift operator (ordinarily a $26 thousand job) at one auto-parts supplier rakes in $103 thousand per year.
All the while these bad decisions were being made, Big Three senior management banked really big bucks for themselves.
The dinosaurs that are the Big Three should be forced to file bankruptcy. That process would allow them to rid themselves of fatal flaws, such as unsustainable union contracts that call for them to pay $64 an hour to mow company lawns or maintain phony job banks that keep laid-off workers on the payroll with full salary and benefits as they watch movies, read the paper, and do crosswords without being required to look for a job.
In 2007, there were 180,681 active UAW workers, but 721,025 people drawing union benefits.
Unbelievable!
If the car companies can’t clean up their act through bankruptcy, they should cease to exist. Energetic entrepreneurs and fresh-thinking investors could then step in, buy the companies, and reform them thus strengthening the American car industry.
For sure they are lousy collateral for the first in a series of “loans” being begged of taxpayers. No amount of tax bailout dollars can resolve these problems or return the Big Three to profitability.
You can do something about it. To the newspapers, blogs, elected officials, the Big Three themselves - Speak up, write, call – Whatever it takes! Don’t let others decide: You Choose, Not Them!
Add Comment -
Jeremy M. said on Nov 25 2008 at 12:08pm
Great article!
How can anybody REALLY think all of those assets currently owned by the "big 3" will be allowed to sit and rot. No way! They'll end up in the hands of someone that CAN make a profit... And probably better vehicles!
Bankruptcy is part of the blood flow of our economy, the very "Heartbeat of America!" (Ok, that was a bad pun...)
:-J
mmm...mmm...good said on Nov 25 2008 at 4:40pm
I don't know which would be better: driving a forklift for $100k, mowing lawns for $64/hour, or drawing a pension and doing whatever the heck I want.
Ahhhhhh...the beauty of the Big Three!
Rod Hagel said on Nov 27 2008 at 7:34pm
Even a parent knows you can't encourage that kind of behavior!
