I just listened to Senator Richard Shelby (R-AL) on two of the three network Sunday morning talking head programs. Y'know, Richard Shelby brings to mind how we Democrats can hardly have our views better validated than we do whenever we look at those who have abandoned our party for the Republicans because our party was a bad fit. They include such luminaries as Strom Thurmond, Jesse Helms, Lester Maddox, Pat Robertson, David Dukes, Frank Rizzo, and, of course, Richard Shelby. He's a turncoat and good riddance, I say.
His position regarding the financial woes of the American automobile industry, and that of most Republicans, is basically like that old New York Post headline during NYC's fiscal crisis of the 1970s when Gerald Ford vetoed Federal assistance: "Ford to City: Drop Dead!" He maintains that the auto companies brought this on themselves, and therefore deserve to go bankrupt. He vows to filibuster any aid package for GM, Ford, and/or Chrysler, and let them die.
I know that the Republicans have long dreamed of destroying the UAW, and a declaration of bankruptcy will accomplish that goal, rendering union contracts void. They don't care that this will cost literally MILLIONS of hard-working Americans and their families their jobs, their health care, their pensions, and throw them out onto the streets when jobs are the harder to find than at any time since the Great Depression. If they can lay the UAW low, they couldn't care less about the pain of the workers, since they don't actually feel any of it themselves.
But understand, GM is looking for $25 billion as a LOAN, not a bailout. And this is what Shelby vows to filibuster. Assuming GM survives (a strong assumption if they can only survive until the new administration and new congress comes online), the cost to the taxpayer will be literally NOTHING. It would come out of the ridiculous $700 billion already appropriated for the fatcat robber barons in the financial industry, the real culprits in this current crisis where the automakers are mere victims.
Of course, European and Asian automakers will certainly be bailed out by their governments. It's only our guys who have a government so unbelievably irresponsible that they will let their largest and most important manufacturing sector fail.
For Shelby, of course, something else is at work. The state he represents, Alabama, is the site of an automaker, too. Mercedes-Benz builds its big SUVs, its M-Class and its GL-class, and its crossover R-class, in Tuscaloosa County, Alabama. Of course, Germany and the EU will NOT let Daimler AG fail, so maybe Shelby also wants to cut off the competition before they can metamorphose into companies that build truly competitive cars.
Of course, Republicans also do the bidding of the oil companies, and those little darlings might be growing alarmed, particularly at GM, at some of the cars the American automakers plan to release in the almost immediate future. The Chevrolet Volt is estimated at this time to achieve a gas mileage of somewhere between 100 and 150 mpg. Well, they can't have THAT!
If our automakers declare Chapter 11 bankruptcy, there is no reorganization that will solve their problems. Credit has dried up anyhow, and nobody wants to buy a new car from a company in a dicey reorganization because they're afraid that they won't be able to get parts and service. Chapter 11 will almost immediately become Chapter 7, and all those people, real people with real families who have worked hard all their lives, will be thrown out of work, out of health care, and soon out of their homes.
This can't be allowed to happen. It is just inconceivable. This kind of obstructionism on the part of Republicans is a preview of what we will see in the years to come, with less and less sense to it -- just opposition for opposition's sake. We will need to deal with it, and we will need to deal with this. Something must be done so that the automakers can survive the three months they must endure before we get a more responsible government in place, or we will be in a new Greater Depression, with the automakers leading the way down the pit.
I don't care if it takes $25 billion, $100 billion, or $500 billion. Our automobile industry is WORTH saving.
And make sure Republicans like Shelby are tossed out on their worthless asses.
You know, I don't give a damn WHERE the money comes from; the situation is DIRE, not only for the auto industry, but for the economy.
Congress and the White House dither while the country burns.
This:
The debate in Washington comes as the financial situation for General Motors Corp. (GM), Ford Motor Co. (F) and Chrysler LLC grows more difficult.
"There's a high degree of urgency" for federal action if GM is going to stave off a financial crisis, Rick Wagoner, GM chairman and chief executive, said Sunday in a joint appearance with United Auto Workers President Ron Gettelfinger on WDIV-TV in Detroit.
In her statement Monday, Perino said, "The auto industry is an important part of our manufacturing base, and we want the industry to succeed and compete in the global economy." But she also said that media reports have erroneously depicted the administration as taking too harsh a stand on financial relief.
"We believe this assistance should come from the program created by Congress that was specifically designed to assist the automakers - from the $25 billion Department of Energy loan program," Perino said.
Get the goddamned money to them, you stupid jerks.
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