I got the bailout blues

As I was sitting here, getting ready to write my feelings about the proposed bailout of the auto industry I decided to check my email. My dad beat me to it. . .see below:


hi all--well here i am on my soapbox again. i see on the news where us poor taxpayers are going to be giving gm,ford and chrysler ANOTHER 25 billion dollars to bail them out from the effects of 60 years of mismanagement and greed this is wrong the automakers are blackmailing us with the threat of losing 3 million jobs if all the us automakers shut down appox 1.2 million jobs will be lost many of which are held by massively overpaid white collar workers ,about another 950,000 uaw workers will lose their jobs
so what the japanese and koren automakers are doing just fine thank you very much

WHY?

well for one thing the asians don't pay their floor sweepers 22.50 per hour plus benefits[actual cost with pensions is about 45.00 per hour]
for a floor sweeper ? nice work uaw!!! that's one reason we pay $25,000 for a car that's worth about 15,000 and it may not even run
the big three have been bullying and bribeing our elected[god help us] officials since 1941 [ww2]
at the same time the top officials of EACH of the ''big three''each earned multi-million salaries and bonuses plus stock options

ENOUGH

THE NEXT THING WILL BE THE AIRLINES THEN ANOTHER AND ANOTHER UNTILL WE REWARD EVERY INCOMPENTENT /GREEDY INDUSTRY FOR THEIR INEPETITUDE
please write call or email your congressman and both your senators and tell them

''ENOUGH IS ENOUGH ''
capitalism,before it was corrupted,is all about survival of the fittest.if they can't cut the mustard let them sink into oblivion.....otherwise they'll drown us
if you look at these ''troubled'' industries you will see many success stories written by companies that ''get it''
think of honda,toyota,southwest airlines ,jet blue etc
oops out of room
go forth and BITCH UP A STORM[LOL]
jim smyth


Now. . .I don't disagree with my Dad, but I don't agree with him completely either. The autoworker unions are out of control, but so are most unions. When unions were first started it was needed. The government hadn't yet gotten involved by creating a multitude of labor laws. Now it has. But the unions aren't the biggest problem.

The biggest problem is that the automakers didn't look into the future. . .and of course this is the problem with any company that fails. They don't see what the customer is going to want next. Where the industry needs to go. So instead of heading the writing on the wall the car companies played ostrich, stuck their heads in the sand and went after the cheap buck. In that regard they deserve to fail.

However, that many people out of work, whether it be 3 million or less would be completely devestating to the economy. I personally feel if that were to happen we would see things not seen since the great depression.

Could this problem be solved? Yup. The current government only needs to look to history to solve this. First off, don't just give the automakers money. Make it a very low interest, very long term loan. Insist that with the money the first thing they do is refit factories to make more fuel efficient or alternate fuel vehicles. There is a diesel ford we can't get b/c they can't build it here. If they could and cheaply well then we could all be getting 65 mpg or more using biofuel right now. GM could get their electric vehicle out the door and sell it to us for less than 50 grand. (at that price I might as well keep my jeep).

The other thing that must be done. Get freaking welfare and extended unemployment benefits off the damn bill. I am so tired of politics as usual. If you want to increase the money to two items do them as separate bills altogether. Why does any bill that comes to the floor of the house or the senate have to be padded with tons and tons of extras? I am all for the parts that include extra money to infrastructure--the government should be funding that. Plus many schools and many road and many bridges need the work and it would help the economy immediately. Lets put those (union) laborers, carpenters, and iron workers to work. But stop trying to get your agenda passed. We, the American public, are sick and tired of politics as usual. It is time to address each problem individually and get the job done.

Which brings me to my final point. My dad is right. You, me, we all must write to our congressional reps and senators. Tell them to stop "dicking" around. Tell them it can't be politics as usual. Tell them to wake up do the right thing or by whatever deity you believe in we will vote them out of office--damn it!!!