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Wednesday 
17 December 2008
mr. robinson’s neighborhood
eugene robinson of the washington post neatly summarizes the argument for spending a few schillings on the u.s. auto industry…
“To recap: We’re in the midst of a global financial crisis. The housing bubble has burst and prices have collapsed. The economy has been in recession for a year. Unemployment has risen to 6.7 percent, and if “marginally attached” workers are included — those who have given up even looking for jobs — along with those who want to work full time but are forced to accept fewer hours, the rate is 12.5 percent.
“Even if the Big Three deserve to die, they shouldn’t die now. Economic theory notwithstanding, it would be insanity to throw hundreds of thousands of auto company employees, and maybe a few million others in the supply and sales chains, out of work — leaving them and their families at the mercy of an economy that has no replacement jobs for them. Public funds would end up supporting these people anyway, except that we would have lost our domestic auto industry — which, despite its many failings, is the only domestic auto industry we’ve got.”
the effects of bush administration “economic policies” are being felt across a broad swath of people who likely thought they’d never find themselves in such dire straits.
The cold logic of a ledger sheet is a poor reply to what Cooper sees in the city’s alleys and side streets.
“We were over by the Civic Auditorium,” Cooper said, “and there was a guy lying on the sidewalk with a blanket pulled over his head. I leaned down and asked him if he wanted something to eat. He pulled the blanket down and there was a 5-year-old little boy lying with him.”
It would be nice to say that is an isolated incident, but it is not. Twenty of 21 cities surveyed for a new report from U.S. Conference of Mayors reported an increase in requests for food, and 59 percent of those requests came from families. In addition, 16 of 25 cities reported a significant increase in homeless families…
“I think a lot of people think (being homeless) is going to be temporary,” Cooper said. “They think: I’ll be out for a week at most. But you lose your means of communication and your address.”
thanks, president hoover. heck of a job.
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update: chrysler’s going to close up shop for a few weeks. just to see how it works out, maybe.
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Which of President Bush’s economic policies are responsible for the demise of US auto makers, spaceneedl? Did those all occur before the Democrats took Congress and as a result the majority of the federal purse in 2006? Or do you believe Congress has no control over the budget?
The quote you give misses some very basic points. Most importantly, that it’s not the government’s money, it’s that of the taxpayers. It’s akin to me calling you up and saying “hey, my business is failing as a result of my mismanagement, and yes there are other business that do the same thing that are making money, but I’m going to need to take some of your paycheck to stay afloat.” Ready to donate? Of course not. You know that the government doesn’t actually produce anything that makes a profit, right? That it’s YOUR money keeping these unprofitable industries afloat?
It’s also very interesting that you would chastise Bush on this issue, and it represents the failure of your own logic or a lack of understanding of the subject, since Bush is with the Democrats who have controlled Congress the past two years. The ones who continued to push Fannie and Freddie to make bad loans. Or are those not part of the economic policy that put us in this fix?
A Chapter 11 bankruptcy doesn’t immediately put anyone on the streets. It is a reorganization. There will still be used GM cars on the market that need parts, GM will still operate during the restructure, it will just have the bankruptcy court to force the various parties to come to the table NOW, not in 2011 as the UAW wants to do.
What I find truly ironic about your position is that you are supporting a bailout for Chrysler, a company owned by a PRIVATE EQUITY firm, the evil capitalists that you claim control the Repubs. Can you explain this inconsistency? Would you have bailed out Enron?
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And if public funds are going to support these people anyway, why not quit increasing the debt of these companies and just shut them down and give it to them directly?
By the way, how come you care so little about workers at auto companies that have not been financially mismanaged? Should they not reap the benefit of a competitor’s incompetence?