70 PERCENT OF THE AMERICAN PEOPLE SAY THEY DO NOT WANT THE CONGRESS TO GIVE THE BIG “3” A $34 BILLION LOAN!
MORE THAN ANYTHING ELSE I BELIEVE THIS LINGERING ANGER EMANATES FROM THE PAST DECADES WHEN DETROIT FAILED TO PRODUCE A PRICE COMPETIVE, FUEL EFFICIENT CAR POWERED BY SOMETHING OTHER THAN GAS.
AND THAT THE ENTIRE INDUSTRY INCLUDING THE LABOR UNIONS THAT DEMANDED MORE THAN THE MARKET COULD BEAR AND THE EXECUTIVES WHO MADE VERY BAD DECISIONS IN SPITE OF THEIR PERVERSE COMPENSATION PACKAGES HAD WORKED TOGETHER TO MAKE A CAR THE MARKET WOULD BUY AND NEEDED TO MEET THE VITAL GOALS OF OUR EVER-DECLINGING ENVIRONMENTAL WELLBEING!
From recent polls taken following the visit of the presidents of the auto companies flying to Washington in their private jets asking for $25 billion last week, the public turned on the automakers “bailout” [which is not a bailout, but a loan guaranteed by the Federal government] and insisted, without giving careful thought to the ramifications for four million workers, dealerships and their employees, and suppliers and their employees, if the government let these “incompetent yoyos” go bankrupt.
For the automakers to liquidate would cause the greatest catastrophe in this country's history.
Those Congressmen who are playing the role of hard ass in front of the television cameras did not stop to think of the implications for unemployment compensation for both the Federal and state governments and their unemployment compensation funds, their Medicaid funds, the loss of taxes from the millions of workers many of whom would also be forced to file bankruptcy and the damage such a bankruptcy would do to the federal government’s need to lead this country out of this recession.
Before our House of Representatives and the U. S. Senate declines to provide money to our nation’s key industry, they ought to stop posing for the hometown folks who have no idea of the depths of this economic malaise and certainly no idea how to fix it. Congress must take a stand for the good of the survival of our country and its economic power.
That is not to say that the government should just hand over $34 billion to three companies whose lack of visionary leadership and hard headed business acumen has proven itself incompetent.
There must be serious and enforced guidelines. This time the automakers must play by the rules, our rules, the people’s rules imposed by the federal oversight agencies.
Below I have listed some of the guidelines the Congress should incorporate in any loan guaranteed bill:
· The present management must relinquish their authority if not their jobs to a new set of management eyes that can look at the wreck to see if there is anything salvageable.
· If there is, both a short term and long term recovery plan (short term business plan) must be presented to a committee of the Congress for review and approval.
· The money should be dished out in installments in order to review the taxpayers’ investment on a continuing basis to determine the feasibility of a long-term loan guarantee.
· The overseeing agency/personnel must have the authority to terminate the employment of any and all employees at all levels of management to determine their competency to continue their job.
· Once a practicable business plan for the next decade is completed, the assigned committee of Congress must review and approve it prior to its implementation.
· All executive salaries and benefits must be reviewed, modified and packaged to the executive’s ability to successfully complete and meet annual goals.
· All unions must be involved in this planning process and be willing to modify their present compensation program in view of the economic conditions of their automakers balance sheet.
· Compromises at both the executive and labor levels must be mutually agreed upon and enforced by the oversight personnel who are appointed by the president and the Congress.
· When possible the oversight committee must liquidate those products which are not now and are not going to be profitable within a reasonable and pragmatic time frame.
· The company may not under any circumstances abandon its responsibility for both the health insurance and pensions guaranteed to its employees. It will be a function of the oversight commission to see that the business plan drawn up by them in conjunction with the management and union leadership incorporates the company’s responsibility for these two vital elements of the workers compensation program.
· Under no circumstances will the responsibility for the workers pension programs be assigned to the Pension Benefit Guarantee Corporation even if so dictated by a state or federal court of law.
It is rumored that the Congress is working on a bailout package even as I write this blog. There should be no doubt in anyone’s mind who has a thorough understanding of economics and the state of our nation’s financial condition that this loan guarantee [it is not a bailout; it is a loan guarantee] not only should, but must be passed by the Congress.
It is not time for the conservative members of the House to grandstand for the folks back home and vote to literally destroy one of American most important industries especially in this time of recession.
There are a few Congresspersons, especially in the ultra-conservative states, and those whose educational backgrounds failed to include the finer points relating to financial matters and especially the more complicated issues as they relate to problems of state, recessions, and even depressions who will need some very heavy duty pressure applied to their small and antiquated minds.
This is no time for a course in such matters and no time to bend to the will of the undereducated in your district. This is the time for leadership.
The Detroit Free Press, picturing a massive U. S. flag on its front page sent an editorial to every member of Congress and more. They sent 1000 copies of today’s [November 5, 2008] paper with some very blunt talk to our nation’s legislators about the $34 billion dollar loan the “Big 3” automakers are asking from Washington.
“You don't want an economic disaster on your hands. Not when you could have prevented it. And not in times that are already the worst in a generation. But that's exactly what you'll have — and more — if one of the three Detroit automakers goes belly-up for lack of a government-backed loan. There will be economic hell to pay — not just in Detroit, but all across America, including in your state, in your district.
The loss of jobs, the devastated retirements, the massive loss of health care coverage, the sharp drop in local tax revenues, the closings of supplier and ancillary businesses — all would be calamitous in the best of times. And these are not that. Just ask the people you represent.
More than 3 million jobs are at stake in the industry. General Motors, Ford and Chrysler are threaded in the fabric of businesses in every state across America.
A failure of one or more of the automakers would deepen the country's worst recession in 27 years, and it could take decades to rebuild the nation's industrial base, which will atrophy like an unused limb without the muscle-flexing of Detroit's automakers.
Who will buy the rubber, plastics, copper and computer chips that Americans make? Who will need all the tool and die shop workers, mold makers or software engineers who help drive the small-business economy in so many states?
You don't want all this blood on your hands. No one could
Because the losses from an auto industry failure are about more than dry statistics. Every job associated with the industry is a family, a home, a college education, a cancer treatment or a secure retirement. Every one of those jobs is about someone making a living doing work that's vital to the nation's economic interests.” Detroit Free Press, November 5, 2008
I concur with the opinion of the Free Press and God forbid that too many right-wing conservatives follow the foolish and uneducated whims of their constituents by voting against this loan guarantee.
If this country wants to see a depression, the failure of the Congress to pass a bill without all of the proper procedures in place will be just the catalyst that will drive this economic SUV over the cliff with a tank full of gas that will surely burn the rest of this nation’s financial entities to the ground.
12:11:26 PM 
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