Big 3 Blame Enough To Go Around

Annie

Diamond Member
Nov 22, 2003
50,848
4,828
1,790
It's not just Detroit, yes from a Detroit rag, doesn't make it less true:

Beckmann: Members of Congress, not auto execs, deserve grilling | The Detroit News | detnews.com

Beckmann: Members of Congress, not auto execs, deserve grilling

There was one major problem with this week's congressional hearings about the bid by Detroit's automakers for a government loan to stay in business -- the wrong people were under the gun.

...This week, auto execs Rick Wagoner of General Motors, Alan Mulally of Ford and Robert Nardelli of Chrysler, along with United Auto Workers boss Ron Gettelfinger, were grilled by the ultimate second guessers, the politicians, most of whom don't have education degrees in economic fields or experience in making decisions on private employment, inventory and global competition.

One wishes the four could have asked the questions instead this week.

Why did members of Congress -- such as House Banking Chairman Barney Frank, Senate Banking Chairman Christoper Dodd and others -- raise fuel economy standards, adding more than $85 billion in costs as the industry was restructuring itself?

If the reason was forcing automakers to deal with higher gasoline prices, perhaps the politicians could explain why they have made fuel more scarce by blocking domestic drilling for oil and preventing new refineries from being built during the past three decades.

If global warming was the reason, perhaps the politicians could explain why some scientists now point to cooling temperatures while carbon dioxide levels continue to rise.

Our politicians like to claim the automakers have been slow to react to changing consumer demand. Perhaps they'd care to explain U.S. Energy Department figures that show flex-fuel vehicles, many made by the Detroit Three, accounted for a mere 6 percent of sales in 2007, while hybrid vehicle sales accounted for 2.6 percent of the market.

Politicians who insist on claiming that foreign manufacturers emphasize "green" technology over muscle might explain why sales last year of Toyota Tacoma and Tundra trucks were 30 percent higher than its hybrid vehicle sales.

Next, the execs and Gettelfinger could begin querying lawmakers about the credit crisis, born of government decisions that forced tens of billions of dollars in loans through Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to borrowers who were unqualified and high credit risks. This, in turn, has led to the reduced availability of credit for potential car buyers and helped send auto sales plunging.

We wouldn't expect the lawmakers to apologize for their lengthy list of mistakes. We wouldn't expect them to admit their role in creating the trouble. They never do.

But we should expect lawmakers to agree to these loans for the carmakers. After all, the credit record of GM, Ford and Chrysler is markedly better than that of Congress.
 
none of this crap makes a darn bit of difference, we went from corrupt to corrupterer.. just sit back and enjoy, these assholes are gonna do whatever now they have the majority.. bawney fwank skates..
 
I am more than willing to agree that much of the problem currently facing the BIG THREE has to do with politicies and laws enacted by Congress.

Hell, I've been pointing out this problem of many American industries has at its souce the stupid policies of our own govenment for some time now
 
Journalist Alisa Priddle wrote for The Detroit News 20 November 2008, concerning a press conference with UAW President Ron Gettelfinger:
-----------------------------------------------------------------
He said he sees the U.S. as being "in a race to the bottom in our country and the UAW's in that race as well because of our negotiations." He said he wondered if the goal was to reduce everyone to minimum wage. "Is that what our country's objective is?"
-----------------------------------------------------------------

No! Minimum wage is still way too high. That would give an American auto worker around $1050 per month. The average auto worker in China gets around $150-$200 per month.
 

Forum List

Back
Top