I have to say that the many diaries that I have read on Kos advocating the destruction of the US auto industry has left me saddened. It has also left me in the strange predicament of agreeing with Pat Buchanan. It has also made me realize that the people who write these diaries, have no idea what they are talking about and don't realize the end result of what they are advocating.
First of all, let me say that I am from Michigan, and I have lived almost all over this state and I have family members who work directly for the Big 3.
I used to live in a small town called Adrian, Michigan a while ago. At the time my Step-dad worked at Delphi (a GM supplier). At the time, the people who worked for Delphi were GM employees and were represented by the UAW. When the UAW went on strike, the employees at Delphi also went on strike. The strike lasted about 2 1/2 months. At the time I worked at JC Penney's. That 2 1/2 months was a rough time for us. Days went by that we rarely saw a customer in the store. Days went by that we rarely saw people in the whole mall. Diners were empty, especially the ones directly across from the plant. The movie theaters were empty. They had to start showing new releases for $1 just so they could makes some money off of refreshements.
People were scared, they had mortgages, bills and had no idea when they were going to go back to work. But they did know that they were going back at some point. That strike at Delphi didn't just effect the UAW, it affected the workers, their families, a whole town, Movie theaters, retail stores, diners and many small businesses.
The auto industry's success or failures don't affect just that industry and their 3 million employees. GM, FORD & CHRYSLER contribute to the:
Computer industry (most people's biggest computers are in their cars)
Stereo & Audio equipment industry
Mechanics (there are many small mechanics who only work on American cars because the parts are easier to get, and less expensive)
Advertising Companies
Newspapers (struggling newspapers are using their ad revenues to survive, what will happen to all of the car ads that you see in Sunday Papers)
Steel Industry
Plastic Industry
Tool & Die shops
What about all of the employees in those industries? What effect will the demise of the US auto industry have on them? Do you think that they will be able to survive?
We are already in a terrible economic situation. It isn't as if there are a tons of jobs out there. If all of those people are allow to become unemployed, what about their mortgages? What about their health care? Or their kids healthcare? Will we just allow for more foreclosures, or the emergency room becoming further backed up?
What do you think will happen to the banking industry then? What about your 401k? What about the credit markets? Do we think that it will get better any sooner with unprecedented unemployment on the horizon?
What about the State of Michigan? We have no other manufacturing industries here. We were teetering on recession before most of the rest of the country due to the problems in the auto industry. If all of those people lose their jobs, we lose most of our tax base. What happens to road construction? What happens to repair of faulty bridges and overpasses? What about our education system? Our police and firefighters? What happens if all of these people show up uninsured, what happens to our hospitals, will they be allowed to go bankrupt also? Or just refuse to stop treating sick people?
I know that the auto industry has made mistakes. I know that they have F*CKED UP royally. But I also know that they have been trying to do better. They have just finished alot of restructuring, they have layed off alot of people, they have stopped paying for retiree's healthcare (the UAW now pays), they have stopped matching the 401k contributions, they are trying to reinvent their leasing system to make it more advantagous to buy cars instead of leasing them (they were getting killed when leases were turned back in).
They just got approved for a $25 billion bailout with restrictions on what can be done with the money, but they haven't actually gotten the money yet. The restrictions are for environmental standards, and things like that. What they need is a BRIDGE LOAN, so they can make it until they update their equipment and factories. The problems that they are having is that they can't sell cars right now. The credit markets are too tight. The other problem is that they can't buy the equipment they need to update their factories because they can't get any credit either. All they need is a loan, not another bailout. In the 1980's the government gave Chrysler a loan, and the government made money off of it. It is the same type of situation.
Another thing to ponder, what will this country be? What will we contribute to the world if we don't make anything? If we allow the auto industry to fail we will be giving up part of our advantage in the world.
Allowing the industry to fail will cost this country alot more than the loan they are asking for the help save it.