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Michigan Will Not Vote Republican For a Generation
When Lyndon Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act in 1964, he reportedly turned to his press secretary, the now well-known journalist Bill Moyers, and said, "We have lost the South for a generation."
I think it's safe to say we've seen something similar this week. Mitch McConnell and Senate Republicans blocked a bailout for the auto industry late Thursday night, leaving the Big 3 and the hundreds of thousands who rely on them for their daily wages in the lurch. Here's the key point: McConnell and company didn't decide that ruining Christmas for thousands of families was worth it because they felt Detroit needs to be retrofitted for a 21st century economy and that that fundamental realignment can only happen by scrapping the whole operation and starting over under new management. That would be a legitimate reason for opposing the bailout. I'm not sure I agree with it — if we have hundreds of billions for the financial industry, I'm sure we can find some for the automakers that the government can tie to innovation benchmarks and new management quotas. But it's a reasonable position to take.
No, the GOP decided that they would block the auto industry bailout because they couldn't take a big enough jab at the United Auto Workers union. Both Democrats and the UAW agreed that Detroit's workers should lower their wages and reduce their benefits to match those of Toyota, Nissan, and Honda workers in the United States. They wanted to do it by 2011. The Republicans wanted it done by 2009. And because that difference couldn't be resolved, the GOP blocked the bailout and likely cratered a massive segment of the Michigan economy and a significant segment of the American economy.
And that's why I say Michigan — as recently as November a crucial presidential swing state — won't vote Republican for a generation, or more. Republicans can crow all they want about how they are letting the "free market" reign, but the free market doesn't vote. Everyday people, who understand the Republican Party opposed a bailout of their industry because the screws being twisted on them weren't being twisted enough, well, they do vote. And they'll likely do anything they can to vote against McConnell and his pals.
Update: There are two possibilities for saving the auto industry at this point. (1) If the Big 3 can find a way to limp through the holidays, the enlarged Democratic majorities that will take office on January 6 will find a way to pass a bailout, which the White House will then sign. (2) Treasury can bail out the auto industry using TARP funds. There are already hints that this will happen.
Photo from flickr user donbuciak used under a Creative Commons license.
"That would be a legitimate reason for supporting the bailout."
Don't you mean "opposing" rather than "supporting"?
Also, "have no hope of reclaiming the South" is too definitive given that there have been some wins indicating much of the South is competitive again. Maybe if it wasn't in the present tense.
The big 3 spend $25 Billion every two years on ADVERTISING.
Why attack the workers. They will build electric and light rail if that was a decision. We need to reward our workers and demand pay cuts to people who are earning much more than UAW workers.
Eric,
You read the post before I went back and made minor changes. I changed "supporting" to "opposing" and took out the lines about reclaiming the South. I could have said something to the effect of, "No Democratic president since Johnson, with the exception of Jimmy Carter, has won the White House without 270 non-southern electoral votes." But I decided just cut the thing entirely, for simplicity's sake. But thanks for keeping me on my toes.
Sorry, but people in Michigan are just as stupid as the rest of the country. They'll be voting Republican as soon as they're fed enough lies.
...if we have hundreds of billions for the financial industry, I'm sure we can find some for the automakers...
The only problem is (and I think you know this) that we don't have hundreds of billions for the financial industry.
Sure, the government can create that many pieces of paper that say on them that they're money, but that's not the same as actually having that much real money.
The Michigan impact is going to be somewhat more complicated. Some GOP have stood up, and so has the conservative Detroit News, but the True Believers are quite likely more in touch with the South. What the vote does is raise the pro-Detroit wing of the GOP and diminish the True Believer (out-state) crowd.
"Republicans can crow all they want about how they are letting the 'free market' reign, but the free market doesn't vote."
Hmmm, so you support the strategy of buying votes, then? The problem is that people tend to confound the person who will do the best job of running the country with whoever promises them the most money.
Does anyone truly think that this will be anything less than a down payment on the insatiable future needs of the automakers? When is a failed business model allowed to die? I make a lot less than the autoworkers, and I went to 4 years of college. Isn't it wrong to expect me to pay their bloated wages and benefits? Just some thoughts from the other side of the aisle. Oh BTW, I didn't support the financial bailout either.
This sums it up.
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2008/12/auto-industry-buy-our-shitty-car...
How anyone that works for a living (95% of us) could possibly vote for any repub is beyond me.
Do they think that the "Extreme Capitalism" policies of Ronnie Reagon includes them? Stats show how bad the middle and lower classes have done while we are living under, Reagonomics.
What is it gonna take to convince these repubs that trickle down does not work for the middle class!!
I guess this is all part of the race to the bottom, and the hole is getting deeper and deeper!!
Uhhhh...isn't uemployment over 6%? Isn't "real unemployment over 12%? Nice math skills.
George Mercurio wonders: How anyone that works for a living (95% of us) could possibly vote for any repub is beyond me.
Given a choice between a Repub and William Jefferson of Louisiana, or Rod Blagojevich of Illinois, or Charlie Rangle, what would you do?
Maybe Lassie can tell the good guys from the bad guys just by their smell, but ordinary humans can't tell the good politicians from the crooks just by the party label.
Before the plant in Greenville, Mi closed, they had a labor cost of 13%. You mean to tell me that a company can't stay profitable with a labor cost of 13%? Clearly the fault isn't with the labor unions.
"...retrofitted for a 21st century economy" is right. In the American way of selling cars, the big 3 produce vehicles like a 12-gauge produces buckshot. The vehicles get parked on dealer lots. Consumers visit the lots and select the vehicle that they like best. In order to finance the inventory parked on their lots the dealers engage in price wars, i.e. rebate wars, that generate cash flow. Everyone is happy until the day comes when management, which has been collecting its handsome compensation package all along, finally admits that the American way of selling cars doesn't work and that the UAW is the one to blame. The answer is to produce cars in response to demand. In Germany you order your new vehicle and if its a Bimmer or Audi or Mercedes or Porsche, sometimes even if it's a VW, you're lucky to get it within 6 months. It would also help to have a national health plan so that GM doesn't have to budget so much for the health care needs of its retired workers. It's amazing that the big 3 could go bankrupt in a country in which everyone must have a car. Was it just too easy for them?
How does it feel to have George W Bush on your side, trying his best to redirect TARP funds from the banks to the carmakers?
Why doesn't the article recognize that Bush is pushing in the same direction as the Democrats.
By the way, I though the Democrats had already a majority.
Don't tell me that some Democratic congressmen are against that bailout!
Don't tell me that some Democratic congressmen are against that bailout!
Where have you been for the last 2 years?
The Republican minority has repeatedly outvoted the Democratic majority.
"How does it feel to have George W Bush on your side?"
Hold on there! I ain't no communist. I don't want to own AIG, Citibank, GM etc. All I want is a national health plan.
The republicans think they were in trouble after election day, watch out! I don't understand how the GOP can have so many brainless senators. Don't they realize how many GM dealerships alone would put people out of work? These are mostly low paying non-union jobs. I have been laid off from one for a little over a year now. And I wasn't the only one. There are tens of thousands of service and sales personnel, parts, advisors, techs, etc.
I live two towns away from a Nissan plant, where it is nearly impossible to get a job. I also live two counties away from a Saturn plant, and everyone is scared shitless. There are NO jobs available anywhere. If GM were to fold, it would be worse than the great depression. We are all only a few days away from being homeless.
Great point, Leslie. You must agree though, that if we were to give the U.S. an enema a thousand cases of toilet paper would be shipped to McConnell's house. Speaking of smell.
Why is it that the autoworkers deserve to have their salaries and benefits protected for the next 3 years when the companies that pay them are essentially bankrupt? There are many, many others in the USA who are having to make sacrifices given the poor economy-including the Big 3 executives-and I find it offensive that the UAW wants gradual changes, and to effectively wait until the end of the current contract. Up until now I have been a strong supporter of unions, but this is causing me to rethink my position. When the workers are not willing to sacrifice to save their jobs there is something very, very wrong. We all need to tighten our belts.
Losing Michigan by itself is irrelevant to the GOP. After all, Michigan is going to become more politically inconsequential when it loses seats following the exodus of population that will inevitably result from the collapse of the Big Three.
The vote will only matter politically if people throughout the Rust Belt, and beyond, react the same way as the author postulates. Which, given the reality reflected in the well-taken comments of David, above, is a much longer stretch of logic and reason. No one can exploit Americans' stupidity and ability to f*** themselves at the polls like the Republicans.
The free market won get over it.
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I guess we working people do not know on which side our bread is buttered. That is why some of us will vote for the Republicans. Do not misunderstand me some Dems should go too.
No money? Print some! let inflation run its course, at least let the economy get some legs under itself again. Then the Treasury can start tightening up and pulling the currency back in... It's like building a violin... it takes time and it takes finesse.
Paybacks a "bitch" isn't it? The unions have been in the Democraps back pocket for decades (or vice versa)and they are surprised that conservatives don't roll over and play dead for them? Let the unions take their $77 per hour and buy the auto companies. Workers owning the means of production is a socialist ideal and the unions are socialist. Of course the first thing the new owners would do is change the contracts! LOL
Ignorance rules on this blog. Idiots, the bunch of you! The vote was 52-35. There are 100 senators. Who did not vote? You have to ask before you start pointing blame. Ten (that's 10 for all you igno-rants) Repub's swapped sides and voted for the bailout.
So, let me feed you some truth for a change. The Dem's control the Senate 59-41. Ten (10) Repub's crossed the aisle on a 52-35 vote. That makes that would make only for 42 Dem's voting for it. Now if all Dem's voted for it, that would be 69, well more than the super majority needed. Please, spare me the ignorance!
hmmm. these senators have nothing to worry about even if they are booted out of office pensions and health care are taken care of for the rest of their lives. Why not ask the insurance cos. to take a hit? Maybe they are next in line for bail out.
Mr. Jimmy, Here's a bite of truth for you: The Dems do not control the Senate 59-41, though they might in January. But even if they did, it takes 60 votes to overcome a filibuster such as the one promised by Republicans to block any move to help the automakers. And there are 99 Senators at present, Obama's former seat being open. Welcome to ignorant idiocy.
The GOP gets the blame today but it wouldn't surprise me if Bush gets to be the hero in all this, executive-ordering the Treasury to use TARP funds to save Detroit. Nice lagacy work, Karl!
Help them out. Let them rot. There are benefits to both. What we need is some compromise and leadership to fix the problems now.
To Jimmy:
The Dems do NOT have 59 Senaturds. You are thinking about the next congress which does not come into session until January 9, 2009.
What we have now is the same old 51-49 - and the Dems have to count Sanders and LIEberman to get to the 51. So no, not much wiggle room there and so all your figures are off. You need to pay more attention.
These big Repug senators who are against the bailout are all from Southern states with big non-union foreign-owned auto plants. It is a war between the states, as the Repugs rapidly morph in to a minority regional party. Since the South has no tradition of democracy, (it went from a slave state to a terror state under Jim Crow to an elitist Repug state) it will be the GOP's last and fading bastion.
Locally, in Fla, WaMu, which received bailouts money, called a meeting earlier this week and put many employees on 20-hours work weeks. Clever for them, they pay no benefits for the those who choose to try and live on half-pay, and no unemployment costs for those who quit because they need to live indoors. This a shining example of why the USA needs to go to UNIONIZATION 100 percent. Perhaps that takeover of the Chicago plant is the first shot in struggle for USA workers to secure themselves.
Reagan democrats? Not any more. The GOP seems hell-bent on becoming neo-Hooverites whose only constituents live in the southern Bigot Belt.
This pretty much makes Michigan the next target for Republican vote-rigging, if they know they can't get their way there in the next Prexy contest.
Follow the money. The rich happen to LIKE being rich; so they won't let us get away with trying to have it our way.
This is an all out assult on working America by the GOP. Their villiany of the UAW membership, deceiving the American public by blaming the UAW for the economic problems of the auto industry is disgusting. One can only hope that by turning their backs on the working class of this country they will be pounding the final nails in their own coffin and we will see further loss of their power in future elections.
Fred T:
Your $77.00 figure is a lie. That would be like someone who is against the military calculating the cost of health care, housing, and food for the troops, and including it along with the cost of pensions and health care for retirees in justifying cutting their pay. This kind of math can make almost anyone look overpaid.
I think the GOP has frightened more than just Michigan for a long time to come even with their media control . If FDR was running for office today those my age would still be voting for him . If anybody likes good politically humorous movies watch the old movie "DAVE" .
I oppose a "no strings attached" bo. I'm reluctant to support a strings attached bo. Presidents from Carter thu Clinton tried to save American steel companies through various means, but bankruptcy finally came in 2001. Now steel is back in the U.S. Still, if done right, perhaps we could avoid bankruptcy of the Feckless Three. BTW, VW has surpassed Ford as the world's third largest automaker. How did all this happen? The American automakers failed to innovate and in fact, fought the Federal government's attempts to get them to do things that were in their best interest. Sure UAW workers are well paid, but the $73, or is it $77 per hour figure is nonsense. Mainly I can support a bo, because most economists, whose sage advice BTW brought us to this near-death experience, say we must. Secondly, it's clear that the Republicans oppose this bo for political reasons gain only...hard to see how this will work for them. But the Republicans hate unions and want to destroy the UAW.
Well, bo or no bo, the U.S. is in for a major restructuring, not just of the automakers and their suppliers, but of our entire manufacturing base. Everything and everyone will be affected by this restructuring, which is really the last things Republicans want. They've spent the last 28 years fighting change and restructuring...now, it's being forced upon us by external realities. It would have been far better to have happened slowly over many years; but it's not going to happen that way and this will be painful for many/most Americans. It will take 10 to 20 years and the end result may not be to our liking. The self-inflicted wounds caused by voting for 28 years of mostly Republican dominated government! There is a heavy price to be paid; we're broken beyond repair.
The auto industry got themselves into this mess. Remember how long it took to get them to put fm radios in their cars?
In the end all it comes down to is how well you bend metal and stick interiors. The Japanese spanked the USA. Now these companies want the tax payers to give them money because no one will give them enough money for their cars. Give me a break. They should file BK and restructure. This is what our bankruptcy laws are for. GM has some 43 billion in debt. A government hand out hardly deals with this mess.
A number of people on this site do not realize the democratic majority of 57 senators (right now) will not take office until Jan 20th 2009. Republicans blocked the vote because the 60 vote majority needed was not reached to have the vote. 53 senators, (a majority), voted to have the vote.
And since when do we let Japan set the wages for the US auto industry. In Japan, their wages are higher than ours.
We should bailout the auto industry, but we must also mandate fuel economy that will end our dependance on foreign oil because that is a grave matter of national security. No more war for oil.
I'm from Michigan, so you can bet I'm never voting Republican again. And I'm going to make sure everyone I know around here knows that Republicans love bankers but hate workers. If the people around here are intelligent enough to figure that out, that is.
I did not know that dogs could vote. Was Lassie a Repub?
On the other hand, why should workers be made to suffer the consequences of poor executive decisions? And, after the press conference of UAW president, Ron Gettelfinger, they did as much as possible. http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=B7cO0TIJPNw
Go to the link, Mr. Gettelfinger lays out is case very clearly.
The Dem's do what? You must not understand how this congress works. The Dem's have a slim majority. The Republicans filibuster everything that comes up that they don't want. And this bail out/loan or what ever you want to call it was one thing. A bunch of southern Senators grandstanding to make a point. They wanted to pay the union and the union workers back for voting for someone other than McCain. That is and was the point.
Mainly I can support a bo, because most economists, whose sage advice BTW brought us to this near-death experience, say we must.
So you think following the advise of a bunch of guys who's last advise brought disaster is a wise approach?
It's like supporting a consistently failing drug war, decade after decade, and following the same approach that's failed at every turn, because the drug warriors in Congress keep telling us that more of the same is what we must do, and what's failed for the past 40 years will somehow, miraculously start to work if we just keep at it.
I tend go with the old "fool me once, shame on you. fool me twice, shame on me." wisdom. And somehow, I get the feeling that those at the top pushing for a failed auto industry bailout all stand to lose if it doesn't happen, and prosper if it does.
The GOP strategy is obvious. Screw up things up as much as possible before BHO takes over. Make it almost impossible for him & a Demo Congress to fix things in two years. Come roaring back into power with the slogan, "Change that Works!"
These expletives will do whatever's necessary to take the country back, because of their gut conviction that they are alone know the Truth. They alone can save the US and the world -- with Jesus' help, of course.
Get past the myth that the Big 3 are "American" car companies; they are multinational, and the only reason they have any operations in the U.S. is the sunk factory costs they already have here. American auto factories exist only because it's slightly more cost effective to re-tool an old factory than build a brand new one in China, India, Brazil, etc. Mutinational CEO's don't give a damn about giving an American autoworker a decent living any more than they want to give a New Guinea headhunter a decent living.
The Big 3 CEOs consider the UAW's execs as adversaries with competing selfish interests. The UAW's "success" has increased the price of their workers' cars, making them less competitive versus non-union produced cars, thus driving down Big 3 profits.
The UAW, from the Big 3 CEO perspective, is not so much an organization of workers fighting for safe working conditions, fair wages and benefits, as it is a powerful corporation in its own right, with a product it sells, consumers it satisfies, and investors who demand returns.
The UAW is losing its market position to the other auto industry in America: Southern, non-unionized, so-called "foreign-owned." The Southern/"foreign" auto industry is creating more stable jobs and better selling cars. The Big 3 and the UAW look like unadaptable dinosaurs in comparison.
The U.S. government will sooner or later be throwing good money after bad, because the current business model of the Big 3 is unsustainable.
There is a tremendous calcification at the top of the Big 3 and UAW which keeps them dancing their dance of death. Institutionalized greed and corruption has transformed into mutual parasitism upon the government for bailouts. They think a $25 billion band-aid will get them through this rough patch, because good times are just around the corner.
At best, the Big 3 can transform into much smaller niche marketers of fuel efficient hybrids or alternative fuel vehicles.
The government should oversee the reorganization of all three of them, infusing mission/market-specific capital into them as each meets set reorganizational goals.
The current CEO's/CFO'S/COO's of each should be fired as a sign of good faith to the taxpayers, and as a warning to the new execs. The new executive compensation should have a lower base salary and capped bonuses, both of which are renegotiable if the companies are not profitable. Worker compensation should be renegotiated to be comparable to Southern autoworkers' salaries.
The three companies should be divided into smaller, distinct companies, none of which compete against each other within the American market. Each should have its own unique mission and future-oriented product. Archaic factories and product lines should be closed and discontinued.
The new companies should be "nationalized" (permanently or temporarily) to the degree that they are capitalized under receivership. Units that do not attain profitability within a reasonable period of time should either be further downsized and specialized, or liquidated.
Under the reorganization, the government should perform all worker representation (union) functions previously performed by the UAW. The UAW would be phased out as a pension-controlling, wage/benefit-mediating body.
As long as labor unions are "private" entities, they will be corrupted in a private enterprise fashion. They carry the damaging vestiges of organized crime and guild parochialism (just as board-controlled corporations bear robber-baron mentality). They shun public scrutiny of, or participation in, their decision-making. Nationalized companies would be impeded by non-nationalized unions.
The government should oversee the reorganization of all three of them, infusing mission/market-specific capital into them as each meets set reorganizational goals.
Oh yeah..., as if the federal government has such a great track record at managing the things the Constitution actually gives it authority over. Like federal government has proven that it can predict trends, manage the money and produce what the consumer (citizen) actually expects of it.
Yeah, THESE are the people we want to have directing private businesses, on top of the public business they're already (mis)managing in such spectacular fashion.
In 40 years of giving it their "highest priority", they can't manage to stop the flow of outlawed drugs into and around the country, and you think they can effectively manage a constantly changing automotive industry?
They make massive public noise about passing campaign finance laws and ethics laws for themselves, and still we find them in bed with characters like Jack Abramoff and Norman Hsu, and you want them in overall charge of designing, building and selling us automobiles?
I'd have to say "no" to that idea.
Why? Why bail them out? Who will buy the level of junk that Detroit is producing today with 10+% unemployment. Their sale have not stopped, just cut. But because the bit 3 have been managed so poorly, they could not adjust production down.
Ford, for example, has a 5-passenger 65mpg clean diesel sedan in the European market.... How many of those could be sold in North America?
Government control of the Big 3 is inevitable, either through bankruptcy receivership or through controls imposed with any bailout loans.
You just can't say "no" to this reality.
Even with all of its legendary inefficiency and incompetence, the government has a key advantage: a very deep pocket to fund long-term strategic development in emerging products and industries (e.g., China, or Japan).
The extent of the government bailouts that are now necessary to prevent a total systemic collapse have established the U.S. as a socialist state, albeit one whose citizens are still in a state of shock and denial.