December 10, 2008

All I Want For Christmas Is a Bailout for the Working Class

Seems like everybody else got their Christmas early – Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, AIG, the banks…  And, without meaning to beat a herd of dead horses, I don’t know why everyone is getting so upset over the bailout bonanza.  Relax.  It’s all good.  After all, it’s only worthless green paper, or worthless promissory notes that represent random monetary values as ascribed by the Federal Reserve Bank.  I think we’ve been through this before but Christmas season is always a great time to remember that money is what money does.  Money is not power.   Money is food, shelter and clothing.  From there, the only difference is in degrees.  (I guess if I had higher degrees of any of these, I might feel more powerful but I’m pretty sure that feeling would only be shared by me.)  That being said, I still wish I had been born filthy rich and never had to work a day in my life, as struggling is turning out to be extremely overrated and doesn’t build as much character as rich people (who have never had to) say it does.

We were told that the $700 billion bailout was necessary to keep the country’s economy from falling apart.  They didn’t want to do it, they claimed, but they had to… 

More of George W. Bush’s legacy, along with some union bashing, on the way out… 

As I write, guess who is being blamed for the Big Three auto makers not getting their early Christmas.  Naturally, it’s the UAW’s fault for not agreeing to drastic pay cuts for its members.  I’m pretty sure Labor has given up enough in the last 35 years!  However, as the saga of the American auto industry bailout has unfolded, the hints have been dropped.  The reason the Big Three cannot compete has nothing to do with gross mismanagement or ridiculous and disproportionate salaries of CEOs and other suit wearing apes in high places.  The real problem is union wages, health care and benefits that have suddenly snuck up on them (without any warning whatsoever.)   When I watch a commercial (like five times during one football game) in which fireman, cowboys, construction workers and army men compete against each other in an obstacle course, racing $40,000 trucks, that get about 18 mpg, over exploding bridges and through a swinging truck pendulum of doom, it all becomes clear to me…  Of course it’s the overpaid UAW workers’ fault! 

Funny, though, how nobody paid any attention to what mode of transportation the other bailout beggars used when they showed up in D.C. which their hands out and their best dumb looks on their faces.  Suddenly, it was wrong for CEOs to want to get someplace the fastest way possible (and the fact that AIG spent over $350,000 on a luxury retreat for members of upper management, right after receiving their bailout, was never mentioned, as if it never happened at all.)  I guess the CEOs of high finance and mortgage brokering took Amtrak and hoofed it the rest of the way, from Union Station to Capitol Hill, barefoot.  And, by the way, who cares?  Did it make the Big Three CEOs look like arrogant bastards?  Sure but that’s only because they are – all cut from the same cloth as the others.  But what do they care?  Who really loses if the American auto industry goes bust?  A whole lot of hard working members of the not-so-middle-class (anymore) have much more to lose.

As union members we understand what’s going on here and, as usual, it’s up to us to educate the unenlightened and make our voices heard on the subject.  The whole idea of throwing the little guy under the bus has got to stop.  Of course the government should keep the American auto industry from going bankrupt.  For starters, all other foreign car makers are subsidized by their respective governments, just because such large industries are very important to them.  They should be a source of national pride as well as profit. Secondly, comparing American car makers to their foreign competitors who build here (to avoid import tariffs, which are much higher everywhere else than they are here) is like comparing apples to oranges.  Sure, they’re both somewhat round but the playing field is nowhere near level.  In which states have these car companies set up shop and why?  Southern and Right to Work.  As usual, the problem isn’t the unions but the lack of them. 

Make sure you tell your blow hard, FOX parroting friends and relatives this, if they can manage to grasp the idea that we all do better when we all do better (preferably over Christmas dinner.) 

Merry Christmas!

Be safe.  Buckle up.  Seatbelts save lives.  Don’t drink and drive, etc.

Still, no peace on earth…  Maybe just some good will towards Brothers and Sisters…

In Memoriam

On a sad note, Bill Strassburg passed away on December 1, 2008, at the age of 59.  Bill was initiated on September 1, 1974.  He was a Master Electrician and a contractor for Berwick Electric for over 25 years.  He was also served as a member of Local 113’s Apprenticeship Committee for the last 21 years.  Our hearts and prayers go out to Bill’s family and friends this holiday season.

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