Hi again, campers. Back to the Obama to-do list. Since the guy’s on vacation, I imagine he might even be able to find the time to read this one. Pull it up on your blackberry while you’re sitting on the beach. That’s http://www.hammermilldays.com/, Mr. President-Elect. There’s a good chap. This week, domestic policy.
Auto bailout. This is indeed a 
miserable business. The Bush administration has made such a muddle of the economy that it actually makes some of his other monumental failures pale in comparison. And yet when he came forward with the terms of his proposal, he did so in a somewhat self-righteous way, as if to lecture the industry on its failings. There are plenty of failures to take note of, that’s for sure… but Bush is in no position to criticize, quite frankly. (It’s a bit like Bernie Madoff giving advice on prudent investing.) What is particularly maddening is his focus on the auto workers. In what appears an attempt to throw his fellow Herbert Hoover republicans a bone, he has made the loan offer contingent on substantial labor concessions to bring their wages in line, as he sees it, with those of foreign manufacturers.
Here’s the real joke – UAW workers are making about the same as their non-union counterparts right now. Conservatives like to throw around wild numbers like $73 an hour as somehow representative of UAW scale. That’s what Bush used to call “fuzzy math.” They’re lumping wages together with retiree pensions and benefits and dividing that across the current active workforce. (Labor activist Gregg Shotwell gave a pretty good overview on Democracy Now! last week.) He and the G.O.P. leadership are keen to force some sacrifice on workers, even as corporate executives in the financial industry are still pocketing millions of dollars, including many of those at A.I.G., recipient of more than $150 billion in TARP funds.
This is consistent with the prevailing economic philosophy that favors maximizing corporate profits through outsourcing. As Shotwell explains, the auto companies have been investing overseas for years, so if their U.S. operations fail, they will still have enough assets in other countries to actually start “exporting” cars to the U.S. This would be a much more profitable model for them. Meanwhile, GM’s financial arm, GMAC, has managed to get itself classified as a bank holding company so that it can get a piece of the financial bailout cash. So the car companies can survive even if they employ next to no one in the United States.
Mr. President-Elect – take the workers’ side, for 
chrissake. If we’re going to try to make the domestic auto industry competitive with foreign auto makers, we’re going to need to move to a single-payer national health plan that provides universal coverage (not some kind of frankenstinian public-private hybrid). That’s what our main competitors have, along with more robust government sponsored pension systems. And if we’re going to bail out the automakers, let’s take an ownership stake in those companies and use that influence to steer them in a better, more sustainable direction that encourages domestic production of more fuel-efficient vehicles, as well as the development of greener mass transit.
Oh… and get a handle on this TARP bailout. These fuckers are walking off with boatloads of cash, and Congress seems unable to do anything about it. Enjoy your vacation.
luv u,
jp
