No Bail Out

The destruction of the UAW would be one of the most significant advances for economic liberty in a long time. (And it *has* been a long time since we've seen such advances.)

These companies need to go down. Let the host die and the UAW parasites will quickly follow. Just keep other innocent companies away in quarantine to prevent re-infection elsewhere.

Unfortunately reason and logic have nothing to do with the decision the Democrat-controlled Congress will make. If they let GM go under, the UAW's free ride ends, UAW retaliates by cutting the Democrats off, THEREFORE the Democrats will pile buckets full of taxpayer money on the fire to put off GM's demise into the next election cycle.

With Democrats in control at all levels of government there's simply nothing to stop them.

Does anyone really believe that a Republican controlled Congress would NOT act to bail out the Big Three? Maybe if Newt hadn't self-destructed, but the Bush Congress never saw an expense they didn't like:-(.

Hard to disagree with Yglesias on that one.

Back in the days when SNL was consistently funny, there was a sketch of a Japaneese version of the Mclaughlin group (called the The Arakawa Group). They had a round table discussion of who the 'laziest American workers' were. The last guy said: "Auto Workers. UNION Auto Workers!" The rest agreed heartliy and loudly. Seems the satire isn't totally out of left field.

By the way, that was the same skit where they would cut to the monkey, say George Bush, and the monkey would puke. Good Times.

Hmmm, the Wagner Act was passed in 1935 and signed by FDR. Worth remembering that we're still saddled with some of the debris from the last Great Depression. I hope that's enough to keep up from repeating some of the worst of the mistakes.

Most people who worked in a union shop would have similar stories to tell. I spent my summers as a teenager in a unionized paper mill. I've seen people take 3-hour lunches. I've seen men without high school diplomas complain that the company was fleecing them because they had problems making payments on the motor boat at their (paid off) summer home. I've been paid to sit on my ass for eight hours because of union staffing rules. I've seen an executive apologizes for waking up a worker but could he sleep elsewhere where people can't see him?

Modern unions are a cancer. Hopefully we won't have to kill the patient to cure it.

Obama and the Pelosi congress plans to give the unions the entire US economy on a silver platter. Then when the predictable pleas for government bailouts come around, Obama will give them anything they want--if Obama is still around and if the US economy is still around.

The real problem with letting GM or Ford go under has nothing to do with what will happen to the current workforce. If GM and Ford are liquidated the plants will be sold to Toyota or Honda or some such and most of the workers will be re-hired on different terms and a smaller number will be layed off, permanently. That's not really a problem.

The problem is the retirees. They are what's killing GM and Ford. If GM and Ford are liquidated the retirement obligations are going to be nullified and the impact of that is what scares Washington. Every retiree who has his benefits axed is going to become a burden to his children and even his grandchildren.

And yet, if the retirees remain on GM's balance sheet, then GM cannot EVER recover. Consider my father, who was an assembler at GM for 12 years, and has been on their benefits/pension since, another 15 years or so. So they have been paying him post-work benefits longer than he worked for them! That is a burden that no company can bear, and what we are looking at with GM is what we will soon be looking at with Social Security and Medicare: benefits structured on the assumption that future income will always be not merely more, but significantly more, than past income are destined to fail, and messily.

Every retiree who has his benefits axed is going to become a burden to his children and even his grandchildren.

You mean, as opposed to becoming a burden to my children and grandchildren? Bring it on.

I understand that the UAW has been a huge contributor to the Democratic party to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars over the last decade or so. Too bad they didn't invest that money wisely so they'd have something for their old age.

Hmmmm.

"The problem is the retirees. They are what's killing GM and Ford. If GM and Ford are liquidated the retirement obligations are going to be nullified and the impact of that is what scares Washington. Every retiree who has his benefits axed is going to become a burden to his children and even his grandchildren."

I believe in that instance, GM, Ford or Chrysler failing, the federal government (us) would be on the hook for continuing the benefits. But at a much reduced rate and a much less gold-plated package.

IMO the Big Three are business equivalents of zombies.

Put them out of our misery. Preferably with a shotgun.

Carl,

For once I agree with you.

I slightly hesitate to bring this into the discussion, but there is another reason for letting the "Big Three" go; the fact that both management and the unions prefer to continue the building of immensely inefficient, oversized junk gas-guzzling cars with very poor service life. Which is why so many prefer to buy Japanese cars, which are at least well made.

Incidentally, the branches of GM and Ford operating in Europe, and specifically the UK, have the same problems - although not as seriously. It's nothing to do with the potential abilities of the workers, either; British workers for Japanese car makers building in Britain consistently turn out reliable, economical cars. It's management; specifically, management that prefers an easy life to efficiency and good quality.