More Detroit Nonsense From (Eugene) Washington
Bad ideas can be found everywhere, but Washington, DC, offers a disproportionate share of them.
Eugene, a city in Oregon, has been guilty of terrible ideas as well.
When combining a problem spot on the West coast with a nightmarish failure of a city on the East coast, we get a synthesis of bad ideas in the form of Eugene Washington. He grew up to write for the Washington Post, no stranger to dreadful trains of thought.
Eugene Washington has done his best Johnny Cochran impersonation. He has looked at the situation involving the Detroit automakers. He wants us to “forget the evidence.”
Below is his entire logic defying piece on why the business equivalents of Old Yeller should not meet the same fate.
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2008/12/senate_gop_goes_over_the_cliff.html
It is one thing to be completely unaware of a situation. It is quite another to analyze the problem perfectly, and then discount it. Mr. Washington starts out by blaming republicans for Detroit’s failure. That’s fine. He’s a partisan, and so am I.
“Lemmings don’t really hurl themselves off a cliff to reduce their numbers. That sort of behavior is seen only among Republicans in the Senate, who gave us a demonstration when they torpedoed legislation to bail out the auto industry.”
The only thing that should be thrown off the cliff are General Motors, Ford, and Chrysler. Tennessee Senator Bob Corker is standing up for common sense. He has motives just as we all do, but it does not change the fact that his being against any bailout for Detroit is the ethical position. Those wanting to save Detroit are the lemmings.
“To state the obvious, no one is eager to use hard-earned taxpayer dollars to bail out the bozos of Detroit.”
Exactly Mr. Washington. Leave it at that, and you are the first genius at the Washington Post.
“Our domestic auto industry has been thoroughly outthought and outhustled by the foreign competition, and no infusion of public funds is likely to change this established pattern.”
Yes, Mr. Washington. Now leave it alone. You truly have the ability to be right, even from the left.
“It may be that General Motors, Chrysler and Ford are lumbering, Jurassic beasts that deserve their looming extinction.”
Precisely. If I did not know Mr. Washington was one sentence away (I cheated and peeked at the rest of the article.) from an inane conclusion, I would actually think he made perfect sense.
“Only a free-market fundamentalist, a lunatic or a Senate Republican — perhaps I’m being redundant — would conclude that now is the moment to hasten Detroit’s demise.”
Wow. Only a pompous liberal gasbag could come up with that stunningly brilliant analysis. To get so many things wrong in such a short sentence truly takes talentlessness in abundance.
The term “free market fundamentalist” is ridiculous. I love when liberal reporters that would never dare use such a term appropriately, such as in Islamic fundamentalism, feel free to compare those that believe in capitalism to lunatics.
Those Senate republican fundamentalists, why they are just crazy. I mean they support radical ideas such as letting companies that destroyed themselves not be bailed out by taxpayers that did nothing wrong. That is just crazy. After all, any normal person knows that pathetic businesses should be rewarded with more money so they can fail on a grander scale.
Mr. Washington freely admits that the auto companies are sinking ships, yet he ignores his own analysis.
“Even if the Big Three deserve to die, they shouldn’t die now. Economic theory notwithstanding…”
Economic theory notwithstanding? Eugene Washington wants all the facts to be thrown out the window. It is not like he fails to see the problem. He clearly states several fabulous reasons to support the Bob Corker point of view. Perhaps he is schizophrenic. He is arguing with himself.
When he finally gets to why he wants the automakers to survive, it has nothing to do with the companies. He is simply a union shill. How dare the unions be asked to make more concessions? The companies are going down the drain, but the unions should never be asked to contribute.
“I do recall lectures from some Republicans in the Senate about how inadvisable it is for government to meddle in the workings of the free market. In my book, renegotiating labor contracts qualifies as meddling.”
Even for a liberal working at the Washington Compost, that is blatantly dishonest. The companies want money. They are asking for the help. Try being a child, asking your parents for money, and refusing to tell them what you need the money for. Try seeing if you get more money with less oversight. That is fantasy land. Try getting seed money from a venture capitalist without a viable business plan.
I have said that we should let these companies go bankrupt. However, if they want my tax dollars, they had d@mn well better offer me a business plan that shows they are capable of turning it around. To give them money to “give them more time” does nothing but waste money and time.
It is the liberals in Congress that are meddling. They want to force companies that are losing billions to create hideous “green” cars so that the environmentalists will be happy. How about the companies be allowed to build cars that will actually be profitable? Does anybody look at a Toyota Prius besides me and think, “That is one ugly car.”? The thing is hideous. Should more people care about hybrids? Perhaps, but that is a value judgment. By forcing political correctness on car companies as we did with mortgage lenders is a violation of what companies are about.
If Milton Friedman were alive today, he would slap some people silly.
Congress is letting their political agenda get in the way of what a corporation is supposed to do…make money. There is nothing in any corporate charter that requires a company be socially responsible. Social responsibility is desirable, but firms are not charities.
The obligation of a car company is to sell cars that the public will buy. Period. Promises to promote socially responsible cars that the public will reject will only lead to more bankruptcy.
Yet this is not just a product problem. It is a service problem. I remember when my father bought a Toyota. The service was excellent, and this was after he had already made the purchase. Customer satisfaction surveys matter when companies actually listen to the results.
What makes this so painful is that the Japanese learned their management techniques from us! They acted like us, and we stopped acting like us. It is the height of sheer folly to think that a slogan such as “Buy American,” will tug at patriotic heartstrings to overlook that other countries are offering better products and better service.
Americans have the finest human capital in the world, but in the auto industry, we are failing. No amount of money will fix the problem without massive restructuring. That means deep cuts in worker bees, middle management, upper management, and anywhere else I may have missed.
Wanting the automakers to go bankrupt is not the same as wanting them to fail. Let me repeat this for those who want to play the “cold heartless republican” card vs. the liberal “compassion” card.
Wanting the companies to go bankrupt does not mean wanting them to fail.
I do not want the companies to blow up. I want their business models to blow up.
It is ironic that the same liberals that claim that big companies cannot be trusted want to just give money to companies that are just saying, “trust me.”
No. I don’t trust them. Decades of failure leads me to believe that the next course of action is failure.
I want to force these companies to make the tough decisions necessary to survive in the long run.
We cannot let sentimentality cloud logical reasoning. I do not want to see people out of work, especially around the holidays. This is a terrible thing. I have been there. I know that pain. I will never forget it. However, a bailout would not be a lifeline. It would be a Congressional death grip.
Flip the situation around. Forget a struggling company. Picture a healthy company that wants government money for some new innovation. They can take the money and be subjected to restrictions. Or, they can get the money on their own, and have freedom.
When times are tough for me economically, I would rather chew my arm off than ask my parents for help. They are good people, but I don’t want the oversight. I don’t need the lectures. I would rather have the dignity and the ability to tell them, “My money, my life, my decisions.”
My dad can then say, “Fine, you want to be an idiot, it’s your life. Do what you want.”
Those words are music to my ears.
No amount of money is worth giving up control. That includes marrying the boss’s daughter, or selling your firm to another firm and expecting to stay in power.
If the automakers dig themselves out of the hole they made themselves, without help from politicians, they will have significantly more freedom in the long run. They can then go to Congress, as profitable firms, and say, “You want green cars? Well we make money now. Get in the car business yourself. We know what we are doing. We got this far without you.”
They can’t say that now. If politicians “help” the automakers, then the automakers will forever be in their debt. Congress will then be allowed to be as compassionate as the local Mafia Kingpin who wants to collect on his “favor.”
The only hope the auto companies have of surviving is fixing this themselves. If they fail, then somebody else will take over. Capitalism works. Somebody has to make cars. Southern states are already figuring this out. Detroit needs to change or die.
Eugene Washington knows this. He just can’t bring himself to admit that social engineering does not override the need to be a successful business.
This nonsense of politicians telling businesses in Detroit that bad deeds are their own reward must cease.
Let these companies restructure.
Otherwise, the automakers will be back in several months, hat in hand, with the financial time bomb ready to explode with much more violence.
eric
December 17th, 2008 at 1:51 pm
“However, if they want my tax dollars, they had d@mn well better offer me a business plan that shows they are capable of turning it around. ”
Well, now we know why they’re asking the fed instead of a bank.
The banks are the ones that should actually be handling the big threes problem but of course any schmuck knows that before a nickel is given out the bank will want to see examples of past performance along with some sort of layout for the future.
These guys know that with what they have in mind and in hand any bank would laugh them right out the door but these imbicles on the hill are actually giving it a second thought, to say the least.
December 17th, 2008 at 1:52 pm
Well, the “lemmings” analogy has some political merit. The GOP did not help their political future voting against the expressed interest of midwestern auto workers and management. Unionized though they may be, the auto workers often do vote republican, especially in their suburban home districts. The management probably votes majority republican. The GOP did not help themselves with those constituencies, ones they lost enough in the last election that it probably cost them the White House. This was the same sort of political mistake the GOP made when they started frothing at the mouth over immigration. They lost a huge share of hispanic votes, and again, that alone may well have cost them the White House this time around.
Now, one could say these republicans were simply acting on principle in these cases, political capital be damned, but that would be naive. When you look at the republicans who stood against the (relatively modest) auto bailout, or the ones who frothed about immigration for that matter, these were republicans from regions in which these stands actually bolstered their political capital, but at the cost of the national GOP base. So really, it was pure political selfishness, national party be damned.
That all said, Chapter 11 might not be such a bad idea for the American automakers. With Chapter 11, everyone must make consessions - and that means everyone. Parts suppliers, financers, banks, the unions, management, shareholders - everyone. Politically, both parties could get on board with this and neither would expend more or less political capital than the other. The matter would fall to the bankruptcy courts, and in the end all three of the Big Three and all their peripheral industries would probably survive and be better off. The only probem with Chapter 11 is that the banks might be reluctant to lend for autos from bankrupt makers. I’m not sure what they’re worried about, though. After studying this a bit, I’ve come to the conclusion that the private auto purchases would be pretty much unaffected from Chapter 11 restructuring. It’s pretty much everyone and everything else that would have to sacrifice.
Just the same, I do note the ridiculous hypocrisy of the politicians who were so vociferously against the 15 billion dollar auto bail bailout while virtually silent about the 700 billion dollar Wall Street bailout. That’s just plain sickening.
JMJ
December 17th, 2008 at 2:29 pm
The only way to fix the Big Three is to let them fail, file bankruptcy, and restructure. They also need to get rid of the unions, Corporate executive compensation needs to be cut to a REALISTIC amount, and All levels of management and the factory workers compensation needs to be at a REALISTIC amount also. This could be easily achieved. The next time the union strikes, do not renew the contact, and hire non union workers. It is simple what got the Big Three into this mess…Greed from all the above mentioned.
Lets face it there is no factory assembly worker worth 30 dollars an hour, and yes I have worked factories and I am also a Veteran.
My Mother is a nurse and makes less than a Big Three factory worker. I have an associates degree in computer programming (currently working in IT, Networking) and make less than 10 dollars an hour. I am not saying my mother and I are underpaid…They are overpaid.
Before we know it, America will no longer have a capitalist economic system, everything will be owned by the government, moving us to a communist, or socialist country. The very thing that we have fought against, around the world, for years. It is up to the citizens of America to stop this progression, write your senators and congressional leaders, let them know what you think about these Bailouts (Corporate Welfare), and if they do not listen, VOTE THEM OUT IN THE NEXT ELECTION. Only we can stop the great misuse of our tax dollars.
December 17th, 2008 at 3:36 pm
” Unionized though they may be, the auto workers often do vote republican, ”
Ha ha, ho ho, hee hee.
Yea right.
Thats why liberals practically offer sex to the union workers for their votes.
Thats why if you go out in the employees parking lot at Ford every car has an Obama sticker on it.
“The only probem with Chapter 11 is that the banks might be reluctant to lend for autos from bankrupt makers. I’m not sure what they’re worried about”
I mentioned this above.
The auto makers know that with where they stand and the cheesy concessions they’re offering the banks would laugh them outta the office.
Thats why they’re buggin the fed. Easier mark.
They probably figure that if the fed will give money to study lobsters at this point in our economy they’ll give money for almost anything.
December 17th, 2008 at 10:48 pm
Micky2
I just like Chickaboomer blog, one of my favorites. Marty Davis, covered Imus when he came back on air, live blogged him the first couple of shows, then I was contributing to Chickaboomer - a running commentary for about a week when the show first came back on air. I am one of 4 who contribute to Sarah Palin 2012 blog, that belongs to History Chasers, they also have Historical Blogs, Historical Melungeons, Lost Colony of Roanoke ect… I have Blogged for Imus Times:) I never intended to blog but I enjoy the online blogging experience. It has been awhile since I posted on my own blog “This Isn’t Your Mother’s Blog. I like to journal more then the commentary style or maybe “screed” ( a long tirade on any subject, is a better description of what I like to write:) Maybe I will have time after the holidays.
December 17th, 2008 at 10:49 pm
Micky2,
This is one of the History Chaser’s blogs,
http://sarah-palin-2012.blogspot.com/
December 17th, 2008 at 11:55 pm
Micky, a lot of union members vote republican. You’d be surprised. It’s kinda counterintuitive, if you ask me, but it’s true. Heck, a majority of union members polls were against the bailout! Union members are not nearly as monolithic as you think (and they’re pretty much nothing like what “smaug” thinks).
Laree, if you want the Republican party to remain in the minority for the forseeable future, keep boosting Sarah Palin. You just have no idea how much that woman puts people off. I live in a “red” area. I’ve talked to dozens of locals about the election. Not a one thought Palin was a good veep pick, and a few even told me that her pick turned their vote to Obama. People like me? We laugh at Palin - and feel almost sorry for her supporters.
JMJ
December 18th, 2008 at 10:34 am
Jersey,
All I Know is whenever a contract comes up for renegotiation, no mater what union it is, you see on the news, “local union ### on strike, wants more money, more benefits”. All I am saying is that the union is outdated. At one time it was a good idea, but now it isn’t about better working conditions, it is all about greed now. You saw it when the writers went on strike, Baseball, Hockey, and anytime the UAW strikes.
Union pay, and corporate compensation is out of control, and i feel is the reason for the collapse of the big three. The reason American made vehicles are so expensive. Who could really blame someone for buying a Toyota or any other foreign brand of vehicle. Twice the car for the same or lower sticker price.
Now Jersey, what are unions really like? I will assume you are a union member.
December 18th, 2008 at 11:07 am
I never said that there arent union workers that didnt vote republican.
But any fool knows the majority vote dem.
Too bad you guys couldnt see how much of a laugh Obama was before Palin even came into the picture.
For almost a whole year before Palin was announced Obamas qualifications were being questioned, as it turns out he still has fewer than Palin.
Your personal stories carry about as much weight as your opinions.
I’ve spoken to a lot of lefties in my hood who think the media made her out to be the idiot she is not.
They dont like what she stands for, but none will argue that she is not a smart and successful woman.
The majority of those living in Alaska do not feel the way your neighbors do.
Those are the people who you should believe.
December 18th, 2008 at 6:39 pm
JMJ,
It’s great to see a full-out Lefty think for him/herself. Most Cons, however, were also against the Wall Street Bailout, which was, indeed, sickening.
Keep at it and you’ll become one of us Neanderthal Unwashed or whatever stereotype is in vogue as dictated by popular urban-based culture. Great hearing your thoughts.
December 19th, 2008 at 4:03 am
When I was a Captain in the Army, I made about $28,000 per year. My mom, with an 8th grade education, was making $40,000 per year at GM…this was 25 years ago… and her family health benefits were as good as mine, and they paid her 90% wages any time they laid her off for a month or two… The best example of what union guarantees do is analogous to the “no mas” Duran/Leonard fight… Duran was a pure fighter, a scrapper who came up from nothing…then he was guaranteed $7M, win, lose, or draw… there was no incentive - he quit. Likewise, unless workers are incentivized (is that even a word?), they aren’t as likely to perform as well.
December 19th, 2008 at 12:16 pm
Yea, my son became much better at billiards when we started playing for days off.
If he looses he has to do my chores and vice versa.