10 Reasons to Support the U.S. Auto Industry

[Omaha Steve]

http://blog.aflcio.org/2008/12/09/10-reasons-to-support-the-us-auto-industry/

by Tula Connell, Dec 9, 2008

Chances are the upcoming holiday get-togethers will provide plenty of encounters with relatives and friends who are against helping out the auto industry. Opponents of a bridge loan have plenty to say. And we should, too. Here’s a quick list of reasons for countering arguments by Uncle CEO and Cousin It.

1. Unlike the taxpayer giveaway to Wall Street, the funds for the auto industry are loans. These loans have to be paid back. The Big Banks who got our $700 billion get to keep it.

2. It’s cheaper to support the auto industry than to let it die. Anderson Economic Group and BBK Ltd. determined that over a two-year period, a $30 billion bridge loan with only half of the amount repaid would result in a $16.4 billion cost to taxpayers in lost sales, taxes and jobs, while a bankruptcy would cost $65.9 billion when costs for pensions, unemployment insurance, loan losses and professional and other fees are added.

3. The jobs of autoworkers aren’t the only ones at stake. One in 10 jobs in the United States depend in some way upon the auto industry. Between 3 million and 5 million U.S. jobs would be lost in the first year alone if the auto industry doesn’t get support. With unemployment likely to worsen to 8 percent or 9 percent next year, adding millions more to the jobless rolls easily could turn the recession into a Depression.

4. The U.S. Treasury Department’s quick handout of taxpayer money to Bank of America, AIG, Wachovia and other white-collar firms contrasts sharply with the way in which auto industry CEOs have been grilled. The Bush administration has a laundry list of requirements for the Big Three if they get a loan. So does that mean the Bush administration now will tell its Wall Street buddies to stop using our money to buy up smaller firms, lobby for better deals, free up credit—the supposed goal of the bailout—and not throw away hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars on lavish executive retreats?
5. The double standard for treating the auto industry like unwashed beggers while granting every wish for the Wizards of Wall Street who melted from their own greed is fundamentally about two things: Rewarding Bush administration cronies in a last-minute raiding of public funds and attacking a unionized workforce as part of the corporate class war against workers.

6. It’s not an accident the salaries of nonunion autoworkers in the South are nearly the same as those of UAW members—when an industry offers competitive salaries, even nonunionized workers benefit. But if the plug is pulled on the Big Three, chances are the wages of autoworkers in the South will sink.

7. The bridge loan provides a key opportunity to Fast Track the creation of energy-efficient American cars by making “green cars” one of the stipulations of the loan.

8. Strengthening the U.S. manufacturing industry is in the interest of our nation. Higher-paying manufacturing jobs don’t only benefit workers and our communities. Manufacturing is a critical part of national strength—imagine if, during World War II, there was no auto industry to transform into creating the military support we needed to defeat the Nazis?

9. Opponents of a bridge loan are advancing the argument of Big Business, not Main Street. It’s in the interest of corporate giants like GE-owned NBC to pay anchors like Brian Williams to hype the lower-benefit auto jobs in the South and wipe out unionized workforces by hailing companies that provide bare-bones wages with no health care, retirement or other basics.

10. Sadly, the moral argument—a bridge loan is the right thing to do—is last on the list. Because for some out there, saving U.S. workers’ jobs and ensuring a strong nation doesn’t seem to be enough of a reason in itself for helping a homegrown industry when it’s down.

[Medusa]

1. Bump

b/c people need to realize it's not just bailing out the car companies-it's about jobs for Americans.

[LisaM]

2. Right on.

It makes me sad that even here at DU there is an anti-union faction.

[liberal N proud]

3. K&R

[madrchsod]

4. number 11---my daughter works for a auto parts supplier

[flvegan]

5. Good talking points Steve, thanks.

Bookmarked.

[LisaM]

6. Kick

:kick:

[Possumpoint]

7. I Oppose All Bail Outs

I want TARP rescinded and all monies refunded to the treasury. It isn't the responsibility of the Federal Government or the tax payer to suspend in mid air failing corporations because of the impact of lost jobs. In a capitalistic system recessions are useful in weeding out the rot, corruption and week.

40 years of bad management and piss poor business plans and now the Big Three can't make it on their own. Ford appears to be the only potential survivor.

If the corporations are that bad off, then seek restructuring under chapter 11 of the bankruptcy code. That's what it's there for. The bankruptcy courts can cut through the fat and get to a functioning entity better then any bailout can.

[LisaM]

8. Read Point 1.

It's a loan, that would actually ultimately save the taxpayers money - not to mention, this is the industry that won WW II. I think that we can be there for an industry that was there for us.

[rhett o rick]

9. It's an unsecured loan which is a bailout. I want to save the workers but these manager got us into

this mess, why would we give them money???? Why would we trust that they will pay it back? There must be better ways to save the workers than giving the managers billions. I think it is not a coincidence that they want billions now, just before Obama becomes president.

[rhett o rick]

10. These loans are unsecured and being given to a management that has failed.

We need to save all the workers in the US, not just the auto workers. I wouldn't give these managers a penny. Why didn't they forsee this problem a year ago. No they decided now, while still under the BushCorp admin to ask for billions. Save the workers but fire the managers.