Sunday, January 4, 2009

Hatin' on the South and the UAW

Well, well, well, the pro-UAW, pro-bailout crowd has been out in full force lately in the local media bashing our representatives for opposing shoveling more money to the Big 3 without requiring major changes in the way they do business.


First up is a letter to the editor written by a Mr. Larry Hice published in today's Clarion-Ledger:

The hypocrisy of the Republican U.S. senators from your great state and others should be of grave concern.

In the states of Alabama, Tennessee and Georgia alone, more than $2 billion in taxpayer funds has gone to companies whose profits ultimately flow to Japan, Korea, and Germany. Yet, when it came time to consider assisting American manufacturers, these elected officials turned a deaf ear.
I am not a union man, but I respect what unions have been able to do for their members and this country. The unions never "took" anything. They earned their wages and benefits through negotiation.


Your elected senators should be seeking to raise the standard of living for the citizens of their states as opposed to demanding that it be lowered for the men and women of the United Auto Workers. If "parity" is so important, then why are your senators not demanding that foreign auto makers meet the wages and benefits provided to UAW workers?


These senators make pompous speeches about not interfering with "natural market forces," and then try and dictate salary and wages to everyday Americans. Where were their speeches during the $700 billion bailout for Wall Street investors or the $138 billion give-away to AIG? Those were bailouts; this is a loan.

 
These senators lack the moral courage, the intelligence and the experience to negotiate in good faith with either the UAW or "Big 3" leadership. Instead, they resort to legislative blackmail and populous posturing.


Your citizens are not immune to legislative blackmail. Please act now and remember these self-serving hypocrites the next time they ask for your vote.


Larry Hice
Oakland Township, Mich."

Strong stuff, almost Kingfish-like in its venom. Strong words such as these demand a strong response. Mr. Hice is more than likely a GM Manager as a recent search on Yahoo shows:

Oct. 19, 1999 - General Motors Corporation announced today it raised $710,250 through a new vehicle sales program designed to benefit the Oklahoma and Kansas communities struck by tornadoes last May. Larry Hice, GM general manager, South Central region, presented the American Red Cross of Central Oklahoma with the donation at the GM assembly plant in Oklahoma City today....


So much for full disclosure or fact-checking by our newspaper. However, that is small potatoes compared to his bigger whopper about how the poor ole Big 3 can't compete because backwards Southern states give SO much money to foreigners. Unfortunately for Mr. Hice, last month I documented how NORTHERN states gave nearly $1.5 BILLION in tax breaks and other goodies to the Big 3 with MICHIGAN alone, his state he claims as his home, giving nearly ONE BILLION DOLLARS to Detroit. Of course, when its the North doing it, its ok, when its the South doing it, its hypocrisy. Seems the only hypocrite here is Mr. Hice of Mee-chigan. See post

Next up on deck is Mr. Joe Atkins, a Professor of Journalism at Ole Miss and a long-time union advocate. Mr. Atkins stays true to form in his Clarion-Ledger column as he picks up where Mr. Hice left off:

"The recent spectacle of Corker, Shelby, and Mitch McConnell of Kentucky leading the GOP attack on the proposed $14 billion loan to the domestic auto industry - with Mississippi Sens. Thad Cochran and Roger Wicker marching dutifully behind - made it crystal clear. The heart of Southern conservatism is the preservation of a status quo that serves elite interests.

"Dinosaurs," Shelby of Alabama called General Motors, Ford, and Chrysler as he maneuvered to bolster the nonunion Mercedes-Benz, Hyundai and other foreign-owned plants in his home state by sabotaging as many as 3 million jobs nationwide
..."

3 million jobs? Thats alot of paychecks. In fact, its so many perhaps we should see if its true. A quick glance at Factcheck.org, the favorite "fact-checking" website of local media liberals, reveals:

"The 3-million-jobs figure is based on doomsday assumptions that are unlikely to materialize. Independent economists put the job loss in the hundreds of thousands if GM and Chrysler go under. Ford has said it can survive on its own for now.

We find two sources for the 3 million figure, one with ties to the auto industry and the other with ties to labor unions. Both are based on dubious assumptions.


"To start, the "Big Three" U.S. automakers (General Motors, Ford and Chrysler) directly employed 239,341 persons in the U.S. at the end of last year, according to the Michigan-based Center for Automotive Research. The Big Three's suppliers employed an additional 732,800. Those jobs add to less than 1 million. Jobs also are at risk at GM, Chrysler and Ford dealerships around the country, and at such places as the newspapers and TV stations where they advertise and the stores where auto industry employees shop. But how many depends on a fair amount of guesswork about which firms would fail and what the ripple effects would actually turn out to be, both inside and outside the auto industry. Getting to 3 million requires us to assume that all of the Big Three fail, that all their suppliers fail as well, and a lot else besides – including an assumption that Toyota, Honda and other foreign manufacturers also shut down all their U.S. production. Some independent economists say these extreme assumptions are improbable."

The article further shows the three-million jobs lost figure comes from a UAW "study". Of course, the "learned" Professor doesn't stop there as he falsely claims Southern Senators bailed out Wall Street while backstabbing Detroit:

"These same senators gave their blessing to hundreds of millions of dollars in subsidies to the foreign automakers to open plants in their states, yet they were willing to let the U.S. auto industry fall into bankruptcy.......

Why weren't these same senators protesting the high salaries in the financial sector when Congress approved the $700 billion bailout of Wall Street? Why pick on blue-collar workers at the Big Three who last year agreed to huge concessions expected to save the companies an estimated $4 billion a year by 2010...."

He seems to have no problem with the North giving $1.5 billion to Detroit while crucifying the South for doing the same. Mr. Atkins also gets his facts wrong as Cochran and Wicker voted AGAINST the Wall Street bailout. However, such facts would get in the way of Mr. Atkins pre-programmed diatribe against Republicans and Southerners.

Here is a list from Politico.com and it includes all Senators from Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana: "Allard (R)Barasso (R)Brownback (R)Bunning (R)Cantwell (D)Cochran (R)Crapo (R)DeMint (R)Dole (R)Dorgan (D)Enzi (R)Feingold (D) Inhofe (R)Johnson (D)Landrieu (D)Nelson (FL) (D)Roberts (R)Sanders (I)Sessions (R)Shelby (R)Stabenow (D)Tester (D)Vitter (R)Wicker (R)Wyden (D)"

Facts mean little to Mr. Atkins who although a professor of Journalism, would rather engage in hackery than actual reporting. While on the subject of hackery, let us turn to the Queen of Hackery, Madame DeLadd over at the Jackson Free Press:

"Here’s the part that really chaps my butt about southern Republicans selling out to foreign automakers: By making these deals, and paying out all these massive incentives, to foreign automakers who want to locate to union-weak states that give up the farm to them, these lawmakers are keeping our wages in the state lower than they have to be. That, in turn, hurts our tax base and contributes to our brain drain and our overall economic condition (which serves a certain brand of Republican)." post (Notice how she is perfectly fine with the mass migration of foreign workers to America but not investment dollars.)

So the politicians of Michigan, Ohio, and other Northern states are not sellouts for giving $1.5 billion in tax breaks to the Big 3 but Southern politicians are? Talk about binary thinking.

There is no doubt the unions had a big hand in the demise in the Big 3. Although the wages themselves are fairly similar, it was the unions that demanded Detroit set up the jobs bank program where workers were paid nearly their full salaries without working. Such policies prevented Detroit from closing down plants or brands no longer needed (Does GM really need both a Trail Blazer AND Envoy?) or making plants more efficient through automation. It was the UAW who imposed work rules to the point at one time a worker couldn't replace a light bulb, instead a union electrician had to do the work. However, blame for the auto meltdown falls on union AND management (as reported in The American Spectator).

Keep in mind it was GM who paid Ross Perot nearly double the value of his stock to shut him up and who rolled out the disastrous program (among others) to make all of its cars look the same back in the 80's. Even three years ago, GM ran off the last board member who tried to give it some strong medicine so as to avoid this day. Apparently the recommendations of Jerome York: give bond- and shareholders a haircut, close or sell off some of the product lines, cut the dividends, restructure contracts, cancel bonuses, and give everyone from CEO to the janitors pay cuts was too much for them to stomach as they again avoided reality. York warned if they didn't follow his recommendations, in THREE years they would be broke (York Suggestions).

What happened to Detroit is management and the unions have virtually committed suicide as they avoided facing reality for years. If local columnists wish to scapegoat Southerners, lie about Republican votes, and bash companies who choose to invest in the South, that is their prerogative to do so. However, they can also expect to be held accountable when they ignore the truth just to score political points.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Kingfish are you trying to use logic, reason and OMG the mother of all trickery, actual facts, to trick us into beleiving something other than the CL's party line. All that fact-checking will make us start questioning the news we receive from the CL. And we like our media Pablum evidentally cuz some of us are still buying that fish wrapper since they're still in business...for now.

s_baghaii said...

I know that you mentioned Northern states giving $1.5 billion in tax breaks to the autoindustry. However, what percentage of total taxes taken in was this $1.5 billion tax break? What percentage is $2 billion to the Southern states? It would seem to me that Northern states have bigger budgets in general and the $1.5 billion would mean a lot less to them than $2 billion would mean to certain Southern states.

Anonymous said...

Can't be too many Northern states with budgets larger than Georgia's.

Kingfish said...

Under the current governor, Michigan has been raising taxes while sending the dough to the Big 3. Haven't noticed Mississippi or Alabama raising taxes to do the same.



Recent Comments

Search Jackson Jambalaya

Subscribe to JJ's Youtube channel

Archives

Trollfest '09

Trollfest '07 was such a success that Jackson Jambalaya will once again host Trollfest '09. Catch this great event which will leave NE Jackson & Fondren in flames. Othor Cain and his band, The Black Power Structure headline the night while Sonjay Poontang returns for an encore performance. Former Frank Melton bodyguard Marcus Wright makes his premier appearance at Trollfest singing "I'm a Sweet Transvestite" from "The Rocky Horror Picture Show." Kamikaze will sing his new hit, “How I sold out to da Man.” Robbie Bell again performs: “Mamas, don't let your babies grow up to be Bells” and “Any friend of Ed Peters is a friend of mine”. After the show, Ms. Bell will autograph copies of her mug shot photos. In a salute to “Dancing with the Stars”, Ms. Bell and Hinds County District Attorney Robert Smith will dance the Wango Tango.

Wrestling returns, except this time it will be a Battle Royal with Othor Cain, Ben Allen, Kim Wade, Haley Fisackerly, Alan Lange, and “Big Cat” Donna Ladd all in the ring at the same time. The Battle Royal will be in a steel cage, no time limit, no referee, and the losers must leave town. Marshand Crisler will be the honorary referee (as it gives him a title without actually having to do anything).


Meet KIM Waaaaaade at the Entergy Tent. For five pesos, Kim will sell you a chance to win a deed to a crack house on Ridgeway Street stuffed in the Howard Industries pinata. Don't worry if the pinata is beaten to shreds, as Mr. Wade has Jose, Emmanuel, and Carlos, all illegal immigrants, available as replacements for the it. Upon leaving the Entergy tent, fig leaves will be available in case Entergy literally takes everything you have as part of its Trollfest ticket price adjustment charge.

Donna Ladd of The Jackson Free Press will give several classes on learning how to write. Smearing, writing without factchecking, and reporting only one side of a story will be covered. A donation to pay their taxes will be accepted and she will be signing copies of their former federal tax liens. Ms. Ladd will give a dramatic reading of her two award-winning essays (They received The Jackson Free Press "Best Of" awards.) "Why everything is always about me" and "Why I cover murders better than anyone else in Jackson".

In the spirit of helping those who are less fortunate, Trollfest '09 adopts a cause for which a portion of the proceeds and donations will be donated: Keeping Frank Melton in his home. The “Keep Frank Melton From Being Homeless” booth will sell chances for five dollars to pin the tail on the jackass. John Reeves has graciously volunteered to be the jackass for this honorable excursion into saving Frank's ass. What's an ass between two friends after all? If Mr. Reeves is unable to um, perform, Speaker Billy McCoy has also volunteered as when the word “jackass” was mentioned he immediately ran as fast as he could to sign up.


In order to help clean up the legal profession, Adam Kilgore of the Mississippi Bar will be giving away free, round-trip plane tickets to the North Pole where they keep their bar complaint forms (which are NOT available online). If you don't want to go to the North Pole, you can enjoy Brant Brantley's (of the Mississippi Commission on Judicial Performance) free guided tours of the quicksand field over by High Street where all complaints against judges disappear. If for some reason you are unable to control yourself, never fear; Judge Houston Patton will operate his jail where no lawyers are needed or allowed as you just sit there for minutes... hours.... months...years until he decides he is tired of you sitting in his jail. Do not think Judge Patton is a bad judge however as he plans to serve free Mad Dog 20/20 to all inmates.

Trollfest '09 is a pet-friendly event as well. Feel free to bring your dog with you and do not worry if your pet gets hungry, as employees of the Jackson Zoo will be on hand to provide some of their animals as food when it gets to be feeding time for your little loved one.

Relax at the Fox News Tent. Since there are only three blonde reporters in Jackson (being blonde is a requirement for working at Fox News), Megan and Kathryn from WAPT and Wendy from WLBT will be on loan to Fox. To gain admittance to the VIP section, bring either your Republican Party ID card or a Rebel Flag. Bringing both and a torn-up Obama yard sign will entitle you to free drinks served by Megan, Wendy, and Kathryn. Get your tickets now. Since this is an event for trolls, no ID is required. Just bring the hate. Bring the family, Trollfest '09 is for EVERYONE!!!

This is definitely a Beaver production.


Note: Security provided by INS.

Trollfest '07

Jackson Jambalaya is the home of Trollfest '07. Catch this great event which promises to leave NE Jackson & Fondren in flames. Sonjay Poontang and his band headline the night with a special steel cage, no time limit "loser must leave town" bout between Alan Lange and "Big Cat"Donna Ladd following afterwards. Kamikaze will perform his new song F*** Bush, he's still a _____. Did I mention there was no referee? Dr. Heddy Matthias and Lori Gregory will face off in the undercard dueling with dangling participles and other um, devices. Robbie Bell will perform Her two latest songs: My Best Friends are in the Media and Mama's, Don't Let Your Babies Grow up to be George Bell. Sid Salter of The Clarion-Ledger will host "Pin the Tail on the Trial Lawyer", sponsored by State Farm.

There will be a hugging booth where in exchange for your young son, Frank Melton will give you a loooong hug. Trollfest will have a dunking booth where Muhammed the terrorist will curse you to Allah as you try to hit a target that will drop him into a vat of pig grease. However, in the true spirit of Separate But Equal, Don Imus and someone from NE Jackson will also sit in the dunking booth for an equal amount of time. Tom Head will give a reading for two hours on why he can't figure out who the hell he is. Cliff Cargill will give lessons with his .80 caliber desert eagle, using Frank Melton photos as targets. Tackleberry will be on hand for an autograph session. KIM Waaaaaade will be passing out free titles and deeds to crackhouses formerly owned by The Wood Street Players.

If you get tired come relax at the Fox News Tent. To gain admittance to the VIP section, bring either your Republican Party ID card or a Rebel Flag. Bringing both will entitle you to free drinks.Get your tickets now. Since this is an event for trolls, no ID is required, just bring the hate. Bring the family, Trollfest '07 is for EVERYONE!!!

This is definitely a Beaver production.

Note: Security provided by INS
.