The one thing that has bothered me about this whole issue with the automakers and whether or not they deserve help from the government is the very obvious side that at least the local television news take and the assumption that because I live in Michigan/the Detroit area that I should be up in arms about the treatment the auto companies are getting from Washington. I'm not and in fact, I'm getting quite tired of being lumped in with them. It started a few months ago when an anchorwoman nearly got into a verbal fight with someone who is a professor from the D.C. area (I'm drawing a blank on his name...I think his first name is Peter...) who made very valid points about the problems with the automakers and he thought they should go through bankruptcy and the anchorwoman thought she would speak for all the people that have been laid off or would be and became argumentative about how could he say that when that would affect a lot of people, etc. The guy had a point and has made good points on other news shows that I've seen him on. It seems that the masses around here are upset because now they can't make $35 an hour sweeping floors (like the Lawn Nazi who retired a few years ago) and they just might have to go to college. Welcome to the real world finally.
I became fed up again on Tuesday when watching an interview with Jay Leno who was in town to do a couple of free comedy shows. Normally I love the female news anchor but her constant back slapping of Jay Leno for his compassion and for understanding the autoworker more than the rest of the country just made my teeth grind again (and made Jay look kind of uncomfortable).
Is this because I don't have any immediate connections with anyone in the auto industry? My dad use to work for Ford before he must've seen the light 40 years before everyone else and went to college and got a degree in Accounting. It certainly doesn't have anything to do with having two great paying full-time jobs and not noticing what's going on in the country over the past year and living my life as if nothing has changed. My life currently involves unemployment compensation and a bigger chunk being taken out of my pay check for health benefits because I now have Big A on it with me for the time being and having the balance of the checkbook being the first thing you think about when you wake up and trying not to accumulate too much debt on the credit cards but even I can see that the auto industry is archaic. The problem seems to be the assumptions of the upper management thinking they know the customers and the assumptions of at least the blue collar employees thinking that they could afford two homes with no college degree and that the jobs would be there for their kids.
You know what happens when you assume....
4 comments:
I think the best thing that could happen is if the big three were allowed to go into bankruptcy. Perhaps they would come out lean and strong and at least put up a fight against Toyota.
Living on the other side of the state, but as a non-native, I'm amazed at how many people share your feelings. Bankrupty may be best...
It looks like Ford is laying low and just making do with what they have but I almost feel sorry for Chrysler. With the government working hand-in-hand to help GM before their deadline, it looks like they have just written off Chrysler as a lost cause.
I just think they should have been forced to be responsible from the beginning. Ditto with the banks. Seems like this country is just lacking a lot of accountability.
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