Hybrid Hope

Comments (16)

1. How about a little bailout money, just a few billion, for the Tribune Company? Not only has the economic crisis put many of its good-paying jobs at risk, but the company has recently faced government attempts to silence its dissenting voice on the hot issue of Democrat Machine politics in Illinois. Congress owes the Trib a bailout as recompense, if not for other weighty reasons as well.

   Posted by feinfein at 12/13/2008 @ 4:53pm

2. I'm not in favour of bailing every person who comes along out of a crisis....but I do think these Auto companies should get help...there should be conditions attached. Haven't there been enough jobs lost already this year without these folks added to the list. I don't know where it will all end, but some of these companies do need help and I hope some compromise can be found.

   Posted by Caj at 12/13/2008 @ 5:44pm

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   Hypertext is best left in the bloggers hands. (Hint, hint)

   Posted by Malcontent at 12/13/2008 @ 6:35pm

4. "James Theisen is a truck driver for Chrysler. If he loses this job, he loses his pension, healthcare and house.... Again we ask, what's going to happen to the workers?"

   I'm sure that over the last 20 years or so - or however long it's been - James has been doing just fine on $70/hour. Well enough, I'd guess, to be living in a home substantially larger and more valuable than mine and with a savings account built with the help of company contributions, something I don't even come close to enjoying. If you're looking for someone over whom to weep, Laura, I'd eagerly present myself as a candidate much more deserving than James. Since I don't cry for myself, perhaps you'll want step into the breach.

   Posted by john lowell at 12/13/2008 @ 7:03pm

5. The right wing creeps, spoon fed on the broadcast media hate for workers, will come out of the woodwork on this thread. The only other issue that elicits a similar response is the urban welfare recipient; you know the guys watching color tv instead of purchasing health insurance from the private sector with their bonanza.

   Have fun creeps as your heroes pocket post- mortem bonuses under the financial bailout. Apparently anything beyond "$70"/hour is incomprehensible.

   Posted by Sorelish at 12/13/2008 @ 7:51pm

6. The claim of $70 per hour is bogus! This is another Rovian reality warp to get the public on the 'kill those greedy union bastards' kick.

   See, for example, <http://tiny.cc/eqc2i><http://tiny.cc/fpm2Q> or <http://tiny.cc/YiJ1g>

   Posted by Rene at 12/13/2008 @ 9:12pm

7. Tennessee Senator Bob Corker, for one, is a slick, sick joke who puts on a show of speaking forthrightly for common-sense in the interests of protecting the American taxpayers' money. Let no one forget that Tennessee has automobile assembly plants for Nissan and Volkswagen, and a considerable disincentive for protecting UAW workers. When the next "war" commences, the home state of Presidents Jackson, Polk, and Johnson, would be well-positioned to outsource the jobs and taxes of all Americans for their military vehicles to foreign countries.

   Those who wish to be well-infomed on the national defense aspect of the subject should read the Op-Ed article by General Wesley Clark, US Army, retired--former supreme allied commander of NATO: "What's Good for G.M. Is Good for the Army.," The New York Times 17 November 2008.

   And the next time that Corker launches into his sophistical shill, find some way to challenge his con publicly, for the press has been taking a shine to his sophistical rhetoric and letting him get away with (more than proverbial) murder.

   --Philip Dow, Napa, CA

   Posted by PoetProfessor at 12/13/2008 @ 10:08pm

8. We're here in the woodwork, not to attack workers or welfare recipients, but merely awaiting that fresh beginning, that openness, that transparency, that transformation Obama has been promising for such a long while--bright, hopeful rhetoric that played a prominent role in his election victory. It would have been wonderful to move beyond the obfuscation, mendacity, and criminality of the Bush regime, but those hopes are beginning to seem less and less realistic at this point. Granted, it is unlikely that Obama himself is tainted by the Blagojevich scandalrama; Obama is too smart, too wise for that. It is a different matter with his henchmen, who come out of the cesspool that is the Chicago Dem Machine. It would be no surprise if there were evidence of Rahmbo Emanuel's having committed some criminal acts, although we must await the unfolding of the whole affair--or rather the whole universe of corruption in what the New York Post refers to as "The Land of $tinkin" (pardon the repetition of the bad pun). Rahmbo is a pint-sized political satan who has long been submerged up to his horns in the cesspool and has been swimming in the filth with Blago, his predecessor in the 5th Congressional seat, for a good long while.

   Please, Mr. President Elect, do better. Our country, our entire world, deserves it.

   Posted by feinfein at 12/14/2008 @ 04:03am

9. Since the southern strategy seems to be parochial regardless of political party, can't we as consumers simply buy American produced cars made by union members in American plants. What is it about rough hands and dirty finger nails of the people who make things for a living so terribly vilified by politicians? Why do the well manicured hands of the Wall Street pick pockets so admired? Why has the media been so tepid in accepting and publishing the lie that foreign auto companies are not subsidized and that foreign company workers make so much less than American workers? Is there a large umbilical cord leading from congress to Wall Street?

   Posted by julien38 at 12/14/2008 @ 08:48am

10. Why can't we create and buy American products right here, nothing wrong with getting some things from other countries as they do have different ideas and nice items. Surely it would create so many more jobs if we either refurbish run down factories, stores and homes plus build new factories if need be. I hope PE Obama will do something along that line to try and help this flagging economy and put people back to work again. It seems people have just lost all hope and don't see any light at the end of the tunnel....that light needs to be brighter in the New Year and give people a better outlook for the future. I do feel PE Obama will make a good start on getting that done, will he get everything done I doubt it....but making a start is better than just sitting around doing nothing like Bush is quite happy to do.

    Posted by Caj at 12/14/2008 @ 09:54am

11. Paul Krugman, this morning summarized the situation well, Bob Corker the senator from Nissan. Let GM go down and you kill all the suppliers that they owe money to and kill the "BIG THREE". If the southern states want support the foreign car companies let's do the same in the north and support only the American companies.

    Posted by julien38 at 12/14/2008 @ 11:08am

12. Posted by feinfein at 12/14/2008 @ 04:03am

    "Please, Mr. President Elect, do better. Our country, our entire world, deserves it."

    But he can't do better, feinfein. When you wear a For Sale sign during a campaign, naturally you've got to wait until your owners give you your marching orders and that means you've got to to wait for Rahm. And Rahm is just all tied up these days being a parent as he explained to one of Chicago's newspapers earlier in the week. I mean give Rahm a chance to sort things out.

    Posted by john lowell at 12/14/2008 @ 12:39pm

13. I'm sure that over the last 20 years or so - or however long it's been - James has been doing just fine on $70/hour. Posted by john lowell at 12/13/2008 @ 7:03pm

    $70/hr is just more rightie B.S. The average wage for UAW workers is $27/hr. On the other hand the average wage for non-union Toyota Motor Corp workers is equivalent with bonus to $30/hr. And Honda Motor Co and Nissan are not far behind. I drive semi for the Post Office as a memeber of the APWU and my wages are around $23/hr.

    This is just an effort by the lame duck neo-cons to break another union before the new administration takes office and nothing more.

    Posted by chaoszen at 12/14/2008 @ 2:54pm

14. The repugs just enjoy watching a race to the bottom. Labor cost is practically the only operating cost that is easily reduced to increase profits.

    The problem with that is if labor costs are reduced to such a low level, the consumer has no money to spend on goods and services beyond what is necessary for survival. But the greedy bastards only look at short term profit and not long term sustainabilty of the market. Higher wages make good business sense. Always pushing for lower wages is self defeating.

    The bottom line is if nobody has any money there is no money to buy the goods and services produced. But these jackasses fail to see that..

    Posted by chaoszen at 12/14/2008 @ 3:14pm

15. Posted by feinfein at 12/14/2008 @ 04:03am

    I take it you are not a big fan of Rahm Emanuel? Did he piss in your Cheerios?

    Posted by chaoszen at 12/14/2008 @ 3:37pm

16. Rahmbo has been pissing in the Cheerios of the entire nation for many a moon, and some are now beginning to object to the flavor. To say nothing of what he and his ilk have been doing to the people they really hate, the Arabs.

    Posted by feinfein at 12/14/2008 @ 4:02pm