The Republicans Failure to Help GM May Be Their Attempt to End Unionism and Its Support of the Democratic Party

Someone asked me this week who writes these articles for me. My sister Sharon has a Bachelors degree in journalism and a master’s degree in international business and national defense, so one might think I have her pen the “Did You Know Articles”. If I did they would probably be written better but the truth is that I spend a few hours each week researching the material and writing the articles. But this week I am going to cheat.

In reading an article by Ed Wallace in the December 15th edition of Business Week Magazine, I felt I couldn’t express the material any better. The following are excerpts from the article titled Senators Carping about Tax Subsidies Can Look in Their Own Back Yard:

In the ongoing power struggle between Republicans and Democrats, Detroit is the latest, and possibly the bloodiest, battleground. And because it is a battle of ideologies with no apparent connection to pragmatic economic reality, the matter of whether the U.S. auto industry survives takes a backseat to which party gets its way.

That's because the two parties see the fate of Detroit as a watershed moment, the kind of event that could potentially redraw the political landscape forever. By refusing to bail out General Motors and Chrysler, Republicans see a way to end the last vestiges of unionism in America and the unions' longtime backing of the Democratic Party.

How can that be? Simple party politics. Because if these individuals bring down the American economy by destroying Detroit, they'll simply walk away from the disaster saying "It was the other guy's fault."

Somewhere along the way this debate seems to have overlooked the fact that Detroit, for all its blunders, is still a viable economic engine, providing jobs to millions and creating some of the world's best cars. For example, the best-selling vehicle in America, even in this downturn, is still Ford's F-Series truck, and second place goes to the Chevrolet Silverado, while sales of the Toyota Prius are down substantially with the fall-off in gasoline prices.

What's amazing is that Senator Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) is such a huge critic of using taxpayer money to bail out Detroit. Amazing because the State of Alabama has provided hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars to lure foreign auto companies to build factories on its soil. These were considered wise investments because the promise was that they would create more jobs for the chronically underpaid Alabama workforce. However, in the summer of 2003, Mercedes brought in Polish workers on questionable B-1 work visas to expand the factory because they could be paid far less than the local workforce.

The reality is that there's no end to the tax largesse handed out to some of the most successful car companies in the world. And you know their names: Volkswagen, Toyota, Honda, Nissan, Hyundai, Kia, Mercedes-Benz, and BMW.

Other industrialized countries around the world will be stepping in to ensure that their own automobile industries will still be working when whatever financial downturn we are looking at is finally over. As for Congress, shame on you for playing politics when so many jobs and, in many ways, the future of American manufacturing is at stake.

To read this article in its entirety, click here. From everyone at Bob Smith Automotive Group, the GM GIANT and Giant GMC, have a happy holiday. Drive Safely!