Regulate and Bail Out Approach Going Bankrupt
Fantastic entry on the the UAW's great contributions to humanity by kraorh.
I showed Jack. Jack responds:
Uncle Sam Goes Car Crazy
Your government gets into the auto business.
"Any business would be hard-pressed to survive if obliged to make consistently maladaptive choices. Any rescue mounted today in Washington won't be so much a "rescue" as a final admission that the industry can no longer bear its regulatory burdens without direct subsidies. Any life supports GM, Ford and Chrysler are hooked up to now, for that reason, will have to be permanent."
Fred:
A special component of our culture is the NGO. There were many
private organizations (like the guilds) in Europe, but they were
chartered monopolies. So our vast numbers of private orgs, including
unions, are fairly unique in the world. Unions are sometimes a positive
force, often not. But human rights considerations require that they
be voluntary and that, of course, is the crux of it all.
Unions have buried a goodly number of industries. They blocked
the steel industry from modernizing years ago, for example,
and we saw the result of that in Pittsburgh and throughout PA.
They killed many railroads. They destroyed San Francisco's
once thriving ports and drove the business over to Oakland.
The prison guard union right now is becoming one of the most
powerful lobbying forces in the country and they're pushing
laws to get and keep more people in business. Teachers unions
have failed, but they slow down alternative private education.
Construction unions chased blacks out of the industry years
ago at a huge social cost.
To top it off, the unions have been useless in protecting
worker health such as in the tire, vinyl, and other chemical
industries. Unions are often enough just a bought front
for management.
The biggest immediate negative of the Obama admin will
be the "union card" to replace secret ballot elections in
unionizing. It won't make workers love the unions, but it'll
add to the coffers for political activity. Keep an eye on that one
and we'll see if the Senate can scrub it with a filibuster.
If Right to Work laws in southern states get beaten down,
we'll have another serious jolt to the economy. May get
pretty grim after that, especially if feds also raise the
capital gains tax. We'll be in for a ten year recession
and the only way out of that will be war and a draft.
Regarding Kraorh's notes on GM, etc. There were hundreds
of auto and truck makers, as we saw in our museum visits this
year. Ford beat them all and others had to consolidate to
compete. In recent generations the big 3 hasn't been reluctant
to use political muscle to help block new contenders. Kaiser,
Crosley, Tucker. They tried to outlaw Japanese imports but
the Japanese foresaw that and blindsided them by setting up
their plants in the U.S. to employ Americans. That's how
Toyota is trying to stop the big 3 from blocking sale of plug-in
hybrids with a new factory down south. (The big 3 has just
managed to steal $25 billion from the US Dept. of Energy to
make imaginary hybrid electrics and fantasy hydrogen cars.)
Toyota will eat their lunch, as they say, unless the feds declare
a national emergency and put them out of business (as in Atlas).
I showed Jack. Jack responds:
Uncle Sam Goes Car Crazy
Your government gets into the auto business.
"Any business would be hard-pressed to survive if obliged to make consistently maladaptive choices. Any rescue mounted today in Washington won't be so much a "rescue" as a final admission that the industry can no longer bear its regulatory burdens without direct subsidies. Any life supports GM, Ford and Chrysler are hooked up to now, for that reason, will have to be permanent."
Fred:
A special component of our culture is the NGO. There were many
private organizations (like the guilds) in Europe, but they were
chartered monopolies. So our vast numbers of private orgs, including
unions, are fairly unique in the world. Unions are sometimes a positive
force, often not. But human rights considerations require that they
be voluntary and that, of course, is the crux of it all.
Unions have buried a goodly number of industries. They blocked
the steel industry from modernizing years ago, for example,
and we saw the result of that in Pittsburgh and throughout PA.
They killed many railroads. They destroyed San Francisco's
once thriving ports and drove the business over to Oakland.
The prison guard union right now is becoming one of the most
powerful lobbying forces in the country and they're pushing
laws to get and keep more people in business. Teachers unions
have failed, but they slow down alternative private education.
Construction unions chased blacks out of the industry years
ago at a huge social cost.
To top it off, the unions have been useless in protecting
worker health such as in the tire, vinyl, and other chemical
industries. Unions are often enough just a bought front
for management.
The biggest immediate negative of the Obama admin will
be the "union card" to replace secret ballot elections in
unionizing. It won't make workers love the unions, but it'll
add to the coffers for political activity. Keep an eye on that one
and we'll see if the Senate can scrub it with a filibuster.
If Right to Work laws in southern states get beaten down,
we'll have another serious jolt to the economy. May get
pretty grim after that, especially if feds also raise the
capital gains tax. We'll be in for a ten year recession
and the only way out of that will be war and a draft.
Regarding Kraorh's notes on GM, etc. There were hundreds
of auto and truck makers, as we saw in our museum visits this
year. Ford beat them all and others had to consolidate to
compete. In recent generations the big 3 hasn't been reluctant
to use political muscle to help block new contenders. Kaiser,
Crosley, Tucker. They tried to outlaw Japanese imports but
the Japanese foresaw that and blindsided them by setting up
their plants in the U.S. to employ Americans. That's how
Toyota is trying to stop the big 3 from blocking sale of plug-in
hybrids with a new factory down south. (The big 3 has just
managed to steal $25 billion from the US Dept. of Energy to
make imaginary hybrid electrics and fantasy hydrogen cars.)
Toyota will eat their lunch, as they say, unless the feds declare
a national emergency and put them out of business (as in Atlas).