The Auto Writer

GM, Ford and Chrysler have sent their top dogs to Washington, DC is a bid to secure funding (a/k/a your money) to help the companies to see another day. The Republicans and President Bush aren't buying it and most taxpayers aren't either.

I’m having a difficult time getting work done this week as I try to keep pace with all of the breaking news surrounding the American auto industry and their plea (groveling) before Congress asking for taxpayer funds. I’ve resigned myself to the possibility that some sort of agreement will be crafted and billions of dollars of taxpayer money will be “lent” to GM and Chrysler with Ford having access to a line of credit that they’ll be able to tap as needed.

Most of the people who have left comments so far (chiefly on Digg) or sent emails to me support my position — no money for the car makers. Instead, I believe the majority of taxpayers want the automakers to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy which would break the UAW’s influence on the Big Three. After all, if foreign automakers can build high quality cars all across the south and do that with a team of non-union workers why can’t GM, Ford and Chrysler do likewise?  The union has a strangle hold on the Detroit Three, that’s why.

At this point in the game Congress may not have enough votes to approve the loan package thanks to a strong Republican minority who has been objecting all along. Also, President Bush doesn’t want to be the president saddled with the legacy of enabling the automakers for several more months giving them a “bridge loan to nowhere” that will only result in tens of billions of dollars of additional aid requests down the road.  My thinking is that the Texas bound president would be more than glad to allow Barack Obama to have that responsibility.

Congressman Barney Frank would love to open the money spigot to let the big bucks flow, but at least until the next Congress is seated in January and Obama takes office on January 20th, the Big Three may not see even one dollar. By then, would the automakers crumble or is this Congress’ way of calling their bluff? I’m thinking the latter is the case.

I’ve been making frequent forays to The Truth About Cars and Autoblog to avoid the sycophants and other die-hard fans who think America will go down in flames if Detroit dies (which is unlikely). I used to be a fairly regular reader of GM-Volt.com but got tired of reading the outlandish propositions that Dr. Lyle and company were suggesting.

For example, the suggestion that the federal government should replace its entire fleet of vehicles (Chrysler “K” Cars?) with the Chevrolet Volt and pay the full ($40,000) price while not getting a warranty for each lithium-ion battery pack was one of the worst suggestions I read. Have you noticed that Big Business loves Big Government as long as it benefits them?  Come on, guys — GM’s business model is broken.  Why should American taxpayers be saddled with a project that GM can’t get launched without a bail out? Besides, I can think of a whole lot of other automakers (and countries) who would object if the federal government intervened in such a radical way.

Somewhat related, but not entirely so are the bankruptcies and dealings of a number of America’s major newspapers. This industry, which has been taking it on the chin big time especially since the internet started to take hold in the mid-1990s, reminds me of the auto industry: old, outdated, and increasingly irrelevant.

Sure, we still need cars but we can find better cars built by other manufacturers. Sure, we still need news but Americans are fleeing the mainstream press faster than ever before — much of the news can found online and bloggers are often doing a better job at reporting news than today’s reporters.

These are two industries at a crossroads, that is for certain. We need to force America’s manufacturing base into the 21st century because if we don’t American consumers will continue to flee home built cars like they have been doing with newspaper readership, two anachronisms from a bygone era.

Oh, by the way, newspapers have had their hands tied by stupid work rules for years. Yes, unions have long held sway in the print media too, but it is time for America to say “enough” by cutting the ties that have hampered workers and industries for far too long.