Calgary Libertarian

Weekly Freedom watch. Best show on fox.

This Article was forwarded to me the other night. It was posted back in back in december 5 2008. Many months have passed now GM has received more money and more support from tax payers on both sides of the border and yet the unions still grip there hands around the neck of this company.

Let the company go through true bankruptcy this will remove the parts of GM no one wants and allow the parts that are profitable to make more profit / grow / employ even more workers by removing the dead weight of the rest of the company holding the good parts back. People will still be employed after a bankruptcy it will not result in 100% job loss as the unions try to make every one believe.

Remember to find out what is really going on you have to look at the motivations of the large players. Unions want more workers , more money, more control. Government wants more power,more votes. Its a match made in heaven. If it was about American built auto production , well Honda and Toyota build most there north American cars sales in north America even right next door to the GM and Chrysler plants, are they not Canadian workers, do there wages and hard work not count? Wouldn’t Honda or Toyota pick up some of the left overs from GM and continue to build those cars in north America and employ those North American workers, like they do with most there brands? Or is it because those workers are not part of the UAW and CAW….

Article reads as followed.

According to Forbes…

The big three contracts provide that if you are laid off you continue to receive salary and benefits.
Labor cost per hour, wages and benefits for hourly workers.

Ford: $70.51 ($141,020 per year)

GM: $73.26 ($146,520 per year)

Chrysler: $75.86 ($151,720 per year)

Toyota, Honda, Nissan (in U.S.): $48.00 ($96,000 per year)

Many industry analysts say the Detroit Three, must be on par with Toyota and Honda to survive. This year’s contract, they say, must be “transformational” in reducing pension and health care costs.

Then there’s the “Job Bank”

When a D3 (Detroit 3 carmakers) lays an employee off, that employee continues to receive all benefits – medical, retirement, etc., etc., PLUS an hourly wage of $31/hour.
Here’s a typical story….

Ken Pool is making good money. On weekdays, he shows up at 7 a.m. at Ford Motor Co.’s Michigan Truck Plant in Wayne, signs in, and then starts working — on a crossword puzzle. Pool hates the monotony, but the pay is good: more than $31 an hour, plus benefits.

“We just go in and play crossword puzzles, watch videos that someone brings in or read the newspaper,” he says. “Otherwise, I just sit.”

Pool is one of more than 12,000 American autoworkers who, instead of installing windshields or bending sheet metal, spend their days counting the hours in a jobs bank set up by Detroit automakers as demanded by the United Auto Workers Union – UAW – as part of an extraordinary job security agreement.

Now the D3 wants Joe Taxpayer to pick up this tab in a $25 Billion bailout package – soon to be increased to $45 Billion if Nancy Pelosi and Hillary Clinton have their way.
The “Big 3″ want this money – not to build better autos. No. They want it to pay the tab for Medical and Retirement benefits for RETIRED auto workers. Not ONE PENNY would be used to make them more competitive, or to improve the quality of their cars.

We ALL have problems paying for our Medical Insurance – but the Democrat leaders in Congress now want us to pay the Medical Insurance premiums of folks who have RETIRED from Ford, GM and Chrysler.
Not a good deal for us.

How about Chapter 11 – and getting rid of these ridiculous union contracts?

http://riteon.typepad.com/riteon_blog/2008/12/according-to-forbes.html

Check out this latest video with Judge Napolitano.

For over a month now the judge has been saying he has been notified by an unnamed source in the banking business as to government threats and evidence of extortion for banks not wanting to participate in the TARP program. Finally documents have surfaced with evidence of the judges claims. This is just one more example of the USA government disregarding law, constitution and just general decency in its attempt to claim more control and power over the banks and large industry. When a government believes its above the laws it created or makes special exemptions for its employees or agents, it is tyranny. How long until the day will come where they simple issue directives rather then play the game of secret blackmail. This is in addition to the more public blackmail like statements to the AIG executives where threats were made to release the names by members of congress unless they returned the money they were contractually owed.

Even though BoA caved to the government pressure it is now being investigated by the SEC into why the merger went happened if BOA executives knew the amount “good will” they were adding to the value of the purchased bank. I wonder what will happen if the SEC rules that the bank was strong armed into the purchase by the treasury (I am sure they will come to a different conclusion)

Treasury Talking Points