Big Three Bailout

I've changed my mind. The governing bodies of this country have made too many mistakes to place all the blame on management and unions of the Big Three.

Of course, management is to blame. They were and are overpaid and reluctant to make changes required. They should have seen the green movement on the horizon and started experimentation more seriously sooner. They gave in to the unions while non-union plants were building factories in right to work states. They should have known they couldn't be able to compete on brand name alone. Also they should have seen that quality on many lines was slipping. They should have known they had too many models.

The union got increasingly greedy. They wanted high pay now and higher benefits now, like health benefits, longer vacations and days off, full or almost full pay for those laid off for possible recall and fat retirement checks. Union bosses should have seen the mistakes management was making and demanded more say in management. But as long as the unions unpublished motto is "We don't care what you build, just build it, we need jobs". That is the union motto. Demanding that management keep everybody employed is part of the problem at GM. Facts are still facts, even if denied.

Seniority rules has never worked in any type of organization. Quick learners with enthusiasm and good attitude make just as good or better workers than those who get complacent and come to work only for a paycheck. When one's job is guaranteed, one becomes more complacent. I know, I've been there. I owned more than one struggling yet successful business.

And the governments blame: I don't know where to start. All kind of mandates on building green cars when there was no clamboring public demand to buy them. There was no way these cars could be sold at a profit. Why would I want to buy a plug-in half gas-half battery, no pick-up speed and more costly than the brand of vehicle I've been buying for years. Fas in the U.S is almost $5 dollars a gallon cheaper then gas in Europe.

Workplace restrictions, tort lawsuits, health costs that the government is responsible for letting get out of sight. Allowing the radical environmentalists to force restrictions on the manufacturers that other countries do not have.

And the mandate to use over-subsidized ethanol. And the restrictions on selling a good selling brand in other countries but not allowing that brand to be sold in the U.S.

They are all at fault. And we've gone to far to subsidize anything that has a powerful lobby. Now we are in a real dilemma. Causing more than one of these companies to go bankrupt would throw this country nto a further recession. Mexico where thousands are employed by the Big Three or the subsidiaries and suppliers would throw that country into a worse recession.

Since i blogged, "let them go bankrupt", many things have changed including the election of a new president, the president-elect connections with Gov. Blago, Bill Clinton's and Al Gore's new roles, a couple of cabinet picks that should concern many of us, and worries about who he has yet to select for cabinet posts, old or new posts.

All this plus what appears to be a continuing recession in most of the world.

As we say in Peoria County, approve with restrictions; make these restrictions mandatory on all concerned and FOLLOW THROUGH, that means the manufacturers, the government, the union , the stockholders and the public to enforce these restrictions.

Plus the new regime should greatly increase the search for oil in our own country while the green car research accelerates.

At this point in time we can afford no bankruptcy as catastrophic as the demise of more than possibly one of the Big 3 before next summer. Prolonging the debacle? I say only way to go at this point of destruction. Bankruptcy now is not an option. But the "boys" in D.C. may force this situation into the worst of all situations; partisan politics.