The U.S. can’t find $25 billion to save three million jobs related to the auto industry, yet it keeps shelling out $9 billion a month on Iraq. And Obama will keep it up (see this week’s column).
The United States’ Last Day in Business
Ted Rall
Ted Rall is a syndicated political cartoonist for Andrews McMeel Syndication, WhoWhatWhy.org and Counterpoint. He is a frequent contributor to The Wall Street Journal, a graphic novelist and author of many books of art and prose, and an occasional war correspondent. He is, recently, the author of the graphic novel "The Stringer."
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Ah, the great bipartisan, bridge-building issue of our age: punishing Toyota, Honda, Nissan, VW etc for being successful and not sucking.
Here's hoping both the Second Iraqi War and GM join the Roman Empire in the history books.
I know! Let's get into the repo business!
Thanks for the idea, Ted!
I agree Incitatus, totally! It's aggravating to no end that the nationalist card is STILL being played and foreign car companies are being beaten up for no other reason than where their headquarters are located. As if working class Americans have something in common with the CEOs of the Big 3….anything more in common than the CEOs of those other companies.
The Big 3 went overseas to set up factories. See, corporations went international years ago, Labor didn't. Why? Divide and conquer, as long as you keep little people hating each other over little things like phenotype and place of birth, they'll compete with each other in a race to slavery.
They only target foreign auto companies because it's shoved in their face. They don't target BP (British), philips magnivox (Dutch). It's as though being screwed over by American businessmen is somehow better than being screwed over by Japanese businessmen. One does have to wonder what percentage of American businesses have to collapse before we get a clue that HEALTH CARE COSTS are f&cking our country.
Employees at Toyota plants in the US don't really make much different salaries. The legacy costs are what kill. GM, Ford, and Chrysler only have legacy costs because it's the only way retirees can get benefits in the United States.
When will we stop acting like idiots and look at REALITY!?!?!?
Greg Palast had a good point about going after the White House under RICO. (Unfortunately, Ashcroft* or Gonzales would have been in charge then…) Perhaps the Feds can use RICO on Halliburton, KBR, Blackwater or others?
* Of course, Ashcroft did have objections to Bush's illegal warrantless wiretaps….
That's what you get for filling government with actuaries. It's cheaper to raise a new American to fighting age than it is for KBR to fix showers in Iraq so that they don't electrocute soldiers.
Aggie, reality is that GM, Ford, Toyota and VW operate internationally and that's a good thing. They create jobs and cater to their customers in the US, Japan and Germany, as well as in Brazil, Mexico and Venezuela.
The problem with the Midget Three is that they're crippled at the headquarters by incompetent and pampered management and likewise unionized labour. You'd be surprised to learn that Ford and GM actually turn up a profit in Brazil.