Hope and Change for auto-unions
They told me that if I voted for McCain we would end up with a government run by powerful lobby groups ... and they were right (or at least they would be if I could vote!)
IN THE devastating slump that has forced two of Detroit's car makers to the brink of bankruptcy, the United Auto Workers union stands to become one of the industry's few winners. According to restructuring plans proposed this week, the union will have more than half the stock in Chrysler and a third of General Motors, giving it enormous influence - along with the US Government - in determining the future of the companies. The automobile union gained its leverage in part from the support of a Democratic President and Congress... In the past 20 years, the union has donated more than $US25.4 million to federal candidates, 99 per cent of it to Democrats, according to OpenSecrets.org, a website that tracks campaign contributions. The union ranks No.16 on the group's list of top 100 political donors, known as "heavy hitters".
Two ways this could go:
(1) The UAW is the reason that Chrysler and GM are going bust. Now that they own Chrysler and have a huge stake in GM they might stop doing the things that were destroying those companies.
(2) Obama and the UAW will be completely unwilling to do anything to fix Chrysler and GM. Instead they will keep Chrysler and GM alive by using regulation to wreck every other auto manufacturer in the US.
I'm betting on (2).
Comment by Dr. Strangelove — April 30, 2009 @ 10:36 pm
Or #3, they keep running the companies into the ground, making cars nobody wants that break down to quickly, but we subsidize them.
Comment by Professor X — May 1, 2009 @ 5:51 pm