Car Bailout and Gay Marriage

It seems the two big issues right now are the auto bail out and gay marriage per Californias prop 8. First the auto industry because there is the most to say about that.

Here is an argument for and against on the issue to get you started.

Now a few of my thoughts. First it never fails to irk me when 'certain people' rush to blame the least among us, the poor or the working citizen, for nearly everything that goes wrong in this country. Meanwhile they defend or quickly mention the people that have the most to do with it and then move back to we the people as the reason. The unions are responsible for the fall of the auto companies. Not likely. They are the people who actually BUILT the cars and made it possible for wealthy at the top to take home their millions. They are the people who don't have the tax breaks or advantages, they are the backbone of this country.
Ford was making a 40% profit on the Taurus, built in Atlanta. Parts, labor, health, R & D, transportation and dealer costs them around $9,500 per vehicle. Their sales cost? Almost $17,000. Same holds true for the SUVS and trucks. Unfortunately, the guys making the big money were not looking ahead. The Accord and Camry killed them. If it all goes down millions of working people lose their jobs and the people making the big money and big mistakes are set for life.
Under a new, two-tier UAW contract signed in 2007, the average base wage rate for existing workers at each of the Detroit Three is about $28 per hour, and new workers will be hired at base wage rates of $14 to $16.23 per hour. So the guys that aren't making millions, the worker, makes 53 thousand a year. Apparently an outrageous salary to some. Believe me, I would love to make that. I'm much closer to that 14 dollars. I have never come anywhere near that 53 thou universe but it's not like it is an outrageous amount of money. 3 to 10 million a year plus a multitude of perks is outrageous. Especially if your decisions are costing the company money. Henry Fords success came at the beginning because he understood that he needed to pay his workers enough to buy his cars.
If you think 53 thousand is too much to pay them put on a hard hat and step into an automotive, steel, or textile mill where one mistake can cost you an arm, leg or life, then come on back and preach about turning your back on unionized industries and companies, but be sure to work in both types of plants, union and non-union to see the difference in them. John Stuart Mill said "There are many truths of which the full meaning cannot be realized until personal experience has brought it home."
One thing these corporate bigwigs could have done is join others in pushing for universal health care instead of moving to countries like Canada and Mexico that already have it. It would save them billions a year. The responsibility for pensions should be transferred to the unions. Not only would it help the companies but it would prevent them from raiding it. Yes, unions have overreached at times. For example to say X is the only job you should do and you need to call in X to do something else is silly and stupid. Unions aren't pure good but with no leverage for the worker the country and the mass of population is in danger of being devalued to the point of disgusting.

On the other side. I have many reasons to find these multinational corporations as disgusting and harmful to our economy overall. The defenders of disgusting wealth will claim that better fuel efficiency and green cars are years off. How about this. And it's not just diesel cars. Here's the European websites for Ford, General Motors and Chrysler. Lines of small fuel efficient cars. Even a Sebring that gets over 50 MPG! They can do it but for some reason they have chosen not to sell them in the US. Why is that? And how about a new car that is being readied for right here in the US by a new maker. No gas at all! A sharp lookin baby too! The technology is here today. We are being handed a bill of goods. I think the big, and I mean really big, money people at the top are trying to turn this country into a banana republic where we again are surfs to the moneyed aristocrats. All this bailout crap is a part of the plan they have been working on for years. It all got done while most people were not paying attention and poo pooing politics and political action. Again, it is exactly what they wanted us to do. Every time a company is bought up by another one what happens first? You got it, they fire people and eliminate jobs. Somehow the big companies of all kinds have to be eventually destroyed or broken up and competition has too return with more and smaller companies. You know, like the kind that aren't too big to fail. We also need to rethink this free trade crap. Go back to tariffs which will bring money back to the treasury making it possible to lower taxes and will encourage manufacturing in our country again.

On the gay marriage front. I don't know why people want to push their lifestyle or religion on others. A truly free country wouldn't do that. While I believe a child needs a mom and a dad in the home, if we make it a law then we have problems cuz the world doesn't work that way. If you want to preserve the sanctity of marriage then why not work on eliminating divorces? That is far more a problem in the area of the sanctity of marriage than gay marriage is. No church should be forced to perform gay marriages. If your problem is calling it marriage then offer all the same rights and responsibilities and call it civil unions. Gays should be amenable to that. I have not much more to say than that. I'm not gay and it doesn't effect my life much. I am a US citizen though and I think the equality of all should be respected.