There are a lot of folks who have no sympathy at all for Detroit’s woes right now. They work at – or benefit from – the auto industry. Just not the Detroit version. They are Americans who work for companies like Honda or are quite happy to serve Honda employees at their stores or restaurants.
Many people in the diner know someone working in the car industry. They are certainly in car country — there’s an engine factory down the road, and they live between Ohio’s major plants and the Detroit home of the industry.
You don’t have to go far in any direction to find a threatened auto plant. But the diners and staff do not back a proposed $25 billion bailout.
The car industry in their neighborhood is doing well — the Honda engine plant in Anna, Ohio, sits amid lots crowded with employee vehicles, ringed by carefully trimmed trees and endless farm fields beyond. It recently underwent a $75 million, 135,000-square-foot expansion.
The success of the factory, which Honda says has built 15 million engines from scratch since it opened 23 years ago, has been spread beyond Anna, which lies in western Ohio between Dayton and Toledo.
For myself, I do not want to see any person – or at least any innocent worker – lose their jobs. But we have a situation here where we are allowing a bunch of Washington insiders decide which company lives or dies if the economy goes south. A lot of executives have made ridiculous amounts of money while driving companies into the ground and endangering our entire economy.
Is this a good time to reinforce failure? Is it a good time to let a legislative body with a substantially lower approval rating than George W. Bush’s decide who lives or dies in the corporate world?
I humbly submit that this is a stunningly bad course of action.
Instead, we should be bringing pressure on our elected officials to force the big three into a tightly structured, pre-packaged bankruptcy. Make all of the players give ground and get to a realistic solution to all of this. Painful for everyone involved? Sure. Better than a total collapse? Absolutely. Far better than spending huge amounts of taxpayer dollars to delay – for a very short time – the inevitable collapse? Infinitely.
There are companies who are – so far – able to weather this financial storm. That is the best indication that there are some companies that are so badly run that they need a dose of medicine. Not money. Medicine.
All sides need to give on this. The companies, the shareholders, the unions, the retirees, the suppliers and any other player. If they do not, they are all going to be driven into the ground when the crash comes.
I remain unconvinced that the management of the car companies would be able to restructure themselves. GM doesn’t appear to have any understanding of anything but business as usual. Ford–maybe. Chrysler–them neither. But I expect Jeep could be a viable brand.
When the product your are trying to sell has more to do with labor and health care costs, you better be a doctor, not a car company.
Did anyone think the UAW run auto companies were sustainable?
All sides need to give but none of them will. This is why they are walking, hat in hand, into the halls of Congress – so they can maintain the status quo. If Congress gives them the money they will be back, hat in hand, right after the holidays looking for more.