Saturday, December 13, 2008

Bibartisanship

Was the GOP-led collapse of the auto industry bailout a warning of what is in store for the 111th Congress? Is the Republican Party so angry about its defeat that it will risk dragging the country into a depression just to score a point against the much reviled UAW?

Are the Republicans determine to shrink into a defensive crouch, cowering behind the increasingly absurd Senate rules that allow a marginalized minority to freeze the government? Do they want to stand on the smoking ruins of their economic theories or will they be willing to help craft solutions to the unbelieveable mess the Bush Administration has left behind?

Will the Southern Senators retreat into a misguided regionalism, where protecting jobs at their non-union, foreign owned assembly plants is more important than preserving an entire industry that built Michigan's middle class?

Will they throw boulders in front of critical initiatives like health care reform for no other reason than to show that they still have some vestige of power?

On one hand, I hope they do - because it will reveal to the American people the true nature of the Republican Party, which is to protect the interests of the rich and powerful at the risk of everything else. But that is not the goal of the Democrats right now. There are more important thing to do in 2009 than finish off the crippled Republican Party. They can decide to help in a constructive, bipartisan way or they can proceed to drive themselves into farther into political oblivion.

GOP Writhes in Defeat

The defeat of the Auto Bailout revealed what the GOP has now become: a vindictive, marginalized, regional club of Southern Senators who would collapse the U.S. economy in retribution for The Democratic victory last month. The object of their wrath is the much reviled unions, whose overwhelming support for the Democrats helped usher the GOP into the political wasteland.

They know they are headed into oblivion for the foreseeable future so why not drag what's left of the economy down with them? Their economic theory of laissez faire, trickle down, supply side bullshit is a smoking ruin. Their fat cat supporters (the reality-based side of the Republican coalition) is in revolt because of the massive losses suffered in their portfolios. The religious right has missed its chance to turn the supreme court for the next quarter century and recognizes its opportunity of a lifetime has been squandered by the incompetence of the Bush Administration.

So in the dying days of the 110th congress, they said "fuck you" not just to the American worker, but to their own lame duck leaders. They retreated into the cover of the increasingly absurd Senate rules, regional protectionism for the foreign car companies operating in their states, and their visceral hatred of organized labor.

So much the better. Bush will toss a lifeline to GM and Chrysler from the TARP because even he can't stand the thought of tanking the automotive industry as the last accomplishment of the worst administration in history. And the Democrats should make sure that no manufacturing worker ever forgets what the GOP really stands for. It's time to bury the Republican Party so deep they will forget what sunlight even looks like.

Sunday, December 7, 2008

The Big Three

The Press editorial called it right today:
Why the hell do the banks and Wall St. firms get billions without the slightest condition while the auto companies, who helped build the American middle class, have to grovel, hat in hand

The disconnect in Washington is stunning, and can only be blamed on either bail-out fatigue (Democrats) or hatred of the UAW (Republicans - particularly those from states with non-union assembly plants.) The Democrats know they have to do something. Republicans like Alabama's Senator Richard Shelby would lead us into a true depression if they thought it would break the UAW once and for all.

If this is start of the new bipartisan era, where Republicans force GM into bankruptcy to somehow try to make up for eight year of unbridaled fiscal profligacy, we are in deep trouble.

You can create a new bank or brokerage firm practically overnight. There is nothing to them except money, people and computers. A major manufacturing company is vastly more complex than a bank, and once it is destroyed it will not be recreated. Letting GM go into liquidation would be an American tragedy of epic proportions and cannot be allowed to happen.

Better or Worse

November was a slow month for posts. The elation over Obama's victory called for a rest of the incessant ravings leading up to the election. Plus we are in that funny presidential twilight that is obviously way too long given the slow-motion train wreck of an economy that continues to rip through town. It's that scene in the movies where most of the cars have left the track but are still moving forward and careening off everything in their way. Next comes the bridge over the bottomless cravass.

I was in Russia last week for a conference and was fortunate to spend some time with a bright, 40 something Russian who spoke English (a rare thing in that country) and was not a customer or rival. He is an engineer/scientist who has traveled a lot and seems to be the image of the new Russia. At the same time, he was old enough to have experienced the Soviet era and was able to compare the past with the present.

I asked him if things are better now and his response said a lot to me. He said in the Soviet era, everyone had problems but they were more communal in nature. You knew how much money you neighbors made and there wasn't very much difference from one to another. People took better care of each other and spent more time together since there weren't many options for entertainment or mobility. Things weren't great - but everyone was facing the same challenges with more or less the same resources.

In the new era, there are wild differences in wealth and opportunity but the community spirit has diminished. People can accomplish much more but it is experienced as individuals rather than as a group. He was clearly not willing to say that the new benefits compensated for what was lost. Families are separating as people (especially young people) move to the cities for opportunity. This affects the small towns as they lose the energy and talents of the new generation.

To me, America during the Bush years pushed the limit of what excessive individualism can accomplish. The government abrogated all responsibilities for tempering the excesses of the individual and we are going to be suffering a long time as a result. However, some will be suffering a whole lot less than others because they made a fortune while the getting was good.

Here in Michigan, we are mostly on the short end of this trade. We never had a real estate boom but are still one of the worst states in the country for mortgage forclosures. It wasn't greed or excess that got Michigan to this state, it was people trying to survive a collapsing industrial economy long enough to reach it to the next era. Now that Michigan is no longer the only state in recession, maybe we will get some help from Washington, but their pockets are not bottomless and there are way too many hands out.