Rebel Yell!

Senator Richard Shelby, much like an earlier Shelby (General in the Confederate state of Missouri) is spear heading the opposition against Yankee auto makers. However, this current incarnation is not rallying the troops for his beloved Dixie. He and his fellow Southern states Republican Senators are defending their beloved special interests: Non union Japanese and German car manufacturers along with their union busting conservative lobbyists who would like nothing more than to bring Detroit and the UAW to their knees.

Just in case you forgot:
*In 1993 officials in Alabama lured a Mercedes-Benz facility, the first foreign auto plant in the state, with a package worth $258 million. *In 1999 Alabama put together a $158 million subsidy deal to land a $400 million, 1.7 million-square-foot Honda plant. In 2002 state and local officials provided an additional package worth $90 million, including $33 million in tax breaks over 20 years, when Honda decided to expand the facility. *When South Korean carmaker Hyundai staged a competition for a $1 billion plant, various states put together bids, but it was Alabama that won the contest in 2002 with a package worth $252 million
That is a total of $758 million for three foreign manufacturers. I couldn’t find the numbers for Toyota, but assuming it is similar to the packages given to Mercedes, Honda, and Hyundai, that would bring the total to around $1 billion. All this while Alabama's schools and infra structure crumbled. Shelby also purchased several hundred Mercedes cars for his official state fleet of cars. I bet he got a sweet deal too.

So a billion dollars from the taxpayers of Alabama to subsidize foreign automakers is OK, but $14 billion to keep the domestic auto industry from collapsing, and 2.5 to 3 million jobs along with it, is not a wise use of our money?
No, this is not about fiscal responsibility for Shelby and the others who oppose the bailout of the Big Three. I didn’t see them threatening a filibuster when $700 billion was going out the door to rescue the fatcats on Wall Street.
This is about busting up the UAW, plain and simple. If the automakers go through bankruptcy their union contracts are gone, not to mention the pensions and health care benefits for over 400,000 retirees.
But that doesn’t matter to Shelby and his cronies, they’re just lowly blue-collar people, let them eat cake.

This trend seen through out the southern states appears to be pay back for the Civil War. With Japan and Germany's help the South may well rise again! Not the middle class mind you but the power brokers of the South. This Union busting scheme will in essence reduce our working class (middle class) into slave labor or at the very least indentured servants.

If the big three go under so will those poor southern dummies who think that Shelby and his Klan are looking out for their best interest. If we enter a depression or even a continuing recession, those who used to buy Mercedes and Hondas won't be able to afford new ones. Bubba will get pink slipped as well.

It seems to me that the haves are hell bent on crushing the have nots. I see and hear congress men, Senators, talk show hosts, Corporate CEOs, right wing pundits, ( all of which don't like to talk about how much $ they make an hour nor do they like to talk about the incredible Health care benefits they receive.) blaming the UAW and it's over paid labor force for the failure of the auto industry. Blue collar workers who make $28 an hr actual and $75 an hr if you use Fox's figures (they add in the benefits of health care) are being asked to take a reduction in wages, to pay for their own Health Care and all this while our country in going through the worst recession in 30 years. Warren Buffet once said, "Yes there is class warfare in this country and my class is winning."
CEO's of the big three make nearly 300 times that of the average worker, and yet it's the factory rat who is over paid? Are you kidding me? The UAW has already made several concessions including wage reduction as well as agreeing to take over the Health Care costs while the companies administrative positions have given up zilch. I know it's mind boggling. We must be brain washed by all the Fox propaganda or we have fallen victim to the Stockholm syndrome.

DaG out