It could be argued that these out-of-control labor costs pale in seriousness to the various ridiculous missteps and idiotic business decisions management made over the last 30 years but only if you are a communist.

Once again those foreign-owned plants did it right. Their non-unionized workers contribute to the cost of their own health care, encouraging many of them to not get sick so much, and instead of fancy guaranteed pensions they all have 401(k)s, which encourages them to work even harder, because now those 401(k)s are worth zero dollars.

Anyone who’s willing to look at the full picture knows that unions (ie, labor/overhead costs) and poor business investments in products like SUVs and Hummers were what contributed to the downfall of GM. I’m planning on reading The Reckoning at some point and apparently it was a book printed in 1986 that predicted the demise of the US automakers and the rise of the Japanese automakers – based on nothing more than examining each industry’s business model. And it turns out that back in 1986 – 1986!!! – David Halberstam was RIGHT! Yet liberals continue to cling onto that pipe dream of unions are good for the economy!

In a taped interview to be aired tonight on NBC Nightly News, Fritz Henderson said that because of greater demands from the Obama administration to restructure, GM is considering the bankruptcy option. The auto giant previously had ruled out such a move, saying it would discourage people from buying GM cars.

Good fuckin’ night. I’m honestly so tired of the never-worked-in-business-a-day-in-my-pampered-life liberals ruining capitalism because they are too freaking stubborn AND stupid to listen to a Republican. Cue Mitt Romney back in November – and he along with Cantor, Boehner, and many, many other “crazy” right wingers have ALL been saying let these businesses file for Chapter 11. That is what bankruptcy and protection is for, you #$%@#$%@#$ nitwit liberals running our country into the ground.

“Chapter 11 allows companies to get rid of some excess burdens that keep the companies from being successful. We’ve seen this before in other industries.”

“What you can’t do is send a big check to the big guys to do essentially the same thing.”

Thanks, Congress!!!!

As Michelle Malkin said when the big 3 soared in on their private, chartered jets to ask for more money (and I’m paraphrasing) “this bailout is not forcing the auto makers to restructure their business model, it’s only sustaining their lifestyle.”  The $14 billion that was shelled out to the automakers did not force them to renegotiate union contracts or purge themselves of overburdening debt they could have restructured under Chapter 11.

Obama Administration: 0
Taxpayers: - 14,000,000,000
Sweet.

Here’s part of the problem too – we’ve got too many union organizers (not members, organizers) in the pockets of these politicians on Capitol Hill. They don’t want GM to go down for obvious reasons because if GM fails or UAW is forced to renegotiate, those union organizers will lose their power and influence. Even though in the long run, job security would be better for the actual union members because they will be able to hold onto their J-O-B. For too long union members have let their organizers run their contracts into a corner and they now are having trouble getting out of. You’ll notice that people who work for automakers in non-union states don’t complain about the benefits, wages, etc. Even though most of those plants are typically “foreign” auto companies, they are still jobs for Americans on American soil with competitive (and still surprisingly high) wages and benefits.

But here’s what one of my liberal friends, oh and a union organizer with SEIU, had to say on defending the bailout back in December:

“Critics of the American industry point to the UAW and the costs of labor associated with the union’s contract as being to blame for the difference…I posit that GM and the other US auto-makers would be doing just fine today if they had the foresight to produce more economically viable products for consumers like their foreign competitors. This doesn’t even touch on what would happen to the labor movement as a whole if UAW were to do what the Senate Republicans suggest.”

Funny how my friend seems to forget that UAW contracts go directly to production costs. Cost of labor is the #1 factor in pricing for most products, and the same is true for the auto industry. You lower those labor costs, and *POOF!* the company will see an increased profit margin through either 1) less overhead or 2) reduced prices of products which lead to more purchasing power on the end consumer. More profit margins then lead to either 1) company growth with increased employment, 2) increased wages over time, or 3) increased R&D funds for better technologies to develop better and cheaper products (look at the cell phone industry if you need a freakin’ clue). It’s not magic, it’s the reality of busssssssssssinaysss! Oh, but I guess I’m forgetting that’s not what “the folks” were sold on during the campaign so why am I expecting them to use rationality now???

For his next trick, the Great Obama will jumpstart the economy, and he’ll do it by raising taxes on the very businesses that are today adrift in a financial tsunami! That will include all those among the top 1% of taxpayers who are in fact small-business owners, and the nation’s biggest employers who currently pay some of the highest corporate tax rates in the developed world. Mr. Obama will, with a flick of his fingers, show them how to create more jobs with less money. It’s simple, really. He has a wand.

I mean this is the OBAMAGIC administration – you can do aaaaaaaaaaaanything that you desire! D-d-d-do, do-do-do…

Supposedly, supporting bailouts is now the only way (outside of paying taxes) to make you patriotic. Which is interesting because I guess being patriotic also means supporting other economies before your own failing economy according to GM’s latest business development plan (via Bob Park’s Black & Right). I know – WTF??? On one hand can you really blame GM? They’ve got a bottom line to support to keep their business running so that they can pay back that bailout loan.  But at the same time, I don’t think American tax dollars should be used to support other countries’ economies on the premise the tax dollars would be used to help America’s economy. And to think, there are many liberals out there criticizing those who question govt. spending. How dare they! I mean because if you did you could potentially avoid situations like this and that would be ooooh so bad to have informed citizens, huh.

Gee, I wonder what would happen if the UAW would just get out of the way and quit burdening GM 1) with staying in the same crappy plants, 2) forcing them to pay the average $40 wage among UAW members, 3) blocking GM from leaving Detroit so that they can move to more competitive markets (which happen to be right-to-work states) in other U.S. states. Let’s keep U.S. jobs here but in order to do that we need labor unions to recognize the flexibility they need to bring to the negotiation table. Too often the union leaders just rely on govt. to pass legislation that puts a gun to a company’s head, where in the company is trying to keep product prices low (to compete with foreign automakers), employ U.S. workers, and still generate a profit to keep operations running. Are you starting to see where the UAW leaders (and their liberal political support) are potentially creating a hostile and unstable work situation for the very members they are representing? Eventually GM will probably only do the bare minimum work here in the U.S. they need to satisfy the UAW and then will ship all other operations overseas. That’s not a promising scenario and not helping union members stay employed.

Govt. should be mediating the UAW and GM to make sure we can keep jobs in the U.S. but also make it plausible for this company to be competitive, deliver efficiently to customer demand, and produce profit to maintain/grow their operations. If we don’t we’ll either see GM eventually move most of its operations outside the U.S. OR we’ll see it go down into the ground – and then where will those UAW members be employed?