Corker: I Don’t Regret Voting Against Auto Bailout
Published: January 14, 2009
Updated: January 14, 2009
Tennessee Senator Bob Corker says he doesn’t regret voting against a bailout for General Motors and Chrysler last month
because he and other Republicans had their own plan to help the car makers succeed.
Corker was in Detroit Tuesday and met with GM officials at the North American International Auto Show.
He said the United Auto Workers Union must become competitive with foreign transplant automakers like Nissan Motor Co., which has
more than 6,500 employees in his home state of Tennessee.
Corker was instrumental in leading the Republican charge against the auto bailout bill. It stalled in the Senate when the UAW
refused to agree to wage concessions.
The Bush administration stepped in and granted GM and Chrysler $17.4 billion in loans after both automakers warned that they would
run out of cash without federal help.
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Jed, to answer your question as to what I considered, the answer is yes,I have and did. The UAW Union has contributed, in part, to the economic failure of the AAI but not to the extent you think. In order to know what has caused the errosion of the American Auto Industry, one must not just look at one aspect of the industry, as obviously you have. There are several causes and the UAW Union played only a small part in that downfall.
Several years ago the AAI, The Big Three, knew that they were headed in a direction that wasn’t in tune to the demands of the majority of the american car and truck buyers. What did they do? they build bigger, more expensive, unreliable, gas gussling automobiles and didn’t invest in improving the quality of their product. The foreign automotive industry saw what the american automotive industry was ignoring and seized the moment to advance their product by delivering what the american people wanted.
Customers then, like today, wanted an american made product that was reliable, inexpensive to maintain, gave great gas milage, with a warranty beyond 3 years and 36,000 miles that would last for many years beyond it’s warranty period. The foreign automotive gave us what the american automotive industry didn’t.
Once the foreign automotive market took hold the american automotive industry started it’s downward spiral. So what did they do? They employed the assistance of the foreign automotive builders to help them build a better product. Then they screwed up by moving their production operations outside the United States borders.
Bigger, more expensive isn’t always the answer, sometimes smaller more dependable and affordable is better. Just look at todays housing market and ask yourself this, when was the last time you saw a new house being built in the 75 to $100,000.00 range?
Jed, the above reasons are but just a couple of mistakes made by the American Automobile Industry and as you can see the UAM is just a small portion of the many problems existing today.
Unions have played a major role in the failure of the big 3 automakers. The other manufactuers that operate within the U.S. do so without heavy UAW involvement. They are very successful and fair to their employees. The union positions do not reward performance. A complete moron can receive a premium wage simply by being a union member and showing up for work. Sure, there are other factors that have contributed to the failure, but the UAW has played a major role.
Unions had nothing to do with it.
This was the result of the insatiable greed and grotesque incompetence of a few corporate Republican whores.
As for Corky, he’s too stupid to have even understood the fundamentals of the economics involved. He just voted the way he was told to vote.
D. Hutch, Did you ever consider that the Big 3 are in bad shape because of the unions? The time and place for unions has passed. We need a truely free market!
Well “Jed” FYI the UAW has taken cuts in benefits and agreed to sacrafice wage increases to help the Auto Industry recover from declining profits. What did the CEO’s and other high ranking leaders of the Auto Industry give up? NOTHING.
Mr. Corker I admire your actions, I don’t live in Tennessee, thank God, but if I did you would get my vote.
The UAW will be the demise of the big three. Times have changed, unions have not!
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