If it is a war of mindshare, those GOP thoughts seem to be winning, as I am seeing their talking points continue to press even into more progressive thoughts. It is not often I disagree with Momocrats, but for some reason people seem to overlook or miss some very basic issues.

1. Bankrupting the automakers WILL be a step in breaking contracts, and possibly the union as a whole. This is the goal of many of the GOP (including one of the Mitt Romneys) that think autoworkers make way too much money and want autoworkers to have lower wages and no healthcare like their Toyota and Hyundai counterparts. So this is what is “good for America”? Aren’t we trying to fix healthcare, not get more people to be uninsured?

2. Just who is then going to save all the little companies and creditors that are now going to get left holding the bag on the Big 3 debts? Just because a company declares bankruptcy, their debts don’t disappear, somebody (well in this case probably a lot of somebodies) will be writing off a whole lot of money. probably leading to other bankruptcy cases, and more lost jobs. Does everybody think these losses are going to just “disappear” if the Big 3 go bankrupt? It is an over simplified “solutions” that doesn’t even take a peek down the road to what the effects of this action will be.

No, while throwing the whole thing into receivership sure sounds quick and easy and neat, it is none of those things.

People continue to say people “aren’t buying American cars” but that is a myth considering the fact that GM sells more cars than even Toyota. They are hobbled by the fact that healthcare and other costs are payed BY THE GOVERNMENT and it should be noted that:

Just about every one of the European automakers, apart from Mercedes, have had a rescue of some sort or another,” Rhys said. And Toyota has benefited from Japan’s “incredible low cost of credit,” he added. “It wasn’t technically state aid, but it certainly wasn’t the sort of conditions companies in Europe or North America could borrow at.”

So, all these “spectacular” car companies that are “so much better” than the big 3 are getting government loans at special rates that aren’t available to others. We are putting them behind the 8 ball to begin with and then complain they are not more like their Japanese counterparts. Well, maybe if we gave them some of the same tools to work with. No, throwing Detroit under is not the easy answer everybody would like it to, and I am bit disappointed that Progressives are picking up some of these talking points and running with them without thinking about the consequences of them.

As I said previously, I don’t know for certain what the right answer is, but saying that bankruptcy is easier because it frees them of debt… that just becomes another wrong reason, since it won’t be.

Filed under: General, Media Falsehoods