Oh, I understand their anger. Nobody likes losing their job, and it seems that perhaps the principals of Republic have been lying to workers for quite some time as to the ongoing viability of the company. They certainly have just cause in that respect. However, listening to their argument that since Bank of America received money from the bailout that they are thus obligated to step up and pay money to workers for their outstanding benefits, severance, vacation time is just plain wrong. Bank of America should on some level be hurt by this closure (they bet wrong lending money to the company) as much as the employees, however that does not obligate them to pay money to workers that feel slighted, because as it has been (unjustly in my opinion) reported that the company closed simply because Bank of America chose not to extend them the loan they needed to continue. Banks, including Bank of America have (and justly in my opinion) been hammered for taking on too much risky debt, and while it is true that the money infused into the system was done to open up money for lending, that doesn’t require they loan it to an entity they do not consider credit worthy.

Yes, I feel bad for those people that lost their jobs. But I don’t feel any worse for them than I do the thousands of workers that have lost jobs at Lehman Brothers because of bad management, than those that are losing their jobs at Wamu or Wachovia, workers that lost their jobs not through any fault of their own. If Lehman workers decided to lay siege on the building in midtown Manhattan, do you think they would have been cheered on by the media and the general public? I highly doubt it. Despite the fact that many were just workers, the average man working for a financial giant, they would have been viewed much differently because the machine they operate is a computer and phone rather than “machinery.” Much is often made about how the little guy is treated differently. But in this case they are allowed to seize property that does not belong to them.

Before a meeting with company officials, even union representative Melvin Maclin, expressed his surprise at their popularity as a symbol of the troubled economy.

“We never expected this,” said factory employee Melvin Maclin, vice president of the union local that represents the workers. “We expected to go to jail.”

And in reality, they probably should and in better economic times would. I am not saying Bank of America is necessary faultless in all of this, but I don’t understand how they could be expected to “step up” where it is not their place to do so. Nor is it the right of the former workers to hold hostage property that does not belong to them. More than a million people in this country lost their jobs this year. Yes, some of them (but certainly not all) received severance packages and the like, but many others were shown the door or watched their businesses fold without additional compensation. If they have a beef, they need to take it up with the principals of the company, or even perhaps look to the courts under fraud, but they are not heroes for holding hostage, that which is not theirs.

Update: In this video, while they say that they have “issues” with the company, they clearly think it is Bank of America that should “pay them with bailout funds.”

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.

So naturally, the question that begs to be asked is why?  Why now?

That fortunately is actually quite an easy answer, because I don’t think that this election was an end, but a beginning.  A beginning of a lot of things.  It will of course be the beginning of change, to try and undo some of the damage inflicted by President Bush, and also 12 years of a nasty evil Congress (followed by 2 ineffective years under Bush but controlled by a scaredy cat Democratic Party).  It is finally the time to take some initiatives that are not based only on how it affects some comapanies EPS.

But that is not all, not by a long shot.  While the hopes of getting 60 seats in the Senate may have been a “pie in the sky” dream, the was a reason for it.  There is a word that I suspect we will be hearing a lot of over the next 4 years… fillibuster.  It will part of the plan to fillibuster whatever they can, to “prove” how ineffective President Obama and the Democratic Congress will be.  It has already happened over the last two years, and I expect you will see it even more now.

There is so much work to be done, so many things to fix, and so many to improve.  But you can be sure, based on the blogs I have read over the past day, that the wingnut crowd.  Understand that does not apply to all GOP or all conservative folks, just as “tie-dye wearing, wheatgrass-drinking, hippie” doesn’t apply to all Democrats, but it is this wingnut group that is already starting to find things to pick on.  And if they are going to be relentless, then so am I.  I will not allow them to play their swiftboat games over the next 4 years as they prep whomever they will put forth in 2012.

I hope that what I am seeing is just a lot of sour grapes, not that this isn’t understandable.  I was measurably upset in 2004, so I can understand the bitterness.  But this goes beyond that.  Who boos the next President of the United State while their candidate is giving their concession speech?   As much as I would like to think that this will just settle down over the next week or so, I unfortunately do not believe that to be the case.  The wingnuts, like , Limbaugh, Savage, Hannity, and so on, have breed this new monster creation.  The bitter, angry, racist (they didn’t create the racists, but they certainly stoke ‘em) haters are not going to let down, they are already looking for ways to tear down President-Elect Obama and the election isn’t 24 hours old yet.

So that is what The Daft Dem is about.  Supporting, thought provoking (I hope), ready to challenge the new administration and Congress, but also having their backs from the assaults that will inevitably be launched.

Open discussions will be supported here.  Discourse, and varying points of view are always welcome.  But at the same time, I do know how heated some people (myself included) can get on these subjects at times.  Threating, violent, hateful speech will NOT be tolerated.  I am final judge and juror on the matter.  You will be able to plead your case, but the final decision will rest with me.

Welcome to The Daft Dem.