It’s beginning to look to me like the GOP leadership wants a great depression. Perhaps they have decided that by sabotaging the economy, they will be able to get back into power more quickly. If so, they should be deeply ashamed, resign their positions and report to the nearest prison. I can’t think of anything more treasonous than purposely bankrupting the Big 3 automakers and putting millions out of work, in order to shore up the future of a party whose policies have put the entire world in peril.
Normally, I would oppose a bail out, just as the Republicans are doing. I don’t like the idea of bailing out the automakers. It’s become a bad habit. The leadership of the American automobile industry seems to be made up of people who can’t see past the next quarter and who are convinced that lobbying Congress is more important than making good cars. Frankly, we deserve a lot better than we’ve been getting from that group.
The writing has been on the wall since the 1970′s. We need alternatives to gas-guzzling cars. Instead of giving us those alternatives, the auto industry has squandered every opportunity we’ve given it. When the Japanese voluntarily restricted imports so that the U.S. automakers could catch up, the U.S. automakers jacked up prices, paid out bonuses, and stubbornly refused to improve quality until the voluntary restrictions ended and Detroit was forced to compete again. Instead of developing more efficient engines, the Big-3 have focused on pushing SUVs down the throat of every consumer. SUVs are great. Since they are classified as light trucks, they don’t have to meet the same pollution or efficiency standards as cars. That means they can be made bigger and heavier. SUV designers seem determined to force everyone into SUVs by making it clear that if there’s a collision between a SUV and an ordinary automobile, the SUV is gonna win.
The automakers tell us that we want SUVs. I’m sure some of us do. But I kind of think that the automakers could have sold us all golf carts with the kind of advertising budgets they’ve used to push SUVs on us. Does anyone really need a Hummer? Really?
If you don’t believe me, think about smoking. When I was a kid, smoking was so wide-spread, you really couldn’t get away from it. Marketing changed that. The U.S. government and organizations like the Red Cross, American Lung Association, spend tons of money alerting us to the dangers of smoking. They made us realize that if we smoke, it will – more than likely – kill us or someone we love. And look what happened, people actually stopped smoking! They even passed laws to protect people from secondary cigarette smoke! Advertising went up against one of the most addictive substances we’ve discovered, and advertising won. I suspect that proper advertising could help U.S. citizens understand that what they really want, is a car that helps secure the future for their kid, as well as keeping the kid safe right now.
So, you can see, I think it would be poetically correct just if the Big 3 went bankrupt — except we can’t afford for that to happen right now. If these companies go under, millions will lose their jobs, and I know what what it’s like to be unemployed and unable to meet my responsibilities. The auto workers be forced to take jobs paying a tiny fraction of their current wages. Of course, this may be a goal of at least some of the Republican leadership.
Now, I don’t think these guys are evil. Well, not all of them, some are pretty scary. Some conservative economists believe that the U.S. needs to adjust salaries downwards in order to be competitive in the global economy. They fear that if we don’t do so, we’ll face even greater problems in the future. They may even be right, but right now, we can’t take another hit and if the American economy goes into a great depression, it will drag the whole world with it. Then it won’t just be Al Quida criminals that hate us, it will be everyone in the world who blames us for their personal losses.
I believe there are also elements in the GOP that sincerely want the economy to tank. They feel that they can profit in the aftermath, both politically — by putting the blame on Obama — and economically — through their personal investments. I don’t see any of these conservative pundits putting their own livelihood on the line in order to help out. It’s easy to tell everyone that they just have to tighten their belts when you’ve got enough money that you’ll never go hungry. It’s always someone else who has to pay the price for their ideology, usually the poorest.
And, of course, the GOP is deeply embarrassed by how badly they did in this election. While I think most of them are thinking hard about what they can do to improve their party, how to get back in touch with their supporters and maybe do a better job than the had been doing. But, I suspect some want to lash out against the Obama for beating them. They want to see Obama fail, even if it means soup lines and massive unemployment.
Well, it’s time to grow up. We’ve seen what happens when we let our leadership react like a petulant teenager instead of a responsible well-educated grown-up. If you are a Republican, demand that your leadership fight for power the old-fashioned way, by finding a way to be better than the other guy.
This is no time for Democrats to gloat, either. There is a lot of very hard work ahead. We all need to pitch in and do our part. We need to all remember that our country is The United States of America, and that when we work together, no enemy can stand before us.The United States of America is going to have to lead the rest of the world by example, not by fiat, and not by threat. We need to lead them out of this recession and into a recovery that will generate jobs all around the world, and help us overcome the problems posed by our past mistakes.
