Toyota Republicans Should Cut Their Own Pay »
Posted By beprogress 11 months, 4 weeks ago in Political NewsA week earlier, 31 GOP Senators, mostly from Southern states, voted to avert their eyes and allow American auto companies to die. They opposed $14 billion in federal loans for GM and Chrysler, revealing that their loyalty lies not with America, not even with their own states, but with South Korea and Germany and Japan.
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beprogress
I'm a progressive and an agitator for change. I work at Campaign for America's Future. At the risk of sounding cliche, I want ...
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engineer11 months, 4 weeks ago
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Endoscopy11 months, 4 weeks ago
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So the UAW which has their workers making a much larger wage than the Southern car companies workers should just get off free. What a bunch of garbage. What the Republicans said was that the UAW needed to commit to sometime before mid 2009 come to an agreement where there is parity with the current workers wages and benefits of all car companies in the US.
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Grrr11 months, 4 weeks ago
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Actually, a failure of the US auto parts supply chain is not desirable to Toyota AT ALL. Toyota was all for the bailout.
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So this entire line of reasoning is utter BS.
And y'all know I'm not one to defend GOP reps without a logical reason to do so.
No prop for this dog that don't hunt. -
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Georgia5011 months, 4 weeks ago
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As a Republican, I'm opposed to ALL bailouts. But if there must a bailout be, I'd prefer it goes to the automakers before Wall Street. I hate unions, but in a pinch I'll side with them against corrupt bankers any day. But hey...no one asked me.
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The US automakers are profitable outside the US. Until the recent announcement by Toyota, foreign automakers were profitable in the US. The only factor that accounts for this is the UAW. The UAW almost without exception supports the Democratic Party. I have absolutely no obligation as a Republican to support a failed labor system, and Detroit has seen my last (voluntary) nickel.
By the way...I thought all you tofu-eating liberals loved Toyota? Weren't you the first to line up and buy the Prius, manufactured by slave labor in good ol' Ni-pan? Where Asians from all over the Pac Rim work overtime for regular pay? Where one laborer recently collapsed and died from physical exhaustion? I thought you libs were all fond of driving around in vehicles made by slaves while your union counterparts have their paychecks raped to support your candidates?
Well...if you can count on liberal Democrats for one thing, it's consistency.-
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ETproductions11 months, 4 weeks ago
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The UAW has already made drastic concessions and will make more to save the auto industry. Without it, they have nothing. It's life or death to them too.
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The $71 per hour Republican talking point is a ridiculous figure. It takes each current worker and assigns to that worker their salary, all their current and lifetime benefits plus all the benefits for their share of all retired workers. Comparing foreign auto makers in the US to Detroit in that way, of course the foreign workers "make" less. They haven't been here long, so they don't have a ton of retirees whose pensions and health care costs get added in.
The truth is if GM workers are to come to $/hour parity with Toyota right now, you need to give the GM workers a $2 per hour raise.
What the UAW has to give up is the 90 to 95% of full pay during layoffs. They will.
But compare that to a Hedge Fund manager who makes $71 a second and that's with no fancy-shmancy accounting. He actually gets paid that much. And Republicans gave out $700 billion to them without any hearings or business plans or even questions about what they were going to do with it. They are still convinced that all wealth is produced by investors. -
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dwemm11 months, 4 weeks ago
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Just for you, Georgia, I'll be inconsistent. As a WV resident, I have to say I really don't care about the American auto industry surviving because of being "special" just because it's southern. I was an Ohio resident in 1980 and worked with auto workers who were laid off because UAW jobs were heading to Georgia and Alabama. Then they moved out of the country altogether. Nobody in the Republican party would care for them if it didn't make a profit for their campaign funds.
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BTW, yes, I own two Toyotas, one Ford and one Chevy. No, I don't eat tofu. No, none of my cars were made in Japan. The Chevy has parts from Mexico, the Ford from Canada, and my two Toyotas were made in Kentucky. No Pac Rim workers at all. The only slave labor comes from people only being paid $15 an hour in the good ol' US of A. -
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gsmittle11 months, 4 weeks ago
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Well, Georgia, I was with you until your last two paragraphs. How about we have a discussion without throwing acid in each other's faces?
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Beats the hell out of me what is the best solution. I do know the name-calling needs to stop so we can all have a rational discussion. -
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Charlson11 months, 4 weeks ago
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"A week earlier, 31 GOP Senators, mostly from Southern states, voted to avert their eyes and allow American auto companies to die. They opposed $14 billion in federal loans for GM and Chrysler, revealing that their loyalty lies not with America, not even with their own states, but with South Korea and Germany and Japan.
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They are Toyota Republicans.
They haven’t gotten the message sent out by the electorate in November. Voters rejected politicians prolonging the same old policy of protecting themselves and the rich. The nation’s voters want selfless leaders who will perform in the best interests of the entire country. They want change."
I've always driven American made cars and have always supported American made goods over foreign products. But that is almost impossible now. America is a service and consumer nation and not a manufacturing one and that needs to change. And one thing you republicans taught the dodo heads is that without some rules and regulations you'll get a huge snafu in the end. The human condition would always slide to greed and avarice if not checked.
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mesodude11 months, 4 weeks ago
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What still floors me is that anyone in Congress (which has seen record low approval rating) would have the cajones to accuse autoworkers of being overpaid and having too many benefits. I sure wish I could get a job where my pay raises took effect automatically (unless I could convince several hundred of my colleagues to vote to block the increase). Talk about a sweetheart deal. ;-(
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Republicrat1844Comment removed: Retracted by user
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ETproductions11 months, 4 weeks ago
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I found it interesting how little grief the New Republicans had about just giving Wall Street and Banks $700 Billion. No hearings about why they needed the money. No business plans required. They Wall Street billionaires didn't even have to drive to DC in a fuel efficient car to testify.
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But $14 billion to save the US auto industry. That money's mostly going to go to workers -- some 3 million of them. Oh the horror of wasteful spending. Socialism. Let the free market work...
One of Google's quotes of the day:
"The two symbols of the Republican Party: an elephant, and a big fat white guy who is threatened by change."
- Seth MacFarlane -
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Pecossam11 months, 4 weeks ago
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A bail-out WAS NOT required. Reorganization through bankruptcy was an option for the U.S. auto companies, and should have been tried by them. This and the other bail-outs ARE NOT what they are represented to be. Read between the lines, for NOTHING is as it seems anymore. This is part of the New World Order power grab. The Democrats AND Republicans are both part of it.
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Georgia5011 months, 4 weeks ago
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My problem exactly. If there was to be a bailout, it ought to have been a bread-n-butter bailout, not a caviar bailout.
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The Ivy League continues to be our unelected representatives in Washington. Both parties are connected to them by puppet strings. We're just along for the ride. -
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Georgia5011 months, 4 weeks ago
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My problem exactly. If there was to be a bailout, it ought to have been a bread-n-butter bailout, not a caviar bailout.
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The Ivy League continues to be our unelected representatives in Washington. Both parties are connected to them by puppet strings. We're just along for the ride.
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ghengisghan11 months, 4 weeks ago
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Short memories guys? It was the Democratic controlled Congress thatpushed the bailout (ended up being 850 billion because of pork)with the support of President Bush.YOu can also thank Rarney Frank, Chris Dodd,Janet Reno, Andrew Guomo.
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JEBUS0811 months, 4 weeks ago
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where did it originally come from? - oh yeah, the administration and treasury department - SHORT TERM MEMORY - so of course bush supported it, it was his idea to begin with, only at first their was no oversight as to how the money was spent
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beavith111 months, 4 weeks ago
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this is a silly article.
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the author is still trying to get Obama elected. that, or appeal to the folks that still think the election is 'on.'
evidently, there are many.
for those of you that think the "Toyota Republicans" (stupid name) are wrong, ask yourself where the $14B was supposed to go. if the car companies can't survive without the $14B now, what is going to be different about them when they have the money? without having a plan to get out of the hole they are in, we are throwing money down a rat hole.
the author cries about shutting the Big Three down and throwing many millions out of work. under no circumstance would that happen. as Pecossam says, reoganization is always an option. auto management and the UAW choose not to do that.
who's the idiot?
let's come up with a stupid sound-bite name for the auto and union idiots. how about "uniomanags" or "managunions"?-
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UpholdOurConsitution11 months, 4 weeks ago
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"who's the idiot?"
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That would be GW and his cronies, Bernanke and Paulson. I believe it was your POTUS who instructed Congress to 'ignore the voice of their constituents and vote in favor of the Bailout.' Yes, that is your POTUS directly violating the Constitution for the umpteenth time. Bailouts shouldn't even be an option, but they are... And it is what it is now because no one will hold the people making these decisions accountable for them. Oversight, accountability, consequences, etc. These are all oobsolete concepts in our nation as it stands today.
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most_reasonable11 months, 4 weeks ago
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I wonder what the ratio of Republican to Democrat senators was in the handing to Oil Companies Billions to produce the (NEVER INTENDED) building of refineries in the US.
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Now there is project worthy of our dollars.
Letting the American worker go unfed while the jobs are shipped overseas is a typical Republican point of view. -
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lloydm6511 months, 4 weeks ago
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Well now,I predict before Obama's first,and last term expires, the auto workers will be lucky to have a job.They can't depend on stimulus package,those infrustrure jobs won't start for at least two years or more.He took the contribution from the echo-wackos,now he must dance to their fiddler.Things like destroying a bridge without making dust,making sure all concrete batching plants are echo friendly.Then there's the palm up bunch wanting their share of kick backs.Out of the three million jobs I doubt if five hundred thousand legal Americans will be in the mix.A person seeking a middle class job at twenty bucks an hour you might have a shot,but anything below that can be filled by an illegal for eight,or ten bucks.
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Harbeas11 months, 4 weeks ago
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If the voters were very intelligent they would see what these senators really stand for. Themselves. They should be asking themselves, "Wait a minute. Why are we asking the workers in the American auto industry to cut their wages? Why aren't we asking that the foreign auto makers raise the wages of their workers"? Because these senators are being paid off by the foreign automakers to make sure that doesn't happen! How much taxpayers money was given away so the foreign plants would build in their state? Let's be conservative and say hundreds of millions. but these hypocrits stand up in front of the American people and say that the American auto workers should cut their wages. by the way, these hypocratic, compassionless, poor excuses for public servants will be getting a raise in pay nest month along with having the best pension around and lifetime healthcare. I have an awful taste in my mouth when I think of our politicians.
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lloydm6511 months, 4 weeks ago
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I do not care if auto workers fifty dollars an hour,or ninty.The UAW must make it plain to these men,and women that without some movement on everybodys part the jobs will be gone.A man called me about a job I had listed.He ask if I needed a brick layer I said yes,and I pay fifteen dollars per Hr.He said he was getting seventeen per Hr.I said you better stay put,he said right now we don.t have any work,I said when I don;t have any work I pay seventeen.
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tadair91911 months, 4 weeks ago
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AHAHAHAHAH, this article is pathetic. it plays straight into the idiotic view of the world that the Democrats (good guys) are on one team and the Republican (bad guys) are on the other.
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It's like watching football.
The ref is sure to make the wrong call if it is against your team no matter what actually happened on the field.-
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Steel_Phoenix11 months, 3 weeks ago
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Subsidies (bailouts) and tariffs will lead to the big three raising their prices to match without increasing the quality of their product. The unions will suck up the profits, other nations will retaliate to our tariffs in kind, and we will be left paying extra for inferior vehicles, and still with no exports.
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http://www.toyotarepublicans.com/
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