Arkady's Thoughts

This is probably the best news for Chrysler and long overdue. Propping a failed car company with taxpayer funding is utter nonsense and the Obama administration has wasted time and energy "fueling" GM and Ford. By filing for Chapter 11, Chrysler might have an opportunity to restructure and drop some of the dependencies that lead to the bankruptcy in the first place. The details are unclear as of now, but if Chrysler plans to exist and proceed further then it needs to completely shed itself of it''s union obligations. As of now, the United Auto Workers are holding Chrysler by the proverbial balls and until that hold is released then Chrysler or GM/Ford for that matter will squirm in place and howl in pain. Unions got their teeth and power during the Great Depression armed with legislation stemming from FDR's policies. Unions use strong arm tactics to leverage their demands and siphon profits out of the company's coffers. Worse still, domestic companies ...

Today congress met to discuss whether or not to bailout the auto industry or rather the Big 3. As mentioned in a previous post, the BIG 3 are controlled by the UAW and they are running the show in Michigan. Specifically their wages and benefits twice exceed that of the competitors. However what I find most shocking is the very essence of discussing a non-existent issue. While I can understand the job loss and suffering that will inevitably occur with the collapse of these three companies, since when is unemployment or saving of ANY industry the responsibility of taxpayers? In fact, calling this an auto bailout is somewhat of an injustice, because only three companies are facing bankruptcy, while plenty of companies in America that manufacture automobiles and not facing such dire straits. Therefore the claim that the UAW president made alleging that the economy has forced the three companies to declare bankruptcy does not hold water, otherwise we would expect every auto company to fo...

While I have many complaints that I have issued toward the Republican party, right now they are showing a certain amount of leadership that should be noted. The Big 3 (GM, Ford, Chrysler) are asking for 25 Billion dollars in bailout money. They are accusing the economy of destroying their business and furthermore threatening the country with devastation if they are allowed to fail. The truth is that the big 3 are destined to fail, they have created this situation themselves and it has nothing to do with the economy. The economy merely exposed their rotten infrastructure . Look at this: A blogger named Mark Perry wrote the following: "Total compensation per hour for the big-three car makers is $73.20. That’s a 52 percent differential from Toyota’s (Detroit South) $48 compensation (wages + health and retirement benefits). In fact, the over sized UAW-driven pay package for Detroit is 132 percent higher than that of the entire manufacturing sector of the U.S., which comes in at $31....