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Detroit deserves auto loans

The question of whether to rescue Detroit’s Big Three is one that has my blood boiling these days.

Look, just like the fat-cat financial institutions Congress decided to help, the auto industry is far from perfect. I found this little gem in a Detroit News story last week about how-do-we-forge-ahead meetings held by Ford’s best and brightest:

With gasoline prices falling, some argued that Ford should abandon its costly plan to retool North American truck factories to produce smaller, more fuel-efficient cars from Europe.

No wonder they’re in trouble.

Still, that doesn’t mean the industry should be allowed to fail – not when Uncle Sam already said yes to saving the suits in the financial industry.

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Making cars is who we are. If you don’t work on the line, you certainly have a family member or friend who does. And if you live in Metro Detroit, whatever you do for a living is directly or indirectly tied to the auto industry.

I wanted to jump through the TV screen Sunday and choke Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., who had this to say on the NBC News show “Meet the Press:”

“They’re not building the right products. I don’t believe they’ve got good management. They don’t innovate. They’re a dinosaur in a sense.”

He said the U.S. automakers should file for bankruptcy protection. “Get rid of the management,” he said. “Get rid of the boards – the people who brought them to where they are today.”

And, in essence, also forget about the rest of the folks – your grandfather, your dad, your brother, you – who lived on a Dobel Street and invested their entire lives in the industry, worked 12-hour shifts to provide a decent way of life for their families. (Anybody who says factory workers are overpaid has never worked in a factory. I lasted a year, then joined the U.S. Navy to get out.)

No, we don’t have master’s degrees in business, wear three-piece Italian suits, carry attache cases to the office or lunch at the latest trendy Thai restaurant downtown, but WE STILL MATTER.

In my estimation, in a country that was built on blood, sweat and tears, we matter even more.

Comments, Pingbacks:

Comment from: geraceyvette [Member]

That guest on Meet the Press was from all places, Alabama?! I reckon Detroiters 'gon tear him a new one too. Send him a banjo with love from Detroit Auto Workers.

Permalink 11/18/08 @ 01:27