Why I Like the GM Deal

The deal struck by GM and Chrysler with the UAW and the US government is breathtaking in its poorness. It assures the company's failure by installing leaders who know nothing about either big business or the auto industry. With the exception of the probable survival of Ford, this brings to close a chapter in American history that made it a great industrial nation. Further, that industrialization is what saved the world a couple of times over, most notably its power during World War II. Rather than expressing gratitude, the crisis in the industry has been used to further the leftist motives of the Obama administration and the UAW.

This is all bad. But why do I like it?

I'm a "Support the USA" kind of guy. I'm far from a unionite, but I like to buy local; I like to support businesses that put my money back into my community. Foreign automakers don't necessarily do that, taking the profits elsewhere. So why do I like the deal?

I like it because I hate the deal so much, and what's behind it. There's a reason why these two - the Obama government and the UAW - are at the helm in this. Politics. They're both far left, and want to move American industry into a socialized system by which everyone is paid for doing as little as possible and no one is accountable. They see an opportunity to control an entire industry to suit them, rather than let the people, through market forces, do it. And damned if they haven't pulled it off. Almost. So if I dislike the new owners so much, why do I like the deal?

The Obama government and especially the unions are parasites which will destroy whatever they touch. The Unions want to suck industry of everything to give to their membership, which demands high pay for unskilled labor. The government wants to use the crisis as a means to move a social agenda to the hilt: to change the US economic system as far left as it possibly can. If I buy anything from GM or Chrysler, I support that. So I won't buy from them. I won't be considering anything GM sells. If I did, I'm filling the coffers of the UAW with my cash, and I'm supporting the political left's move toward socialism. I just won't do that. But I still haven't said why i like the deal.

Freedom. There's freedom in this for patriotic consumers: I'm now free to buy any car I like, from anywhere in the world. I like to buy things that are politically neutral, which now disqualifies GM and Chrysler. You might say I'm screwing myself by not supporting what the government does, by not contributing to the profits that will pay back the loans made over the last few months. Maybe that's the price Obama supporters have to pay to get it through their heads that government has no place in a free market. Because if government is involved to this extent, that market is far from "free."

So, the goose that laid the golden egg had her run; now she's on the table ready for carving. But somehow, I just can't bring myself to eat; she was a good old girl.

It's funny how messy it becomes when business gets polluted with politics.


GM Clears UAW Hurdle as Deadline Looms - WSJ.com:

"GM, which is surviving on federal loans, is racing to restructure under a June 1 deadline set by the Obama administration. The agreement with the UAW was a key element of plan, which would give the U.S. government as much as a 72.5% stake in the auto maker.

UAW President Ron Gettelfinger said the pact, which has the union making concessions but also gaining a stake in GM, was passed with 74% support. The agreement covers about 54,000 workers -- roughly a third of whom are likely to lose their jobs -- and hundreds of thousands of retirees and family members.

The deal gives the union's independent trust fund for retiree health care a 17.5% stake in the new GM and warrants for another 2.5% stake."