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Detroit, 7:01 PM
Sun Nov 22
11 posts in the last 24 hours
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02/20/09
It's doubly important for someone tall and slender like Ray or I, especially if one is going to encounter some ranting red-faced dickhead with a Napoleon complex...
02/20/09
02/20/09
02/20/09
02/20/09
The whole subject hits very close to home for me, as my mother's business failing was a direct result of losing Olds. It's a really common story there, too... ugh. Gives me belly rumblins.
02/20/09
Auto manufacturers should have funded their health and pension plans - that they agreed to - when those workers were employed, rather than boosting their profits, we'd have a much better situation to contend with. Trying to jack the workers on their negotiated benefits packages is essentially trying to steal from them. Just because the theft is happening decades after the deal was made doesn't change a thing.
02/20/09
I'm not sure people involved understand the severity of the situation. All over the WORLD people are taking pay cuts of 10-50%, just so they have a JOB. They are losing their health insurance completely, they are losing their 401ks, and most are counting their blessings they aren't going to have to work at McDonalds and lose their house.
These UAW people just don't seem to get it. NO ONE IS BUYING THE CRAP YOU MAKE. You are lucky to be employed TODAY. Now, obviously it is partially management's fault they are in this mess, but given the choice of losing their $30 an hour job in a town that has no other employment...you'd think they'd want to negotiate a bit. They act like they are the only ones "suffering" right now, when whole other industries are going under.
02/20/09
02/20/09
UAW is not responsible for the financial system collapse, or the mortgage financing meltdown and its collateral fallout. They are also not responsible for the design of the cars they assemble. Build quality has been increasing pretty steadily. Not as good as the Japanese, but a lot better than it had been. And some of that has to do with the way the cars have been engineered.
The crisis is being used by a lot of folks as an opportunity to break the backs of unions - not just the UAW - and to roll back hard won practices that have strengthened the country and created a lot of wealth and security for the whole country. We're facing some enormous problems, that doesn't justify abandoning a century's progress.
02/20/09
But they are partly to blame for the design of the cars. The higher cost of their labor causes compromises in the design of the cars to make them cost competitive with others. Also the work rules and union contract hurt quality. What incentive is for a worker to worker harder if pay and layoffs are not based on performance? What incentive is to do more than what is required? To be fair there are UAW workers that have tried to make things better and either get ignored by management pressured by the union to stop making others look bad. They have prevented greater auto-mation and flexibility of vehicle lines.
You may say that people just want to bust the union and destroy their hard won practices. I say the union should stay if they start to accept modern practices that would bring them wealth and security. This is not the last century, every worker should be more than a robot. Every worker has responsibility to the product to make it better.
I would just like to note that management is just as responsible as the union for this mess. The management needs to accept that these workers can meaningfully contribute. They are need to work together. This is really one of the biggest issues of these strong unions, it creates the us vs. them mentality on both sides.
02/20/09
02/20/09
Hey, does anyone know where Alan Colmes ended up after breaking off that major douchebag Hannity?
02/20/09
Knowing Virg, he's probably planning on running for Congress or governor next year.
02/20/09
02/20/09
What an asshole. I think everybody that goes on Fox Noose should rant like that. Completely ignore the questions from the anchor, and go off on whatever. Hell, complain about airplane food, ask why you can't get a decent cell phone signal in your own house, forchrisake.
The facial expressions of the Fox Douche were priceless- almost like he was trying to quell a rouge turd from popping out on-camera.
And Ray, that was an awesome story.
02/20/09
a.) the total pay of these workers, plus
b.) the matching 7.65% their employers have to pay for FICA and Medicare, plus
c.) all the insurance costs of those workers, plus
d.) total pension costs for retired workers, guaranteed to them by these car companies back in the past when those retired workers were still on the Big Three's payrolls,
all added together and divided by the number of current workers at the Big Three.
This is compared with only category a.) for the "average private-sector worker in the Upper Midwest states."
Similarly, you'll be shocked to learn that the selfish, greedy editors at Jalopnik make well over $100,000 per week, as compared to a mere $46,000 per year for the median American family! I calculate this by adding the Jalopnik editors's pay, their employer's matching FICA/Medicare, their pension benefits, and Bill Gates's salary. Why do I add in Bill Gates's salary? Because Bill Gates's salary is every bit as much of the Jalopnik edtors's pay as pensions to retirees are part of current UAW workers's pay.
All those lying scum at Fox News need to choke on a dick and die.
02/20/09
02/20/09
Well, all except Diddles, but don't tell him that.
02/20/09
/Is that the line off in the distance behind me?
02/20/09
02/20/09
02/20/09
"Haha, now you're stuck shilling for the ignorant right. And the more we hear about this stereotype, the more we will try to fit it!"
02/20/09
02/20/09
I find myself watching PBS more and more these days.
02/20/09
02/20/09
Oh wait...crap.
02/20/09
02/20/09
02/20/09
Mayor Bernero was an idiot for going on Fox (so-called) News in the first place, but he was right to go off on them.
02/20/09
"You don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows..."
Dontcha' know...?
02/20/09
Rap.
Constructin the trucks, corrupted with bucks
F*ckin lucky for a paycheck when the vehicles suck
Don't call it a bailout, politicos fail out
Pork barrel for our peril, we got Virg with the clout
He'll holla at Fox News, with size 7D shoes
He's a balla with hot collar, drinkin' 7am booze
02/20/09
02/20/09
Here, have a glass of breakfast scotch.
02/20/09
02/20/09
Oh, I thought we were blurting out nonsensical nonsense.
02/20/09
02/20/09
02/20/09
02/20/09
UAW needs to suck it up like everyone else if they want companies to exist so they can have jobs.
02/20/09