December 11, 2008
The Facts
The House of Representatives have passed the bill that would approve the loans to the Detroit automakers, but many Republicans in the Senate are putting up a stiff resistance to the bill. Senators Richard Shelby of Alabama and John Ensign of Nevada are the two leading the resistance. Senators Bob Corker of Tennessee and George Voinovich of Ohio, along with others, are in close pursuit with their support in defeating the bill. In their many announcements and interviews, all have cited various reasons for fighting the bill in its current form. Some of their reasons make sense, but others seem to have underlying motives.
My View
First, just a couple of more facts; Shelby voted against the Wall Street bailout bill, but Ensign, Corker, Voinovich, and many others who are against the auto bailout bill voted for the Wall Street bailout bill without any resistance what-so-ever!
A very small percentage of our elected officials vote for a bill simply because they believe it’s the right thing to do. The vast majority vote for a bill either because they have been successful in attaching their own wants & desires to the bill, or they have other underlying motives. In this case, it is very obvious there are underlying motives. And it is two underlying motives here; first, this bill will greatly benefit 2.5 million blue collar workers as opposed to the white collar boys of Wall Street, and second, these Republicans strongly oppose organize labor. They see this bill as an opportunity to break the unions once and for all, and they aren’t going to let up.
Aside from Shelby, where were these Republicans outrage when George Bush and Henry Paulson wanted to hand Wall Street $800 billion dollars with no questions asked. The auto makers are asking for less than 5% of what was blindly handed over to Wall Street, and many of these guys voted for the Wall Street bailout.
The bottom line is these guys are against anything that will help the blue collar workers of America, and they have always blamed the unions for the woes of American corporations. While I am still not in favor of bailing out the auto manufactures just as I have stated in several of my past post, I see an awful lot of hypocrisy in these “holier-than-thou” politicians standing up before the cameras trying to tell me and others how they are just looking out for us taxpayers. You can only conclude these guys speak with forked tongue. You can also bet that when they change their mind and support the bill (if it comes down to that), there will be some more pork in it for their corporate friends such as additional tax breaks on taxes they already don’t pay, and/or there will be conditions in the bill that will break the unions.
cynicalsynapse
// Dec 26, 2008 at 5:55 PM
Well said about the ulterior motives of our representatives and senators. I believe the Wall Street debacle is a significant contributing factor in the automaker crisis.
I live in Michigan, so I’m glad the US automakers get another chance. Our economy couldn’t take the hit. I agree, also, many folks saw this as a union-busting opportunity. And there’s no question opposing Senators had stakes in the fight to derail the bridge loans.