The Road to Hell is paved with Good Intentions!

Three weeks ago I bought a car. For all kinds of reasons, it wasn’t a new car but it was new to me and it was a good deal and it lacked only the new-car smell. Nor was it an American built car and there would have been a time and a place when I would have felt guilty about that but not any longer.

Perhaps, the dumbest thing I’ve seen in a while was the arrival at National Airport in Washington DC of several company aircraft. And they weren’t Cessna 210s. No, they were Gulfstream Vs, the top of the line of the “bizjet” business. And out strode top executives of the big 3 auto makers from Detroit. They wore their Armani suits and they had their aides, walking a few paces behind them carrying their designer brief cases. If, at this point, it seems that I have resorted to “class envy”, trust me I haven’t. Just stay with me. Then this same bunch are whisked away in limos to go to Capitol Hill where the aides opened the designer brief cases and retrieved their boss’es begging bowls.

Now, I know beggars. I worked for decades in downtown San Francisco and so I’ve been worked on by experts. These guys from Detroit were pathetic. They hadn’t a clue. All they knew was that the UAW was all over their case and they were scared to death.

They should have had some coaching from Henrietta Hughes and nineteen-year old Julio Osequeda. Remember them? They were the two losers in Fort Myers, Florida. She wanted a house with a kitchen and a bathroom and a car. He, on the other hand wanted either a new job that paid better. Don’t we all? Or he wanted the federal government to pick up the slack. But they were good; they were so convincing at least as far as the drive-by media was concerned. They were the faces of America in recession. One talking head on MSNBC even called them that .........

But were they?

According to well-documented sources from government agencies in Florida, Ms. Hughes has been living off the common teat since the 1980s. Did she ask Clinton for a house with a kitchen and bathroom and a car? No such question has been reported.

And, as for Julio, when I was in school at his age, I worked 2 jobs while I carried a full load of classes. Then on weekends, I’d work 24 hours. And, guess what Julio, none of those hours were above minimum wage rates and none of my bosses provided benefits. Welcome to the real world Julio. Suck it up. You think it’s tough now? Stick around.

Oh, one final irony; Ms. Hughes did get a house but it wasn’t provided by Obama but by a Florida Republican. This, before I return to Detroit, brings up one more issue. In spite of the fact that Obama presumably feels he is the President of all 57 states, do you want to guess where most charitable money stems?

Out of the top 26 states in terms of charity, 24 are red. So much for “caring for the little people”.

Back to Motown and a new request today for another 30 billion dollars for General Motors which lost almost 100 billion dollars in 2008 alone. Hello; has anybody heard the truism about throwing good money after bad?

No company can survive with costs such as these:-

From the profit on every car GM sells, $1800 is earmarked for retiree benefits.

No employee of GM who is also a member of the UAW has been laid off in 10 years. Instead, they go into a “job pool”, which pays them until such time that a vacancy opens up, maybe years down the road, if ever.

Now all this might have been OK unless you are competing with others not burdened by that overhead and, it may also help, if your product is demonstrably better. Neither seems to apply.

So, what should be done? It seems to me and even to others who hail from Michigan that more bailouts are unlikely to do better than past bailouts.

Only a controlled bankruptcy can force a change from the union strangleholds and management stupidity. Sometimes bankruptcy isn’t just the only thing, it’s the best thing.

And, “Yes, I did I get a loan for my new car”. There is money there; you just have to show you’ll pay it back.

But thank heavens, we may have a health czar on the way in but we’re not going to get a car czar. Instead we’re going to get a committee.

Never forget that a camel is a horse designed by a committee!