Friday, December 12, 2008

The Auto Bailout Vote Was Payback for the 2008 Election?

On XM's POTUS08, I'm hearing outraged statements from Sens. Chris Dodd, Dick Durbin, and Barbara Boxer about Republicans voting against the auto bailout. (Do they extend their ire to Democrats voting no, like Blanche Lincoln and Jon Tester?) The auto-industry expert interviewed for the story said that Republicans exhibited a "punitive" attitude towards unions for their role in the presidential election.

Fascinating that the "analysis" includes attributing a motive to Republican senators that they did not articulate, instead of the reasoning that they did articulate.

Again — what was so unreasonable about the Corker provision that wages had to be brought in line with foreign competitors within one year? We're heading into a deep recession. Very few people are going to be in the market for a new car in the coming year. Sales for the Big Three are not going to rebound anytime soon; costs are going to have to be cut.

The UAW position was that wages could not be cut until their contract expires in 2011.

Which side is being unreasonable?

12/12 09:41 AMShare