Carl Levin questions Richard Shelby's ethics on the Auto rescue plan
As Heather wrote earlier, Shelby is threatening a filibuster if there is an Auto rescue plan. At least Carl Levin calls him out over his obvious conflict of interest with the big three American automakers since his state went out of its way to bring foreign auto makers to Alabama. I've been calling for someone to call him out on this publicly since he has been given plenty of air time to attack Detroit while never revealing that the companies in his home state would stand to profit the most out of the bankruptcy is is pushing for.
Wallace: Sen Levin, you said the other day that southern lawmakers like Senator Shelby and you have mentioned his name. have an agenda because they have foreign, non union car companies in their states who will benefit if Detroit goes down, do you really believe that"
Levin: I think there would be some companies that would benefit if Detroit goes down I'm sure. They're competitors. A number of them have opened up plants in the south which they have a right to do, but there will be winners and losers and the big losers will be the American people here
Wallace: Do you have as Sen Levin has an agenda to help your local foreign auto makers?
Shelby: I don't have an agenda, but I'll tell you this, in the south, from South Carolina to Kentucky, Geprgia, Tennesse, Mississippi, Texas, we have about 124,000 people employed in the automible industry. They are competing. They are competing. GM, Ford, Chrysler can compete, but not under the model that they have now.
Notice he never tells the audience what car companies that are in his own state. He just brings up the number of people being employed.
UPDATE: He does remind me of Herbert Hoover too.
This party led by nancy , the # 1 anti-constitutional speaker, won't force dick shelby to filibuster a damn thing. They are sellouts. Make dick talk for 245 hours if need be. That's a filibuster not the threat of actually doing it. If the Democrats led, by traitor nancy, wouldn't apply this method when they were the minority they why would they try to stop the thugs now?
I couldn't agree more! Let the SOB talk away for as long as he wants to. Let him get more and more air time and then be exposed for what he is.... Isn't this the time for everyone to be pulling together? Remind him that "the times they are a changing." Bush is heading back to the bushes and so should he.
ljmel
Where's a dog when you need one?
Diabolus est Deus Inversus
"and then be exposed for what he is...."
As if anyone cared :(
The speaker of the house cannot stop a filibuster in the senate.
That would be Harry Reid who's about as spineless as a Lumbricus Terrestris.
Diabolus est Deus Inversus
The States fall all over each other trying to outdo the other in tax giveaway and incentives to lure business.
Meanwhile the Congress falls all over itself in giving tax incentives to Corporations, even when they outsource their entire work force.
The Corporations never are restrained from their Lobbying.
Government by the corporations, for the corporations… and their buddies.
The Best Government that money can buy. Local, State and Federal.
statusquObama, change you can only pretend in
Even Shelby's fellow klansmen would be offended by the way this union exterminator sucks foreign car Companies dicks. And where the fuck is fat ass Lou Dobbs when he's really needed?
.
When Government controlls business, you get Communism.
When Government is controlled by business, you get Fascism.
~ RFK Jr.
Why does Shelby argue for the foreign auto maker?
Sure I know that competition is good in the market place, but we aren't necessarily taking about the market place when we're discussing the future of the workforce that actually buys goods from that market place. If Shelby were to be arguing for the American worker, would he be blaming them and attempting to wash his hands of them, altogether?
.
Starve the WAR Beast...
... Feed Americans.
If they were honest, they would have asked Shelby about the hundreds of millions that they subsidized to get those foreign compaanies to locate there.
Providing jobs? Is it not his job to help get businesses in his district, just as Levin tries to do in Michigan?
"Why does Shelby argue for the foreign auto maker? "
Trying to maximize several hundred millions of dollars in state subsidies for foreign automakers.
This whole crisis is nothing but one of those Naomi Klein "schock" moments when the bosses use a crisis to foist off on the people crap they couldn't caaomplishe without social upheaval and unrest...In this case, using the economic crisis to disenfranchise one of the last powerful unions in the country...
That's it. The management and the congress are collaborating to cleanse the UAW from the US auto industry...
Did the US automakers offer him a plant in Alabama? No, they went somewhere cheaper. Leave Shelby alone. He opposes using our tax money for corporate welfare and he is right.
His state did use millions of Alabama taxpayer's money to sweeten the deal for the foreign makers. They literally paid these guys to set up business there. So how is that different from "corporate welfare"?
I've got a great small government idea!
How about we make federal aid to Alabama equal to the amount Alabama contributes to the federal treasury?
It's time that rich states like Ohio, Michigan and those on the coasts stop giving welfare to our "conservative" brothers.
After all they claim to want a small federal government, why not give it to them?
(See Lincoln's quote about wanting to see the institution of slavery practiced upon its vocal adherents)
than the amount the Military/Industrial/National Scoruity industry spends here every year...
we're pretty red thses days, too, so doin't begrudge us our addiction to militarism. we cant help ourselves...
why is there this animosity to foreign car companies? Does it matter where the companies headquarters are? not really. what matters is where the manufacturing is, the major work force. many american manufacturing companies set up manufacturing plants overseas. i for one will laud toyota for building factories in america. finally, i can buy a conservative american made reliable car instead a poor product from the big 3.
but i guess the issue is where the man's pockets are. and i agree it is important to look at his connections, although i think the failure of big 3 will hurt him in the end, since it will force them to restructure to be competitive, when a bailout will postpone it.
if there is a bailout, there must be some serious restructuring tied to it. restructuring that will yield a more competitive manufacturing line (decrease in poor policies of unions, increase in adaptability, training, and competitiveness of workers), while protecting jobs and pensions.
Richard Shelby should resign and take up comedy work. He looks like Bob Hope reincarnated, though a skewed version.
And no one cares that Carl Levin is the Senator of Michigan and is in bed big time with the Big 3?
And off the top of my head, WI, TX, OH, CA and Ontario would all be hurt if the domestic automakers were forced into bankruptcy. Levin is out in front on this because MI would be hurt the most, but he's not simply advocating for interests that solely concern Michigan- and I voted for him again because he does look out for the interests of the people of my state.
Shelby is doing double duty here, too, though he doesn't quite 'fess up to it. Maybe he doesn't admit to this because he's representing foreign interesrts who receive subsidies from their own governments to compete in the US market.
Don't try to confuse the issue with half-truths and gorilla dust.
Is Carl Levin a space alien?
He looks like the cousin of Mr. Spock who at every family gathering hogs the gefilte fish.
Diabolus est Deus Inversus
He's Romulan dude!
Or possibly even more worser...a Cardassian!
Romulan?
http://images3.wikia.nocookie.net/startrek/im...
Or Cardassian?
http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Nebula/9038/p...
You be the judge!
such as the repug congress giving tax breaks for companies buying suv's and not electric or hybrid vehicles
the repug congress pushed american car companies to stay in the dark ages in order to fund their buddies in big oil
than any other auto manufaturer: 17 models in the '08 line and 18 models in '09.
Don't try to confuse the issue with half-truths and gorilla dust.
And I stand by my earlier position, that GM sucks.
They make shitty cars, period.
When was the last time you drove one? Owned one?
Funny little anectdote: My mom once had a (early to mid-'90's) Honda that she really liked. It was a nice little car.
One day she's on the highway, and someone merged through two lanes, forcing mom to swerve. She lost control and rolled the Honda into the median, coming to rest on the roof (no worries- mom was alright), totalled.
The cop who came to write the accident report asked her. "You know that these Honda's do this all of the time, right?"
Mom bought an Aurora right after that and loved it. She would never think of buying another Honda.
Don't try to confuse the issue with half-truths and gorilla dust.
I have owned buicks since 85 85 lesabre, 92 lesabre only got 135000 miles out of that one and it was running fine, 2000 park avenue no problems and 2008 enclave best buick yet
And it was a fleet vehicle for a construction company...
All the vehicles were GM...and there was at least 2 or 3 out of 20 vehicles constantly in the shop.
I went through 3 of them myself in five years.
As a daily commuter, they might be ok...but as a heavy duty work truck...total POS!
I had a Jeep Cherokee that I loved. It was the only vehicle I could find that still had manual windows and locks - I despise electric everything. Bought it used for cash and I drove that thing forever; sold it with 180,000 miles on it. I still see it around town, driven by the kid who bought it from me.
The only reason I sold it was I had a chance to buy my father's Jimmy for 5k. I've had that for about 4 years now and it's still running strong at 130,000 miles. I've put no major $$ in either SUV and the gas mileage isn't too bad for what I'm driving. The only thing I don't like about the Jimmy is it does have power everything. I still hate power locks and windows.
I'd say GM has done pretty well by me.
Yeah, classifying suv's as trucks, thus allowing write-offs for work vehicles was pretty disingenuous. I've seen enough suv's with Mary Kay/Herballife/Amway window stickers- making me assume that this is the business being done out of the back of an Escalade- that I get pissed off to the point of vocalizing my anger.
Don't try to confuse the issue with half-truths and gorilla dust.
but I've had it with these Southern accent descendants of the morons that started the civil war so they could keep slaves. As soon as he starts talking, he loses credibility.
Don't judge someone by the way they talk.
Judge them by their actions, or lack thereof.
I know, that's why i apologized in advance.
When that happens, what follows is usually something kinda off, don'tcha think?
Not all people with Southern accents are like Shelby.
And sometimes when I hear a northern accent, I want to put my fingers in my ears...especially when it's coming from a Masshole who thinks the Patriots are the best football team ever, lol!
And don't get me started on the Red Sox!
For years righties have been challenging liberals patriotism for driving the higher quality imports while they were driving rented cars when their Pintos were at the mechanics. This is a good time to turn the tables on them. Call them unpatriotic Toyota lovers. Tell them to move to Japan. Laugh as you ask, "Sound familiar"?
Shelby is trying to fire the final shot for GOP. Putting 3 million more out of work, destroying the last vest age of America's manufacturing capabilities and launching the country in a depression would be a crowning success to the last 8 years. Oh what a Cherry.
1lt
What I find funny is that many of the people who voted for the Republicans are NASCAR dads. These are the guys who are so loyal to the big three in NASCAR that it is almost a psycho like support. Howevever, the Republicans that most of these NASCAR dads voted for are putting up the most resistence to helping the big three. A classic example of how the hillbilly Republican voting block does not really vote for their interests when they vote Republican!
iirc
There is so much interplay between suppliers and and manufacturers that is no longer makes sense to distinguish them according to 'national' origin.
what's happening here is a corporate/congressional conspiracy to continue the attack on organized American workers begun under Raygun in 1981, and now nearing the end of its third, unrelenting decade. They won't stop, they won't rest until every worker has no recourse than to accept whatsoever wage the company wants to pay'em.
Dickens would have recognized the impulse...
A refusal to help keep an auto manufacturing presence by a US company is more evidence that the GOP and the troglodytes like Shelby do not even realize their stonewalling and lock step governance marching to the bottom is the cause and effect of what our economy is doing at this moment. If the rethugs had forced the Big Three to raise CAFE standards for better gas mileage and to re-tool for smaller more economical cars, they may not be begging for help today. The rethuglican party, who was against any legislation that forced the retooling and better gasoline mileage are partially to blame. Any stonewalling to prevent this assistance should be mentioned early and often when a thug from the GOP is up for re-election. This will be the fastest way to rid ourselves of that group of retards, liars, and crooks.
I haven't heard any ideas from Shelby or the others who are opposed to loaning money to the Big 3. Ideas about who will feed, clothe and house all the millions who will lose their homes, and have no jobs or money all of a sudden if the automakers are forced to close up??? Shelby et al have no hearts - they are the scum of the earth!
Maybe the Union folks should organize a walk to Alabama when they get laid off - I hear it's a little warmer down there this time of year than in Michigan and Wisconsin...
"Egotism is the anesthetic that dulls the pain of Stupidity" - Frank Leahy
I can't believe the winger Americans that are buying into the crap guys like Shelby are excreting on the rest of us.
For God's sake people, it is about the money, and a way to get at the UAW for wanting American autoworkers to be paid a fair wage. It is as simple as that.
The republican party wants all workers to be at the mercy of their employers. Therefore, any bargaining unit (UAW) is bad as far as they are concerned, and must be stopped.
If you are a thinking person, you realize that it wasn't the UAW that caused the problems in the auto industry. It was, and IS the oil companies, the big 3 management, the big 3 boards of directors and stockholders, and the government itself for allowing and encouraging the manufacture of vehicles which do not provide good mileage.
To a lessor degree, the American consumer also bears some of the responsibility. Anyone who purchases a vehicle such as a Hummer, an Escalade, etc is not only an ignorant asshole, but responsible too. Consumers dictate to a certain degree what is manufactured, and had we not been so willing to buy all this inferior crap, they wouldn't have been so damn willing to sell it to us!
I've been saying for the longest time that there is a republican conspiracy to force the US automakers to declare banktrupcy and then move to the south, weakening democratic bases in the northern states.
I'm a crazy Ron Paul supporter so I claim as many friends on the right as on the left. But not even my left friends sound as bad as this thread does. I was going to say it was as bad as Daily Kos, but they can't make me laugh that loud.
First of all, the logic i'm hearing is
for the bailout = patriotism, protecting jobs, saving economy
against the bailout = (at the very least the direct opposite of all above but most absurdly) in the pockets of Toyota and Hyundai.
Richard Shelby voted against the bailout for Wall Street and now he's applying the same consistency here. You can disagree with his economic philosophy, but to say he's unethical? You guys. Are you kidding me?
The irony of Sen Chris Dodd asking for Rick Wagoner CEO of GM to step down is mind numbing. Didn't Sen. Dodd just vote to give billions away to Wall Street without any preconditions or vigorous oversight, believing that those crooks would tell the truth and open the gates of credit. Sounds like Dodd suffers from the same kind of imcompetence for which he is judging Rick Wagoner. Maybe he should step down too (along with the rest of the clowns that gave away $700 Billion without a well-developed plan from the "brightest minds in the country" that have designed and implemented the largest and most complex economic system on the planet).
Detroit will not be fixed by dumping a few lame excuses for leadership at the Big 3 automakers. Our problem is more complex than that. For instance, every business class I've ever took started with the following statement, "9 out of 10 small businesses fail." With those odds it is no wonder that the auto industry is failing. But it is not the auto industry's fault. They use the disasterous model that is the pervasive American Business Model (that fails 9 out of 10 times). How can we expect ANY industry to prosper when we promote a less than viable business model. We "got lucky" for the past 100 years.
Time to step up and evolve the business model before we go much further. We might consider Stafford Beer's "Viable System Model" as on option. It is based on Warren McCulloch's study of the human neuro-physiological system (which operates effectively 9 out of 10 times).
Keep the auto industry alive but let's dump the failure of a business model that we use.
It seems only logical that Shelby is concerned that the auto workers in his state may go union. Union's overwhelmingly vote Democratic as a norm.
I think Shelby is worried of his job.
Comments are closed on this entry