[Marxism] Senate to Middle Class: Drop Dead ...a message from Michael Moore

[Walter Lippmann <walterlx@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

(As usual, an excellent explanation in plain English
with zero leftoid rhetoric but in such a language that
ordinary working people can perfectly well understand.)
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Senate to Middle Class: Drop Dead

Friday, December 12th, 2008

Friends,

They could have given the loan on the condition that the automakers
start building only cars and mass transit that reduce our dependency
on oil.

They could have given the loan on the condition that the automakers
build cars that reduce global warming.

They could have given the loan on the condition that the automakers
withdraw their many lawsuits against state governments in their
attempts to not comply with our environmental laws.

They could have given the loan on the condition that the management
team which drove these once-great manufacturers into the ground
resign and be replaced with a team who understands the transportation
needs of the 21st century.

Yes, they could have given the loan for any of these reasons because,
in the end, to lose our manufacturing infrastructure and throw 3
million people out of work would be a catastrophe.

But instead, the Senate said, we'll give you the loan only if the
factory workers take a $20 an hour cut in wages, pension and health
care. That's right. After giving BILLIONS to Wall Street hucksters
and criminal investment bankers -- billions with no strings attached
and, as we have since learned, no oversight whatsoever -- the Senate
decided it is more important to break a union, more important to
throw middle class wage earners into the ranks of the working poor
than to prevent the total collapse of industrial America.

We have a little more than a month to go of this madness. As I sit
here in Michigan today, tens of thousands of hard working, honest,
decent Americans do not believe they can make it to January 20th. 
The malaise here is astounding. Why must they suffer because of the
mistakes of every CEO from Roger Smith to Rick Wagoner? Make
management and the boards of directors and the shareholders pay for
this.

Of course that is heresy to the 31 Republicans who decided to blame
the poor, miserable autoworkers for this mess. And our wonderful
media complied with their spin on the morning news shows: "UAW
Refuses to Give Concessions Killing Auto Bailout Bill." In fact the
UAW has given concession after concession, reduced their benefits,
agreed to get rid of the Jobs Bank and agreed to make it harder for
their retirees to live from week to week. Yes! That's what we need to
do! It's the Jobs Bank and the old people who have led the nation to
economic ruin!

But even doing all that wasn't enough to satisfy the bastard
Republicans. These Senate vampires wanted blood. Blue collar blood.
You see, they weren't opposed to the bailout because they believed in
the free market or capitalism. No, they were opposed to the bailout
because they're opposed to workers making a decent wage. In their
rage, they were driven to destroy the backbone of this country, not
because the UAW hadn't given back enough, but because the UAW hadn't
given up.

It appears that the sitting President has been looking for a way to
end his reign by one magnanimous act, just like a warlord on his
feast day. He will put his finger in the dyke, and the fragile mess
of an auto industry will eke through the next few months.

That will give the Senate enough time to demand that the bankers and
investment sharks who've already swiped nearly half of the $700
billion gift a chance to make the offer of cutting their pay.

Fat chance.

Yours,
Michael Moore
MMFlint@xxxxxxx
MichaelMoore.com 


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     WALTER LIPPMANN
     Los Angeles, California
     Editor-in-Chief, CubaNews
     http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CubaNews/
     "Cuba - Un ParaÃso bajo el bloqueo"
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