Sutton, Ryan Blast GM, Chrysler; Defend American Workers
Submitted by Anthony Fossaceca on Tue, 05/19/2009 - 1:02pm.
Ohio Democratic Congressional Representatives Betty Sutton and Tim Ryan today joined John Boccieri, Sherrod Brown and Jennifer Brunner in blasting the U.S. automakers for a series of moves and decisions made over the last few days, especially GM's plans to increase imports from Mexico and overseas. Their statement pretty much sums it up...
From the joint Sutton/Ryan release:
“The decision to lay off American workers while expanding opportunities abroad is extremely disturbing to those of us who have worked hard to save these vital manufacturing jobs. United Auto Workers have made extraordinary concessions to help these companies stay afloat. These are dedicated, hardworking Americans, not simply a bottom line.
“Further, the recent decisions by GM and Chrysler to close thousands of dealerships across the country compound the burden on hardworking families and hurt our local communities. We believe their sudden, across-the-board decisions will hurt good franchises and needlessly cut jobs.”
“When American taxpayer dollars are provided to help our domestic automakers, there is an obligation to our workers. We must hold these companies accountable to hold up their end of that bargain and protect our working families and communities.”
They Need To Put A "Stop Payment" On The Check
This is incredible. Closing dealerships does NOTHING for the bottom line of the Detroit automakers. They don't OWN the dealerships! If Spitzer wants to keep buying and sellng Chryslers, and Ganley wants to keep the faith and keep providing service to customers and jobs to employees...then WHERE DOES CHRYSLER GET OFF using our tax dollars to save their corporate skin while cutting the throat of a 100 year old dealership????? This is just wrong, man, and I congratulate our congressional delegation for finally clearing their throat and saying ENOUGH!!!! STOP PAYMENT ON THE CHECK CONGRESS...If General Motors wants to increase their bottom line by importing more cars made in KOREA...well then they should go to KOREA for their next bail out check. We cannot permit our tax dollars to be used to increase offshoring of our jobs. Bill Oneill
I could not agree with you more, Bill
It's really time there were some rules attached to this profligate dispersal of our money. Back when there was welfare, they tied families up in petty rules and endless interrogations for a tiny stipend. when we're dishing out billions of tax dollars, we need to get jobs in return — or else there should be consequences.
By the way
has Voinovich been heard from or has the cat, I mean, lobbyist, got his tongue?
Leveraging Headlines
There seems to be some short term memory re: GM in Ohio.
3 years ago Ted Strickland and Mayor Mike Coleman toured the state with GM announcing that more and more fuel stations would be providing e-85 (85% ethanol) Currently GM has over 2.5 million Flex-Fuel e-85 cars and trucks on the road. This came at a cost of BILLIONS in investments by GM. Coleman and Strickland claimed this is how Cities South America solved their pollution problems.
GM has been very forward thinking in design and development in reducing our dependence on foreign oil.
GM had developed a very successful electric car that boasted a waiting list of over 5000 people. 800 cars were only ever produced. POLITICIANS killed that program with concerns of overloading the power grid, increased demand from coal fired plants and Highway Safety trials that were not extended, so that GM could gather information and conclude safety testing. All 800 of the production cars were recalled and destroyed.
GM currently works closely with OSU engineering students to develop new technology.
Just last year GM invested $69 Million dollars in Dayton, Ohio GM Invests In Diesel Engine Plant. http://prod.gm.gmgssm.com/experience/fuel_economy/news/2008/adv_engines/...
Ohio Governor Ted Strickland said, "General Motors' continuing investment in its Ohio manufacturing base demonstrates the strength of our partnership and Ohio's competitive business climate, I commend GM for investing in our state and the technologies that put Ohio at the forefront of clean vehicle manufacturing."
Manufactures are leaving the United States because our legislation is proving to make it increasingly difficult to conduct business in the United States.
An E.U. based manufacturing company that thought the U.S. was an attractive place manufacturer steel and operate plants in Louisiana my now be relocating to Brazil.
There is no issue more important than the condition of our economy today. Politicians know how to leverage news like this to grab headlines for themselves and claim credit for improvement. The condition of our economy is so poor, that this old school "politicking" cannot be tolerated.
GM has been very good to Ohio it's entire history, now is not the time to bash GM for it's considerable investment in Ohio when GM needs a bailout.
When companies like GM are doing well, politicians jump on the bandwagon to make use of their positive headlines. When a company or industry has bad news politicians use "headline grabbing" announcements/rebukes/press releases as a way to be relevant in the media and in the perception of voters.
No one will argue that jobs going to Mexico, China or Korea is bad...but there are specific market forces driving companies to make decisions on the companies survival and viability and many of those reasons can be placed squarely on the heads of the politicians that are legislating companies OUT of the United States along with other decisions politicians make, with support of other groups. In this case it would be labor unions.
Betty Sutton, Tim Ryan, John Boccieri, Sherrod Brown and Jennifer Brunner need to come up with solutions on how to keep companies like GM in Ohio, remember the substantial investments GM has already made and BRING TO THE VOTERS OF OHIO AND GM SOME SOLUTIONS on how to STAY IN OHIO rather than complain and write ineffective letters of protest, to grab headlines.
Bring the people of Ohio solutions not letters and they will re-elect you. Which seems to be what career politicians are really interested in anyways.
I expect more from my democratic leaders than wasting paper writing letters that could just as well be used as toilet paper.
2010 Approaches.
The Economy Says it All
Many business and companies had filed their bankruptcies just recently because of the current state of our economy. General Motors Corp. is a big and popular company. This is why many people would not believe that it had filed its bankruptcy just recently. This company has said to be symbolizing the nation’s current economic situation. But despite this fail, a lot of people would love to buy an Aston Martin, or at least have enough money to be able to buy one. Aston Martin has long been at the forefront of handmade sports cars, and they've started to get a lot more attention lately. One of their new models will retail for about a million dollars a big personal loan for a car, a gutsy move when General Motors is filing for bankruptcy. The brand was first propelled to fame in the James Bond movie Goldfinger, when Sean Connery was 007, with the DB5. The most recent Bond films feature the newer models, but it takes more than credit cards to get an Aston Martin.