On Saving General Motors

The Treatyist supports President Obama's plan to save General Motors. I differ sharply with President Obama on many issues. He is a proud liberal, and I am a proud conservative. Still, I will support President Obama when he does something conservative. Ideology trumps politics. It's just honest. It is more useful to save General Motors, and Chrysler too, than AIG or Morgan Stanley I believe that the unfairness in world trade is the genuine cause of Detroit's troubles. I would prefer a restriction in imports, but the President does not have the political strength to support a move away from free trade. Too many conservatives and liberals alike would foolishly oppose that. I would support anyone in any political party of any ideological bent, on the issue of reducing imports to the USA. The 50 billion dollars thus far spent on bailouts for automotive manufacturers is an impressive sum of money, but American farmers have received ten times as much over the years, and American banks have received many times that. It is more useful to save General Motors, and Chrysler too, than AIG or Morgan Stanley or any other Wall Street institution. Operating a financial services corporation these days requires only an initial investment for capital requirements, the hiring of MBAs, and the purchase of computer software. All other aspects of the business, from customer service to account management can either be delegated to offshore firms or other companies. There is nothing real to them. The expertise represented in manufacturing, on the other hand, is far more difficult to replace.

Mr. Moore and Mr. Nader hide behind the workers they hatcheted to get rich.

Michael Moore and Ralph Nader issued dramatically self serving statements on the collapse of GM. They know what they did. I know what they did. Mr. Moore and Mr. Nader hide behind the workers they hatcheted to get rich. For far too long I have seen too many left wing activists attack American companies using various proxies such as environmental performance or fuel efficiency. I have seen "Roger and Me". I have read "Unsafe at Any Speed". They do not want any company to succeed or any worker to be employed, so long as they can sell their books and their movies.

Let's not throw out GM because people have accepted the socialist message against it. Socialists want us to throw out GM. Socialists do not want the government to run GM. They want GM to be destroyed. They do not want any American industry to pollute mother earth or to keep the American from the noble work of working on a Khmer Rouge style collective farm. They would ban eyeglasses, if they could, just like their Cambodian friends.

Saving General Motors is conservative. The tradition of engineering, of making things with our hands, of national self reliance, is worth a federal correction to preserve. American manufacturing is strategically important. How many aircraft, tanks, trucks, and other things did American automotive manufacturers produce to win World War II? Every year the United States bails out farms throughout the land because farming represents a strategic interest of the United States. I feel the same case can be made for American manufacturing.

As part of its bankruptcy and restructuring of General Motors, the company will be split into a new good GM and a bad old GM. I am optimistic about the prospects for the new General Motors, although I hold out some hope that Pontiac might yet be saved from the wreckage of the old. There is no car within our budget that we lust for more than a Pontiac G8 GT: 415 horsepower, V8.

To all the people working hard at General Motors, Chrysler and Ford, I can only say, Good Luck and Godspeed, and as soon as my own financial difficulties have passed, I will see you at the dealership!