With the government moving in and essentially acting as a new majority stockholder would act after a takeover, by demanding all kinds of changes in the auto companies in return for their investment, including the immediate removal of a CEO and stern warnings to hourly employees about "sacrifices" they will need to make, I think people need to keep a couple of things in mind while the state of the industry gets debated.

First, it is self-evident that there is a stark double standard in the behavior and posture of the federal government toward the auto industry versus that taken toward the major players in the financial sector.  This hypocritical approach, in my opinion, does not serve the public interest well at all.

Personally, I think we'd all be better off if Obama, et al started taking charge of the financial sector too and demanding far more in terms of changes in the way they do business in return for our vast investment, but it's clear that the government is beholden to the fat cats of finance and we can all see that they pay excessive and ill-advised deference to the alleged wisdom and skill of the crooks and con-men of Wall Street in reviving the industry they destroyed... not because of competition mind you!  No, unlike Detroit, Wall Street had no real competition.  Wall Street did not lose out to foreign competition at all.  It was primarily their own irresponsible, unquenchable greed that destroyed the American financial sector and subsequently the world economy.  Given that it was the thievery, irresponsibility, and incompetence of the banking and finance sector that brought our economy (including the auto companies) to its knees and the rescue of that industry involves vastly more money and obviously calls for much closer involvement by the government, it is very frustrating having to put up with the hypocrisy of the administration when it comes to this obvious double standard. 

One commentator on Countdown last night noted that it was difficult for the administration to come down as hard on the financial sector as it has on the auto industry because "after all" many of them on both sides went to college and grad school together, etc... I certainly believe this is a big factor (in addition to the current regulators seeing their future working for and with the people they now regulate) and all the more reason to feel like vomiting when such pathetic excuses are offered their failure to do their duty which is to act at all times in the interest of the public.  But because the car execs aren't their ol buds from school we're supposed to swallow this crap and we and our children, and grandchildren are being put on the hook for trillions of dollars in the years to come?  How long would that kind of excuse be tolerated in a situation involving hundreds of billions of dollars elsewhere?

But, getting back to the auto industry...

I'd just like to remind people as the bullshit starts getting thicker about what is "needed" to get GM and Chrysler back on their feet that nothing and I repeat absolutely nothing that was done to drive these companies into the ground was caused either by the UAW leadership or by the hourly employees who belong to and run the UAW.  The elected leadership, on behalf of their members, negotiated wages and benefits for their employees but they were never in charge of the company.  We'd probably be better off if the UAW had been running the companies but the fact is they never have. 

Before people get all hot and bothered about bashing the workers in the auto industry and their union remember that the truth is that assembly workers make between $14/hour for new hires and $28/hour as the head of the UAW pointed out not long ago to Congress. http://banking.senate.gov/public/_files/GettelfingerSenateTestimony12408.pdf  There is no truth at all to the pernicious lie about autoworkers making over $70/hour: none.  I would note in this context that there is not even a hint of anyone discussing rearranging the pay and/or benefits of anyone in the financial sector to get it back on its feet and viable.  Given the outrageous salaries paid not just to top management but to all kinds of "professionals" in the financial sector I find it curious that the topic of restructuring how they get paid in order to lower overhead is never, ever discussed.

Also, remember this:

·         Neither the UAW elected leadership nor the members of the union make management decisions of any kind and they never have.

·         Neither the UAW elected leadership nor the members of the union design, style or engineer the automobiles they assemble.

·         Neither the UAW elected leadership nor the members of the union have any voice at all in terms of long range planning for the company and/or decisions impacting the future direction of the company.

·         Neither the UAW elected leadership nor the members of the union make any decisions bearing on how well the company has done in recent times.  That is and always has been the sole province of management.

·         The UAW elected leadership and the members of the union have repeatedly shown their willingness to do whatever it takes to keep the US auto industry thriving and healthy including major concessions in their wage and benefits structures over the years. 

The point is that despite the popularity of bashing the autoworkers and their union during the past 30 years or more, the union leadership and the workers in the three major companies have always done their level best to keep the industry healthy and viable.  It is completely unfair to blame the workers or the union they belong to for the current state of the industry and no one should grudge the people who make these cars the wages they work very hard to earn.  The responsibility for the disaster that has befallen GM and Chrysler is completely that of the management.  Anyone who says otherwise is not only being unfair to the workers but they either are just dead wrong or lying.

America needs a healthy auto industry and I feel certain GM at least will get back on its feet.  While that is going on, I would hope that people don't use the workers who've done as good a job as any workers at any of their competitors as scapegoats.  But the bottom line is the workers don't design the production line, they don't design the products, they don't determine whether to emphasize gas guzzling SUV's over hybrids, etc... they assemble the vehicles to the best of their ability and that is all they can do.  In fact, when you realize this, the autoworker is probably the most reliable and functional part of the industry and the part that needs "fixing" least.   So please, don't blame the hourly workers for failures that management and management alone is responsible for.