Would They Bail Me Out?

The latest bid for an automaker bailout failed:

A bailout-weary Congress killed a $14 billion package to aid struggling U.S. automakers Thursday night after a partisan dispute over union wage cuts derailed a last-ditch effort to revive the emergency aid before year's end.

Republicans, breaking sharply with President George W. Bush as his term draws to a close, refused to back federal aid for Detroit's beleaguered Big Three without a guarantee that the United Auto Workers would agree by the end of next year to wage cuts to bring their pay into line with Japanese carmakers. The UAW refused to do so before its current contract with the automakers expires in 2011.

I've been hearing from supposedly conservative friends and family, many of whom believe that the bailout should have passed, or that some of the $700 billion from the TARP bailout should now be used for the auto industry.

See how easy it is? Once you start throwing around money, it gets easier and easier to throw around money. Canadians have been watching all of this with great interest, as they too decide if they should throw a few billion bones to their own auto sector. I'm glad some Republican senators in the US said no thanks.

I find it very, very telling that workers' wages is what derailed the auto bailout. Republicans wanted workers to take a pay and/or benefits cut. Their union said forget it. The UAW made no concessions while begging for $14 billion. None. Their president said that they had a contract through 2011, and that was that. Gimme.

That's called greed, arrogance, and stupidity (here's a good piece from Dan Calabrese about these UAW bigshots). I hope the whole works collapses around their ears. It would not bother me one bit if the Big 3 went bye-bye and Honda and Toyota picked up the slack.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not against the "little guy." I just don't know how many "little guys" are producing cars these days. The UAW says their workers only make an average of $29/hour. GM says, sure, but when you total up all of the benefits workers receive, that figure is actually $69/hour. That doesn't sound so little to me.

I have one employee: me. When times are tough, I have to scale back my own wage to satisfy skittish customers. If my rate is too high, people won't pay it. If my rate is too low, they'll think I'm an amateur and won't hire me. In this economy, you have to be flexible and ready to adjust. Constantly.

I cannot have pity for a worker or an industry that says, "My product isn't selling enough, but I deserve every penny I make."

No, you don't. Your costs are too high, you aren't selling enough product to cover them, and now you're broke. Tough luck.

The sad irony is that the people who do adjust, and produce a good product, are being asked to fork over their money to bail out people that shouldn't even be in business. That grates. Grates hard.

Let's say me or a few of my sole proprietor brethren take a hit. If we go down to the Ford plant, stand at the door, and ask some workers for a handout, what do you think they'll do? I'm willing to bet they'll tell me to take a hike, then call security and have me thrown off the lot.

Want a bailout? Buy a bucket.