Tonight I read an article in the New York Times Op Ed section written by Mitt Romney, the person most republicans probably now think should have been their nominee. He was lobbying for the demise of General Motors, Ford, and Chrysler. He related how his father once saved American Motors from bankruptcy in the 1950’s and how they need to be totally re-organized which would happen nicely under Chapter 11 protection of the bankruptcy law. He makes his argument as if he has the best interest of the big three auto maker’s over the long term in mind, making the assumption that if we “bail” them out at this point in time it will just be putting off the inevitable collapse until another day. He is part of the republican “water carriers” who are going to make sure that this “bail-out” doesn’t happen under their watch. He makes a well written argument, especially for the people that think the republicans have the everyday person’s best interests in mind.

Fortunately, there are fewer and fewer people who are buying their speel. The problem is that Bush and Co. aren’t going to be thrown out until January and by the time Obama can do anything to save these companies, it might be too late. The first thing I need to say here is that I’m not defending the Auto companies – and when I say this I’m talking about the management. There can be no disagreement that the management in Detroit has been polluted by connections to the power brokers in Washington and the oil companies. As I mentioned in an earlier post, the management in Detroit went along with Reagan and Company when they reversed the CAFE standards imposed by Jimmy Carter that would have resulted in an average of 35 mpg cars as of this year. Obviously, Detroit has been fixated on building cars with a short-sighted look into the future and the reality of the fossil fuel situation. And I agree that any “rescue,” I like that word better than “bailout,” must have “strings” attached to it that are aimed mainly at management.

There is no way that the workers should be asked to sacrifice unless the management takes the lead. The ridiculous perks, salaries, and two martini lunches along with the private jets and private suites have to stop. For Romney to blame the workers and their health benefits on $2000 per car of cost over their competitors, does not take a fair look at management, and if the foreign companies are underpaying their workers to get a competitive advantage in our markets, there should be tariffs to protect Detroit’s jobs. If the fact that auto workers have good health benefits is the problem, well that’s all the more reason to have some kind of single payer national health system. As I read Romney’s article the underlying current of his argument was that the problem is the unions. Like most republicans, Romney would like to see all unions eliminated from the face of the earth. This is the point the American people need to see. As long as these republicans get away with destroying unions in this country, the middle class will continue to contract.

To me, that is what the last election was all about, restoring the middle class in America. The republicans are already on the attack. Last night I heard another one of their water carriers, I think it was Hannity, actually blaming Obama for the economic downturn. THIS IS SOME 65 DAYS BEFORE HIS INAUGURATION! If that doesn’t tell the democrats what lies ahead I don’t know what will. If they don’t develop a spine and face up to these thugs, I’m going to lose all hope. I fully believe that people like Romney, people with millions upon millions of net worth, are drooling at the prospect of the next few years. They are going to own even more! It seems like there will never be enough for these people. I’ll say it again, I believe it is way more important that we save GM than that we saved Goldman Sachs. Of course Henry Paulsen would never think like that, but the difference is that if Goldman would have gone down Henry would have lost millions, while if GM goes down it’s just the millions of “union” workers and those employed on the periferee that will go down – along with a lot of pensions that I’m sure the republicans think are too generous and the retirement accounts of many more Americans who have invested in American cars.

These guys protect their own. They are the most obviously self absorbed politicians in my lifetime, and probably in the history of the world – when you look at the magnitude of what they have heisted from the treasury during Bush’s 8 years in office. The thing that is really puzzling to me is how they can convince other working class Americans that they’re right. Even in the face of the worst economic crisis in the life of anyone less than 70 years of age, they continue to hammer away with their ridiculous rhetoric. And they will stop at nothing to bring this entire government down – blaming the demise on democrats all the way – and I truly hope that the vast majority of Americans are seeing through their lies. If GM goes down this recession will reach depression proportions – probably within a few months (and of course, they’ll blame Obama for this). Maybe they think that is the only way to stop the Obama phenomenon. Obviously their mantra of “country first” was nothing more than a bunch of hollow words. They want to destroy this economy and every union in the country in the process – before Bush leaves office and they lose control of the senate.

Those who have benefitted from the fiscal policies of the last eight years will be the ones picking up the pieces after the total collapse of the economy if they manage to get it that far. I’m sure their plan is to get even richer while they undermine Obama’s presidency as much as possible – leading to a republican “rescue” in either 4 or 8 years. That is why I have been emphasizing the importance of prosecuting everyone in the Bush administration who has contributed to the fleecing of the treasury and the undermining of the constitution. They are planning to be back soon, and they fully expect all the excesses that Bush has managed to push through to still be in place so they can “go from there.” Mitt Romney’s article to me was his “audition” to be the next republican nominee. He pushed all the “right” buttons. If they can crush the biggest union in the country, the rest of them should be easy!