Richard Shelby on the auto bailout: "We have a viable, successful auto industry in the south"

[Stinky The Clown]

Bite me, you motherfucker.

You trying to start a fucking war?

What a stupid, parochial motherfucker.

[thewiseguy]

1. We are going to have one if the auto industry fails

[Deja Q]

2. I had no idea Antarctica and Mexico are now making cars...

:shrug:

[ben_meyers]

23. Mexico has become the 10th largest automobile exporter

in the world.

http://www.buyusa.gov/mexico/en/automotive_manufacturing.html

Thank you NAFTA

[glowing]

3. I don't understand why he's the only one they talk to? He's an idiot idealogue.

Where is Dodd? Where is any of the Dems? Why is it we are just listening to this idiot?

[IADEMO2004]

4. Wife is cheering for you post

[HereSince1628]

5. He thought we forgot that "when the jobs went south" line. n/t

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

6. This is completely going over my head.

Want to fill in the back story?

[wtmusic]

11. H2S is venting

you're not supposed to understand. :crazy:

[Stinky The Clown]

27. Thankfully we have you to assist and translate

:eyes:

Get a life.

[bluestateguy]

7. How much money do those workers make?

Do they get health insurance? Are any of them unionized?

I'd like to know if someone here has that information.

[navarth]

8. yeah they have a nice non-union non-American auto industry

I'm sure he'd like to see the Big 3 fail. Fucking mealy-mouthed bastard.

Hate him.....

[Hubert Flottz]

9. Richard Shelby is a total freakin' ass.

All reaching across the aisle to the likes of Richard Shelby will EVER get you is a handful of shit!

[snooper2]

10. I guess thats why one of the largest dealers in Florida

just went under - idiot

[sandnsea]

12. On their way right out of the country

Like so many other US industries. The south is just a stop-over to complete labor exploitation overseas. Fucking idiots. And there are plenty of DUers who defend them so it isn't just a right wing problem either.

[Ganja Ninja]

13. Once again it's divide America.

Same old GOP with no plan to help America. Just get people fighting with one another. That's their key to victory.

[aquart]

14. What do they make an hour? What are their benefits?

A corporation that declares a profit that debits the nation (in employee care, cleanup, anything) is a parasite that will eventually destroy the nation and move on to the next host.

[last_texas_dem]

15. Sure...

The auto industry wanted to provide as little for the employees as possible, and found a home in the anti-union south. Southerners who needed jobs took what they could get. Is that a success? Doubtful, as I'm sure most of those employees would have jumped at the chance to have the better benefits and wages and strong union protection that auto industry employees in the north had. Then again, I'm sure turncoat goober Shelby only views success based on how well the industry bigwigs are doing. What's sad is there are no doubt plenty of Alabama Repugs who think Shelby is too "populist"!

[Hubert Flottz]

16. What we need to do is tax the hell out of every imported car to

make the playing field a little more even.

[pampango]

17. Why tax imported cars just because the Big Three's executives screwed up?

You screw up, you should be prepared to pay the price. We all understand that. That's the way life is. You don't screw up, then expect someone else to be "taxed" to compensate for your mistakes.

[navarth]

20. your ideas are incomplete

It's not just the short-sightedness and greed at the top. The auto companies are compelled by law to comply with worker safety laws, environmental standards, provide health insurance, etc.

Foreign companies don't have to obey these standards. That makes it cheaper to make cars for them, along with paying their workers less and not having democracy in the workplace (unions).

It's unfair trade and they should be taxed to make up for it. Give it some thought. Please.

[pampango]

25. Perhaps you should check the wage and benefits levels of auto employees in Japan and Europe.

If you think that companies in those places have advantages because they don't have to "comply with worker safety laws, environmental standards, provide health insurance, etc.", you should give more thought to compensation levels and working conditions in those countries.

[navarth]

28. fairly spoken.

In Mexico? Japan? China? Really? They're doing all that on par with our companies? Pensions? Union representation? Where did you get your information? This is a sincere question.

[navarth]

18. Yesterday I heard him conflating

pensions with bad management choices. Nice guy. Workers that spent their whole lives working for the company, sticking to the deal they had made, playing by the rules. They're supposed to be getting those pension checks. This bastard thinks that's a bad thing.

Fuck him in the eye socket.

[sinkingfeeling]

19. I hate to tell him, but if the Big 3 start closing plants, it will certainly hit the 'south'.

[4lbs]

21. This article details Obama, and Alabama's auto industry. It goes toward what Shelby was arguing.

http://blog.al.com/assembly-lines/2008/11/could_an_obama_presidency_mean.html


<snip>
In Alabama, where automakers Mercedes-Benz, Honda and Hyundai have created a thriving industry in the past 15 years, union organization efforts have mostly failed.

People point to the long-struggling -- and heavily unionized -- Midwest auto industry as an argument against welcoming the labor movement into Alabama's auto assembly plants.

The lack of union activity also has been a key selling point for the state in courting new business in the sector, which supports more than 134,000 jobs and a $5.2 billion annual payroll.
<snip>

<snip>
There are other hurdles, he said, including the fact that the state's auto industry jobs, especially those at assembly plants, still pay much higher than other jobs in the surrounding area. Jobs in Alabama's automaking industry pay an average weekly wage of $1,302, compared to $813 for other manufacturing industries in the state, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

As a result, there's a general satisfaction, which is not the kind of attitude that leads to supporting a union.
<snip>

[zbdent]

22. is that one of the Japanese car makers which don't have many worker

protections?

Or is he talking about NASCAR?

[bigtree]

24. so he's okay with the big three American automakers crashing

as long as it helps his foreign-based industry down south

[specimenfred1984]

26. Shelby is a WHORE, you can tell by the (R) next to his name

and the constant smirk on his slime bag face.