OK, please help me figure this out. If an autoworker at $28 per hour

[MindPilot]

is grossly overpaid and therefore responsible for the imminent demise of the US auto industry, how is it that the bankers' and brokers' eight-figure salaries are not a factor in the collapse of the financial industry?

[WI_DEM]

1. the blue collar workers are responsible only because they are unionized according to those who

oppose helping them, but were willing to open our wallets to bail-out Wall Street without hardly any debate.

[Madam Mossfern]

11. Wait a second here

I make about that much, and am a union member, but I'm not blue collar worker, I work for the gov't. So I guess I'm getting screwed in several ways. I don't get overtime even though I often have ten hours worth of work to do in eight. I wonder how often the Wall Street bigwigs work through lunch.....and....because I work for the gov't, I can't strike.

Waaaaahhhhhhhh.....

[Orrex]

2. Because those autoworkers get overtime after 40 hours.

That works out to $42/hour, a crippling sum.

See?

[gizmo1979]

6. You only make overtime on the hrs

of overtime not for the whole 40.

[Orrex]

10. Well so what?

We're still talking a couple extra hundred per week. How can you compare a paltry eight-figure salary to an unbridled UAW cash-cow like that?

[JuniperLea]

12. I'm thinking you missing a sarcasm dealie...

Things are pretty heated around here and sarcasm doesn't seem to travel the normal channels:)

[bertman]

13. I agree about missing the sarcasm dealie, but I HATE that dripping blood thingie.

P.S. I got the sarcasm on that post. Seemed to be dripping heavily enough it didn't need the dealie.

[JuniperLea]

18. Yes...

Dripping in sarcasm doesn't need blood...ew

[gizmo1979]

14. I didn't disagree

you're preaching to the choir just don't want the anti union people thinking we a have a magic contract with special privilege.

[madinmaryland]

26. I want to know how much the 42 brazillion dollars they are being paid is!

[TahitiNut]

20. All labor costs are about 10% of the price of a new car. TEN PERCENT.

Try finding something that makes sense. :grr:

[KittyWampus]

35. What percent is management in the price of car? Anyone?

[geckosfeet]

3. I know a die hard repukian engineer who works at GM. Has been

whining about the unions ever since he lost his company car a couple years ago.

I wonder what he has to say about how his precious republicans in the senate voted today?

[Lifetimedem]

5. One of the things GM has done

Is eliminate many engineering jobs already, they now hire on contract so they are never really employees of GM.

[Orrex]

19. That's also a great way for GM to outsource its responsibility in event of engineering fialure

"The buck? Oh, we passed it over there, to that contracted engineering firm."

[Lifetimedem]

23. Yep

[readmoreoften]

4. Because their lazy, produce-nothing-broker-banker asses "deserve" it.

How, you say? Well, their granddad stole from the last generation of workers and "invested it" in the middling idea of one of their Harvard legacy scholarship buddy's sons and stole more money from workers, etc...

[DainBramaged]

7. Ask me how you buy a new car on $28 an hour (40 hour week)

after you pay the mortgage, your kids education (at this point, with UAW members averaging 52 years of age, college is a given, and find a college under $20,000 a year) and have enough to eat? On the net though, remember on the net (at the 32% bracket).


Then ask you white collar friend what HE makes an hour. You'll get the third finger.

[ColbertWatcher]

8. Excellent question, wondering why I'm the first rec? n/t

[JDPriestly]

9. To say nothing about the salaries of senators.

[bertman]

21. I've got no bitch about what Senators and Congressmen make. I want them to be paid well

so they can do their jobs and not have to worry about the everyday crap the rest of us worry about.

$28 bucks an hour is jack shit. We are in the South and we have carpenters who make more than that. They don't have all of the benefits the auto workers do, but we still have good benefits like vacation, holiday pay, medical stipend, etc.

This whole "auto worker devastating our economy with their outrageous income" is a CORPORATE MEDIA LIE perpetrated to gin up support for busting the unions. It's the ruling class making war on the working class. This is not new. It's happened throughout history, only we couldn't call them financial elites when they were kings, queens, princes, princesses, dukes, earls, barons, etc. What's the difference? In the old days they had the money and they controlled everything. Now they don't have the titles (although some do, I'm talking about you Queen Elizabeth, richest person in the world) but they have the power and the insatiable desire for more money, more power and more control.

Look at those Republican asshole Senators and Congressmen from Alabama who are all hot and heavy for giving multi-million dollar tax breaks to foreign car companies to locate in their fascist state, but won't give a dime to American workers.

Oh hell, now you've got me going.

The worst part of it all is the GIGONGOUS FUCKING $$$$ GIVEAWAY to the Financial Wizards who got us into this mess. Now we're nickle and diming about keeping three million skilled industrial workers employed.

The Democrats are just as freakin' bad as the Republicans about this shit. They rushed in and started throwing money at the Wall Street Thieves just because Bush said the sky was falling. Now they're acting all pious and "fiscally responsible".

Makes me want to vomit.

[demokatgurrl]

38. And didn't the MF'ers just get a raise?

alonside the best health care plan available in the country?
What hypocritical self-centered bastards.

[Mike 03]

15. Nobody who understands the current crisis would ever agree that autoworkers

are overpaid and the cause of a crisis, or that bank and investment bank employees are underpaid.

Nobody is saying these things.

This is more bullshit.

Maybe Mitch McConnell or some idiotic Repukes are saying this, but nobody serious is saying any of these things. No economists are saying these things. No economic historians are saying these things.

[Fla Dem]

33. Total labor cost, including all benefits for active and retired workers is only approx 8%

of the total cost of an automobile as of 2006. This does not seem to be so totally out of whack. Seems to me there is a lot of other fat that should be cut.

http://www.uaw.org/barg/07fact/fact02.php

How much are labor costs in relation to the total price of a new vehicle?

The total labor cost of a new vehicle produced in the United States is about $2,400, which includes direct, indirect and salaried labor for engines, stamping and assembly at the automakers’ plants.

This represents 8.4 percent of the typical $28,4513 price of a new vehicle in 2006. The vast majority of the costs of producing a vehicle and transporting it to a dealership and preparing it for sale – including design, engineering, marketing, raw materials, executive compensation and other costs – are not related to direct or indirect manufacturing labor.

[Mike 03]

16. Kick and Rec, so that people can see with their own eyes

some of the bullshit propaganda that is going around now.

[robinlynne]

17. I like your question.

[DearAbby]

22. God dammit...

there you go with logic again...like the fantasy about Welfare Queens, you were not supposed to figure this out as a outright right wing lie!
Gall danged edjimicated people!!!

[pacalo]

24. Autoworkers have a skill that justifies $28 per hour.

Why aren't the executive salaries, perks, & generous retirement packages being talked about more?

[peacebird]

25. Why was it automakers had to submit a PLAN? Did the bankers & brokers submit a plan? NO.

My hubby says it's all about union busting, and I agree.

[Gregorian]

27. We're all to blame. Not just auto workers.

I would ask another question. How much do all of the workers make? Then ask how that might contribute to the overall price of the product. Do the same for the "Man". See how much that contributes. There's that ratio. Then look at how much homes in America cost. And then look at fuel price in Europe compared to the US.

I'm trying to point in a direction that I feel is responsible for the situation we're in.

I disagree with the president of the UAW. I do not believe that our European counterparts make wages on an even playing field. Perhaps Japan, France, Germany. But we're up against China. This is the problem.

And I fear there is much worse in store than just jobs. Wars are fought over things like this.

[Festivito]

28. And why does the senate staff making more not kill government?

These guys probably pay the staff quite well, and they get nice holidays and other government benefits. Wonder how much they are making per hour.

[Festivito]

29. Recall a plumber named Joe wanting more than $125 per hour?

That's what he needed AFTER EXPENSES. He probably needed to charge $200 per hour to make enough for his own tools, office, support staff, truck, supplies, his own health care, FICA, life / health / unemployment / disability insurance, ...

EDIT: And not including vacation and sick days.

[sam sarrha]

30. Please, Sir, I Want Some More. How Goldman Sachs is carving up its $11 billion money pie.

http://nymag.com/nymetro/news/bizfinance/biz/features/15197/

"It’s like buying a gift for the guy who has everything: What can you do to impress the boss for whom you’ve already been pulling all-nighters and all-weekenders? That’s the dilemma faced by thousands of investment bankers in New York every fall, when bonus season gets under way. Starting sometime after Labor Day and ending before Christmas, everybody in the financial industry is on their best, most obsequious behavior, hoping to curry the favor of those who divvy up the spoils. And what spoils there are this year—the 2005 bonus season looks to be Wall Street’s biggest haul in five years. Last year, the New York State Comptroller’s office estimated the average bonus on Wall Street to be a clean $100,600 (or $15.9 billion split among 158,000 employees). Early estimates of the 2005 bonus pool reach as high as $19 billion."

[jtrockville]

31. What about auto industry EXECUTIVES?

Why are they excluded from salary discussions?

[meow2u3]

37. Damn straight

Why not demand that the auto execs take a 50-67% salary cut? What have they done to deserve 8-digit salaries and bonuses?

[raccoon]

32. The autoworkers are blue collar ordinary working stiffs

and the bankers and brokers are white collar AND quite well off like their little friends in high places.

What a silly question. :sarcasm:

[PVnRT]

34. Because...ummm.......OMG UR A COMMY!!!!

[RainDog]

36. isn't a living minimum wage 12/hr?

so, basically, if people do not live at subsistence wages... that's somehow a bad thing for America? the only people in this nation that the govt. does not care about are the MILLIONS who make up the bulk of the population.

what a disgrace.

this govt. is a failure if it cannot stand up for the economic health of its nation. that health is not in CEO golden parachutes. It's amazing that, as the entire nation and world sees, once again, the horrible effect of the trickle-down lies, the repubilcan members of Congress perpetuate support for fat cats and will let the people de damned.

oh, btw any of you assholes who continue to vote for republicans - they don't really believe your religion, they don't care if you are destitute, and they are willing to sell you to the highest overseas bidder.

[specimenfred1984]

39. Ask southern (R)s, they'll tell you

Workers don't deserve to get paid a decent wage.

[ipfilter]

40. They don't need a decent wage

because their prosperity will trickle down on them through the lower cost of goods and services. :sarcasm: