Snake Andrew Ross Sorkin slithering back on to my TV like he is some kind of financial expert

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http://mediamatters.org/columns/200811250012

The media myth: Detroit's $70-an-hour autoworker

November 25, 2008 3:12 pm ET

It's been one week since New York Times financial columnist Andrew Ross Sorkin wrote that at General Motors, "the average worker was paid about $70 an hour, including health care and pension costs."

The nugget was part of a column in which Sorkin argued that the government should not bail out the ailing Big Three automakers and that they instead should embrace bankruptcy.

Sorkin's point was that labor costs were out of control -- workers enjoyed "gold-plated benefits" -- and that during bankruptcy, the auto companies could address those runaway wages.

As I mentioned, it's been one week since the column appeared, which seems like plenty of time for Sorkin and the Times to correct the misleading $70-an-hour claim. But to date, there's been no clarification from the newspaper of record or from Sorkin himself.

And he isn't alone. Appearing on NPR last week, Times senior business correspondent Micheline Maynard told listeners that the "hourly wage" of Detroit's union autoworkers had been driven up "towards $80 an hour."

Somebody at the Times needs to clarify the record, because the average United Auto Workers member is not paid $80 an hour. Or even $70. Not even close. Yet (thanks to the Times?) the issue has become a central talking point in the unfolding national debate about the future of America's automotive industry.

Indeed, that $70-an-hour meme, actively promoted by the anti-union conservative media, has ricocheted around the traditional press as well as the political landscape, where it was picked up by congressional critics last week during hearings and used to argue against aiding GM, Ford, and Chrysler.



This lying prick and his employer the NYT can go fuck themselves. He has a new book? He can stick that book up his ass sideways.

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1. And how much does Sorkin get paid to write rubbish for the Times?

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2. Another thing that I didn't see in the column

is overtime, companies also force people to work overtime then include that in labor costs. From my experience in the steel industry they always work a lot of overtime before contract negotiations to inflate the labor cost.

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3. This prick slithered back on my TV again this morning on Ratigan's show