Tough love for GM

Hello, virtual friends! Sorry I’ve been out of touch. I have been trapped in what seems like the Twilight Zone for the last two weeks, where the only law inforce appears to be Murphy’s.

Coming up for air momentarily, I wanted to write some thoughts about the impending GM crisis. As I predicted (I think we all did), GM is demanding a bailout from the taxpayers. It’s tough, living in a city that has literally lived on GM for over 50 years, faced with the closing of our last plant 2 days before Christmas. CNN has a cover story on Dayton up right now, if you’re interested.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/11/19/ohio.plant.closing/index.html

Everything Mr. Murphy is quoted as saying is true. These closings do not just affect the GM employees, but the thousands who supply GM with their parts. I feel for those like Murphy who are finding themselves in these dire straits through no fault of their own. They don’t have high powered unions to pay off senators to fight for them. They don’t make $70 an hour to put nuts on bolts and get to retire at the age of 50 with full insurance benefits guaranteed for the rest of their lives. Nor do they get the benefit of an unemployment package that pays 95% of their salary with benefits for 2 years. And they stand little chance of finding work in Dayton because the job they have been trained to do, and which they have done for 30 years or more, is a job that won’t exist anywhere, at any factory, once GM is gone.

And yet, despite being surrounded by the stench of death in Dayton day after day, I do not support a taxpayer funded bailout of any American automaker. They signed their own death warrants. It would be different if the manufacturers’ CEOs went to Congress with their tails between their legs, taking accountability for the hole they have dug, willing to acquiesce to whatever concessions were deemed appropriate in order to stave off the hearse rounding the bend.

But they are not. Instead, they are acting the spoiled children they are, demanding that daddy buy them a new remote controlled Hummer to replace the one they just broke by throwing it against the wall. Therefore, Congress should act like a responsible parent and exert some tough love. Yes, it’s going to hurt – not only for GM but for the rest of us as well. The hurt is necessary, I believe, in order to move forward once and for all to restore the quality and confidence of American manufacturing and to put in place the energy practices that have been talked about for 30 years. If I was in charge, I’d tell GM this:

1. File bankruptcy.

2. Tell the UAW to take a hike. There was a time in this country when unions served a purpose. That time is over. To that end: Tell the employees they either take a pay cut or join the unemployment rolls. Pay them what they’re worth – a 20 year old with a GED who puts nuts on bolts should make minimum wage, just like his counterparts at McDonalds do. Retirees can live on whatever they’ve managed to store away in their retirement plans, just like the rest of us do.

3. Completely scrap your product line and start from scratch, making only a handful of stream-lined, energy efficient cars. You’re producing way too much product, all of subpar quality, the majority of which uses too much gas. It’s not rocket science, people. Effective immediately, no car should be produced that gets less than 30 mpg. Yes, it is perfectly doable. Within 5 years, all cars must be powered by some form of alternative energy, be it hydrogen cell or biomass ethanol (derived from non-food sources such as dung). Yes, it is perfectly doable. Don’t tell me you can’t produce these cars at a price people can afford to buy. If you start paying your employees what they’re worth, you can. Stuff your excuses where the sun don’t shine. You’ve had 30 years. Now you’ve got 5.

Of course, I’m not in charge. And not holding my breath.