The Hoover Party

Rachel Maddow gives a brief history of Herbert Hoover, and accurately ties the modern Republican Party to him.


LibertyAir Blog

Rachel Maddow: Union-Bashing v. Facts

Rachel Maddow looked at union-bashing versus the real facts last night on MSNBC:


LibertyAir Blog

Republicans May Have Lost On Auto Bailout

The White House is moving forward with a rescue plan for the automakers. Congressional Republicans are not happy about it. What was first declared a tactical victory for the GOP leadership by the likes of MSNBC's First Read, is now looking like a loss. Because Senate Republicans failed to reach a deal with Democrats and their union allies, it now looks like they will get none of the conditions they were pushing for. In a post from the New Republic, Jonathan Chait notes that the White House is poised to bailout the automakers anyway, suggesting that the "GOP maneuver will have been a total disaster" for the party. If the White House uses the TARP funds its doubtful that the carmakers will be required to accept all of the restructuring conditions the Republicans were pushing for Thursday. This is because if the White House does use TARP funds the Republicans will have lost most of their leverage. Right now they have 49 Senate, in January they will have at most 42 seats, maybe only 41, their ability to block a closure vote. When that happens the Democrats will cut a much better deal for themselves, for the union, and for the auto companies. There will be more protections for the workers and there will be tougher environmental standards. Thus Mitch McConnell who was pretty much being hailed as a genius as a leader of the opposition, will have won nothing.

Republicans had a chance to make this bill as appealing as possible, but they didn't want want to concede anything. They didn't want to concede anything on environmental standards. They didn't want to concede anything on worker rights. They wouldn't negotiate in good faith.

GOP's Strategy for Blocking Bailout Revealed

On today's Countdown guest host David Schuester revealed a new memo that explains the GOP's strategy for blocking a bridge loan to the auto industry:

Countdown has obtained a memo entitled "Action Alert - Auto Bailout," and sent Wednesday at 9:12am, to Senate Republicans. The names of the sender(s) and recipient(s) have been redacted in the copy Countdown obtained.

The Los Angeles Times reported that it was circulated among Senate Republicans. The brief memo outlines internal political strategy on the bailout, including the view that defeating the bailout represents a "first shot against organized labor." Senate Republicans blocked passage of the bailout late Thursday night, over its insistence on an immediate union pay cut.

From: Sent: Wednesday, December 10, 2008 9:12 AM To: Subject: Action Alert -- Auto Bailout

Today at noon, Senators Ensign, Shelby, Coburn and DeMint will hold a press conference in the Senate Radio/TV Gallery. They would appreciate our support through messaging and attending the press conference, if possible. The message they want us to deliver is:

1. This is the democrats first opportunity to payoff organized labor after the election. This is a precursor to card check and other items. Republicans should stand firm and take their first shot against organized labor, instead of taking their first blow from it.

2. This rush to judgment is the same thing that happened with the TARP. Members did not have an opportunity to read or digest the legislation and therefore could not understand the consequences of it. We should not rush to pass this because Detroit says the sky is falling.

The sooner you can have press releases and documents like this in the hands of members and the press, the better. Please contact me if you need additional information. Again, the hardest thing for the democrats to do is get 60 votes. If we can hold the Republicans, we can beat this.

Watch David fill in for Keith Olbermann here:


The GOP is showing their true colors, and letting everyone know they will not work with the Obama administration to fix the problems of this nation. They killed the auto rescue plan Thursday night for purely partisan reasons. It never was about trying to help the automakers or the economy, but an effort to crush the working class and punish unions. There are many more people in line to suffer if the Big 3 go out of business, but Shelby and his band of brothers couldn't care less.

"Union Busting" is a high priority for these Conservatives fools that have allowed our country to be run into the ground. Can you name anything good that has come out of the eight years of Bush and Conservative dominance? So what is their solution? To take it out on the blue collars of America.

If anything this memo should be used as a reminder that the Employee Free Choice Act should be one of Obama's "high priorities" just after he takes office. Check out this video that explains a few things about it.

Update: Think Progress obtained the 20 senators who bailed out Wall Street but refused to rescue auto workers.»

Last night, the Senate failed to approve the auto rescue package, voting 52-35 in favor of the bill – just eight short of the 60 votes that were needed. Over on the Wonk Room, Dan Weiss takes a look at the 20 senators who voted for the Wall Street bailout but voted against the auto rescue last night (as well as the 10 others who skipped the vote last night, but voted for the financial bailout):

Yes to TARP, No to auto
Sen. Max Baucus (D-MT)
Sen. Robert Bennett (R-UT)
Sen. Richard Burr (R-NC)
Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-GA)
Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK)
Sen. Norm Coleman (R-MN)
Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN)
Sen. John Ensign (R-NV)
Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA)
Sen. Judd Gregg (R-NH)
Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT)
Sen. Kay Hutchison (R-TX)
Sen. John Isakson (R-GA)
Sen. Jon Kyl (R-AZ)
Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D-AR)
Sen. Mel Martinez (R-FL)
Sen. John McCain (R-AZ)
Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY)
Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK)
Sen. John Thune (R-SD)

Yes to TARP, Absent for auto
Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN)
Sen. Joe Biden (D-DE)
Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX)
Sen. Larry Craig (R-ID)
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC)
Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-NE)
Sen. John Kerry (D-MA)
Sen. Gordon Smith (R-OR)
Sen.Ted Stevens (R-AK)
Sen. John Sununu (R-NH)

Senator Biden was tending to transition duties, while John Kerry was in Poznan, Poland, participating in U.N. climate change talks. Alexander was home recovering from surgery.

Why did these other Senators feel auto workers weren’t as deserving as Wall Street? We’d like to know.

New Rescue for Auto Industry?

With Republicans being assholes, the economy floundering, the Bush administration has declared that it will step in to prevent the "precipitous collapse" of the U.S. auto industry which would have been disastrous for the economy, with the potential loss of hundreds of thousands of jobs that was sure to follow.

A day after the Republicans killed the rescue legislation in Congress, George W. Bush realized he was about to be George Herbert Hoover Bush, and so changed his mind about using money from the TARP bailout. The TARP is the $700 billion Troubled Assets Recovery Program, the financial industry bailout plan enacted in October. The White House warned of the severe impact on a weakened US economy if the auto makers collapsed. President Bush had originally refused to use the bailout fund to help the auto makers, insisting that aid come from Congress. But the White House said it must reconsider after the Senate failed to agree on a $14 billion rescue plan late Thursday night.

In a letter to Bush, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi urged the president to demand "the same tough accountability" and taxpayer protections from the automakers as was contained in legislation that cleared the House at midweek.

President-elect Obama has also contacted President Bush and urged him to give the U.S. Auto industry the band aid that would get them trough the end of the year, so he and the Democrats can address the problem early next year. Obama, who will inherit the problem next month said,

"My hope is that the administration and the Congress will still find a way to give the industry the temporary assistance it needs while demanding the long-term restructuring that is absolutely required."

Here is video from earlier this morning:

LibertyAid Blog

More on the Bailout

If you have been reading this blog, you know I have supported the idea of this bailout. Even though the management of the three companies has been bad, and I would have demanded change at the top, I would have supported this bailout. I also know that I would not have supported a bailout if these were normal times, but that's the thing these are not normal times. The dirty fact is that the three companies would not be in this much trouble if not for the financial crisis on Wall Street, and the credit crisis. This is why when that idiot Mitch McConnell comes on the air and says that the U.S. auto industry have only themselves to blame, her is either lying or an idiot. Actually they are not mutually exclusive.

Under the circumstances of today it is an extraordinarily irresponsible thing to do. The Senate Republicans were not, let me make this clear, WERE NOT trying to do things responsibly. They did not ever seem to consider extending the kind of financing that would allow GM and Chrysler to go through Chapter 11 bankruptcy rather than liquidation. That financing would have involved loans, not gifts. It would have allowed an orderly reorganization that they kept claiming they wanted. Instead Republicans are willing to let a million jobs to go down because they wanted to break the UAW.

We are in a recession. We already have millions losing their jobs. We already have an economy on the brink. We have a party of idiots in congress, what is worse the other party is one of weaklings.

In the middle of the worst downturn in half a century the idiots who make up the leadership of the Republican party decide to prove that they care about fiscal responsibility. This after years of being willing to spend money on whatever George W. Bush wanted. This after years of being willing to spend money on whatever lobbyists have written into laws for them. This after years of being willing to spend money like there was no tomorrow, putting this nation so far in debt we may never see it paid off.

The consequences to our economy sound delightful:

"With Congress failing to agree on a bailout for Detroit, the odds that General Motors and Chrysler will be insolvent by year's end are growing rapidly.

The companies have been warning that they would run out of money for some time, but crushing bills from their suppliers are coming due. It appeared unlikely that they could hold on until President-elect Barack Obama takes office next month, when he and a new Congress might be able to provide a lifeline, as a Congressional rescue this year looked increasingly unlikely. (...)

General Motors and Chrysler, for example, owe their suppliers a total of roughly $10
billion for parts that have been delivered. G.M. has held off paying them for weeks, and Chrysler is paying in small increments. But the cash shortages at G.M. and Chrysler are getting more severe, according to their top executives and other officials. (...)

Many of their suppliers are teetering on the verge of bankruptcy themselves, and do not have the luxury of extending credit much longer. (...)

When suppliers big and small start failing, the flow of parts to every automaker in the country will be disrupted because as suppliers typically sell their products to both American and foreign brands with plants in the United States."

"There's no question it will hit Toyota, Honda and Nissan too," said John Casesa, principal in the auto consulting firm Casesa Shapiro Group.

"Many of the small suppliers will simply liquidate because they don't have the resources to go reorganize in Chapter 11 bankruptcy," Mr. Casesa said.

"They'll just go away."

Here was what Rachel Maddow reported on this story before the Republicans fully sank the deal:

LibertyAir Blog

Why Do I Think Republicans Are Idiots

Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell joined other Republican lawmakers in opposition to the White House-backed rescue bill passed by the House of Representatives on Wednesday.
He and other Republicans said wages and benefits for employees of Detroit's Big Three should be renegotiated to bring them in line with those paid by Japanese carmakers Toyota, Honda and Nissan in the United States.

This is a stupid argument, and dishonest. Hourly wages for UAW workers at GM factories are actually less than those paid by Toyota Motor Corp at its older U.S. factories. GM says the average union laborer makes $29.78 per hour, while Toyota says it pays about $30 per hour. But the unionized factories have far higher benefit costs. So the Republicans are asking UAW workers to take wage cuts that put them even further behind. Could this be because they want more workers to migrate south? There are plans for 18 more state subsidized factories to be built in the south, could they be trying to build their pool of workers?

GM says its total hourly labor costs are now $69, including wages, pensions and health care for active workers, plus the pension and health care costs of more than 432,000 retirees and spouses. Toyota says its total costs are around $48. The Japanese automaker has far fewer retirees and its pension and health care benefits are not as rich as those paid to UAW workers. In fact the only country that Toyota has to pay health care benefits is the United States, so they are working at great advantage over GM. Toyota's plants in the U.S. are so new they have few pensions to deal with.

So when you see those sanctimonious windbags of the right on the cable shows, know they are lying assholes who are threatening the economy of the country to break an ally of the Democratic party.

Here is what Katrina Vanden Heuvel of the Nation Magazine had to say about it on MSNBC's Morning Joe:


LibertyAir Blog

Get Ready

It is going to be a bad day on Wall Street. This is what we can expect now that the $14-billion emergency bailout for U.S. automakers collapsed in the Senate. The deal to help the auto industry fell a part last night as Republicans tried to break the UAW. Don't believe those lying Repuglicans, this had nothing to do with some principle, it is all about breaking the union. The collapse came after bipartisan talks broke down over union wage cuts, the Repugs wanted the union to basically handover the farm.

Markets oversea's are already falling hard on the news. U.S. Markets are expected to fall. Harry Reid has said he hopes Bush will tap the $700 billion Wall Street bailout fund for emergency aid to the automakers. General Motors Corp. and Chrysler LLC have said they could be weeks from collapse. Ford Motor Co. says it does not need federal help now, but its survival is far from certain, and if GM and Chrysler fall it will need help.

The implosion followed an unprecedented marathon negotiations in Washington among labor, the auto industry and lawmakers who bargained into the night in efforts to salvage the auto bailout at a time of soaring job losses and widespread economic turmoil.

The group came close to agreement, but it stalled over the union's refusal to agree to wage cuts before their current contract expires in 2011. Republicans, in turn, balked at giving the automakers federal aid.

Leave it to the Repuglicans to put ideology above country.

Senate Republicans Threaten to Throw Nation into another Great Depression

Republicans are idiots.

Its that simple.

Only these idiots could think that this is a wise course for the nation. If I have to listen to one more sanctimonious windbag from the right come onto the radio or TV and say that the auto companies should just file for bankruptcy, I am going to scream. Do any of these idiots even know the laws that govern bankruptcy? To file for Chapter 11 you have to be able to get banks to offer lines of credit to back up the company. If these companies could get lines of credit, they would not be asking for the bailout.

Now the idiots in the Republican party are ready to force this nation to lose another 2 million jobs, while in the throes of a massive recession, so they can break the unions. And that's what this is about folks, this is a play to break the unions. Remeber these are the same Republican idiots who were happy to throw the stock market into a tail spin because they didn't want to bail out the banks, which lead to the credit crisis that is now bringing down the auto industry. Now they don't want to bail out the car industry.

Yesterday the House passed a bill to speed $14 billion in loans to Detroit's automakers. But it does not look like it will get past the Senate because Republican opposition could derail the emergency aid in the Senate. The Republicans still hold 49 seats, and it looks like they plan to use this number to challenging lame-duck President George W. Bush on the package. They are lamely arguing that any support for the domestic auto industry should carry significant concessions from autoworkers and creditors and reject tougher environmental rules imposed by House Democrats.

See this has nothing to do about the economy, or basic values, it's all about destroying the unions and the environment.

Automakers Ask for $34 billion in Aid

As I am sure you remember two weeks ago the CEOs from the Big Three automakers -- General Motors, Ford, and Chrysler -- all came to Washington, D.C. to ask Congress for a $25 billion loan to help their struggling companies stay afloat and avoid a complete collapse of the U.S. auto industry.

As you also probably remember the whole thing turned into a fiasco. First there was the revelation that each of the companies' chief executives traveled to the nation's capital on private jets. Second, this request came just a month after Congress approved $25 billion in low-interest loans for the automobile manufacturers and suppliers to retool their plants to build more fuel-efficient vehicles.

Now the Big Three executives did learn at least one thing as they made the trip from Detroit in new-model hybrid autos made by their respective companies.

Still the auto industry representatives met with fresh skepticism on the Hill.

Chrysler is the weakest of the Big Three, CEO Bob Nardelli promised that his company, who was a recipient of a previous government-subsidized rescue loan in the 1970s that it repaid fully, would repay taxpayers by 2012. The Chrysler plan says it would devote itself to manufacturing “fuel-efficient cars and trucks that people want to buy.”

GM’s survival plan envisions an administration-led restructuring overseen by a government oversight board.

Ford seems to be in the strongest position right now, and it only requested a $9 billion “standby line of credit” in case one of its Detroit competitors fails.

United Auto Workers union president Ron Gettelfinger told the committee, “We are prepared to do our part.” But he also said workers for the auto companies shouldn’t have to make disproportionate sacrifices.

Democrats have urged the administration to tap into an already enacted $700 billion financial bailout program to help the auto industry. Bush and the Republicans have resisted and used this opportunity to bash unions, and are placing blame for the plight of the Big 3 on the blue-collar workers. Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC) claimed that "some auto manufacturers are struggling because of a bad business structure with high unionized labor costs," while Sen. Jon Kyl (R-AZ) said on Sunday that the auto industry has "been sick" for years because of a "bad business model" with "contracts negotiated with the United Auto Workers that impose huge costs."

This of course ignores the fact that unions have repeatedly made concessions to auto companies over recent years. The trouble with the Big 3 is that they have had really bad executive leadership for years.

As to the bailout, I fall in line with the side that there should be a bailout. To be honest I think there should be a radical buyout that takes over the companies, builds up their assets, and then sells off the pieces. I think GM is too big, and so it is too slow to meet the changing markets. I think factories should be purchased, converted to facilities that can build a new economy, and then sold off. Does it not make sense to take a car factory that is failing, and building cars that are not needed, and rebuild the factory to produce wind turbines, or bullet trains, or solar collectors?

The bailout remains unpopular with the public, but I do think a lot of that is short sighted by some, and a real worry that billions will be given to the auto industry, and then six months later they will be asking for a bailout again. Therefore oversight of the auto bailout must be much stronger than the bank bailout, where billions is being wasted. Here is an opportunity to put the money into something real, something solid, and something that makes future money for the economy.

The Myth of Auto Worker Wages

To Bailout or Not To Bailout.

That is the question of the moment for the U.S. automotive industry.

If you have been following this debate you have probably noticed the growing conservative storyline which is blaming the Big Three's workers for the companies' financial difficulties. Since this is coming from the Wingnut Right, it is of course untrue, and what it really is, is pretty blatant union bashing.

The myth being put forward is that U.S. auto workers make $73 an hour, where as the average hourly cost per worker is only $28.48.

Today while listening to Stephanie Miller, I heard someone explain that this is a lie, and that someone used hinky math to come up with the $73 figure, and now we have conservative talking heads parroting the figure over and over, with no clue how it was established. Based on what I had heard I did a quick Google Search and found a great explanation as to how and why the conservatives are lying.

What I found was an article by Jonathan Cohn who did a really good job explaining why these conservative talking points are a total lie.

Let's start with the fact that it's not $70 per hour in wages. According to Kristin Dziczek of the Center for Automative Research -- who was my primary source for the figures you are about to read -- average wages for workers at Chrysler, Ford, and General Motors were just $28 per hour as of 2007. That works out to a little less than $60,000 a year in gross income -- hardly outrageous, particularly when you consider the physical demands of automobile assembly work and the skills most workers must acquire over the course of their careers. [...]

[T]hen what's the source of that $70 hourly figure? It didn't come out of thin air. Analysts came up with it by including the cost of all employer-provided benefits -- namely, health insurance and pensions -- and then dividing by the number of workers. The result, they found, was that benefits for Big Three cost about $42 per hour, per employee. Add that to the wages -- again, $24 per hour -- and you get the $70 figure. Voila.

Except ... notice something weird about this calculation? It's not as if each active worker is getting health benefits and pensions worth $42 per hour. That would come to nearly twice his or her wages. (Talk about gold-plated coverage!) Instead, each active worker is getting benefits equal only to a fraction of that -- probably around $10 per hour, according to estimates from the International Motor Vehicle Program. The number only gets to $70 an hour if you include the cost of benefits for retirees -- in other words, the cost of benefits for other people. [...]

Make no mistake: The argument over a proposed rescue package is complicated, in no small part because over the years both management and labor made some truly awful decisions while postponing the inevitable reckoning with economic reality. And even if the government does provide money, it's a tough call whether restructuring should proceed with or without a formal bankruptcy filing. Either way, yet more downsizing is inevitable.

But the next time you hear somebody say the unions have to make serious salary and benefit concessions, keep in mind that they already have -- enough to keep the companies competitive, if only they can survive this crisis.

Big 3 carmakers beg for $25B

Detroit's Big Three automakers went to Capitol Hill today to plead to Congress for a $25 billion lifeline to save their once-proud titans of U.S. industry. They pointedly warned Congress of a national economic catastrophe should they collapse.

But the new rescue plan appeared stalled on Capitol Hill, opposed by the Bush administration and Republicans in Congress who don't want to dip into the Treasury Department's $700 billion financial bailout program to come up with the $25 billion in loans.

Rank and file Republicans and Democrats from states heavily impacted by the auto industry worked behind the scenes trying to hammer out a compromise that could speed some aid to the automakers before year's end. But it was an uphill fight.

Bush and Obama Debate Auto Industry

Barack Obama and George W. Bush met privately yesterday in the Oval Office for 65 minutes. Speaking in the Oval Office without staff, no notes were taken, and aides to both men were reluctant to share second-hand details with the media, preferring words like "friendly" and "productive." Still there has been some leaks about what was on President-elect Barack Obama's mind.

The struggling auto industry seems to have been a major topic of conversation. What to do for the big three auto companies has become the cause of a political standoff between the White House and Democrats. It is being reported that President-elect Barack Obama urged President Bush in their meeting to support immediate emergency aid.

Mr. Bush indicated at the meeting that he might support some aid and a broader economic stimulus package if Mr. Obama and Congressional Democrats dropped their opposition to a free-trade agreement with Colombia, people familiar with the discussion said.

The Bush administration, which has presided over a major intervention in the financial industry, has balked at allowing the automakers to tap into the $700 billion bailout fund, despite warnings last week that General Motors might not survive the year. Mr. Obama and Congressional Democratic leaders say the bailout law authorizes the administration to extend assistance.

Mr. Obama went into his post-election meeting with Mr. Bush on Monday primed to urge him to support emergency aid to the auto industry, advisers to Mr. Obama said. But Democrats also indicate that neither Mr. Obama nor Congressional leaders are inclined to concede the Colombia pact to Mr. Bush, and may decide to wait until Mr. Obama assumes power on Jan. 20.

NBC's Andrea Mitchell had a similar report about Obama having urged the president to consider "a stimulus package in the lame duck session, aid to the auto industry, and help for homeowners with adjustable-rate mortgages in order to prevent more foreclosures."

In other words, as far as Obama is concerned, Bush can use his remaining weeks in office productively, and as far as Bush is concerned, he'll take these issues seriously if Democrats give him the trade deal he wants.

This probably isn't going to work out as Bush would like -- lawmakers realize that an Obama White House isn't that far away.