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The Early Word: Automakers Back on the Hill
The Caucus —
Executives of the country’s largest car companies have returned to Washington today to once again press Congress for tens of billions of dollars in federal help. But as The Times’s Bill Vlasic and Nick Bunkley report , “the political climate on Capitol Hill is still doubtful for the automakers,” and they write that presidents, current and future, may have to get involved before lawmakers and auto executives can reach an agreement: There is growing concern among the Democratic leadership that they will simply not be able to drum up enough votes to pass an aid ...
Progressive Breakfast: Blizzard of Bad Econ News
LiberalOasis : The Blog —
... Though the UAW took a bullet for the bosses in advance. NYT reports the "surprising move" that "members were willing to ...
America Held Hostage
Brilliant at Breakfast —
... The Obama isn't doing itself any favors by sending its increasingly ineffectual Treasury Secretary, Tim Geithner, out to whine that he can't do anything about the huge bonuses AIG is paying out with taxpayer money because there are contracts. I don't see the same sense of helplessness coming from the Administration when the contracts belong to auto workers in Detroit; perhaps because unlike greedy AIG executives, the UAW actually made contract concessions in an attempt to help the companies for which its members work. ...
Why Are AIG’s Contracts Sacrosanct But Not Union Workers’ Contracts?
Think Progress —
... the bonuses, told Geithner, “quite frankly, AIG’s hands are tied.”
Of course, not all contracts are sacrosanct. When Detroit’s Big Three arrived in Washington last year to plead for federal bailout funds, the right wing demanded that the United Auto Workers ignore their contracts and accept “steep cuts in pay and benefits” — on top of the cuts they already shouldered in 2007. The UAW agreed to “make major concessions in its contracts,” acceding to most of the right’s ...
Wagoner Heads Out, As Banking Executives Stay Put
Wonk Room —
... funds summon the honor to resign? Will this White House ever bother to raise the issue? I doubt it.”
There does seem to be a bit of a double standard when it comes to the respective rescues of the financial system and the auto industry, even beyond management decisions. Ali Frick at ThinkProgress noted that during the AIG bonus debacle, AIG’s contracts were considered sacrosanct, while United Auto Workers has repeatedly agreed to “make major concessions in its contracts,” in an attempt to make the auto companies viable. ...
