The Price of Fascism

Please note: When I write this here, I am not doing it to bad mouth anyone at all. Least of all the UAW or the General Motors or Chrysler workers. It simply is not their fault that the companies that they work for were horribly mismanaged for many years and are now not doing so hot.

As much as I like the fact that my Father did not lose his retirement from General Motors and gets his medical benefits via the UAW’s program that they set up for him. I must acknowledge the truth and the truth is that General Motors and Chrysler were bailed out by the United States Government. One of the tenets of fascism is, in fact, the mingling of private industry and Government.

When the mingling of private industry and Government take place a price is paid. First of all, a company loses its freedom to conduct business as it sees fit. Second of all, the people of said Country usually pay a price in their wallets. Such as the case with General Motors, which happens to be because General Motors was and still is a poorly managed company.

The story via The Detroit News, which is a Conservative/Libertarian slanted newspaper:

Washington — The U.S. Treasury has begun selling the remainder of its 19 percent stake in General Motors Co.

On Jan. 18, the Treasury filed a written trading plan to sell its remaining 300 million shares of stock in the Detroit automaker. It plans to exit completely by March 2014 and said it could immediately begin selling small numbers of shares on the open market.

In a report to Congress, the Treasury said it had net proceeds of $156.4 million in January for the sale of GM stock during eight full trading days.

GM’s stock price ranged between $27.61 and $29.16 during the period, meaning Treasury sold at least 5.4 million shares, depending on the prices it received.

On a quarterly basis, the Treasury plans to disclose how many share of GM stock it has sold and will report monthly its proceeds from the sale.

In December, the Treasury sold 200 million shares of its GM stock to the Detroit automaker for $5.5 billion, or $27.50 a share.

But, of course, there is a cost:

The government needs to get $72 per share for its remaining shares to break even on its $49.5 billion GM bailout. It initially held a 61 percent stake before selling about half of its shares in GM’s November 2010 IPO at $33 a share.

At current prices, the Treasury would lose more than $12 billion on its GM bailout.

Last week, the Treasury Department said its estimate of losses on the $85 billion auto bailout fell by 16 percent, or $4 billion, in large part because of a rebound in General Motors Co.’s stock price.

The Obama administration said in a report to Congress that its projected auto losses fell to $20.3 billion, from its prior quarterly estimate of $24.3 billion.

The Treasury in 2009 initially forecast it would lose $44 billion on its bailout of GM, Chrysler Group LLC and their finance arms. That forecast fell to $30 billion by the end of 2009 and fell as low as $14.3 billion in 2011.

The Treasury still holds a 74 percent stake in Ally Financial, the Detroit-based auto finance firm, as part of a $17.2 billion bailout, but hopes to eventually break even. Ally is shedding its foreign operations as part of its efforts to repay taxpayers.

I bolded some parts of the quoted text above to give you idea of what I am talking about. Up there where it says, “The Treasury”, that means really “The American Taxpayer.” Anytime the United States Treasury is involved in any sort of bailout of private industry, your tax dollars are being used to bail out said company. That is not hatred of President Obama or the Democrats, that is the honest reality of the situation.

Again, this has not about having an axe to grind with the UAW, GM or Chrysler. This is simply a explanation of what happens when Government gets involved with the rescue of two auto companies that were in fact, headed for bankruptcy. The truth is that the American people lost on this deal and lost bad. As much as I respect the history of the UAW and of General Motors, in regards to my family — I must write the truth and this my friends, is the ugly truth.

What is killing the unions?

There is a good reason for this, it is economic related, but there is another problem as well.

But first, the story:

WASHINGTON (AP) — Union membership plummeted last year to the lowest level since the 1930s as cash-strapped state and local governments shed workers and unions had difficulty organizing new members in the private sector despite signs of an improving economy.

Government figures released Wednesday showed union membership declined from 11.8 percent to 11.3 percent of the workforce, another blow to a labor movement already stretched thin by battles in Wisconsin, Indiana, Michigan and other states to curb bargaining rights and weaken union clout.

Overall membership fell by about 400,000 workers to 14.4 million, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. More than half the loss, about 234,000, came from government workers, including teachers, firefighters and public administrators.

via News from The Associated Press.

The fatal flaw of the protectionist racket is this right here. When you close the shop to outsiders and do not allow employers to hire new people; such is the case with the big three — eventually, your membership roll begin to decline as your members begin to die off. Right now in the agreement which the UAW has with the big three in their contracts and that is that they cannot hire anyone from outside any of GM’s plants, unless they bring back someone who is laid off first. This stems the tide of new employees, and thus decreases membership rolls.

On the other hand, another thing that is happening too, is that the big three, when someone retires from one of the plants; does not hire anyone to replace that person. They simply pull someone from another plant or someone else from within that plant to fill that job. This too, causes membership rolls to dwindle. The reason the auto companies do this, is because they do not want to have to contend with the Unions about who they can or cannot hire and so forth. Not only that, if they do actually hire someone in, they want to hire that person in for half the wages that the other union folk are actually making. This, in this writers opinion, is totally unfair. If you are going to hire someone in, hire them in accordance the contract agreed to by the union membership.

Another thing that is killing the union is these so-called “free trade” agreements. Which were passed by globalist Republicans and Democrats and signed by an internationalist Democratic Party President, Bill Clinton. These agreements are starving the American worker out of a job. Furthermore, the unions suffer as well. Patrick Buchanan, who is about the only Conservative writer, that I happen to think is worth two cents anymore; has been writing the same thing for years and he is right about it too.

America’s soul is being robbed, by the ones who claim to represent the people that make up it’s very soul — and it is not Republicans either. Until the Democrat Party becomes a pro-America party again and not this internationalist mess that it has become now. America’s standing in the World will be what it is now — minimal.

Interesting note about Jack Lew

Honestly, what does Barack Obama have against the working class in this Country? Quite a bit, it seems:

With President Obama poised to tap current chief of staff Jack Lew as his next treasury secretary, Republicans are already attacking Lew for supposed slights during budget talks. Some progressives may bring renewed scrutiny to his time at CitiGroup. But if history is any guide, there will be little talk about another line on Lew’s résumé: The key role he played in New York University’s campaign to rid itself of a graduate student workers’ union.

Lew, the former director of the Office of Management and Budget under President Clinton, joined NYU as chief operating officer and executive vice president in 2004. At the time, NYU was the only private university in the United States whose graduate students had a union contract. By the time Lew left two years later, NYU graduate students had lost their collective bargaining rights. In between, picketers hoisted “Wanted” posters with his face on them.

Reached over email, Andrew Ross, NYU professor of social and cultural analysis, charged that “the administration followed every page of the union-busting playbook, as instructed by the anti-union lawyers retained for that purpose.” Ross, a co-editor of the anthology “The University Against Itself: The NYU Strike and the Future of the Academic Workplace,” wrote that despite broad faculty and community support for the union, “students on the picket line were threatened with expulsion. There was no indication that Lew, as a senior member of the team who executed this policy, disagreed with any of these practices. To all appearances, he was a willing, and loyal, executor of decisions that trampled all over the students’ democratic right to organize.”

When contacted for a response, White House spokesperson Eric Schultz emailed: “Jack Lew has been a strong supporter of the right of workers to organize – as has the President. And that support will not change in his new role as Treasury Secretary.” – via Jack Lew’s union-busting past – Salon.com.

I always said, since day one of the first election cycle of Barack Obama; that he was nothing more than a two-bit phony. I believe that in his second term, we are going to find out just how big of a two-bit phony that he can really be towards the unions and the working class. Would Hillary have been any better? I really do not know. But, when I hear a Democrat basically say, “I care about the high-tech jobs.” and not say anything about the unskilled laborers, like myself. I have to really wonder, just what kind of person is he really? We are about to find out, I think and I believe it is not going to be good for the unions and the working class in general —- not to mention most gun owners.

Update on hot dog stand owner

Needless to say, I feel like a chump. I trusted that those that I linked to, might be have actually telling the truth about this incident. Well, it turns out, they, of course, were lying about that as well. Go figure. Rolling Eyes

Anyhow, Chris Savage, much to his credit flushes out the spin and hype about this little lie told by the corporatist right. I hope like heck he does not mind me quoting him a bit, but here goes:

The right wingnut blogosphere is apoplectic that Lansing, Michigan’s iconic “Hot Dog Guy”, Clinton Tarver, was a victim of union thug violence at yesterday’s anti-Right to Work for Less rally. The reality is that Tarver is simply a victim of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. He also happens to be married to the Michigan Republican Party’s Ethnic Caucus Vice-Chair — perhaps one of the loneliest leadership positions in the entire state.

[…]

This is a far cry from the all-caps-can-you-believe-what-these-union-thugs-did freak out by conservatives who would have you believe that Tarver lost his entire livelihood at the hands of union goons. Tarver was set up on some tables under the tent and did not even have his cart. He must have had a very slow day. Anyone who was at the rally and wandered by the two giant AFP tents will tell you that they were essentially empty all day. There were a few AFP folks standing out front, taunting union members and provoking confrontations, but there was not a lot of activity inside the tent where Tarver was.

[…]

….According the article, they have raised over $10,000 for him (UPDATE: MIRS News reports that it’s now over $16,000.) The total value of what he lost in the scuffle?

$500.

I wonder what they’ll do with the thousands of extra dollars not needed to buy more buns, hot dogs, ketchup, mustard and a couple of folding tables and coolers?

Certainly Clint Tarver didn’t deserve to be treated as shabbily as he was by the union folks there. His wife claims he was called a “nigger” and jeered for working for the enemy. If true, that’s reprehensible and inexcusable. But the off-the-charts poutrage from the right on this is an absolute joke. Some of the same people decrying the verbal taunts that Tarver experiencde are here on this very website calling union members all sorts of hideous names. So let’s keep it real, shall we?

One more thing: if you’d like to meet Clint Tarver in person, I’m hearing that he’ll be selling hot dogs outside Senate Majority Leader Randy Richardville’s office tomorrow, capitalizing on his newfound political fame with Republicans. Stop by and buy a dog.

Adding… Let’s not kid ourselves about what “Tentgate” and “Hot Doggate” are all about:distracting the country from noticing that corporatist ideologues have turned the birthplace of American organized labor into a Right to Work for Less state.It’s a smokescreen, chaff to make sure the conversation is not about screwing union members and is, instead, about the AFP losing a couple of tents.

I can understand the spin, it is what happens in politics; but I will never understand the lying about what happens. Do these people even have any sort of conscience at all?!?! The real cute part is this; this Steven Crowder guy, claims to be a Christian — to the point of writing about how stinking Christian he was to not get his noodle wet until he was married. But yet, he lies like this? My question is this: which God and Jesus does he serve? Does this man know not what the Bible says about lying and liars in the Old and New Testaments? Hypnotized I really hated to bring religion into it, but good grief these people give good and honest Christians a horribly bad name. Not talking

Now before anyone points it out; Yes, I have commented on the fact that I thought his stuff was funny. Yes, I did and I still think he is funny, as an comedian and an actor. However, when he started acting as shill for the corporatist right, and came out in support of this union busting crap by Governor Snyder; he lost me. When he was making his video himself, without people like AFP backing him up. I respected him. I no longer do as such. Because he is a corporate shill. Which is a far cry from the small business owners that I happen to respect and want to be myself.

Did Steven Crowder sucker punch a union protester?

Now this is very interesting:

The Photo:

The story:

The washed up child actor is apparently to stupid to realize just what he was admitting in that interview. He is apparently too stupid to understand that the video they showed last night includes proof that he sucker punched the demonstrator before he himself was hit in retaliation. This is why you don’t let ignorant washed-up child actors serve as correspondents on your fake news show. It never turns out well for you or your neoliberal agenda.

So brainiac Crowder inadvertently admitted yesterday that he went to the demonstration to provoke a response; to “prove the left for who they really are”. This mindset of Crowder holds true to his current alignment with the Andrew Breitbart “war against the institutional left.” philosophy and it makes what happened and it puts the subsequent misleading editing of the first video he released in the proper perspective.

And apparently after he was unable to garner something he could use on Fox “news” that night after being belligerent all day long to people who are literally out there fighting for their jobs, their pensions and their futures, he decided to step it up a notch.

As the Fox cameraman was focused on one confrontation, Crowder ducks under the view of the camera and sucker punches the demonstrator who was then filmed getting up off the ground and going right at Steven in retaliation.

Above is a still taken from the extended video Fox ran on the Sean Hannity show last night. Notice the extended crawler they ran over the bottom 3rd of the screen in an effort to hide Steven’s hand. It ran so fast you can barely make out what happened, but I took it frame by frame and as I pointed out last night when I first saw the edited video, Steven clearly hits the man, I think he sucker punched him, in order to provoke a response.

The still above is a screen capture taken from that video. You can see Steven’s arm is outstretched and he pulls it back quickly. It’s outstretched in the direction and approximate height of the demonstrator’s head. He’s also got his right hand up covering the right side of his face in what appears to be a defensive posture taught in fight training and probably a conditioned action by Steven when he throws a punch.

via Steven Crowder Sucker Punched Demonstrator in Crowd Before he was Hit « American Everyman.

No wonder the dude slugged him. Like I said, this was all done intentionally and they got what they wanted. It is too bad, that one poor man got caught in the middle of it all.

UPDATED Heartbreaking: Black hot dog vendor caught in middle of union protest

This one breaks my heart. It appears that someone was caught in the middle of the protest in Lansing.

The Photo:

Clint Tarver, known as “The Hot Dog Guy” here in Lansing.

Here is the part that breaks my heart, it comes Ironic Surrealism:

The woman (Lorilea Susanne) who set up the fundraising page for Clint has spoken to his wife. Apparently Clint was hired to provide catering for the Americans For Prosperity tent which was also destroyed by union thugs.

*UPDATE* 11:40am – I have spoken with Linda Lee, Clint’s wife. She says he is absolutely overwhelmed with our support, even more so than by the events of yesterday. I would like to clarify the events, however. Clint hired as a caterer for the AFP tent which was torn down. He was much more concerned about the others, and particularly helped to get the women out of the tent. It was when he returned to gather his equipment that the taunts and racial slurs began. He says the working people did not respect the working man. He was not there to be political; he was just there to serve. This is the Clint we know and love. Please, let’s respect him and leave our political opinions out of this. This is about our support for Clint.

You know, I am just going to say this; and believe me when I tell you, I am quite serious about this one: I support the Unions and their right to protest that Governor Rick Snyder lied about not going after the labor movement and I do not much mind people like Steven Crowder getting their jaws jacked for being idiotic tools.

However, I do not support a black man being beaten up and being called an “uncle tom” or even worse the “N-Word,” especially seeing when the man was simply there to serve others and not really even involved with the protest at all. I believe that this one is just a bit too much and goes over the line in a big way.

Of course, the right is going to blame the unions, and this is quite short-sighted in my opinion. The person that should be blamed here is Governor Rick Snyder for picking a fight with the labor movement — and over what? Because the labor movement tried and ultimately failed to get collective bargaining written into the Michigan State Constitution?

I think what needs to happen right now is this: Everyone that reads this blog posting, needs to head to this fundraising page here (LINKED REMOVED GO READ THIS UPDATE!) and give as much as you can afford; and be sure you leave your name and maybe a message to the fact that you are a Union member or supporter; and that you do not support this sort of violence and racism toward a black man. It is immoral and it never should have ever happened in the name of the labor movement at all, ever.

I might support the labor movement in a big way and the love affair between me and the Republicans might be over. However, I did not leave my moral compass at the divorce court — so to speak. This little incident was wrong and we, as supporters of and/or members of the labor movement can make it right.

Others, who are helping, like we should be: Michelle Malkin, Weasel Zippers and The Daily Caller

BIG UPDATE TO THIS STORY: Please, click here to go read the update to this story. Needless to day, I feel like a freakin’ chump. 🙁 Never again will I ever blindly trust anything by the right blogosphere again, ever. Because they just lie way too much. 😡

A possible way out of this “right to work” mess?

This could be some very good news, hopefully, the unions and the Democrats can pull this one off and quickly:

Today, Governor Rick Snyder is expected to sign “right to work” legislation in Michigan. Obviously, this will constitute a hard blow to organized labor, for a host of reasons, symbolic and practical alike.

But NBC’s Michael O’Brien reports that labor operatives believe they may have it on a new procedural way to force a vote on the legislation. If the major unions avail themselves of this option — and if it pans out legally — this means the Dem threats to turn this into an extended all-out war could come to pass.

Republicans have tried to protect the law from going before the voters by attaching an appropriation to it; spending bills can’t be overturned by legislative referendum in Michigan. But union operatives think there is another mechanism by which the law can be challenged. According to one good government group’s analysis of the state constitution, there exists the option of the “statutory initiative,” which would be forced by the collecting of signatures equal to at least eight percent of the votes cast in the last gubernatorial election.

Will unions and Michigan Democrats avail themselves of this option? Eddie Vale, a spokesman for the labor-funded Workers’ Voice, which played a big role in the Ohio and Wisconsin labor wars, tells me it’s being seriously considered. “The Michigan Constitution allows two other ways to let the people decide this issue on the ballot, and whether it’s one of those options or the 2014 Governor’s election itself, Michiganders will be heard loud and clear,” Vale says. (There may also be another referendum option as well.)

via The Morning Plum: A way out for labor in Michigan?.

This a good thing and hopefully the Democrats use it and the Unions get behind it.