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Saturday, July 31, 2010
Detroit, Michigan
Hello everyone. I’m speaking to you from the GM auto plant here in Detroit, Michigan, where a hopeful story is unfolding in a place that’s been one of the hardest hit in America. In the twelve months before I took office, American auto companies lost hundreds of thousands of jobs. Sales plunged 40 percent. Liquidation was a very real possibility. Years of papering over tough problems and failing to adapt to changing times – combined with a vicious economic crisis – brought an industry that’s been the symbol of our manufacturing might for a century to the brink of collapse. We didn’t have many good options. On one hand, we could have continued the practice of handing out billions of taxpayer dollars to the auto industry with no real strings attached. On the other hand, we could have walked away and allowed two major auto companies to go out of business – which could have wiped out one million American jobs. I refused to let that happen. So we came up with a third way. We said to the auto companies – if you’re willing to make the hard decisions necessary to adapt and compete in the 21st century, we’ll make a one-time investment in your future. Of course, if some folks had their way, none of this would be happening at all. This plant might not exist. There were leaders of the “just say no” crowd in Washington who argued that standing by the auto industry would guarantee failure. One called it “the worst investment you could possibly make.” They said we should just walk away and let these jobs go.
[What I'm not telling you: For decades, General Motors was the 'bully on the block,' knowing that whatever they decided to do, could and would be forced down the throat of the consumer. They just seemed to continue to wander through 'the minefield' that was managing an auto manufacturing company. Eventually, their lackaisical management style hit a brick wall. Alfred P. Sloan--one of those nasty capitalists we love to denegrate--assembled the various auto nameplates into one of the largest and best know corporations on the planet. Mr Sloan accomplished this by surrounding himself with 'auto' people, from the designers to the active managers of each division. The real downfall of General Motors as a viable manufacturer began in the decade of the 1960s. GM was 'late-to-the-dance' with the introduction of the Chevrolet Camaro in 1967. The Camaro was in response to Ford's Mustang which was introduced in late 1964!! The lag in design and development continued through the introduction of Chrysler's Minivan in 1984-the origin of the 'granny van' era. Recently, I forced 'Government (or obama) Motors to introduce the Chevy Volt. I did this to insure the 'treehuggers' were going to be placated while we temporarily increased employment at Government (or obama) Motors. I'm hoping that the public forgets that--during the latest Campaign of Fluff--I informed them in no uncertain terms that their utility bills would double or triple when my demands are met!! Given the vast increase in personal utility expense; given the vast crippling of the national grid with lower supplies, how the Hell is anyone going to want OR AFFORD one of these electric cars!! At $41,000 base price, they're priced right out of the market at $11,000 more than the nearest competitor. That competitor's vehicle has a range greater than 130 miles-per-charge, far outdistancing the Volt's puny 40 mpc!!! To get ANY of these vehicles on the road, will require a taxpayer handout in the form of a $7,500 tax credit per purchase.
As I was saying before; the 1960s were the beginning of the end for General Motors!! By then the management had allowed too much influence from the United Auto Workers to muddy the managerial 'waters.' The union negotiators had demanded and won, huge wage and pension advancements, which in the future, would prove unsustainable!! That's the point at which I should have let them fail. For the taxpayer to 'buy the company' and put me in as de facto CEO, did nothing more than reward poor management, fire the then-current CEO, put ineptness, inexperience and incompetence in charge of what used to be one of the world's most respected companies!!! What the public doesn't understand; what I'm not about to elucidate, is bankruptcy does not always mean 'failure;' but a chance to reorganize to make the company more viable in the modern marketplace. I counted on the public ignorance as I invested taxpayer money in poor management with less than enlightening foresight!!]
Today, the men and women in this plant are proving these cynics wrong. Since GM and Chrysler emerged from bankruptcy, our auto industry has added 55,000 jobs – the strongest period of job growth in more than ten years. For the first time since 2004, all three American automakers are operating at a profit. Sales have begun to rebound. And plants like this that wouldn’t have existed if all of us didn’t act are now operating maximum capacity. What’s more, thanks to our investments, a lot of these auto companies are reinventing themselves to meet the demands of a new age. At this plant, they’re hard at work building the high-quality, fuel-efficient cars of tomorrow – cars like the plug-in hybrid Chevy Volt that can run 40 miles before taking a sip of gasoline. Throughout Michigan, an advanced battery industry is taking root that will power clean electric cars – an industry that produced only 2 percent of the world’s advanced batteries last year, but will now be able to produce as much as 40 percent in a little over five years. That’s real progress.
[What I'm not telling you: These 55,000 added jobs?? They're featherbedded jobs that were cut at the last moment, primarily because they're 'no-work' status was difficult to justify in bankruptcy. Now with the emergence, we can add these and many more 'no-work' jobs for our friends in Detriot that may seem confused as to whom they might vote for in both 2010 and 2012!!]
There’s no doubt that we have a long way to go and a lot of work to do before folks here and across the country can feel whole again. But what’s important is that we’re finally beginning to see some of the tough decisions we made pay off. And if we had listened to the cynics and the naysayers – if we had simply done what the politics of the moment required – none of this progress would have happened. Still, even as these icons of American industry are being reborn, we also need to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with America’s small businessmen and women, as well -- particularly since they’re the ones who create most of the new jobs in this country. As we work to rebuild our economy, I can’t imagine anything more common-sense than giving additional tax breaks and badly-needed lending assistance to America’s small business owners so they can grow and hire. That’s what we’re trying to do with the Small Business Jobs Act – a bill that has been praised as being good for small businesses by groups like the Chamber of Commerce and the National Federation of Independent Business. It’s a bill that includes provision after provision authored by both Democrats and Republicans. But yesterday, the Republican leaders in the Senate once again used parliamentary procedures to block it. Understand, a majority of Senators support the plan. It’s just that the Republican leaders in the Senate won’t even allow it to come up for a vote. That isn’t right. And I’m calling on the Republican leaders in the Senate to stop holding America’s small businesses hostage to politics, and allow an up-or-down vote on this small business jobs bill.
[What I'm not telling you: The most logical, better solution, would be to extend the "Bush tax-cuts" for the duration of the economic hard times. If it were my desire to quickly put the economy back onto the road to recovery, that's what I'd do. Alas, recovery will not help my plans!! I depend on a poor economy to continue my attempts to convince the American people that the government is the only solution to the problems facing the economy. NOTHING could be farther from the truth!! The better solution would be still more tax cuts and then get the Hell out'ta the way!! "Lending assistance" is just another plan for government to do nothing positive-then take credit for any advancement in the economy. Privately, I think the GOP was wise to block the bill and demanding reciprocating spending cuts. Publically, I believe the GOP is doing nothing more than standing in the way of legislation that will massage my ego, while not being helpful to small businesses.]
At a time when America is just starting to move forward again, we can’t afford the do-nothing policies and partisan maneuvering that will only take us backward. I won’t stand here and pretend everything’s wonderful. I know that times are tough. But what I also know is that we’ve made it through tough times before. And we’ll make it through again. The men and women hard at work in this plant make me absolutely confident of that. So to all the naysayers out there, I say this: Don’t ever bet against the American people. Because we don’t take the easy way out. That’s not how we deal with challenge. That’s not how we build this country into the greatest economic power the world has ever known. We did it by summoning the courage to persevere, and adapt, and push this country forward, inch by inch. That’s the spirit I see in this plant today, and as long as I have the privilege of being your President, I will keep fighting alongside you until we reach a better day.
[What I'm not telling you: How in Hell can ANYONE believe that "I know that times are tough??" As president, I have a total compensation package of $569,000; plus a cash retirement of $191,300 per year-not including other valuable perquisites!! I'm getting checks totalling over a half-million bucks a year; how the Hell do I know what it's like to raise a family on $309 a week in unemployment benefits!! The country USED TO BE THE GREATEST ECONOMIC POWER THE WORLD HAS EVER SEEN!! The policies of the last ten years' presidents and congressional dolts have destroyed all that-which took over two hundred years to grow!! With the $ One Hundred-Thirty TRILLION in deficits and unfunded liabilities my regime will have amassed by the end of my only term; this country is at least another 200 YEARS away from the top of the world economy!! So much for a fascist regime, aye?!?!]
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