Stephen Dick

By Stephen Dick
The Herald-Bulletin

ANDERSON, Ind.

The irony is that the Big 3 automakers who, in the
last two decades, slashed tens of thousands of jobs, ruined
countless lives and devastated the American middle class in an
effort to control costs and boost profits, find themselves facing
bankruptcy.
General Motors, Ford and Chrysler are on bended knee in
Washington begging for taxpayer money to remain viable. It wasn’t
that long ago, 1979, when Lee Iacocca, chairman of Chrysler, went
searching for federal help for his struggling automaker. This was
discussed ad nauseum by free-market theorists as if the fate of the
nation depended on it. To the theorists, it meant the thin edge of the
wedge that would insert government into private enterprise and
sound the death knell of capitalism.
Indiana Sen. Richard Lugar, speaking in Muncie, Ind., last week
remembers when he was mayor of Indianapolis in the 1960s and
tried to get federal funds for a school breakfast program. The
Indianapolis Chamber of Commerce and the Indianapolis Star,
bastions of conservatism, were outraged that Lugar would even
make such a proposal. Back then the presiding philosophy was,
“We take care of our own.”
Of course, the states, not to mention municipalities, couldn’t take
care of themselves much less residents because the taxes they
relied on from private enterprise were vanishing. Only Uncle Sam
had pockets deep enough to fund such programs, although
free-market acolytes could be counted on to kick up a fuss. And even
if the states could afford it, they would object to helping children
having breakfast because it violated the market narrative of every
man for himself.
Those days are, thankfully, gone. States, groups, organizations, they
all have their hand out to Uncle Sam for help. Those earmarks are
an excellent use of taxpayer money because, for the most part, they
actually help people when businesses pack up and leave behind
poverty, unemployment and a sense of hopelessness.
After salivating while watching banks get a federal bailout that will do
nothing but enrich banks, the Motor City troika want its chance at
the federal trough. If Uncle Sam could put them back to viability, a
bailout might be a good thing. But there has to be strings attached,
which shamefully wasn’t done with the banks.
Here’s the stipulation that, alas, no lawmaker will dare demand
while dangling a check in front of the troika: You can have this
money, but you have to bring back your factories from Mexico and
China and put Americans to work. Let’s use the bailout to rebuild
manufacturing jobs, jobs that were taken away for pure greed
masquerading as staying competitive. Let’s manufacture cars that
are eco-friendly with cutting-edge research for alternative fuel
sources.
One of the biggest financial drains on the car companies was the
spiraling cost of health care in their contract with the United Auto
Workers. To alleviate this burden the U.S. needs a universal,
single-payer health system via the expansion of Medicare. This is
the program our elected leaders and members of the military enjoy.
It needs to be put in place for all citizens and not left up to
businesses to foot the bill or put the burden on workers who will do
without because they can’t afford it.
Taxes would have to raise marginally to pay for the program, but no
one has to worry about paying outrageous premiums to profit-driven
insurance companies and the money saved in the long run would
be phenomenal.
Another reason the troika moved away was to bust the union.
They’re going to have to realize that the union is here to stay and, in
fact, needs strengthened. But, they’ll say, what about our
competitors who don’t allow unions? A good point. To level that
playing field Congress will have to pass the Employee Free Choice
Act where a simple majority of 51 percent determines if a business
has a union. All the Toyota, Honda and Hyundai plants will have to
become unionized.
This, in turn, would give an economic boost to the crumbling middle
class, which would shore up the tax base and real estate prospects
of devastated communities.
In other words, if anyone wants Uncle Sam’s money, which is, of
course, our money, they need to ensure that most of it goes to
workers and is funneled up through them to the top, not the other
way around which has ruined this country economically.
There will be conservative troglodytes — the supply-siders who think
money for the rich is a birth right — out to halt any progressive move.
But if the U.S. is going to get out of this quagmire we need a
fundamental shift in economic thinking that will be more cooperative
between employers and the employed without one having undo
influence on the other.

Stephen Dick can be reached at
steve.dick@heraldbulletin.com.