Posted 11/16/2008 04:29:00 PM by Douglas

The big three bailout. Yeah, I'm sick of hearing about it, too, but crap, why won't they talk about the elephant in the room.

Hardline opponents of an auto industry bailout branded the industry a "dinosaur" whose "day of reckoning" is near, while Democrats pledged Sunday to do their best to get Detroit a slice of the $700 billion Wall Street rescue in this week's lame-duck session of Congress.

The companies are seeking $25 billion from the financial industry bailout for emergency loans, though supporters of the aid for General Motors Corp., Ford Motor Co. and Chrysler LLC have offered to reduce the size of the rescue to win backing in Congress.

And I'm sure they'll get it. UAW is far too well connected to lose at this stage in the game, but the word "Union" only appeared once in that story. Where's Honda's bailout? Where's Toyota's bailout? They make cars with American labor in (Southern) American states, but the main difference? No Unions. It's not 1890 anymore and we don't have Mr. Burns taking away our bathroom breaks. It's time the American companies figured this out, because if they don't, the Japanese companies that are already here are already making money.

On Meet the Press this morning Andrea Mitchell was the only one that even hinted at this being a Union problem.

MS. MITCHELL: Without a secret ballot, is a big concession to labor, and that is gong to be one of the, one of the early fights in this Congress. And Barack Obama is going to have to make a choice on all these things as to whether he can find ways around it, and can answer the economists' argument "Why is Toyota successful?" which is producing American jobs. It's just that they're not union jobs.

Wake up, Detroit. If your competitors are making money and you're not, it ain't just the economy.