After WWII, the car companies did not go back to being just car companies, they stayed in government funded work, mostly defense but also other things, particularly GM’s foray into railroad locomotives. It is lost to memory pretty much but the first really regulated and unionized industry was railroads.

With Democrat control of Congress and about alternately the WH in the ’50′s, through the ’70′s the automakers could not get crossthreaded with unions because the Democrats controlled the pursestrings for buying things they made. Consequently, the automakers reached a truce with the UAW; patter bargaining. The automakers were willing to do this both because it prevented UAW whip-sawying and because it prevented any one company from having a significant labor cost advantage. Letting the labor costs be quite high had the additional advantage of being a barrier to entry and pushing out the lesser competitors such as Studebaker-Packard and American Motors.

I don’t know that the Japanese and other foreign cars were expecially better made but they enjoyed all sorts of taxation and regulatory advantages under American law and the US government not only did nothing to level the playing field regarding taxes and regulations, it refused to protect the US makers in the guise of free trade.

Long story short, I’m no great fan of the UAW and I think their influence on this Administration borders on criminal, but there is plenty of blame to go around for the demise of the US auto industry and it can be allocated to labor, management, and government and to Democrats and Republicans alike.

Right after WWII, we were essentially the only country in the world producing marketable cars. However, as the Japanese powerhouse started cranking out quality autos, the Unions would not give any concessions to allow management to compete.

And thus the Soviet traktor factories we have now masquerading and automobile manufaturing companies.

However, I think conservatives could agree on a few cuts right off the bat: Dept of Education; Dept of Energy; EPA; Natl Endowment for thr Arts, etc….

On your next trip out, look to your left & to your right and try to pretend that you don’t see any SUVs.

But you’re absolutely right. Unless drastic measures are taken NOW to dismantle the socialist aspects of our state, it can’t end well. And no one will want to take the blame either, as you point out. So it’s every man for himself and no one wants to be lefy holding the bag.

The choices are: prop up the status quo long enough to rob it, take over and enforce draconian laws to supress opposition, or throw the bums out now and start repealing laws and shutting down gubmint nonesense ASAP.

Videos like this would be standard fare. Also, frank and free discussions, in depth, regarding the hacked EAU/CRU e-mails and so many other topics would fill the airwaves.

Segments would be devoted to deconstructing left wing “news” reports from the alphabet networks. Even now, without half listening, I can destroy, show as false or describe the slant in the coverage of alomst every story they broadcast.

And it would be FUN as well as enlightening.

Even with Fox news in ascendency, the Public still isn’t getting the message, as you point out avgAm. I talked to a couple the other day who were in favor of Obamacare until I laid out a few simple facts — like rationing (or even denial) of dialysis, transplants, life-saving (but expensive) meds, etc. They were obviously horrified.

Oh man, we could explain why raising the min wage makes it worse on those wage earners; why we NEED rich people in this country; why gubmint dependency is a BAD idea; why we NEED big oil, big pharm, etc and so much more.

All we need is some serious money, and TehWon has outlawed money for us low-class rednecks…

From my website. In my book I have a character, a Senator, that is on board with the takeover of the nation for one reason, he is afraid. Afraid the Ponzi scheme of the federal government giving away money and free stuff in exchange for votes was going to fall down- soon. I believe the left gets that the train is coming to the end of the tracks and wants one of two things. They want money to build more track in order to delay the inevitable, or enough money so they can just jump off and watch it crash.

Either way, us regular folks riding on this train are screwed.

Not to be picky about Steven’s of using Detroit as an example of liberal ideals, I have said for years the same thing. The Michigan motto is “If you seek a beautiful pennisula, look about you”. In Detroit “If you seek a liberal utopia, look about you.”

“Detroit has 80,000 abandoned lots and buildings, according to the city’s planning department. Old housing projects, homes, strip malls and even high-rise buildings sit empty across much of the city. Motown has more vacant office, retail and industrial space than nearly every other big city in the country.”

Here’s the article:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125745924791631907.html

Thank you.
ColdWarrior

You would have to adjust previous decades’ money for inflation.

And what did that money buy?

I see a job opportunity.

Here’s what the job is: Documentarian.

I know we’ve got somebody out there who is willing to do this — think Breitbart, or that guy who made Indoctrinate U. This is the sort of thing that just begs to be expanded into a full-length documentary. So I’m gonna see if I can find someone to help me make this.

First one to produce it wins. I say we skip the movie theaters and go straight to Hulu or some other internet-based launch system. If marketed correctly (and, of course, made correctly), it could be a game-changer. Liberals should be forced to see the ends of their means.

My ophthalmologist is from the Detroit area. He told me today that the Fairlane Town Center, which was built about 1974 just across the Southfield Freeway from Ford World Headquarters, is now practically a Ghost Town Center.

There was a famous case of eminent domain takings that preceded Kelo by many years. It was called “Poletown,” and it was an entire neighborhood razed so that GM could build a state of the art assembly plant for B-O-P. It was a project concurrent with the modernizatin of Buick City in Flint. You know, the place that Michael Moore made famous. So that whole thing didn’t work out too well, but we own them now to some extent, don’t we?

Detroit has enjoyed a terrible reputation for many years, and now it looks like it is truly deserved.

This video makes me sad. Lord have mercy on Dave Bing.

Kwame Kilpatrick’s profligate spending impairs restitution obligation

http://www.examiner.com/x-19336-Detroit-Crime-Examiner~y2009m12d11-Kwame-Kilpatricks-profligate-spending-impairs-restitution-obligation

Spendthrift practices by ex-mayor Kwame Kilpatrick have convinced Wayne Prosecutor Kym Worthy that he has violated the terms of his probation requiring him to pay $1,000,000 in restitution. This revelation came Wednesday at the close of a six day hearing to determine an appropriate monthly payment on the amount.

The proceeding, which Wayne Circuit Judge David Groner called a restitution hearing, produced evidence that Prosecutor Kym Worthy believes warrants the filing of a probation violation motion that could land Kilpatrick back in jail. She contends that Kilpatrick was not truthful about his finances, failed to provide records documenting his assets, and has moved thousands of dollars through various bank accounts to obfuscate his actual worth.

Worthy paints a portrait of a man reluctant to allow his million dollar obligation to interfere with his high brow lifestyle. The prosecution subpoenaed many of Kilpatrick’s financial records; they showed monthly cash withdrawals and debit payments in excess of $3,000, and purchases including green fees, Gucci shoes, $158 nail salon visits, as well as leases of luxury vehicles and a suburban Dallas mansion.