This Thursday a congressional committee will get to hear from a former Delphi engineer about the plight of the salaried retirees from GM/Delphi. I am one and this article really sums it up better than any other I have read or that I have tried to relay myself.
Obama said that it was going to be tough, that there would have to be sacrifices made by all. He was referring to the restructuring of the auto industry.
Well, I will totally disagree with him on that in part. Yes there has been some sacrifiing but not on all fronts. His hinchmen, as well as Bush's, have really stepped up to the plate. You start with Paulson and George's give away of money without rules and you end with Barrack's favorite son Geithner writing new rules and defying the law.
Tell the lady in this article that she is going to make sacrifices that are equal to all that worked for these companies. If you can do that and sleep at night then you don't have American blood running through your veins.
Equality, the UAW and IUE/CWA members got their top-up pension funds. They got a reduced healthcare program. I didn't say eliminated, I said reduced. Some call it catistrophic, I call it healthcare. They pay more upfront but their monthly premiums reflect it. They went from about $25 a month for a premium to $125 approximately. Yes, their out of pocket is double mine but if I didn't qualify for HCTC I would be paying $1600 premiums monthly. I just started paying $320. Sometime after Jan. 1 I get to find out what my pension will go to. I'm currently get less than a third what the lady in the article gets and with fewer years of service. My only advantage is I have 12 years on her. It's a jump ball situation.
GM was put into backruptcy by the government. Delphi was in bankruptcy all by themselves way ahead of the economic melt down. Both are out of bankruptcy now and Delphi is no long an American company in my books. They have a ticker symbol on Wall Street but manufacture nothing here. GM, they closed some plants, shut down dealerships and, are buying more tires from China thus shutting down an American tire supplier. Obama said this would be a taxable offense if companies took or sent work outside the US. Well, let's see, did GM get taxed for this procedure, hell no. Obama is taxing China 35% import duties, wow! He made them mad and we actually have people in congress saying that was too much. He had the opportunity to go higher.
I understand that these issues are somewhat touchy but.....These same stone throwers argued that GM should have stood up to the unions years ago and took the strikes they were threatened with. Why didn't they yell foul, tax 'em more instead of be careful, don't make them mad. What are they going to do, sell our bonds, guit buying our currency, send us more toys polluted with chemicals?
I voted for Obama and the jury is still out as to whether that was a wise choice. It wasn't his opponent that I voted against, it was the party. Way too radical. Heck, Cheney doesn't know he's out of office yet.
Read: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/27/business/27delphi.html?_r=1&hp
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