Got this one mostly right, Byuke. Good job. A dog biscuit for you. Keep on sniffin.

Sir; tell me about it... When I was a kid, eighteen; I went to see The Govenor, George Wallace in Lansing Michigan, an Oldsmobile town. And I got a front row seat, and a going over by the secret service along with my tape recorder, and except for always paying attention, that is as close as I ever came to being a press person... And, I must admit that between the two, Granpa Jones, and Mr. Wallace, that they put on a hellova show... And my guess is that blue collar, factory rats, and Reagan democrats filled up the civic center that night... I want to tell you something... I have worked in many auto plants, and everything everyone else was doing, modernizing, trimming down the fat and the dead wood, engineering a better product is something the auto industry in Michigan has been doing all along... They we doing fine in all the places like China and Europe where they shipped American Jobs... If those markets are blown there, as much as they are blown here -by imported autos and foreign car producers -in this land, then; that is a fact of capitalism, and not particular to Michigan and Ohio... The big three didn't have control of the fuel, or the fact that we went to war and ruined the value of the dollar with inflation. They cannot control the out of control spirel of health care....And, in some instances, they were producing for a market that will always be there, for pickups and suvsthat screwed the cafe standards.... For Richard Shelby of Alabama, a certified sore and fossil himself to call the big three a dinosaur is a damned lie... They are deeply in debt because they were struggling to modernize, and get a younger work force, more pliable working conditions, and robots on every single process that could take automation, and don't think robots are not expensive...And the worst part of the expense is that robots do not buy cars, and if you multiply that fact of mechanization, across society you can get an idea of how deep this depression will be. In addition; their insured work force subsidized the health cost for every person in the State.. Because their bills paid every bill that did not get paid by people who could not pay, and for that very reason, our jobs went to Canada... We do not have many people in America who actually produce value, perhaps 20% of the work force... 80% of our economy is service related; but ninty percent of the profits of this society were enjoyed by the finanacial sector... Now, this bears checking because I have the facts off the tube... But if this last is true, then we were working all over this country to pay interest, and were not in the black anywhere without an overburden of debt...I have heard jokes about building a Negro retirement home for Generous Motors; but the fact is that those people work hard, in a miserable job, and they often had to run to keep up with assembly lines I helped build, and it was not easy, and it ruined people and made them fickle, and sometime broke them physically... But, I never talked to too many of them who were not republican in outlook... What ever Richard Shelby thinks he is doing for himself; he isn't doing anything for the republicans around here...Maybe they have seats to spare in the house of Reps... Why sell the dear when you can give them away???Thanks...Sweeney

A brief note. I understand that President Clinton, early in his term, called all the auto makers to the White House and asked them to commit to manufacturing a car that would get a hundred miles to the gallon by the year 2000. They all agreed they could do it if they tried. Well, none of them quite got there, but Toyota and Honda came damn close with their hybrid cars, didn't they? They did their best. .................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

Somehow, I don't think the miserable failure of the U.S. to place in even the qualifying heats was due to the workers who always DEMAND TOO MUCH, like a living wage, the ability to live when they're too old to work for wages, and access to a doctor when they're sick, which by the way, they bargained for fair and square. I think it was due to the lazy CEO's who got their money anyway no matter what they did, NO STRINGS ATTACHED. .................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

What a nice deal. "We sill suck the money out anyway, no matter what we actually accomplish. We don't care, we don't have to." That was the motto those highly visible, role-model American CEO's were holding out to our kids, our future leaders. .................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

It just goes to show you what a deal and a handshake means in the business world these days. It means a hell of a lot more in Japan and other countries that don't have laurels to rest on than it does in the United States, and that's why auto industries everywhere else are knuckling under and surviving while ours are are on their knees begging for spare change. .................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

They need change, all right, but not the chump change Republicans want to save by selling them off. They need to submit to fundamentally new management directed by the government. You know, the government we look to when we really need to get something done, like saving our asses from invaders or epidemics. We need the same kind of can-do commitment that put a man on the moon, on time, as promised, courtesy of the United States of America. ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................,.

And let the chump change Republicans who want to sell off the nation's jewels sell off their spare kidneys instead. They only need one apiece after all, and that market is still humming, last time I checked.

You say that the auto industry is vital to this nation and should be supported. What separates the auto industry from any other manufacturing industry?
You advocate mercantilism, but at what point should you draw the line. Obviously it would be stupid for our own nation to supply 100% of the goods and services we consume. Yet you advocate protection of local industry. When do we stop protecting it. At what dollar amount does it no longer make sense to prop up the auto industry or any other industry. There is a reason that mercantilism is discredited by the economic community. While it may make intuitive sense if you carry it out fully you end up with a far less prosperous nation.
Our country's international economic relations is not a zero sum game. Trade can help everyone prosper. This is a fundamental truth taught economics 101.