UAW Endorses Obama

No surprises here, it is just ironic that the United Auto Workers Union would support the political party that is putting their jobs on the chopping block.

"How can I say this?" you ask. Glad you asked, the explanation has everything to do with business. All businesses have owners. A single individual owns some businesses, and others by many millions of people. The auto industry is the type owned by millions.

It is important to note here that anybody can be part owner in an Auto company, all they have to do is buy stock in that company.
Most of the shareholders of Auto companies are not rich people. They are your neighbors with 401K retirement programs. Whether their investment is small, or large, the reason they invest is because of the expectation of making money for their
retirement.

Making money is a simple matter. For the auto industry, all they have to do is build a car with appeal, and at a competitive price to attract customers. The money that is made comes from the customers that bought the automobiles. The money comes from the customers, not from the government, and not from the Unions.

Autoworker's wages, local, state, and Federal taxes received from the auto industry come from the same place, the auto buyers. But as the number of buyers dwindles down, there is not as much money as there once was.

Competition has taken its toll on our American auto manufacturers. The demands for more benefits and wages have slowly been increasing the price of manufacturing and buyers have been deserting the American made cars and buying foreign made automobiles. Do you remember the part about manufacturing a car with appeal and at a competitive price? What do you think happens when the price of that car is no longer competitive? If the auto manufacturers do not make money, what do you think the investors in those companies will do? What do you think will happen to auto stock prices?

UAW President Ron Gettelfinger says McCain "is content to rely on the failed policies of President Bush," which Gettelfinger says cost millions of U.S. manufacturing jobs. Oh really? What the Democrats or Gettelfinger is not telling you is that without the trade policies of Bush that enables us to sell in places like China, our American auto industry would already be belly up. Did you know that General Motors sells more of the cars they make in China than in America? It is true. Of course, that will change if the Democrats win the upcoming election.

Obama's promise of $4 billion in low-cost financing for automakers to retool to make more fuel-efficient vehicles may sound good, but it is a non-starter and just political rhetoric. Think about it; retooling for different types of cars will only put an added tax burden on the American taxpayer, and does not address the fundamental issue of manufacturing costs. Unless we reduce the cost of producing an American made car, customers will still buy cars that have the most value. And at the present, car buyers see the foreign cars made without union interference as having the best value. His plan will no more bring back the good old days of no competition than take wings and fly.

The change that Obama talks about is change all right, but we cannot afford it.

Cheers,

-Robert-