Tuesday, August 23, 2011
Car Wars - again
I recently received a broadcast forward of an e-mail forwarded to me. It was a great, old and sentimental advertisement for the Ford Mustang. But the feel good message was obscured by the original senders words "THANK GOD WE HAVE ONE AMERICAN CAR COMPANY LEFT. THE OTHER 2 ARE RUN BY OBAMA HENCHMEN." Yes, all caps and big, bright blue letters shouting a political message. Of course this is "Car Wars as proxy for politics, a subject we have discussed before. Yes, many people blame unions for the troubles of the domestic automakers, and blame President Obama for anything union. But that is a simplistic blame. The auto bailout saved the American auto industry (yes, Ford too) and resulted in restructured companies and saved jobs. I fail to see how that is a bad result, even if a collateral benefit favors the United Auto Workers or any other union.