As I sit here in frigid Michigan this morning, I'm contemplating the state of our state. And pondering if we are, perhaps, a bellwether for the rest of the country, particularly in terms of Democrats and our political future.
It's a mixed bag in Michigan, to be sure. As I diaried last week, there's been some better news of late. GM has started battery production for its new line of electric and hybrid cars. The Detroit Auto Show is featuring a plethora of new electric vehicles in its "Electric Avenue. This morning we learn that Ford has earned Car of the Year with its Fusion Hybrid (as well as Truck of the Year with the Transit Connect, a 22/25 mpg vehicle). The Obama administration has awarded Michigan vehicle manufactureres $187 million in grants to boost fuel efficiency. Detroit was even named as one of the Top Five Cities to find a "Green" job, being called "the poster child for green jobs".
On the other hand, our economy is in a complete shambles. The Democrats are hosting a certified Clown ShowTM when it comes to the upcoming governor's race of 2010. Even Bart Stupak, author of the Coathanger HCR Amendment, is considering a run for governor. One of the main contenders on from the Valley of the GOPosaurs, Pete Hoekstra, is racing to place his mug in front of any media camera that will have him to talk about how our president is failing Americans with regard to national security.
So what we have is state poised for greatness, thanks in large part to the foreward thinking and planning by our progressive Democratic governor, Jennifer Granholm. But those improvements are going to be largely overshadowed by the poor economy and the perplexing ability of Republicans to frame every single debate and conversation in their own terms, putting Democrats on the defensive. As is happening in our state Congress, they obstruct and fight every progressive attempt to make things better then point their Fingers of BlameTM right back at Democrats who, through their own lame own-foot-shooting seem to be their own worst enemies much of the time. For all her many great efforts, efforts to diversify Michigan's economy and put us in a good position with regard to green energy and a new energy economy, she is term-limited and will likely never get the credit she is due for the great service she has done for our state.
Will Democrats be able to turn the Meme of the Day around in 2010 and fight back effectively to win these battles or will Republicans dominate the message wars and, despite their obstructionist behavior and lack of vision or political leadership, use the poor economy to whip the Dems and gain political advantage?
My take is, if you want to see what will happen on the broad national stage, watch what happens in Michigan. While Sarah Palin likes to cast Alaska as a microcosm of the country as a whole, Michigan is far more representative of the USA. We have rural and urban areas and everything in between. We have a manufacturing base, farming and a strong service sector. We have a racially, economically and politically diverse population. All of these things lead me to believe that how politics play out here in our state in the coming year will very likely be an early warning sign as to how things will go nationally.
The NY Times has an article about our state's efforts to remake ourselves without "King Auto" that touches on things most of know - film incentives, green jobs, battery production, and worker retraining. It also touched on the fact that our problems are impacting the country as a whole.
On a broader level, the troubles of the auto industry are having a profound impact on the overall United States economy. The industry - with Michigan as its center - now accounts for only 1.5 percent of the nation's economic output, down from 3 percent in 2007 and 5 percent at its peak in the 1950s.
The automakers have historically played a big part in ending recessions. Car companies, in the past, would increase production and add workers to satisfy pent-up consumer demand after a downturn. But now, the industry's troubles may be prolonging the misery.
"If not for the problems in the auto industry, this recession would have been much milder," said Ben Herzon, an economist at Macroeconomic Advisors, in St. Louis. [emphasis added]
Okay, that's something most of us know too, but I pointed it out for all the Limbaugh and Hewitt trolls that might be reading this. Hoping that GM or Chrysler fails is not in the best interest of the country. When we lose jobs, we lose money, and in turn we stop spending. When we stop spending, businesses lose money and they're forced to layoff people or cut wages. Unless you're independently wealthy, the pain will eventually trickle down to you too. Understand?
When it comes to protecting the American middle-class and rejuvenating the domestic auto industry, talk is cheap. In Washington these days, it seems like everyone has an opinion about how the auto companies got into this mess.
While I certainly didn't run for Congress to defend the mistakes of the past, what's most important to me is protecting the working families in my district who rely on the auto industry to pay the bills and put food on the table.
For those who don't know, the 7th congressional district is home to the GM Lansing Delta Township Assembly plant, located just off I-69 in Eaton County. This world-class facility is where the GMC Acadia, Buick Enclave, and Saturn Outlook are built.
While the news of GM's bankruptcy filing one week ago today was certainly a tough blow for the state of Michigan, the Delta Township plant will actually be increasing production later this year as the Chevy Traverse is added to the plant's lineup. This is a move I personally advocated for to Fritz Henderson on his first day as CEO of GM.
Michigan innovators like Billy Durant, Ransom E. Olds, Henry Ford, and Walter Chrysler built the auto industry that put the world on wheels. Innovators like Walter P. Reuther helped the auto industry build the modern American middle class and a standard of living second to none. At the start of the Second World War, it was General Motors' president William Knudsen who stepped aside to serve his country, turning the factories of the Big Three into the Arsenal of Democracy that helped us win the war.
We know Michiganders know how to build, and we know how to innovate. It's time to do both.
Yesterday, I visited GM's Romulus Engine plant to talk to workers, plant managers, and local union leadership about the future of our auto industry. There, I saw the faces of our auto industry the national media often overlooks: the hard working men and women who have built Michigan. The Romulus plant has a reputation for quality and environmental stewardship. Last year, it was ranked in the top ten most productive engine plants in North America by the Harbour Report. Romulus workers also were honored in 2003 and 2006 as exemplary "Michigan Clean Corporate Citizens". The workers I met were proud of the job they do, and with the high quality products they turn out -- they should be!
I told Labor Secretary Solis and Dr. Ed Montgomery, White House Director of Recovery for auto communities and workers, that only protecting and increasing employment -- American employment -- will help move us out of the recession we're currently in. Fortunately, GM has a new, innovative labor agreement with the UAW to build subcompact cars here in the U.S., at an existing plant. GM has also announced it will not make cars in China available for sale in the United States. These are the right steps to take in reinventing an great American icon like General Motors, and the only way we'll turn our economy around.
For decades, innovators have called Michigan home. In times of hardship, Michiganders pull together. We innovate. We build. We look to a better, brighter future. I'm confident that despite Monday's wrenching news, we have brighter days to look forward to.
Wizard Kitten does a great job passing along important information as it happens, but even she needs a break at times to recharge. With that in mind, I thought I'd pass along a few links regarding GM that I thought you might find useful.
You can follow the GM bankruptcy proceedings online at GM Reinvention.com. The website answers questions about their restructuring and will post updates as they become available.
Finally, you can also check out FastLane Blog where Fritz Henderson had this to say:
We're committed to open communications and I am personally putting a high priority on transparency. One way we'll do this is by launching a series of live web chats on this website. I'll kick things off later this week for one hour on Thursday, June 4 at 3 p.m. EDT. Following me, a steady stream of GM leaders from throughout the company will host additional chats, about two a week, on whatever topics are of most concern to you.
A source inside General Motors said blue collar workers were paid today--a day early--without explanation from the company.
This caused suspicions that the payroll funds needed to be spent so that they would not be temporarily tied up by a bankruptcy filing.
The same employee said UAW workers are supposed to vote on the proposed contract concessions tomorrow, but that the UAW vote is not expected to change GM's decision about whether or not to file bankruptcy.
On the other hand, it is believed that GM might wait on filing its bankruptcy, until after employees vote on the concessions--because they would be less willing to make sacrifices to a company that is already in bankruptcy.
Employees have not received any word from management or the union indicating that there will be action this week.
USW President Leo Gerard is a soft-spoken man, but he has some blunt words about General Motors restructuring plans:
The proposition General Motors has presented to the United Auto Workers and American taxpayers in its latest restructuring plan is simple: You must pay for your own execution.
GM, which already took $15.4 billion in bailout money, wants another $11.6 billion and is offering in return this deal: It will close 16 of its American manufacturing plants, terminate 21,000 of its factory workers and double the cars it builds in low-wage Mexico, China and South Korea and ships back to the U.S. to sell.
There it is: GM is demanding that Americans pay to send their own jobs overseas.
In the world where corporate executives live, the one in which boards of directors grant CEOs multi-million dollar bonuses even after companies tank, maybe that's not a perverse proposition.
But in the world where real Americans live, we've had enough of this crap. Decades of foolish tax and other federal policies that encouraged American manufacturing firms to throw Americans out of work and expatriate were bad enough. To expect American taxpayers to bankroll GM's plans to layoff American workers and move their jobs overseas goes too far.
Gerard goes on to point out that this isn't just about the UAW or GM. This is about American manufacturing and the millions of people in good-paying jobs who depend on the auto industry - steelworkers, rubber workers, glass workers, healthcare, education, retail - a total of more than 7 million people.
What will we be left with if manufacturing dies? "America is in danger of attempting to subsist on an economy based on nothing more than amorphous derivatives, credit default swaps and Ponzi schemes." Manufacturing jobs helped millions of people achieve the American Dream and that dream is now under assault.
In just the past eight months of this recession, caused in huge part by recklessness on Wall Street, this country has lost 1.2 million manufacturing jobs, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. GM cannot take tax dollars to slash more. Former U.S. Labor Secretary Robert B. Reich agrees. Here's what he told the Washington Post, ". . . it raises fundamental questions about the purpose of bailing out these big companies. If GM is going to do more of its production overseas, then why exactly are we saving GM?"
Gerard says, "We have no intention of buying our own noose. We intend to win this fight." He's being joined in that fight by Sen. Debbie Stabenow, the Rev. Jesse Jackson, actor Danny Glover and Lansing Mayor Virg Bernero, as well as the USW, the Alliance for American Manufacturing, and the Mayors and Municipalities Automotive Coalition, among others. They're conducting an 11-state, 32-city protest bus tour: "Keep it Made in America." The idea is simple. If we buy it here, we should build it here, which Gerard points out is not impossible for a U.S. auto company to do.
Ford Motor Co., which is not taking any bailout money, is investing $500 million in retooling its Michigan Truck plant outside Detroit so that it can make small cars that it will sell worldwide, including its next-generation, battery-electric Focus. And Chrysler, which is getting bailout money, has made a deal with Fiat under which the Italian car company will manufacture a small car in one of Chrysler's U.S. assembly facilities, which, along with other long-term commitments, will eventually create 4,000 U.S. jobs.
At each stop along the tour, people are being asked to sign their petition supporting "Buy it here; build it here." Please click over and add your name too. They'll present the petitions at a teach-in conference in Washington, D.C. on May 19 when they'll explain to elected officials why GM's plan fails America and why they must require GM to submit a new plan supporting American jobs.
Congressman Gary Peters appeared on The Ed Show tonight talking about the announcement that GM is going to furlough its workers for 9 weeks this summer.
This is a bittersweet story from the Flint Journal. Greg Miles worked for General Motors' Grand Blanc Weld Tool Center for three decades, and then a few weeks ago he learned that his job had been outsourced to a foreign country. What did he do? He wrote a song, "Didn't Quit My Day Job, It Quit Me."
The lyrics came to him in a rush one Sunday afternoon.
In an hour, he scribbled the song on a yellow notepad. He spent a few weeks recording the song in the basement of his Waterford home.
The title comes from realizing that his job, designing tools for assembly lines, was outsourced to foreign countries. The job didn't go away; it just wasn't being done by U.S. workers anymore. [...]
Sitting next to the Irish flag hung on the basement wall, Miles sang in his warbly voice, strummed his Fender acoustic guitar and played his harmonica.
The song combines folk, rock and country.
"It's kind of like a country song, but it's not real twangy," Miles said.
The song has become something of an Internet sensation, and he's already been contacted by several local media outlets and asked to sing at a concert.
"I've never had more fun losing a job in my whole life," Miles said, laughing.
At least they didn't take away his sense of humor, and his talent for strumming that guitar. He's pretty darn good.
Check out this excerpt from his song, along with the YouTube video.
OK, I have no idea what this actually means, and it's obviously WAY too early to be too encouraged, but this is certainly a long-overdue positive bit of news:
General Motors has just announced that they will no longer need the $2 billion in government funding that they had previously requested for March. The good news comes in tangent with the announcement that GM Canada has ratified a competitive agreement with the CAW.
GM states they no longer need the US funding due to an acceleration of company wide cost reductions and "pro-active deferrals of spending previously anticipated in January and February."
GM has announced that it will delay the construction of the new engine factory in Flint. The factory will produce the engines for the Chevrolet Cruze small car and the Chevrolet Volt plug-in electric car. The delay is temporary, while they work through their cash situation.
ELECTRIFYING NEWS FOR FLINT MI USA!
OLD SPARKY WANTS TO COME BACK, SIGN ME UP!
(Gmf 07/30/2008 by Terry Bankert)
The city of Flint is preparing to get charged. That's because plans are under way for Flint to be the production home of the engine for the Chevy Volt. [1]The Chevy Volt is a one-of-a-kind plug-in electric-gas hybrid car GM unveiled at the 2007 Detroit Auto Show[2]The Volt is a battery-powered vehicle that is designed to travel about 40 miles. After that, the car would switch to an internal combustion engine[3]The four-cylinder engine built at the plant would also go into the new Chevy Cruze, a new, smaller vehicle that will be produced by General Motors in the future. [3]
Posted originally to: http://energyalternativesadvis...
GM has announced that it will close 4 plants, but thankfully, none are in Michigan.
The company says it will cease production at a full-size pickup factory in Oshawa, Ontario. It also will stop making SUVs at factories in Moraine, Ohio, and Janesville, Wis., and it will stop making mid-size pickups in Toluca, Mexico. ...
He also says the company will build a new small car in Lordstown, Ohio, in mid-2010. And it will add shifts at car plants in Lordstown and Orion Township, Mich.
GM says that 18 of the next 19 new product launches will be cross-overs or cars, powered by an engine to be built in Flint. (YAY!)
Meanwhile, nearly 9 in 10 women would rather talk to someone in an eco-friendly car, than someone in a sports car.
GM workers in Lansing have voted to approve a new contract agreement, which covers issues such as seniority, overtime and plant conditions for the three thousand workers. The vote ends the strike that lasted about a month. About 73% of the workers voted in favor of the contract.
A strike at Alliance Interiors was announced at 9 pm on Tue. April 15, 2008. Workers at the plant voted the UAW as bargaining agent for them in April of last year. The profitable company has dragged its feet throughout negotiations. This strike is likely to stop work at the nearby Delta Township Assembly plant which is supplied by Alliance.
The name of the company may be familiar because less than 2 years ago the company was given $2,550,000 in bonds from the Michigan Strategic Fund. The Michigan Strategic Fund was designed to promote smart economic growth by developing strategies and providing services to create and retain good jobs and a high quality of life according to the article linked to above.
I wonder if the cuts to wages and benefits are a part of the "high quality of life" that were part of the program. Federal, state and local taxes were waived from the bond to help insure that "good jobs" would stay local. I don't believe that this was the vision of the program and it looks like John and Jane taxpayer are getting stuck with the tab on another corporate tax break!
Today's Wall Street Journal reports that General Motors has agreed to delay receiving approximately $2B from parts supplier Delphi Corp.
Delphi needs $6.1 million in financing in order to exit Chapter 11. It's been difficult for them to find creditors and this maybe a last ditch effort by GM to save the company.
To reduce the amount of cash Delphi needs to raise, GM has agreed to take $2 billion from Delphi in the form of a note that can be paid back over time, Delphi said in a statement. GM has also agreed to finance all or part of an $825 million, second-term loan included in the $6.1 billion package, Delphi said. The plan requires court approval.
The article continues
Under the new agreement, Delphi's exit package will consist of as much as $2.85 billion from GM. In addition, Delphi expects to include a $1.6 billion asset-backed revolving-credit facility and a first-lien term loan of at least $1.7 billion.
Let's hope it's enough to do the trick for Delphi and keep them afloat. And, let's give GM credit for realizing they needed to do something drastic and for doing it.
I've written about the Sit Down many times, and I don't have that much more to say. All I'm going to do tonight is ask you to remember that 71 years ago, your parents, grandparents, aunts, and uncles, banded together to fight a battle that changed the nation. They were supported by local businesses, who were afraid of retribution but secretly supplied food to the strikers, and allowed meetings to take place in their shops. They were supported by the steelworkers who sent money to Flint, to support the families of the strikers while they weren't being paid.
If you've ever wondered what Solidarity is, you can look to the Flint Sit Down.
The Sit Down Stike was a long time ago, and you might think that it has very little to do with you. But if you work under the protection of OSHA and MIOSHA, and if you're a member of the middle class, you can thank the Flint Sit Downers. There isn't a single labor law that hasn't been written on the backs of the men and women who stood up and demanded their rights and their dignity, as workers. And in this case, they stood up for those rights by sitting down, in the freezing cold factories of Flint, Michigan.
If you will, tonight, join me in a moment of silence to remember the Sit-Downers. In particular, I'd like to recognize Al Bodette, who passed away a few months ago. I had the good fortune of meeting Al at the 2006 Shiawassee County Dems Pasta & Politics fundraiser. Al and a few other veterans of the Sit Down were our special guests.
My prayers have been with Al's family this month, as they faced this holiday season without him. It is their first Christmas, their first New Year, and their first anniversary of the strike, without him at their side. If they are anything like my family, they lost more than a loved one; they lost their hero.
I don't have any wise words when it comes to loss, but I take comfort in knowing that Al and the others are with all of us, each day. They forged the path for us to follow. The Sit Down is one of the most important, yet least appreciated events in American history. It is up to us to make sure that America never forgets what that fight was for.
The torch has been passed to us. It is up to us to carry on their work.
(Word needs to get out about this. - promoted by djtyg)
The news of the Delta Township Plant’s elimination of a shift has made the news rounds locally in Lansing and throughout Michigan. It never ceases to amaze me how the corporate media cannot do their job. Effectively reporting on a local issue would have been to interview someone who actually works at the plant not some malcontent from another plant, as the LSJ did on Oct. 23, or a temporary employee like the LSJ did on Oct. 24(I am still not linking to the LSJ).
What could the LSJ have done to better report on this news story? How about call a local dealership and ask if there is a waiting period for the vehicles that the Delta Plant builds. I made the call, it took about 45 seconds and I was given an “over 2 months” waiting period for the Buick Enclave. I did not call the GMC dealership or the Saturn Dealership to check on the waiting time for the GMC Acadia or the Saturn Outlook which are both also built at the Delta plant. One can only assume that with the news that Consumer Reports has added both the Acadia and the Outlook to its “newly recommended” list that sales would increase. Car and Driver gave the Enclave rave reviews, which also helped spark heavy orders for the vehicle.
When it comes to protecting the American middle-class and rejuvenating the domestic auto industry, talk is cheap. In Washington these days, it seems like everyone has an opinion about how the auto companies got into this mess.
