Saturday, October 11, 2008

Too Horrible to Think About--But for the Wrong Reasons

The news that General Motors and Chrysler are considering a merger should send cold chills down the spines of everyone in America.

It's yet another sign of our shrinking ability to make anything, to buy anything, to compete in the world, and to produce what we need to defend ourselves.

The Detroit Free Press describes the merger possibility, in a story in editions for Saturday (Oct. 11, 2008) as a "landmark moment" in Detroit auto industry history because it would "reshape" the global auto industry.

The Freep's business mouthpiece, Tom Walsh, offers his own take on the matter, describing it as "too hard to think about."

Why?

"All the plants to close, all the tortuous discussions with the UAW, all of the possible litigation with dealers. It's too horrible to contemplate," Walsh wrote.

Good grief, man. Thousands of people are likely to lose their jobs, their homes, their futures. And all you can do is whine about having to cover the "tortuous discussions with the UAW"?

Can't you explain why the negotiations might be "torturous"? Can't you even acknowledge the pain that job losses could cause the working families represented by the UAW?

In any of the coverage by the Free Press, was there even a working person asked for his or her opinion of the matter?

Oh, there was a nice piece on a Ford executive retiring.

That'll have to do.

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