UAW Do a Plaxico

My God, the UAW refuses to agree to wage cuts for auto workers, which might sink the bailout package. Out of control labour costs are what's killing GM, Ford and Chrysler. Paying people $73 an hour for unskilled labour can't work. The New York Post has the story:

He spoke shortly after Republicans left a closed-door meeting where they balked at giving the automakers federal aid unless their powerful union agreed to slash wages next year to bring them into line with those of Japanese carmakers.

Republican Sen. George V. Voinovich of Ohio, a strong bailout supporter, said the UAW was willing to make the cuts - but not until 2011.
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Sen. Bob Corker of Tennessee, the GOP point man in the talks, said the two sides had been tantalizingly close to a deal, but the UAW's refusal to agree wage concessions by a specific date in 2009 kept them apart.

Why the f--- should the public support these people? What's the point? The Detroit Three should declare bankruptcy. Maybe somebody else can pick up the pieces and start over. This model is unsustainable. What ever happened to 'lean and mean'? These fat cats are still stuck in the Carter era.

If they bail them out now this will be extremely unpopular. Senator Jim DeMint of South Carolina predicts rage and doom:

“We’re going to have riots. There are already people rioting because they’re losing their jobs when everybody else is being bailed out. The fairness of it becomes more and more evident as we go along. The auto companies may be hurting,” he said, but “there are very few companies that aren’t hurting and they’re going to hurt. We don’t have enough money to bail everyone out.”
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“If you look at where we’re going, we’re not on a sustainable course as a country,” DeMint said. “Frankly, GM is in a better financial situation than we are as a country. The only difference is we can print money. But as other countries around the world lose confidence in the value of a dollar – that’s going to come home very shortly.”