Opinion
Gangster government gave Chrysler to the UAW
Examiner Editorial
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May 8, 2009
Give President Obama credit – he at least made the proverbial offer Chrysler’s secured creditors couldn’t refuse. The way Obama strong-armed creditors who rightfully expected to be treated justly under the law was right out of Juan Peron’s playbook. Like the Argentinian strong man, Obama muscled the owners and creditors out of a productive private company and gave it to union leaders, who will then fill his campaign coffers in gratitude for his generosity. The Examiner’s Michael Barone – who has forgotten more about American government and politics than most Washington political experts know – was correct to dub Obama’s Chrysler heist “an episode of Gangster Government.”
Forget what anybody in the White House or what is left of the Chrysler executive corps claims to the contrary because the UAW effectively owns the company now, holding 55 percent of its stock. True, the union doesn’t get an explicit controlling majority of the board of directors, but who needs that when you’ve got the White House guaranteeing your work and the U.S. Treasury Department making sure you never have to worry about the bottom line. UAW President Ron Gettelfinger’s place in Big Labor’s Hall of Fame is now secure. He found a sugar daddy with an endless supply of cash. So UAW members and retirees can keep right on drawing those pay and benefits so excessively generous they made it impossible for the old Chrysler to compete with Toyota and Honda.
Contrasting mightily with the Pennsylvania Avenue Gang’s thuggery is the quiet confidence of Ford Motor Company’s president and CEO, Allan Mullaly. He had the foresight three years ago to strengthen his firm’s cash and credit reserves in anticipation of the inevitable decline of auto sales. He also invested heavily in more fuel efficient products at just the right time for market conditions. When GM and Chrysler headed hats-in-hand to Washington last fall, Mullaly said Ford didn’t want a bailout and then watched quietly as his two cross-town rivals committed corporate suicide. Now Ford is positioned strongly to be the last great American car company. With a guy like that at the helm, it’s enough to make people who love American free enterprise go out and buy a new Ford.
