Michigan auto wife

How Not to Bail Out Detroit

I am writing to share my story, or at least my thoughts. Not because I’m special or different, I do though consider myself very lucky these days to have a job and to have a home and for the time being my husband is an engineer with Chrysler. The auto industry has been very good to us up to this point- it has not been an especially easy industry to be married to but my husband has been with the company for sixteen years and with any luck he will stay there for many more. My husband leaves the house every morning at 6am and goes to work with an unwavering belief that there is a future for this industry. His loyalty is infuriating and awe inspiring at the same time, and it is his loyalty to the people he works with (not a corporate logo, or a balance sheet) that allowed him to make the difficult decision not to take the buyout and to stick with the autos, and more importantly to stick with Detroit. My husband whole heartedly believes that he can be part of the solution, that he can be a part of a turnaround for the American manufacturers.

But after the colossal and seemingly never ending “gimme” to the banks and the absolute mess made of TARP it is unconscionable that our government find it acceptable to sit by the wayside while our manufacturing base and the millions of associated jobs- not to mention families- are abandoned at their greatest hour of need.

Why are the financial services industries, Citigroup and AIG too big to fail yet the men and women who make up the backbone of this nation are left to fend for themselves? When did manipulating the markets to make a fast buck become more important than manufacturing a quality product?

I believe the misdirected backlash against the American autos is pure political posturing that holds American manufacturers to an unreasonable performance standard that allows both the democratic and republican parties to wash their hands of any real responsibility for the economic crisis we’re currently facing. If we want American manufacturers to be competitive globally then maybe our government can do something about the unfair cost differentials (namely pension and healthcare obligations that the almighty European, Korean and Japanese car giants don’t have to worry about thanks to their own government subsidies.) If we want to actually help our national manufacturers we could recognize that “buying American” does not mean leasing a Mercedes made in Alabama, and “being green” does not mean buying a 2900 pound Toyota Prius that has to be shipped from Japan thus leaving a much larger carbon footprint than buying a Ford , GM or Chrysler product made locally. Of course we know this industry needs to do better, but it can’t shoulder the weight of every misstep, misdeed and failed U.S. economic policy in recent history!

I want someone in Washington to tell me to my face that this issue is not important enough for the government to step in at this time. I am sure I’m not the only one, I am just one face of the many that make up the American automotive industry.