Anyone see Mittens on the TeeVee this morning? He's suddenly the new Republican face of the "let them just die" crowd. Why Mitt is the go-to guy on this is not really clear - after all, he hasn't lived in Michigan for nearly 40 years, and has nothing to do with the current auto industry. On top of that, the guy has no idea of how to fix this problem, other than to take it out on the workers of America.
"Don't just write a check," Romney told Matt Lauer of the Today Show. Instead, without providing details, Romney said the government should help the companies "shed their costs immediately."
What costs could they possibly shed, Mitt? Materials? Energy? Anyone giving that stuff away for free?
Of course not. Mitt has his eye on making the "little guy" pay the price.
In an opinion piece in the New York Times on Wednesday, Romney suggested the companies seek bankruptcy protection, a move that would allow them to restructure and trim billions in labor, pension and health-care costs. He also advocated selling excess real estate.
"These costs have to go," Romney said on Thursday morning. But he did not talk about the impact those decisions would have on hundreds of thousands of workers and retirees who depend on the automakers.
Of course he didn't. When do Republicans ever stop to consider how their slash-and-burn policies affect the people that they serve? They don't. That's the hard part, and they will not do the heavy lifting when it comes to solving actual problems. Ask Bush, DeVos, Shelby, Bishop, or any of the Free Lunch Crowd that got us here in the first place - destroy first, complain about the mess later, but never, ever, provide a solution. Mitt is just a pale imitation of the philosophy that we just got done throwing out of office, but for some reason, the media takes him seriously on this issue. Go figure.
John Cherry answered him today, citing the new Michigan unemployment numbers, the projected loss of 2.5 million jobs nationwide, and the crushing economic figures of the "loss of $125 billion in personal income, $17 billion in Social Security receipts and $20 billion in personal income taxes" to the American economy.
Nonetheless, bankruptcy advocates like Mr. Romney would pile these kinds of losses onto the shoulders of a nation already struggling under the weight of record mortgage foreclosures, a recessionary slowdown across economic sectors, a credit crunch and decreasing global demand for American products.
There are no human benefits to Mr. Romney's you're-on-your-own approach, only continued loss of jobs, homes and health care for millions of people.
A bankruptcy in the auto industry will cripple our economy and worsen the human toll of our current economic challenges.
Now is not the time for Mr. Romney or his supporters in Congress to advocate for experiments with intriguing financial techniques on some grand scale. It is time to work cooperatively on a solution that invests in security for American workers and in our technological strength.
Yes, Mitt, let's let the adults handle the problem now, OK? We realize that probably excludes a lot of members of Congress, but we are hoping that cooler heads can prevail here and find a rational solution to this issue. Burning down the entire house isn't it. |
