This is a tongue in cheek “PRAISE” for the Economist story on the Failure of the US bailout of its auto companies. The Economist gets two very important points dead wrong;
The Economist says – “A number of Republican senators were prepared to do just that, essentially because they believed that pouring more money into unrestructured car companies meant pouring it away. They feared that their hard-pressed constituents, few of whom work in the car business and whose own cash-strapped firms are not getting any form of bail-out, would strongly object.”
The facts are that the three key Republican Senators (Korker of Tennessee, Shelby of Alabama and McConnell of Kentucky all have at least 3-4 big auto or auto-part plants in their states most of which are owned by foreign automakers. So their constituents are a part of the auto business. And their foreign autoplants stand to gain from the bankruptcy of the US firms. As well the Economists writer plays loose with the facts on wage concessions from the Unions. The latest concessions from the UAW put them on par with foreign automaker wages rather than what the Economist implys in its reporting that those concessions are yet to be made: “the desire of Republicans to get the unions to agree to big pay cuts could still prove a deal-breaker”. The Economist writer conveniently puts blinders on to the notion of Union Busting despite many news report of Republican memos citing this showdown as being an opportunity for just such mischief making.
And so the Economist and its readers miss the Real Story – What is really going on here is some Union busting. The Unions did not help themselves by campaigning vigorously against the re-election of Senate Minority Leader McConnell of Kentucky this past November. But why does a reputedly unbiased Press observer of the Economics scene make such huge journalistic gaffes? Only the Shadow knows what evil lurks….