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Tiger Jack
(198.204.100.159) on 12/11/2008 - 11:47 a.m. says: ( 145 views
, 2 likes
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"Where were they in the 1970's?"
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CONTEXT ADDED BY ADMIN:
END OF CONTEXT
When an entire region of the country - the South - was losing its textile industry to overseas slave factories, Southern Congressmen pushed for some sort of tariff or intervention, in order to save the basic industry of the entire Southern economy.
Northern Congressmen, including those in Michigan and Ohio, said no - that this was "protectionism".
So, the South lost thousands of jobs to the third world.
What did the South do? Mounted, in each and every state, massive and aggressive economic development efforts, with state-funded incentives, in order to establish a new industrial base in the South.
And, I would remind these people - their execs started this Southern "buying industry" phenomenon with the Saturn project in the mid-1980's. Remember that? GM launched that highly-publicized search for a Southern location for its new Saturn plant - for a car yet to be seen. Every Southern state "bid" on it, with state-funded incentives....Tennessee won out, and that helped Tennessee garner more automotive industries.
In Alabama, landing Mercedes opened the door for Honda and Hyundai. State-funded incentives were passed by the Legislature, placed on the ballot, and ratified by the people. So, the people of Alabama voted to spend their money to lure these industries - ditto the German plant in Mobile, of late....That is none of Michigan's or Ohio's business. Period.
But, Congress funded none of these, or did anything to assist the South rebuild its industrial base. The Southern states did it on their own. And, if the workers in many of these plants do not wish to belong to a union, is that not their right?
No - Congress allowed the textile industry to vanish from the South, but are mad that Southern Congressmen would oppose, on very similar grounds, intervention on behalf of automobile manufacturers who have been in trouble for over 20 years, and have done nothing on their own to correct their own problems?...Their problem has been a time-bomb ticking, and GM has become nothing more than a corporate pention fund. They have known their problems for years, as have their government officials.
If this bailout goes through, it will never end. Every quarter, they will need more to stay afloat. No one wants to buy their stock, and the American public spoke long ago on most of their products. Why not just buy the damned industry and turn it over to the Defense Department?
How ironic, this: Men, wearing shirts made in Costa Rica and pants made in Thailand, urging a boycott of Alabama.
Protectionism, indeed.
nism, indeed.
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