If you want to visit my site http://www.nfcu-org.com.

So.. they are making great strides in the major factor affecting their success– the union straight jacket. They are winning many quality contests and their cars are inching up on satisfaction surveys. They have a larger array of high mileage cars coming on stream– the Malibu is very good.

They face a credit storm diminishing their marketplace place from 16m sales to 11 millioin sales. Not of their own doing… their competence is not on the line. The 200,000 or so employees of suppliers across the country are at risk and so the famous SYSTEMIC risk exists that TARP was designed to address.

Most of the arguments beg the fact that we are trying to prevent a fiasco from descending into a disaster. $25B is a small amount to offer to insure that an auto bankruptcy isn't the tipping point to a depression.

Further, they asked for a LOAN not a bailout. I know… it is a higher risk loan, but the term is important.

Bill

How did they do it? One trick is to add in 2005 profit sharing because the 2006 number was zero.

Another trick, apparently, is to include all payments to retirees (and dependents) in the costs, but not in the number of workers. From their figures, it appears that there are twice as many retirees as current workers. That's a good way to inflate costs.

I suppose, in some dubious libertarian fantasy world, these numbers could be seen as labor costs to the car manufacturer. However, these numbers are being reported as what the workers get paid – a real perversion of math and economics.

those workers’ salary and benefits total more than $70 per hour!!

is false.

It also divides all current retirement benefits among current employees.

Thats just wrong.

There is this little program called medicare…

Maybe the best “long-term solution” for all of us would be for anti-worker blog-sites to go the way of the dodo bird. They sure as hell don't provide the public with much reliable information.

http://www.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idU...

That's a great way to build your customer base, IMHO.

http://www.aam.com/index.php?s=217

“Does AAM already have a 2nd Tier wage structure?

Yes. In 2006, AAM and the UAW agreed to an all-in wage and benefit package for new hires at the original U.S. locations. This agreement is more closely aligned to what AAM’s competitors pay. Unfortunately, as a result of the decline in market demand for its products, AAM has not been able to hire any associates under this second tier wage and benefit structure.”

PBGC does cover pension benefits, but it also takes in premiums. The taxpayers won't pay a dime unless the PBGC goes bust, which, while possible, is a separate problem that should be dealt with explicitly.