Ray Uhric
The Detroit Disaster Conspiracy Theory
In my neighborhood, American cars are disappearing from the driveways. The American
people, apparently, have voted with their wallets for the death of the American auto industry. It
has become a cliché that “Detroit makes cars that people don’t want buy.” Mysteriously, I
have never heard any politician or anyone in the media ask Detroit’s management WHY they
build cars people cars people don’t want to buy. In this article, I will attempt to answer that
question. Since I am the only one who cares enough to ask the question, this article may be a
waste of time. However, I consider it my patriotic duty to fill in this huge hole in the historical
record.
Today (12-16-2008), the media are doing their best to keep us in suspense as to whether GM,
Ford and Chrysler will die or if the White House will throw them a financial lifeline. An
industry that was once a source of pride for America may be mortally wounded. What
happened?
Americans seem to be remarkably indifferent to an issue that could have devastating
consequences for an already reeling economy. The Wall Street pundits say: why should we
care? We have a brand new non-union “American” auto industry in the Southern states.
Transplants, Honda, Toyota, Mercedes, BMW and others, build cars here and employ
American workers. That makes them “American cars,” right? Wrong.
My point is not to debate whether a Nissan made in Tennessee is an American car. My
objective is to satisfy my curiosity as to why Detroit went into self-destruct mode shortly after
the end of World War II --just as the Cold War was heating up. Detroit’s decline certainly didn’
t hurt the global capitalist’s Cold War strategy to build up the post war economies of Germany
and Japan. But that’s another story.
Putting that aside, these are some of the common explanations for why Americans turned their
backs on our auto industry: “Detroit management is stupid, they wouldn’t adapt, they offered a
‘ho hum’ product line, they make boring cars, poor quality, awful styling, they make cars
people don’t want to buy.” Whether or not these things are true isn’t my question. The
question is: if these criticisms of American cars are valid, why aren’t people curious about why
these criticisms are valid? The loss of this industry could wreck the economy and the lives of
millions of workers. You would think people would be intensely interested or at least curious.
To me, it seems extremely odd that all of the American automakers made exactly the same,
well publicized, “mistakes” – year after year, decade after decade. Why wouldn’t one or more
(there used to more than the “Big three”) break out of this self-destructive pattern? The market
share was there for the taking but they all handed it to the foreign competition on a silver
platter. Why? To paraphrase a disgusted Texas Chevrolet dealer: “They couldn’t have lost
market share more effectively if they would have done it deliberately.” Is it possible that it was
deliberate?
Why would the senior management of the American auto industry deliberately lose market
share? Simply add up the number of shut down unionized plants and the answer to this
question becomes obvious. This irresponsible class warfare may be applauded on Wall Street
but what will the ultimate cost be to the economy, the U.S. Treasury and the families of
millions of workers?
But what about the dealers and the investors? Wouldn’t they want to save a dying American
auto industry?
Most car dealers are “diversified.” The mega dealers sell Japanese, German, Korean, and soon
Chinese and Indian cars. They have long ago factored in the disappearance of the unionized
autoworker. As for Wall Street, they’re in it for the long haul. Remember, Wall Street’s
mouthpiece, the business press, never tires of telling us that Detroit is profitable in China and
Russia. No legacy costs there.
The issue of legacy costs means that for the blue-collar worker, the American Dream is a myth
(and for some, a nightmare). Like a nuclear power plant, the private sector corporation has a
finite life span. When the workers get old and sick and infirm, the corporation becomes,
metaphorically, radioactive and it must be discarded. Or, there must be massive cuts in the
workers pay and benefits or production shifted to a place with no legacy costs. The business
press and the so-called “liberal” mainstream media demand that UAW workers and retirees take
cuts in their health care coverage, and pension benefits. I say all the people who are demanding
that the autoworkers take cuts should take cuts in their health care and pension benefits. Only
a hypocrite would demand a sacrifice of others that they are not willing to make themselves.
But when it comes to legacy costs, nothing can match the burden of the compensation given to
corporate executives and federal politicians. All those Southern politicians who spent millions of
tax dollars to lure the foreign, non-union companies into their states should take cuts in pay and
health care coverage and their pensions. That is what they are demanding of the unionized
American autoworkers. Our politicians subsidize the foreign competition so they can put the
American workers on the street! Whose side are they on anyway? I wonder if they all have
dual citizenship. Are they citizens and secret agents of Japan or Germany or Korea? (By the
way, dual citizenship should be illegal. If you can’t give total allegiance to America, you should
get the out of the country.)
The conservatives and the Southern politicians conveniently forget that Germany and Japan
have national health care systems that give their manufactures a cost advantage over us.
(Toyota built a plant in Canada rather than the U.S. because Canada has universal health care.)
They ignore the foreign government subsidies, the American capital and tax dollars that built the
foreign car companies after World War II. They didn’t notice the below cost dumping that
grabbed market share and the fact that Toyota sells the Prius at a loss. They want us to believe
that they are too stupid to realize that one hundred year old companies inevitably incur legacy
costs. What do they want, a workforce comprised entirely of illegal alien migrants riding to
work in the back of pickup trucks?
According to my conspiracy theory, this is all part of the American capitalist Master Plan to
gradually downsize, outsource and, eventually, de-unionize the American auto industry. And
the plan was running right on schedule – until Wall Street’s sub-prime mortgage meltdown blew
a gigantic hole in the American economy. Detroit’s CEOs begging tapped out taxpayers for a
bailout was never in the Master Plan. When the Big Three CEOs say they could have made it
if it wasn’t for the recent economic train wreck, they’re telling the truth. The plan was to
gradually destroy the union. And when the last painful concession is wrung out of the last
hapless UAW worker, Wall Street will suddenly issue a “buy” rating on the Big Three stocks
and the “shrewd” investors will make a killing. Ironically, the current recession (depression?)
may work to the advantage of Wall Street after all. The final deathblow to the UAW will
simply come sooner rather than later.
The media circus surrounding the Detroit bailout hearings was a gigantic PR black eye for the
UAW. The hearings were aired on every cable news channel, wall- to-wall, gavel to gavel.
Even the so-called “liberal media” piled on. It seemed like everybody in the country was
screaming for the blood of the unionized American autoworker. I’m sure the millionaire CEOs
were uncomfortable begging Congress for money but they will be heroes down at the country
club. Maybe the three of them will get medals from the Chamber of Commerce for service
above and beyond the call of duty.
In my opinion, the goal of creating a non-union auto industry is the real reason why the Big
Three, year after year, “wouldn’t adapt.” This is why, decade after decade, Detroit put out
“ho hum,” “boring” products “that people don’t want to buy.” I believe Detroit management
never tried to compete with the foreign manufactures. In fact, they actually financed and
supported the foreign competition.
This is real cause of the auto industry disaster and it is a subject that the anti-worker “experts”
and pundits skillfully avoid. They never mention the billions of dollars of cash that were
squandered by Detroit when they bought and refurbished dying foreign automakers. Like a
stupid, senile, brain dead old sugar daddy, the American auto executives went on a worldwide
spending spree. The industry analysts constantly complain about UAW contracts but they
never mention the multi billion-dollar disaster that was Ford’s Jaguar adventure. This is just
one of many such balance sheet destroying “mistakes.”
********************************
The sad story starts with the Marshal Plan at the end World War II. How much money did the
politicians steal from the American taxpayers to rebuild German and Japanese industry in order
to prevent these countries from going communist? How much technology was transferred? All
the atrocities were instantly forgiven because the American capitalists were creating the weapon
they would use against the unionized American worker. And in the process, these global
capitalist fools turned America from the world’s biggest creditor nation into the world’s biggest
debtor. Some historians say the real winners of World War II were Germany and Japan.
Immediately after the war, Ford and Harley-Davidson built plants in Japan for Japanese
manufacturers. Honeywell and Bell and Howell set up joint ventures with Japanese camera
manufactures thus catapulting Japan into their position of world dominance in cameras and
optics. The American market was thrown wide open to our recently hated enemies. Coast to
coast dealer networks instantly sprang up thanks to millions of dollars of American investment.
You can be sure that none of that cost went on a Japanese or German balance sheet. The
“American” businessmen had to make sure the foreigners were profitable. The economic
theater of the Cold War was raging and the American worker was now the enemy.
To make sure the Japanese manufacturers had the industrial muscle they needed to destroy the
American autoworker, W. Edwards Deming, an American and one of the world’s foremost
quality and reliability engineers was dispatched to Japan. From 1950 onward he taught top
Japanese management and engineers his methods of management and quality. He is honored to
this day, in Japan, for his glorious contribution to their industry. While Deming was in Japan,
however, the American auto executives were busy telling anybody in the media who would
listen about their quality control problems.
During the 1950s, Detroit refused to build sports cars to compete with Ferrari, Maserati, Jaguar,
Aston Martin, Porsche, Mercedes and many others. Instead, they embarked on a series of joint
ventures with the Europeans. The mostly ridiculous cars that resulted accomplished three
things. They wasted lots of money; they made the Europeans look smart and they made
Detroit look stupid. How many billions (or trillions) of dollars have been sucked out of the
American economy and treasury, over the last 50 years, when the wealthiest Americans bought
high profit margin, overpriced, Porsches, BMWs, Mercedes, Audis, Spykers, Maybachs, Rufs,
Ferarris, Maseratis, Alfa Romeos, Lancias, Lamborghinis, Bugattis, Lotuses, Bentleys, Rolls
Royces, Aston Martins, Jaguars, Infinitis, Lexuses, Acuras, Superformance Cobras and GT-40s
and others instead of American luxury and performance cars? Would anyone on Wall Street, in
Washington or academia dare to calculate the total cost to America of this needless economic
disaster? And this enormous number does not include the massive loss from all our other dead
and dying manufacturing industries.
Eventually, in the early 1960s, when the wealthy children of the wealthy American auto
executives were clamoring for Ferraris and Jaguars, something had to be done. So, to prevent
thinking people from smelling a rat, Detroit gave us the Corvette. Now don’t get me wrong; I
like Corvettes. In fact, if I had the money, I would own a 1960 Corvette with a 283 V8, solid
lifters, two 4s and a 4 speed transmission. (In 1960, the Corvette should have had a 5 speed.
With 5 speeds and disc brakes, the Corvette might have actually won Sebring and Le Mans.)
But the first Corvette had a pushrod, cast iron, in line six. This was a very good truck engine.
But it was hopelessly outclassed by the aluminum, overhead cam, V12 Ferraris and the double
overhead cam Jaguars. When you consider the enormous technical and financial resources
available to General Motors at the time, it is impossible to believe that anybody could have been
that stupid as to sabotage the Corvette with a 3 speed manual, a 2 speed automatic
transmission, drum brakes and a push rod engine. In fact, these “mistakes” nearly killed the
Corvette before it was ever born. Ford, Chrysler and all the other U.S. manufacturers made
sure they never made cars to compete with the Europeans, and later, the Japanese. And these
“mistakes” continue right up to the present day. Would anybody in their right mind say that
Detroit seriously tried to compete with the foreign invaders?
Why didn’t Chrysler build a sports car? They had the facilities and the money. Hot rodders
were building what were essentially sports cars in their back yards! Ford killed the Thunderbird
sports car and then sold the preposterous idea that the “T bird” had to be a big, heavy, four-
seat car in order to increase sales. Why didn’t Ford make BOTH, a two seat sports car and a
four seat personal luxury car? And remember, the iconic GT-40 and the Cobra were both born
as British cars. It took American hot rodders to make them winners. While the Ferraris,
Porsches and Jaguars were getting rave reviews in the all-important enthusiast car magazines;
Detroit’s offerings were greeted with almost universal contempt. The pattern was set and it
continues right into the present era of, hybrids, electric cars, “street tuners” and small, practical
SUVs. When it comes to alienating the youth market and women, the “Big Three” have bad
marketing down to a science. Detroit executives deliberately created the stupid, stodgy image
that they will ride right into bankruptcy and busted union contracts.
In Europe, the image destroying helicopter cash drop was muscling up their auto industry.
Beginning in the 1960s, Esso, Good Year, Firestone, Gulf Oil, Marlboro, STP and many other
American corporations poured scores of millions of dollars of sponsorship money into European
racing teams. In 1966, Ford gave British Cosworth $250,000 so they could build a world
beating Formula 1 racing engine. This, despite the fact that Ford already had a world class, in
house, DOHC, Indy 500 winning engine on the shelf! Why didn’t Ford use their Indy engine to
compete in Formula 1? Why did they waste all that money in order to help the British build a
racing engine? Could anybody really be that stupid? I doubt it. And the self-destructive
pattern rolled on.
In 1965, Honda entered Formula 1 with two American drivers. In 1966 and 1967, the tiny
Australian company Repco Brabham won the world championship with a modified Oldsmobile
engine that was abandoned and transferred to Europe by General Motors. Despite their
enormous resources, Detroit never competed in Formula 1. Is it any wonder that the American
people have such contempt for our auto industry and can’t wait to see it tossed into the dustbin
of history? Am I the only American who wants to be proud of what we make in America?
What should I think when someone who inherits a Lincoln dealership drives a Toyota Camry?
What should I think when someone who inherits Ford Motor Company drives a Ferrari? I
think pride in America is dead. And it shows!
For decades, in Europe and America, our greatest racecar drivers were (and still are) winning
races and championships in foreign cars sponsored by American corporations. Ford rescued
Mazda from bankruptcy, twice. Mazda promptly took the rotary engine that General Motors
virtually gave them and used it to humiliate America on the racetracks of the world -- with
American teams and American drivers. From the 1960s to this very day, the best and the
brightest of American auto racing talent use all their brainpower and risk life, limb and fortune
to put foreign cars in the winner’s circle. The competition isn’t between us and the foreigners.
It is us against us. No wonder we lost! What happened to pride in America? What
happened to the win at all cost fighting spirit of “The Greatest Generation” of World War II?
Did the Wall Street and Washington opportunists destroy America’s economic fighting spirit?
What is there to cheer about at the Indy 500, Italian cars with Japanese engines? Will the
Southern politicians be happy when every NASCAR on the track is a Toyota? I would rather
watch a rerun of Jim Hall winning the 1965 Sebring 12 Hours in his all American Chaparral.
That was something to cheer about. There is no American today of the caliber of Jim Hall.
What a shame on this generation!
In the 1960s the same self-destructive pattern continued with passenger cars. Top management
and the bean counters killed the ill-fated Corvair before the car ever got to the production line.
It was “cost considerations” that prevented the engineers from designing and building the car
properly. Could anybody be that stupid as to put a cast iron engine and swing axles in the rear
engined Corvair? This was the “blunder” that made Ralph Nader famous and made General
Motors look like a bunch of idiots. It has to be a conspiracy because nobody could have been
that stupid.
But the most infamous anti competitive outrage committed by GM’s top management occurred
when they killed the Corvette Grand Sport. Chevrolet engineers secretly built a world class,
Ferrari killer called the Grand Sport. Super lightweight, with a state-of-the-art aluminum
DOHC engine, America was ready to take on the world. But America never got a chance.
When top management got wind of the car, they instantly killed the project and reprimanded
the engineer responsible for this outrageous insubordination! Remember, racing by GM
employees was forbidden. Yes sir, the suits really know how to compete. Is that what the
professors taught them at Wharton and Harvard Business Schools? The answer is YES.
Were the top executives of General Motors insane? Were they stupid? Were they “Mid-
Westerners who wouldn’t adapt?” No, no and no. They were standard issue global capitalists
doing what global capitalists do. Their first priority is destroying unions and traveling the world
in their private jets looking for cheap labor. If a sports car, made in North America, in a
unionized plant, conquered the automotive world, it would have ruined everything. The myth
they were creating would have been crushed under the wheels of the Corvette Grand Sport.
What happened to pride in America?
Where were the American politicians, the Chamber of Commerce, and the “National”
Association of Manufactures when all this was going on? Why was there no criticism or
investigation of this bazaar, cookie cutter-consistent, self-destructive pattern that persisted for
50 YEARS? Why did nobody ever ask Detroit why they didn’t adapt? Why didn’t Detroit
build high tech motorcycles to compete with the Japanese? They had the facilities and plenty of
money. Why did Detroit’s marketing people let the Japanese create a fabulous image with the
young people of America while they did everything they could to discredit themselves with this
vitally important consumer segment? The leaders of the American auto industry could have
fought for their market share and crushed foreign invaders. But they chose not to. Were they
stupid? I say, nobody could be that stupid.
And to really put the final nail in the coffin of their balance sheets, Detroit continued to
squander billions of dollars of cash buying up dying foreign car companies until all their cash
was gone. And lets not forget the hundreds of millions of dollars that went down the rat hole
when Ford and Chrysler bankrolled foreign (Jaguar and Lamborghini) Formula 1 racecar
teams. In 2000, General Motors bought a stake in Fiat. That meant they were bankrolling
Ferrari’s Formula 1 team. This “investment” disaster cost GM more than 2 billion dollars. Am
I the only one who notices these things? The only thing our paid off “free press” media notices
is legacy costs.
And then there is the problem of “brain drain.” In numerous articles and interviews, highly
qualified engineers, designers and managers openly admit that they would never work for the
American auto companies because of their stodgy, hidebound, suicidal business philosophy.
There are probably more Americans working for the foreign competition than for the
“American” auto companies. For those who worship globalization and the so-called free
market, this is wonderful. But for the few of us who worry about the long-term economic
viability of America, this is a recipe for disaster. I would like to remind Wall Street, our
politicians and academia that “A House Divided Can Not Stand.” When Americans compete
against America – America is doomed.
At one time, America had the most advanced home electronics industry in the world. Now we
have no home electronics industry. Were the American workers who used to make our
televisions, radios and stereos so highly paid that the capitalists on Wall Street had to destroy
the entire industry in order to throw these people out into the street? Will America’s auto
industry someday be just a distant memory like the American home electronics industry?
Congratulations to Detroit’s management, Wall Street, and their Southern politician henchmen
– isn’t “Creative Destruction” wonderful? You destroyed the American auto industry so that
you could create a “domestic,” non-union, auto industry for the countries that were our bitter,
deadly enemies in World War II. No one will ever accuse you all of putting AMERICA FIRST.
Any fool could have seen 10, 20 or even 30 years ago that the steady loss of market share
would destroy the American auto industry. But, just like the sub prime mortgage disaster, the
insiders knew it was coming, but they did nothing to prevent it. Tragically, the American
people eagerly swallowed the scam that Detroit’s problems were largely the fault of the
unionized autoworkers and “bad management.”
I wish I could write a book documenting Detroit’s maddening 50 year unbroken string of
“honest mistakes.” The Ford Taurus SHO with the Yamaha massaged engine and the Corvette
ZR-1 with the Lotus dual overhead cam heads are just two of the many examples of Detroit
fouling their own nest. And let’s not forget the Harley-Davidson (Porsche) V-Rod. They never
missed an opportunity to make themselves, and America, look stupid. In the transmission wars,
Detroit always managed to be at least one gear behind the foreign competition. What kind of
image was Detroit’s management trying to create with Ford and Chevrolet badged Indy racing
engines that were made in England? How many billions of dollars have gone to England,
Germany, Italy and Japan for racing cars, engines and parts? How much did this stupid and
needless money drain increase our trade deficit Why did the entire American auto industry
make exactly the same “mistakes” year after year, decade after decade?
Maybe these statements by two top Ford executives will answer these questions and give some
insight into the Master Plan: “You should never worry about what country makes your car,
only the brand.” When asked why Ford grossly over paid when they bought money-loosing
Jaguar, a Ford executive said: “We wanted a prestige nameplate.” What was Lincoln, chopped
liver? It was obvious to me, as a close observer, that Ford management deliberately sabotaged
Lincoln for the benefit of Jaguar sales. If I were a member of Congress, there would have
been an investigation years ago into why Detroit management was so “stupid.” After 50
years of lost market share, Congress is still playing dumb. But they know how to say legacy
costs. I want to talk about the legacy costs of Congress. Considering their miserable track
record, I would say that Congress owes the taxpayers money. Let them live on their campaign
contributions. We all know they work for the lobbyists, not the taxpayers.
*************************************.
Ironically, the bad reputation that American cars have acquired over the last 20 or 30 years, in
my opinion, is unjustified. As I explained above, thanks to the “stupid” Detroit management,
American cars have acquired a terrible image. Marketing, styling, product line and advertising –
everything is geared to make the foreign competition look good. A bad image is the kiss of
death for any corporation no matter how good the products are. And American cars are good
products.
In my opinion, for every-day transportation (and don’t forget the fabulous Corvette, Viper and
Ford GT), you can’t beat American cars. They’re cheaper to buy and they’re cheaper to
maintain and repair. There are a lot of good people in Motown (and in our unionized plants)
doing their best to make great cars. It’s top management and the bean counters who do their
best to alienate the customer. They will save pennies cutting corners building the cars but waste
millions on celebrity endorsements. (By the way, anybody who buys a car on the strength of a
celebrity endorsement is an IDIOT. I could never understand why the marketing people waste
money like that. Do they think we are that stupid? Did it ever occur to management that
paying some athlete to endorse your product is DISHONEST? Put that money into research
and development. Pay off the corporate debt. Or give that money to the workers who build
the cars, they earned it.
Space does not permit a complete analysis of Detroit management’s obviously deliberate
marketing and product line screw-ups. These “mistakes” had to be deliberate because
NOBODY CAN BE THAT STUPID.
Over the years, I’ve had a lot of American cars and I never had a bad one. Many of them were
actually great cars. I saw “mistakes” but they were caused by executive decisions, not by the
workers.
What do I drive? It might be surprising that a sports car and racing enthusiast like me would
drive a 1998 Oldsmobile LS. I love that car! It’s beautiful, dependable, fast, handles like a
“sports sedan” and it gets great gas mileage for a big car. Who said Detroit can’t build great
cars? Not me. Too bad the geniuses at General Motors took my car out of production.
***********************************************
So, what happens now? Do we sit back passively and watch the American auto industry
disappear? Don’t forget what happened to our world-class home electronics industry and our
textile industry. We must act now to stop this capitalist “creative destruction.”
This is what must be done: Using debt free, inflation free United States Notes, the Federal
government must buy Chrysler Corporation and all the American brands that General motors
plans to discontinue, outright. The government must also buy all the production facilities that
General Motors and any other U.S. automaker plans to close, outright. These government
owned car companies will be run by executives and managers who want to save our auto
industry, not destroy it. All Chrysler and General Motors dealerships will continue under
private sector ownership. The only difference will be that they will be supplied with cars that
people want to buy. An uncorrupted government can do a much better job than a greedy,
selfish private sector.
This seemingly outlandish proposal would be far better for American’s national interest than
having Chrysler and General Motors manufacturing cars in China, importing them and slapping
Chrysler or Chevrolet nameplates on them. This is exactly what is being planned by Wall
Street, Washington and Detroit. How many people know that New York based Cerberus
Capital bought Chrysler for the purpose of importing Chinese made cars and selling them as
Chrysler products? That plan was wrecked by the global financial meltdown. Now, the
politicians want to rescue Cerberus by using two billion dollars of taxpayer’s money to entice
Italian carmaker Fiat into buying, owning and controlling Chrysler.
GM workers are being forced to compete with autoworkers in China. OK, if the American
workers have to compete with the Chinese, then EVERYBODY should have to work for
Chinese wages. Why not? Are we a nation of hypocrites? This economic madness rolls down
hill from the investor class. Investors (actually, speculators) are, in fact, parasites on our
economic system (a view I share with Henry Ford.) They have no right to make demands on
anybody who actually works for a living. We are told that GM must make cars in China in
order to be profitable. If it becomes unprofitable to grow food will the human race starve to
death? Will we have to reinstitute slavery (the ultimate deregulated free market weapon) to
make food production profitable? When you consider the disparity between the pay of migrant
farm workers and the average CEO, we, in effect, have slavery right now. Free market
capitalism takes institutionalized greed and selfishness to a level the imperial Romans would
admire.
And for the moneylenders who are outraged at being call parasites, I recommend that they go
back to the home page of this web site and read the quote by President Abraham Lincoln.
Some historians believe this statement cost Lincoln his life. His monetary reforms died with
him. Now we have an eleven trillion dollar national debt, state and municipal governments
strangled by debt, consumers crushed by debt, corporations bled white by debt and a world
drowning in debt. Who was right, the capitalists or Abraham Lincoln? Wake up America – this
isn’t rocket science!
It is time to say NO to Wall Street and their agents in Washington.
There is a much better AMERICA FIRST solution to the disaster that the private sector
created.
The time has come to get the private sector out of the way and let the government fix the
problem. This might sound like a shockingly “socialistic” statement. However, America needs
an economic reality check and wake up call. The deregulated private sector has turned the
America into a nation of debt-ridden losers because the globalist, free market business model
does not work An eleven trillion dollar national debt, fiscal crises from coast to coast, a
banking system subsidized with tax dollars borrowed from the Chinese, massive layoffs and
unemployment, a collapsed housing market, massive foreclosures, pension funds threatened,
trillions of dollars of investment losses, workers all over the country taking pay cuts and benefit
cuts, 40 million Americans without health care, a 1.8 trillion dollar budget deficit, a multibillion
dollar trade deficit and a world wide recession should prove this point to anyone willing to be
honest and objective.
Space does not permit a comprehensive dissertation explaining how my reform proposals would
be implemented. This can and must be explained in a public debate. Unlike the Obama
administration’s “bailout,” my proposals will borrow no money and will cost the taxpayers
nothing. The public debate must include a long overdue investigation of the business practices
of the top management of the American auto industry to determine it there has been gross
malfeasance and malign neglect. I am confident that an uncorrupted inquiry will reveal that the
current dire situation is simply a planned stepping stone to Chinese made “American” cars.
Please help me. Call, write, fax or E-mail the White House, your elected representatives in the
House and Senate and the national news media. Specifically, contact the offices of Senator
Bob Casey and the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Tell them I want to publicly debate the economic
reform proposals outlined on this web site. And tell them that my reforms are in the spirit of the
New Deal Full Employment Act of 1935. It is a little known fact that the federal government
has a legal responsibility to provide a decent job for every American who needs one. The time
to act is now before the irresponsible private sector plunges America into fiscal chaos and social
instability. I have been trying to get a fair hearing for five years, without success. With
massive public pressure, the politicians and the media will be forced to finally answer my letters
and address my economic reform proposals.
Ray Uhric May 25, 2009
In my neighborhood, American cars are disappearing from the driveways. The American
people, apparently, have voted with their wallets for the death of the American auto industry. It
has become a cliché that “Detroit makes cars that people don’t want buy.” Mysteriously, I
have never heard any politician or anyone in the media ask Detroit’s management WHY they
build cars people cars people don’t want to buy. In this article, I will attempt to answer that
question. Since I am the only one who cares enough to ask the question, this article may be a
waste of time. However, I consider it my patriotic duty to fill in this huge hole in the historical
record.
Today (12-16-2008), the media are doing their best to keep us in suspense as to whether GM,
Ford and Chrysler will die or if the White House will throw them a financial lifeline. An
industry that was once a source of pride for America may be mortally wounded. What
happened?
Americans seem to be remarkably indifferent to an issue that could have devastating
consequences for an already reeling economy. The Wall Street pundits say: why should we
care? We have a brand new non-union “American” auto industry in the Southern states.
Transplants, Honda, Toyota, Mercedes, BMW and others, build cars here and employ
American workers. That makes them “American cars,” right? Wrong.
My point is not to debate whether a Nissan made in Tennessee is an American car. My
objective is to satisfy my curiosity as to why Detroit went into self-destruct mode shortly after
the end of World War II --just as the Cold War was heating up. Detroit’s decline certainly didn’
t hurt the global capitalist’s Cold War strategy to build up the post war economies of Germany
and Japan. But that’s another story.
Putting that aside, these are some of the common explanations for why Americans turned their
backs on our auto industry: “Detroit management is stupid, they wouldn’t adapt, they offered a
‘ho hum’ product line, they make boring cars, poor quality, awful styling, they make cars
people don’t want to buy.” Whether or not these things are true isn’t my question. The
question is: if these criticisms of American cars are valid, why aren’t people curious about why
these criticisms are valid? The loss of this industry could wreck the economy and the lives of
millions of workers. You would think people would be intensely interested or at least curious.
To me, it seems extremely odd that all of the American automakers made exactly the same,
well publicized, “mistakes” – year after year, decade after decade. Why wouldn’t one or more
(there used to more than the “Big three”) break out of this self-destructive pattern? The market
share was there for the taking but they all handed it to the foreign competition on a silver
platter. Why? To paraphrase a disgusted Texas Chevrolet dealer: “They couldn’t have lost
market share more effectively if they would have done it deliberately.” Is it possible that it was
deliberate?
Why would the senior management of the American auto industry deliberately lose market
share? Simply add up the number of shut down unionized plants and the answer to this
question becomes obvious. This irresponsible class warfare may be applauded on Wall Street
but what will the ultimate cost be to the economy, the U.S. Treasury and the families of
millions of workers?
But what about the dealers and the investors? Wouldn’t they want to save a dying American
auto industry?
Most car dealers are “diversified.” The mega dealers sell Japanese, German, Korean, and soon
Chinese and Indian cars. They have long ago factored in the disappearance of the unionized
autoworker. As for Wall Street, they’re in it for the long haul. Remember, Wall Street’s
mouthpiece, the business press, never tires of telling us that Detroit is profitable in China and
Russia. No legacy costs there.
The issue of legacy costs means that for the blue-collar worker, the American Dream is a myth
(and for some, a nightmare). Like a nuclear power plant, the private sector corporation has a
finite life span. When the workers get old and sick and infirm, the corporation becomes,
metaphorically, radioactive and it must be discarded. Or, there must be massive cuts in the
workers pay and benefits or production shifted to a place with no legacy costs. The business
press and the so-called “liberal” mainstream media demand that UAW workers and retirees take
cuts in their health care coverage, and pension benefits. I say all the people who are demanding
that the autoworkers take cuts should take cuts in their health care and pension benefits. Only
a hypocrite would demand a sacrifice of others that they are not willing to make themselves.
But when it comes to legacy costs, nothing can match the burden of the compensation given to
corporate executives and federal politicians. All those Southern politicians who spent millions of
tax dollars to lure the foreign, non-union companies into their states should take cuts in pay and
health care coverage and their pensions. That is what they are demanding of the unionized
American autoworkers. Our politicians subsidize the foreign competition so they can put the
American workers on the street! Whose side are they on anyway? I wonder if they all have
dual citizenship. Are they citizens and secret agents of Japan or Germany or Korea? (By the
way, dual citizenship should be illegal. If you can’t give total allegiance to America, you should
get the out of the country.)
The conservatives and the Southern politicians conveniently forget that Germany and Japan
have national health care systems that give their manufactures a cost advantage over us.
(Toyota built a plant in Canada rather than the U.S. because Canada has universal health care.)
They ignore the foreign government subsidies, the American capital and tax dollars that built the
foreign car companies after World War II. They didn’t notice the below cost dumping that
grabbed market share and the fact that Toyota sells the Prius at a loss. They want us to believe
that they are too stupid to realize that one hundred year old companies inevitably incur legacy
costs. What do they want, a workforce comprised entirely of illegal alien migrants riding to
work in the back of pickup trucks?
According to my conspiracy theory, this is all part of the American capitalist Master Plan to
gradually downsize, outsource and, eventually, de-unionize the American auto industry. And
the plan was running right on schedule – until Wall Street’s sub-prime mortgage meltdown blew
a gigantic hole in the American economy. Detroit’s CEOs begging tapped out taxpayers for a
bailout was never in the Master Plan. When the Big Three CEOs say they could have made it
if it wasn’t for the recent economic train wreck, they’re telling the truth. The plan was to
gradually destroy the union. And when the last painful concession is wrung out of the last
hapless UAW worker, Wall Street will suddenly issue a “buy” rating on the Big Three stocks
and the “shrewd” investors will make a killing. Ironically, the current recession (depression?)
may work to the advantage of Wall Street after all. The final deathblow to the UAW will
simply come sooner rather than later.
The media circus surrounding the Detroit bailout hearings was a gigantic PR black eye for the
UAW. The hearings were aired on every cable news channel, wall- to-wall, gavel to gavel.
Even the so-called “liberal media” piled on. It seemed like everybody in the country was
screaming for the blood of the unionized American autoworker. I’m sure the millionaire CEOs
were uncomfortable begging Congress for money but they will be heroes down at the country
club. Maybe the three of them will get medals from the Chamber of Commerce for service
above and beyond the call of duty.
In my opinion, the goal of creating a non-union auto industry is the real reason why the Big
Three, year after year, “wouldn’t adapt.” This is why, decade after decade, Detroit put out
“ho hum,” “boring” products “that people don’t want to buy.” I believe Detroit management
never tried to compete with the foreign manufactures. In fact, they actually financed and
supported the foreign competition.
This is real cause of the auto industry disaster and it is a subject that the anti-worker “experts”
and pundits skillfully avoid. They never mention the billions of dollars of cash that were
squandered by Detroit when they bought and refurbished dying foreign automakers. Like a
stupid, senile, brain dead old sugar daddy, the American auto executives went on a worldwide
spending spree. The industry analysts constantly complain about UAW contracts but they
never mention the multi billion-dollar disaster that was Ford’s Jaguar adventure. This is just
one of many such balance sheet destroying “mistakes.”
********************************
The sad story starts with the Marshal Plan at the end World War II. How much money did the
politicians steal from the American taxpayers to rebuild German and Japanese industry in order
to prevent these countries from going communist? How much technology was transferred? All
the atrocities were instantly forgiven because the American capitalists were creating the weapon
they would use against the unionized American worker. And in the process, these global
capitalist fools turned America from the world’s biggest creditor nation into the world’s biggest
debtor. Some historians say the real winners of World War II were Germany and Japan.
Immediately after the war, Ford and Harley-Davidson built plants in Japan for Japanese
manufacturers. Honeywell and Bell and Howell set up joint ventures with Japanese camera
manufactures thus catapulting Japan into their position of world dominance in cameras and
optics. The American market was thrown wide open to our recently hated enemies. Coast to
coast dealer networks instantly sprang up thanks to millions of dollars of American investment.
You can be sure that none of that cost went on a Japanese or German balance sheet. The
“American” businessmen had to make sure the foreigners were profitable. The economic
theater of the Cold War was raging and the American worker was now the enemy.
To make sure the Japanese manufacturers had the industrial muscle they needed to destroy the
American autoworker, W. Edwards Deming, an American and one of the world’s foremost
quality and reliability engineers was dispatched to Japan. From 1950 onward he taught top
Japanese management and engineers his methods of management and quality. He is honored to
this day, in Japan, for his glorious contribution to their industry. While Deming was in Japan,
however, the American auto executives were busy telling anybody in the media who would
listen about their quality control problems.
During the 1950s, Detroit refused to build sports cars to compete with Ferrari, Maserati, Jaguar,
Aston Martin, Porsche, Mercedes and many others. Instead, they embarked on a series of joint
ventures with the Europeans. The mostly ridiculous cars that resulted accomplished three
things. They wasted lots of money; they made the Europeans look smart and they made
Detroit look stupid. How many billions (or trillions) of dollars have been sucked out of the
American economy and treasury, over the last 50 years, when the wealthiest Americans bought
high profit margin, overpriced, Porsches, BMWs, Mercedes, Audis, Spykers, Maybachs, Rufs,
Ferarris, Maseratis, Alfa Romeos, Lancias, Lamborghinis, Bugattis, Lotuses, Bentleys, Rolls
Royces, Aston Martins, Jaguars, Infinitis, Lexuses, Acuras, Superformance Cobras and GT-40s
and others instead of American luxury and performance cars? Would anyone on Wall Street, in
Washington or academia dare to calculate the total cost to America of this needless economic
disaster? And this enormous number does not include the massive loss from all our other dead
and dying manufacturing industries.
Eventually, in the early 1960s, when the wealthy children of the wealthy American auto
executives were clamoring for Ferraris and Jaguars, something had to be done. So, to prevent
thinking people from smelling a rat, Detroit gave us the Corvette. Now don’t get me wrong; I
like Corvettes. In fact, if I had the money, I would own a 1960 Corvette with a 283 V8, solid
lifters, two 4s and a 4 speed transmission. (In 1960, the Corvette should have had a 5 speed.
With 5 speeds and disc brakes, the Corvette might have actually won Sebring and Le Mans.)
But the first Corvette had a pushrod, cast iron, in line six. This was a very good truck engine.
But it was hopelessly outclassed by the aluminum, overhead cam, V12 Ferraris and the double
overhead cam Jaguars. When you consider the enormous technical and financial resources
available to General Motors at the time, it is impossible to believe that anybody could have been
that stupid as to sabotage the Corvette with a 3 speed manual, a 2 speed automatic
transmission, drum brakes and a push rod engine. In fact, these “mistakes” nearly killed the
Corvette before it was ever born. Ford, Chrysler and all the other U.S. manufacturers made
sure they never made cars to compete with the Europeans, and later, the Japanese. And these
“mistakes” continue right up to the present day. Would anybody in their right mind say that
Detroit seriously tried to compete with the foreign invaders?
Why didn’t Chrysler build a sports car? They had the facilities and the money. Hot rodders
were building what were essentially sports cars in their back yards! Ford killed the Thunderbird
sports car and then sold the preposterous idea that the “T bird” had to be a big, heavy, four-
seat car in order to increase sales. Why didn’t Ford make BOTH, a two seat sports car and a
four seat personal luxury car? And remember, the iconic GT-40 and the Cobra were both born
as British cars. It took American hot rodders to make them winners. While the Ferraris,
Porsches and Jaguars were getting rave reviews in the all-important enthusiast car magazines;
Detroit’s offerings were greeted with almost universal contempt. The pattern was set and it
continues right into the present era of, hybrids, electric cars, “street tuners” and small, practical
SUVs. When it comes to alienating the youth market and women, the “Big Three” have bad
marketing down to a science. Detroit executives deliberately created the stupid, stodgy image
that they will ride right into bankruptcy and busted union contracts.
In Europe, the image destroying helicopter cash drop was muscling up their auto industry.
Beginning in the 1960s, Esso, Good Year, Firestone, Gulf Oil, Marlboro, STP and many other
American corporations poured scores of millions of dollars of sponsorship money into European
racing teams. In 1966, Ford gave British Cosworth $250,000 so they could build a world
beating Formula 1 racing engine. This, despite the fact that Ford already had a world class, in
house, DOHC, Indy 500 winning engine on the shelf! Why didn’t Ford use their Indy engine to
compete in Formula 1? Why did they waste all that money in order to help the British build a
racing engine? Could anybody really be that stupid? I doubt it. And the self-destructive
pattern rolled on.
In 1965, Honda entered Formula 1 with two American drivers. In 1966 and 1967, the tiny
Australian company Repco Brabham won the world championship with a modified Oldsmobile
engine that was abandoned and transferred to Europe by General Motors. Despite their
enormous resources, Detroit never competed in Formula 1. Is it any wonder that the American
people have such contempt for our auto industry and can’t wait to see it tossed into the dustbin
of history? Am I the only American who wants to be proud of what we make in America?
What should I think when someone who inherits a Lincoln dealership drives a Toyota Camry?
What should I think when someone who inherits Ford Motor Company drives a Ferrari? I
think pride in America is dead. And it shows!
For decades, in Europe and America, our greatest racecar drivers were (and still are) winning
races and championships in foreign cars sponsored by American corporations. Ford rescued
Mazda from bankruptcy, twice. Mazda promptly took the rotary engine that General Motors
virtually gave them and used it to humiliate America on the racetracks of the world -- with
American teams and American drivers. From the 1960s to this very day, the best and the
brightest of American auto racing talent use all their brainpower and risk life, limb and fortune
to put foreign cars in the winner’s circle. The competition isn’t between us and the foreigners.
It is us against us. No wonder we lost! What happened to pride in America? What
happened to the win at all cost fighting spirit of “The Greatest Generation” of World War II?
Did the Wall Street and Washington opportunists destroy America’s economic fighting spirit?
What is there to cheer about at the Indy 500, Italian cars with Japanese engines? Will the
Southern politicians be happy when every NASCAR on the track is a Toyota? I would rather
watch a rerun of Jim Hall winning the 1965 Sebring 12 Hours in his all American Chaparral.
That was something to cheer about. There is no American today of the caliber of Jim Hall.
What a shame on this generation!
In the 1960s the same self-destructive pattern continued with passenger cars. Top management
and the bean counters killed the ill-fated Corvair before the car ever got to the production line.
It was “cost considerations” that prevented the engineers from designing and building the car
properly. Could anybody be that stupid as to put a cast iron engine and swing axles in the rear
engined Corvair? This was the “blunder” that made Ralph Nader famous and made General
Motors look like a bunch of idiots. It has to be a conspiracy because nobody could have been
that stupid.
But the most infamous anti competitive outrage committed by GM’s top management occurred
when they killed the Corvette Grand Sport. Chevrolet engineers secretly built a world class,
Ferrari killer called the Grand Sport. Super lightweight, with a state-of-the-art aluminum
DOHC engine, America was ready to take on the world. But America never got a chance.
When top management got wind of the car, they instantly killed the project and reprimanded
the engineer responsible for this outrageous insubordination! Remember, racing by GM
employees was forbidden. Yes sir, the suits really know how to compete. Is that what the
professors taught them at Wharton and Harvard Business Schools? The answer is YES.
Were the top executives of General Motors insane? Were they stupid? Were they “Mid-
Westerners who wouldn’t adapt?” No, no and no. They were standard issue global capitalists
doing what global capitalists do. Their first priority is destroying unions and traveling the world
in their private jets looking for cheap labor. If a sports car, made in North America, in a
unionized plant, conquered the automotive world, it would have ruined everything. The myth
they were creating would have been crushed under the wheels of the Corvette Grand Sport.
What happened to pride in America?
Where were the American politicians, the Chamber of Commerce, and the “National”
Association of Manufactures when all this was going on? Why was there no criticism or
investigation of this bazaar, cookie cutter-consistent, self-destructive pattern that persisted for
50 YEARS? Why did nobody ever ask Detroit why they didn’t adapt? Why didn’t Detroit
build high tech motorcycles to compete with the Japanese? They had the facilities and plenty of
money. Why did Detroit’s marketing people let the Japanese create a fabulous image with the
young people of America while they did everything they could to discredit themselves with this
vitally important consumer segment? The leaders of the American auto industry could have
fought for their market share and crushed foreign invaders. But they chose not to. Were they
stupid? I say, nobody could be that stupid.
And to really put the final nail in the coffin of their balance sheets, Detroit continued to
squander billions of dollars of cash buying up dying foreign car companies until all their cash
was gone. And lets not forget the hundreds of millions of dollars that went down the rat hole
when Ford and Chrysler bankrolled foreign (Jaguar and Lamborghini) Formula 1 racecar
teams. In 2000, General Motors bought a stake in Fiat. That meant they were bankrolling
Ferrari’s Formula 1 team. This “investment” disaster cost GM more than 2 billion dollars. Am
I the only one who notices these things? The only thing our paid off “free press” media notices
is legacy costs.
And then there is the problem of “brain drain.” In numerous articles and interviews, highly
qualified engineers, designers and managers openly admit that they would never work for the
American auto companies because of their stodgy, hidebound, suicidal business philosophy.
There are probably more Americans working for the foreign competition than for the
“American” auto companies. For those who worship globalization and the so-called free
market, this is wonderful. But for the few of us who worry about the long-term economic
viability of America, this is a recipe for disaster. I would like to remind Wall Street, our
politicians and academia that “A House Divided Can Not Stand.” When Americans compete
against America – America is doomed.
At one time, America had the most advanced home electronics industry in the world. Now we
have no home electronics industry. Were the American workers who used to make our
televisions, radios and stereos so highly paid that the capitalists on Wall Street had to destroy
the entire industry in order to throw these people out into the street? Will America’s auto
industry someday be just a distant memory like the American home electronics industry?
Congratulations to Detroit’s management, Wall Street, and their Southern politician henchmen
– isn’t “Creative Destruction” wonderful? You destroyed the American auto industry so that
you could create a “domestic,” non-union, auto industry for the countries that were our bitter,
deadly enemies in World War II. No one will ever accuse you all of putting AMERICA FIRST.
Any fool could have seen 10, 20 or even 30 years ago that the steady loss of market share
would destroy the American auto industry. But, just like the sub prime mortgage disaster, the
insiders knew it was coming, but they did nothing to prevent it. Tragically, the American
people eagerly swallowed the scam that Detroit’s problems were largely the fault of the
unionized autoworkers and “bad management.”
I wish I could write a book documenting Detroit’s maddening 50 year unbroken string of
“honest mistakes.” The Ford Taurus SHO with the Yamaha massaged engine and the Corvette
ZR-1 with the Lotus dual overhead cam heads are just two of the many examples of Detroit
fouling their own nest. And let’s not forget the Harley-Davidson (Porsche) V-Rod. They never
missed an opportunity to make themselves, and America, look stupid. In the transmission wars,
Detroit always managed to be at least one gear behind the foreign competition. What kind of
image was Detroit’s management trying to create with Ford and Chevrolet badged Indy racing
engines that were made in England? How many billions of dollars have gone to England,
Germany, Italy and Japan for racing cars, engines and parts? How much did this stupid and
needless money drain increase our trade deficit Why did the entire American auto industry
make exactly the same “mistakes” year after year, decade after decade?
Maybe these statements by two top Ford executives will answer these questions and give some
insight into the Master Plan: “You should never worry about what country makes your car,
only the brand.” When asked why Ford grossly over paid when they bought money-loosing
Jaguar, a Ford executive said: “We wanted a prestige nameplate.” What was Lincoln, chopped
liver? It was obvious to me, as a close observer, that Ford management deliberately sabotaged
Lincoln for the benefit of Jaguar sales. If I were a member of Congress, there would have
been an investigation years ago into why Detroit management was so “stupid.” After 50
years of lost market share, Congress is still playing dumb. But they know how to say legacy
costs. I want to talk about the legacy costs of Congress. Considering their miserable track
record, I would say that Congress owes the taxpayers money. Let them live on their campaign
contributions. We all know they work for the lobbyists, not the taxpayers.
*************************************.
Ironically, the bad reputation that American cars have acquired over the last 20 or 30 years, in
my opinion, is unjustified. As I explained above, thanks to the “stupid” Detroit management,
American cars have acquired a terrible image. Marketing, styling, product line and advertising –
everything is geared to make the foreign competition look good. A bad image is the kiss of
death for any corporation no matter how good the products are. And American cars are good
products.
In my opinion, for every-day transportation (and don’t forget the fabulous Corvette, Viper and
Ford GT), you can’t beat American cars. They’re cheaper to buy and they’re cheaper to
maintain and repair. There are a lot of good people in Motown (and in our unionized plants)
doing their best to make great cars. It’s top management and the bean counters who do their
best to alienate the customer. They will save pennies cutting corners building the cars but waste
millions on celebrity endorsements. (By the way, anybody who buys a car on the strength of a
celebrity endorsement is an IDIOT. I could never understand why the marketing people waste
money like that. Do they think we are that stupid? Did it ever occur to management that
paying some athlete to endorse your product is DISHONEST? Put that money into research
and development. Pay off the corporate debt. Or give that money to the workers who build
the cars, they earned it.
Space does not permit a complete analysis of Detroit management’s obviously deliberate
marketing and product line screw-ups. These “mistakes” had to be deliberate because
NOBODY CAN BE THAT STUPID.
Over the years, I’ve had a lot of American cars and I never had a bad one. Many of them were
actually great cars. I saw “mistakes” but they were caused by executive decisions, not by the
workers.
What do I drive? It might be surprising that a sports car and racing enthusiast like me would
drive a 1998 Oldsmobile LS. I love that car! It’s beautiful, dependable, fast, handles like a
“sports sedan” and it gets great gas mileage for a big car. Who said Detroit can’t build great
cars? Not me. Too bad the geniuses at General Motors took my car out of production.
***********************************************
So, what happens now? Do we sit back passively and watch the American auto industry
disappear? Don’t forget what happened to our world-class home electronics industry and our
textile industry. We must act now to stop this capitalist “creative destruction.”
This is what must be done: Using debt free, inflation free United States Notes, the Federal
government must buy Chrysler Corporation and all the American brands that General motors
plans to discontinue, outright. The government must also buy all the production facilities that
General Motors and any other U.S. automaker plans to close, outright. These government
owned car companies will be run by executives and managers who want to save our auto
industry, not destroy it. All Chrysler and General Motors dealerships will continue under
private sector ownership. The only difference will be that they will be supplied with cars that
people want to buy. An uncorrupted government can do a much better job than a greedy,
selfish private sector.
This seemingly outlandish proposal would be far better for American’s national interest than
having Chrysler and General Motors manufacturing cars in China, importing them and slapping
Chrysler or Chevrolet nameplates on them. This is exactly what is being planned by Wall
Street, Washington and Detroit. How many people know that New York based Cerberus
Capital bought Chrysler for the purpose of importing Chinese made cars and selling them as
Chrysler products? That plan was wrecked by the global financial meltdown. Now, the
politicians want to rescue Cerberus by using two billion dollars of taxpayer’s money to entice
Italian carmaker Fiat into buying, owning and controlling Chrysler.
GM workers are being forced to compete with autoworkers in China. OK, if the American
workers have to compete with the Chinese, then EVERYBODY should have to work for
Chinese wages. Why not? Are we a nation of hypocrites? This economic madness rolls down
hill from the investor class. Investors (actually, speculators) are, in fact, parasites on our
economic system (a view I share with Henry Ford.) They have no right to make demands on
anybody who actually works for a living. We are told that GM must make cars in China in
order to be profitable. If it becomes unprofitable to grow food will the human race starve to
death? Will we have to reinstitute slavery (the ultimate deregulated free market weapon) to
make food production profitable? When you consider the disparity between the pay of migrant
farm workers and the average CEO, we, in effect, have slavery right now. Free market
capitalism takes institutionalized greed and selfishness to a level the imperial Romans would
admire.
And for the moneylenders who are outraged at being call parasites, I recommend that they go
back to the home page of this web site and read the quote by President Abraham Lincoln.
Some historians believe this statement cost Lincoln his life. His monetary reforms died with
him. Now we have an eleven trillion dollar national debt, state and municipal governments
strangled by debt, consumers crushed by debt, corporations bled white by debt and a world
drowning in debt. Who was right, the capitalists or Abraham Lincoln? Wake up America – this
isn’t rocket science!
It is time to say NO to Wall Street and their agents in Washington.
There is a much better AMERICA FIRST solution to the disaster that the private sector
created.
The time has come to get the private sector out of the way and let the government fix the
problem. This might sound like a shockingly “socialistic” statement. However, America needs
an economic reality check and wake up call. The deregulated private sector has turned the
America into a nation of debt-ridden losers because the globalist, free market business model
does not work An eleven trillion dollar national debt, fiscal crises from coast to coast, a
banking system subsidized with tax dollars borrowed from the Chinese, massive layoffs and
unemployment, a collapsed housing market, massive foreclosures, pension funds threatened,
trillions of dollars of investment losses, workers all over the country taking pay cuts and benefit
cuts, 40 million Americans without health care, a 1.8 trillion dollar budget deficit, a multibillion
dollar trade deficit and a world wide recession should prove this point to anyone willing to be
honest and objective.
Space does not permit a comprehensive dissertation explaining how my reform proposals would
be implemented. This can and must be explained in a public debate. Unlike the Obama
administration’s “bailout,” my proposals will borrow no money and will cost the taxpayers
nothing. The public debate must include a long overdue investigation of the business practices
of the top management of the American auto industry to determine it there has been gross
malfeasance and malign neglect. I am confident that an uncorrupted inquiry will reveal that the
current dire situation is simply a planned stepping stone to Chinese made “American” cars.
Please help me. Call, write, fax or E-mail the White House, your elected representatives in the
House and Senate and the national news media. Specifically, contact the offices of Senator
Bob Casey and the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Tell them I want to publicly debate the economic
reform proposals outlined on this web site. And tell them that my reforms are in the spirit of the
New Deal Full Employment Act of 1935. It is a little known fact that the federal government
has a legal responsibility to provide a decent job for every American who needs one. The time
to act is now before the irresponsible private sector plunges America into fiscal chaos and social
instability. I have been trying to get a fair hearing for five years, without success. With
massive public pressure, the politicians and the media will be forced to finally answer my letters
and address my economic reform proposals.
Ray Uhric May 25, 2009
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