In My Opinion...

So, I just noticed that I haven't blogged for over a month! It is somewhat sad that nothing worthy of blabbering about has happened in my life this past 30+ days. Oh well.



So here goes. I thought instead I would throw my opinion out there once in a while about things that get under my skin, which these days in the world is a lot.



Today in particular though, congress or the house (not being American I sometimes get a little confused on the workings of government) rejected the bailout proposal for our auto industry. Some of you may disagree with this as the fallout of an auto industry failure would devastate not only our economy but our society overall. My father works in the auto industry back in Ontario, and that region of Canada has a huge investment in auto manufacturing. The Canadian government did approve a much smaller bailout of the Detroit big 3 just last week, and I was happy because maybe my father's well being and future retirement is safe for the near future. But no longer being a tax payer in Canada, I was definitely indifferent. The Canadian government cannot save the auto giants based in Detroit anyways, maybe just prolong the inevitable.



The thing that irks me about this proposed bailout is this. Today, the proposal was rejected because the United Auto Workers refused to take a pay cut. Would they rather just be unemployed? I really don't get it! I honestly don't know how it is in Detroit, but where I am from most people who are employed by the large auto manufacturing companies have some of the highest paying and most generous benefits available to any individual without a post secondary education. Their union president makes over $200,000 per year, to make sure that they are some of the most generously compensated in the general workforce. Could they not take a small pay cut to remain at a livable wage rather than possibly seeing over a quarter million people unemployed?



Being employed in a somewhat economy proof profession, I know my rant may not hold muster with some. My job actually becomes more secure during a period of economic downturn, people get more sick without getting the medical attention they need. They simply can't afford to be sick. But I would, in a heartbeat, accept a wage cut if it meant remaining employed and being able to provide for my family. That being said, I would only do so if the CEO's of my corporation would be willing live meagerly like the rest of us on less that 1.2 million dollars per year.



So, in the end, I do agree with President-elect Obama that we can not let the auto industry fail. The fallout effect on our society would be catastrophic. But, in our age of greed, let's take a step back and be realistic about what measures can be taken to improve the outcome for everyone from the CEO to the janitor, at the littlest cost to those of us trying to hold together our own households.



That's it for today.