Uppity Wisconsin

So there’s a lot of conversation out there about car dealerships being told they won’t be selling cars for Chrysler and GM any more.

The idea, we are told, is to save the auto manufacturers money by reducing the number of dealerships with whom they do business.

I don’t really know that much about the car business; and I really didn’t understand where these cost savings would come from, but I was able to have a conversation with the one person I do know who actually could offer some useful insight.

Follow along, Gentle Reader, and you’ll get a bit of an education at a time when we all need to know a bit more about these companies we suddenly seem to own…and about the closure of thousands of local businesses that will make the news about our bad job market worse.

We know, at the moment, that Chrysler wants to close more or less 800 of its 3181 dealerships, and that the list of dealerships was disclosed as part of the company’s bankruptcy filing.

Update III: History of the Filibuster and Cloture - Great for those who seem believe that we just cannot survive without this relic from the 1850s. 
 
Update II: Thank you William Greider: Stop Senator No, Senate Dems should disable the rule that gives Mitch McConnell a virtual veto over anything he wants to kill. Advocating the filibuster defies reason.

Update: Bush is acting now, good for him.

The take-away from last night is: Kill the filibuster.

At this moment when a depression is facing the American people on the heels of two historic elections and Democrats' huge majorities in the House and Senate, are we going to let the antiquated filibuster halt needed legislation next session?

Southern Republican senators [Bush seems to be a non-actor] would throw the country into a depression to lower the wages of workers and break unions.

To borrow a line from Art Kumbalek of the Milwaukee Shepherd Express, "Man, oh Manishevitz, what a world we live in, ain' it?"

We the taxpayers are being called upon to socialize recapitalize, not only the financial markets, but now the auto industry, too. Who's next, the retailers?

Something has to be done to save the more than 3 million workers serving this domestic industry, something we sadly could not accomplish to keep the Janesville, Wis., plant alive.

As America enters what is feared to be a long and deep recession, one question is whether we save or let fade our auto industry.

The GOP has long been hostile to the auto industry's unions so any union-busting opportunity not used is a wasted opportunity, in their view: Let 'em crash, millions of jobs lost, so what?

House Republicans sitting in their fantasy world spouting free market bromides are capable of anything.

But does anyone believe that saving the millions of jobs that depend on the domestic auto industry is not in itself sufficient cause to act?

The new Congress and President will act, and Republicans as a Party opposing comprehensive measures will find themselves by the political wayside very quickly.

The economy will be geared toward establishing a middle class and raising families by this new administration.

Health care reform and the whole array of initiatives addressing the concerns of real people will become policy next year, and the Republicans will scream while they lose a generation or two of voters who will see the results.