George W. Bush is announcing his plan to bail out the auto industry, and it appears that the UAW will win.

Under the plan, the UAW will be required, by the end of 2009, to reset work rules and wages to be "competitive" with costs to foreign-owned auto companies manufacturing in the U.S. That doesn't mean total costs, just work rules and wages -- pension and legacy healthcare costs don't count. Also, it doesn't mean dollar-for-dollar parity, just "competitivenss." In addition, this agreement could be renegotiated with the Obama administration.

Other provisions: Loans will be made from the TARP. GM & Chrysler must develop viability plans by March 31, or repay the loans. In developing these plans, everyone involved in the auto industry (not just the UAW) must come to the table. The loans will take precedence over other debts.

Apparently, Bush's statement yesterday that he doesn't want to dump a crisis on the next administration isn't totally bunk. Yes, he's leaving with 150,000 troops bogged down in Iraq, and tens of thousands in Afghanistan, and there's that pesky recession thingamajig, but at least the auto crisis is being dealt with.  read more »

(Note: Reprinted from my website.)

As speculation continues over whether, and how, the Bush administration will choose to tap the TARP for $14 billion to bail out two enormous, domestic-owned automobile manufacturers, little discussion is given to whether there is a better way. While people debate the wisdom of keeping alive companies that have made many terrible business decisions in the past, nobody is debating whether to switch from automobiles to some other form of transportation. We should.

Our blindness to transportation systems other than automobiles is nothing new, and is the result of decades of propaganda, as well as monopolist and other crooked business practices, in the auto industry and related businesses.  read more »