Letters… We Get Letters…

Or, more appropriately: junk mail. Political junk mail. I only check my snail-mail box once a week or so, but it appears the RNC is a little behind in their mailings. Note the dates on the two letters below:

Both letters were in my box today, and I know I checked my mail last week. That’s when all the bills arrive and I’m VERY diligent about collecting the bills and mailing out the requisite payments, which keeps me in the good graces of folks who provide me with services of one type or another.

But back to the subject at hand… I suppose I’ll be dunned with RNC mailings from now until eternity Hell freezes over, but at least I can throw them away unopened. I thought I’d avoid this sort of unpleasantness by declining to provide an e-mail address when I made my contribution to the McCain campaign earlier this Fall. And I have, sorta. At least my e-mail inbox is devoid of political spam.

Lastly… I know this is a form letter, but it’s a nice form letter. This came in about three weeks after I’d made my contribution to Johnny Mac:

Not bad, eh? I’m gonna keep it.

―:☺:―

We also get a lil bit of e-mail here at El Casa Móvil De Pennington. We received a note from Detroit recently, from an old friend who happens to be a General Motors employee. And yeah, my friend’s note had a lot to do with this:

WASHINGTON — The House on Wednesday night approved an emergency plan to prevent the collapse of the nation’s domestic automobile industry, but the measure faces serious opposition in the Senate, where Republicans are revolting against a White House-brokered deal to speed $14 billion to cash-starved General Motors and Chrysler.

After battling through the weekend to reach a compromise with congressional Democrats, the White House Wednesday dispatched Chief of Staff Joshua Bolten to sell the plan to restive Republican senators. But many GOP lawmakers emerged from a combative luncheon with Bolten unconvinced the plan would compel Detroit automakers to make the painful changes necessary to restore them to profitability.

After mostly partisan debate, the House voted 237 to 170 to approve the measure. But with Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., and other conservatives threatening to block consideration of the measure, even some Republican advocates of the bailout said it is unlikely to attract sufficient GOP support to win approval in the closely divided Senate.

Let me quote my friend:

As you can imagine it has been rather stressful here with recent events. Our continued employment is very much at risk. Following is some information on the bridge loan and a number to call to leave a message with your representative for support of the loan. Here is the number if you do not want to wade through the material:

Phone calls to your legislators can be facilitated by calling 1-866-927-2233 and entering your 5-digit zip code when prompted.

We would all like to see the market work as it is supposed to and to leave government out of it. But these are not normal times, as the financial sector bail out indicates. (I do not remember seeing any bankers or brokers by the way having to testify for the money given, not loaned.) These are like 1932 times. The domestic auto industry has been caught at a time when credit is tight after very major restructuring.

Many people rightly wonder why others can make money here and not the big 3. Simply put, the big three have been operating in a higher cost environment for longer. We do our research here; the transplants do it overseas with workers whose health care and retirement are covered by the government. They have not operated here for 100 years, so do not have pension checks going to hundreds of thousands of retirees and their widows. And by the way, the credit crisis has affected all manufacturers; Toyota is down by a third, and Prius sales are down 48% with cheap gas on top of that.

Big changes have been made in the last few years to costs and compensation (without specifics, be assured ours is in there as well). The question is, do we want to live in a country with a large middle class, or do we want to go towards a model more like the Great Depression or one of the countries were are competing with? Anyone want to live and work in China, or Mexico, Korea, or even Poland or Russia? These are low cost countries where transplants do their engineering or major component production. Do not believe that if you are not employed by the auto industry or live in the Rust Belt that you will not be affected by a collapse of the domestic auto industry. You will be.

I was similarly frustrated as many others were by the bailout of the financial sector, but saw the necessity for the overall economy. But the auto industry loan is a loan like what Chrysler received 30 years ago. That loan was paid back early and made a profit for taxpayers of $350,000,000.

Your help in the form of a phone call is greatly appreciated and I sincerely believe also in your own best interest. Following is some material for background as well.

Click here: GM Facts and Fiction

We need you to keep the pressure on by calling your U.S. Senators and Representatives in the next 24 hours and reminding them that a healthy U.S. auto industry is vital to our nation’s economic stability and long-term security. Please use the hot line below and let your legislators know that their support for our industry will save millions of jobs that depend on us and will strengthen our economy. Congress must hear that Federal loans will help us bridge the current global financial crisis and allow us to continue our transformation and progress. A strong American manufacturing sector and technological leadership in the global marketplace depends on their acting this year.

1-866-927-2233

I tried to make that phone call Wednesday evening, but my senators (Hutchison and Cornyn) had gone home for the day and voice mail wasn’t an option. I will be making the calls later today, rest assured of that.

Most conservatives are against the “bailout” for Detroit, mostly based on tried-and-true conservative principles of limited government and the free market. I’m all for both, but at the same time I cannot see any merit whatsoever in letting Detroit fail in the midst of the worst financial crisis of my lifetime. “Letting Detroit fail” is the best way I know of to ensure we get a full-blown, 1930s-style depression rather than a deep recession. I’m NOT being a Chicken Little here: the sky really WILL fall if we let Detroit go under. You may or may not believe this, but believe me: you DON'T want to put it to the ultimate test.

The situation is dire. My friend… the guy who wrote the e-mail I’ve quoted above… called me last evening and we spoke for the better part of an hour. And, Gentle Reader, he’s convinced me that the loans Congress is proposing are absolutely, positively necessary. GM will be out of business before the end of the year if something isn’t done.

The House did the right thing last evening by passing the auto loan bill by a vote of 237-170. But, as noted in the article above, certain senators are vowing to filibuster this relief bill. And that's NOT the "right thing" to do in this climate.

Won’t you join me in calling your senators and asking them to support the auto industry loans? Please?