Now THIS Is A Populist Smackdown

Comments (13)

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1. nemski says:

   February 21, 2009 at 10:59 am

   Wait, so the gist of the mayor was the Wall Street needs to make sacrifices too? Commie. 😉

2. Brian Shields says:

   February 21, 2009 at 11:00 am

   meh. Just another politician spouting off what his electorate wants to hear.

3. nemski says:

   February 21, 2009 at 11:04 am

   Yeah Brian, protecting the rights of workers.

4. nemski says:

   February 21, 2009 at 11:19 am

   On second thought, it was called a populist smackdown.

5. jason330 says:

   February 21, 2009 at 11:24 am

   Awesome. Democrats being Democrats for a change.

6. pandora says:

   February 21, 2009 at 11:28 am

   John Cole of Balloon Juice suggested watching this video with no sound. The Fox guy’s facial expressions are hardly professional – I think it was Cole who said the guy did everything but stick out his tongue.

7. anon says:

   February 21, 2009 at 11:28 am

   I wonder how many reach-across-the-aisle, middle-of-the-roaders this guy beat out to become mayor of Lansing. With layoffs everywhere, we will be electing people like him all over America.

8. Brian Shields says:

   February 21, 2009 at 11:35 am

   I’m not saying he doesn’t have a point, I’m just saying that it sounds premeditated to the nth degree.

   I don’t see what the big deal is by raising the price of a car by $2000 to compensate for the cost?

   It’s not like $2000 will kill a car loan.

9. Brian Shields says:

   February 21, 2009 at 11:37 am

   I have an interest in this GM restructuring. I drive a Saturn, and they are on the chopping block. My future ability to get parts might be affected.

10. nemski says:

    February 21, 2009 at 11:45 am

    I have an interest in this GM restructuring. I drive a Saturn, and they are on the chopping block. My future ability to get parts might be affected.

    Yeah, no one would make GM-compatible parts anymore.

    FYI, though you probably didn’t intend your comment to be selfish, it could be interpreted that way.

11. Brian Shields says:

    February 21, 2009 at 11:59 am

    I didn’t. I just meant that he is not a particularly reliable source because he has a vested interest in what he says. He’s biased.

    I didn’t say there wouldn’t be parts, I said it would be affected. Non-OEM parts may have lesser quality and not meet manufacturer specs, resulting in eventual replacement. It’s a legit concern. I’d rather pay a little more and get the right part the first time then pay twice over the long haul. Some people might not care because they plan on trading in or trading up in a few years, but I intend to keep this car to 250-300k+ and good quality parts are a concern if Saturn goes under.

    Hopefully another company will buy the division, and improve it.

12. cassandra_m says:

    February 21, 2009 at 12:07 pm

    What interests me about this guy’s rant is that the FoxNoiseHead clearly thought that he was going to be talking to someone more sympathetic to the corporate line here. And the FoxNoiseGuy quotes a NYPost editorial that continues to misrepresent car worker wages.

    The $2000 doesn’t make much difference to a car loan, but it does make a difference to competitiveness of your product. Especially if you are making a product that you are struggling to sell in the first place.

    The parts concern is a real one, but probably not in the short term. But there is no doubt that car maker’s parts suppliers are definitely being hit by this restructuring too — and no one really knows what this will look like once these companies finish contracting.

13. Unstable Isotope says:

    February 21, 2009 at 12:45 pm

    Yeah, I wish the mayor had corrected the Faux News guy on the $70/hr talking point. The talking head was really a jerk, though.

    As far as selfish interests, I think we all have a selfish interest in keeping GM running – jobs and the economy.