The decline of the U.S. auto industry and its impact on the Dem Party.

[KlatooBNikto]

The continuing decline of the U.S. auto industry should not only worry all of us concerned about employment and good living standards, it should also be a matter of concern for those of us worried about the future of the Democratic Party.

In short, the auto workers and the thousands of other suppliers's workers form the backbone for the Democratic party's base.This is why Bush has been unable to make much of a headway in the industrial heartland of this country.That he has to constantly resort to underhanded dealings in Ohio or Florida shows how precarious his "mandate" is.

I think a danger to this picture is emerging in the form of the continuing loss of market share by U.S. automakers to Japanese, German, Korean and very soon by Chinese carmakers.The foreign carmakers, especially, the Japanese and the Germans,who have establisehd plants in this country, have favored the Red states over the blue states because of the lack of union activity in those states.That makes it possible for these foreign carmakers to avoid the huge pension liabilities that U.S. carmakers have piled up,avoid huge medical benefit costs by hiring younger workers and, yes, pay lower wages than prevailing in the Industrial Midwest. The gains in employment in states like Tennessee, Alabama, South Carolina, Kentucky and others will produce a large shift in the way even workers in the Midwest see their own futures. They clearly see that the Big Three are a spent force and the Toyotas, BMWs, Hondas and Nissans are going to be the future wave.

Such a realization cannot but be a source of danger to us.Along with the write off of the genuine concerns of the poor, black and other natural constituents, if the Democratic Party does not mount a vigorous campaign to educate workers in the Red and Blue States, it will lose another solid part of its base.

[Indiana_Dem]

1. I've been trying to tell others this since the elections--

that the unions have always been the backbone of the Democratic party and ever since Reagan and his policies, the unions have been slowly dismantled little by little.

Add this with another rising union which meets every Sunday. The right-wing charismatic movement. It recruits and members pay dues every week instead of every month like the unions did. They are also told who supposedly represents their interests just like the unions did (and do).

Those are the 2 main factors affecting the shift right there.

[DemBones DemBones]

2. Quite right, of course. Am I correct in thinking that

all the states you named are "right-to-work" states? That's a real con game that's been put over on workers for decades, and an early example of conservative use of language to mean something opposite from its real definition.

[idlisambar]

3. I agree

Much the same can be said of other manufacturing areas -- aerospace, steel, machine-tool, electronics, etc. Unfortunately, the political power that labor commands has dwindled along with our manufacturing base.

[Xithras]

4. It's not just the auto industry

The United States is rapidly becoming the worlds first post-industrial economy. The auto industry, the steel industry, the tool industry, heavy manufacturing, mining, shipbuilding...these are all industries that the US was a dominant player in 40 years ago, but which have been decimated by free trade and offshoring. The auto industry is merely the last major industrial player left.

The problem is that labor traditionally hasn't done so well with the white collar sector, and as American industry becomes a thing of history there simply aren't any major worker bases crying out for unionization anymore. Blue collar jobs like policework, teaching, and truck driving tend to be unionized, but the union chapters are small and fragmented, and tend to be ineffective at organizing anything at a national level. The entry level or base jobs typically aren't unionizable because of their high turnover. And the white collar jobs..the theoretically "post-industrial" jobs, are hard to unionize simply because it's hard to convince people that they're being oppressed when they're sitting in an air conditioned cubible with high-speed internet access, a comfy chair, and a boss who seems as harmless as "Bob" from those Enzyte commercials.

The demise of strong labor coincides exactly with the demise of American industry, and both are dying on the altar of free trade. So why isn't our party doing more to stop this nonsense?

[Toronto Ron]

5. Are there any realistic solutions

other than trade barriers?

[billbuckhead]

6. Mercedes is remaking Chrysler into something that helps them on their

quest to be number 1 in the world. Chrysler is going to take Mercedes hand me down technology and make cars that destroy Detroit and give the Japanese headaches. GM and Ford are vulnerable as they are in technology bankruptcy. The new Ford 500 is really a reskinned Volvo and the new Ford Fusion and Lincoln Zephyr are really redone Mazda6's. A bunch of GM's new cars are really Opels that don't sell real well in Europe and so why would they sell here against most of the same competitors? The American big shots left the workers down.

[idlisambar]

7. "other than trade barriers"

At this point trade barriers would have to be a part of any realistic solution, but they most be supplemented by other measures that help our manufacturers become more competitive. In a nutshell, a regulatory framework must be set up so that our leading corporations will start to think about the long-term prospects of the firm instead of tomorrow's stock price. This site has some discussion on specific suggestions...

http://www.economyincrisis.com