Is there blood coming out of my eyes?

I don't like the auto bailout plan any more than the next person. I don't for one second believe that this will save the jobs of auto workers, the plants they work in, or the towns they live in. I do believe that CEOs will continue to earn fat bonuses and fly privately. It also galls me that wealthy Americans have sneered about welfare queens and irresponsible behavior (No investment portfolio? Madness!). It's just plain different when old white millionaires have their hands out — who cares that they've driven these gigantic companies into the ground? (For the love of Pete — whoever that is — are ya gonna stop making $#%@*& Hummers already?) Republicans and moneyed conservatives also rail against government interference — deregulate! Drill baby drill! Unless we're talking about your private sex life or begging Congress for billions. But the world markets crashed overnight on news of the Senate not passing the deal, and I was certain our market would follow today. Eventually, it will. What is an American citizen to think?

Yesterday I read that Democrats quietly slipped into the deal a pay raise for federal judges. "District judges and lawmakers now earn $169,300 a year… There is concern among many policymakers that judges are not paid enough relative to the importance of their offices…" That's tough. Teachers and nurses everywhere feel your pain.

This morning I learned that the deal fell apart in the Senate because Republicans wanted auto workers to have their wages cut significantly. Now now, auto workers — think of the poor, disadvantaged judges.

Now I'm reading in Salon about Republican politicians who voted against the deal and benefit from having foreign auto plants in their states.

I ask you again — is there blood coming out of my eyes?

There's a special place in hell for Republican senator Bob Corker, whose area does have one domestic plant…which will soon close (they need to make room for the Volkswagen plant coming to his Tennessee town). It was Corker vs. the auto-workers union:

             …Mr. Corker admitted to the union's representatives that
             discussions over wages were "largely about politics in the
             G.O.P. caucus."

             Mr. Corker said he proposed that wages and benefits of 
             U.A.W. members be competitive with lower rates at American
             plants run by foreign rivals…Without that agreement, Mr.
             Corker said he could not sell a compromise to other Republicans.

Apparently, this is how it works now: Republicans so badly want to screw over American workers that they will bring financial disaster to foreign markets. 

Republicans — made in America!

Jennifer Leblanc