www.mybaycity.com
November 23, 2008
(Prior Story) Business ArTicle 3295 (Next Story)
Sponsored by Bay Area Chamber of Commerce
U.S. Defenseless Without Manufacturing, Says Michigan Congressman McCotter
|
||||||||||
| Printer Friendly Story View |
U.S. Rep. Thaddeus McCotter, R-Michigan.
Thomas Jefferson said in 1802: 'I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies. If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around the banks will deprive the people of all property until their children wake-up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered.'
U.S. Rep. Thaddeus McCotter, Republican from the 11th District of Michigan, issued a stern warning to fellow members of the House Financial Services Committee:
"If America doesn't have a manufacturing base -- a manufacturing base some think is not necessary in this global world -- the U.S. will cease to be able to defend itself."
Without manufacturing, McCotter said the U.S. would be "reliant on other nations for innovative technology from 'friendly nations' such as Communist China and the Arsenal of Democracy in our lifetime would have been dismantled in time of war."
Rep. McCotter staunchly defended the "Big 3" automakers before the committee headed by Rep. Barney Frank, Massachusetts Democrat.
"In the end the issue is larger than the Big 3 and larger than the economy, it is what type of nation do we become?" he asked.
McCotter, chairman of the House Republican Policy Committee, appeared to reverse course on the government bailout of troubled companies, having voted "no" on the $700 billion plan but now is supporting the $25 billion bridge loan to the automakers.
McCotter predicted that without the loans to the auto industry "you will see prosperity throughout the Midwest and the rest of the country crash."
Concern for his Detroit area constituent base apparently has transformed McCotter's opinion about the need for government funding: "The 11th District has heavy automotive industry, a lot of dealers, suppliers, white collar and blue collar employees."
Restructuring the auto industry was doing on its own, without government aid, was short-circuited by the credit crunch caused by the failure of banks to use the $700 billion bailout as it was intended -- to ease credit markets, the Michigan legislator said, adding:
"I personally find it offensive to imply that the domestic American auto industry has not done anything since the 1970s to restructure. If you think that is true that nothing was done to restructure since the credit crisis or CAFE standards, I invite you to my district to see how the fragile fabric of people's lives has been rendered asunder by necessary restructuring."
White collar and blue collar workers are out of work, pensioners are worried about health benefits lost and the Wixom assembly plant is closed, he said.
"The Whiz Kids on Wall Street with their computer algorithms decided to screw up the entire credit of the U.S.," Rep. McCotter charged. "A 'no' vote on the bridge loan for the auto industry means the $25 billion will continue to go to Wall Street and the healthy banks that have failed to free up the credit system."
"A 'yes' vote means it actually goes to Main Street not just for the Big 3 but to hard working men and women whose taxes have gone into the $700 billion."
Turning your back on Main Street, said McCotter, "will see foreclosure rates skyrocket for people who have played by the rules and currently pay their mortgages."
He said Congress would be "penny wise and pound foolish" if it doesn't approve the $25 billion bridge loan, asserting "we would let real human beings go into bankruptcy and watch the stresses and strains on families as they endure the pain. You will not save the American taxpayer anything because pension costs will be picked up somewhere from retirees cheated out of a lifetime of hard work."
Michigan's problem is that it still operates on the industrial/welfare model of government, he said, commenting: "The Big 3 and the UAW get a bad rap. If you talk about shedding labor costs, where do labor costs go? --To the federal government."
McCotter drew applause from fellow committee members when he summed up: "Do we want a nation that is no longer producing wealth, that no longer has a path to middle class prosperity? Do we remain the America we inherited or do we just let it go and watch real people suffer in the process? My answer is no."
###
| Printer Friendly Story View |
|
|
Dave Rogers |
|
|
|
Printer-Friendly Story View
0200 Nd: 04-19-2024 d 4 cpr 0
12/31/2020 P3v3-0200-Ad.cfm
SPONSORED LINKS
12/31/2020 drop ads P3v3-0200-Ad.cfm