From your link:
Instead, each active worker is getting benefits equal only to a fraction of that--probably around $10 per hour, according to estimates from the International Motor Vehicle Program. The number only gets to $70 an hour if you include the cost of benefits for retirees--in other words, the cost of benefits for other people. One of the few people to grasp this was Portfolio.com's Felix Salmon. As he noted yesterday, the claim that workers are getting $70 an hour in compensation is just "not true."
First Rev, it was good of you to include the wording that says the $70 an hour in compensation number normally used against American workers is just "not true."
To make sure I have this right Rev, they make about $28/hr then we add $10/hr for benefits...
Do anyone know what benefits are worth per hour for the foreign workers in the south? It seems if we add their benefits to their hourly pay it will bring the two numbers closer together.... I am sure the American pay will still be higher, however I think the two numbers will be comparable.
Next, something I never see is the executive pay of the foreign and American companies compared. Why are we only concerned with what the union worker makes and not what the executives get?
I held out on posting on this topic until I saw the president speak today. I have a better idea what is going on after hearing him speak to the subject. The last gov help GM and Chrysler received said they must prove they are viable by the end of march or would have to pay the money back. Neither company was able to prove viability and this is the end of march.
Apparently GM's plan was embarrassingly unacceptable so instead of bankrupting the company by demanding payment in full of the loans we made, Obama asked the CEO to step down. It appears bankruptcy is still in GM's future, however, it will be a structured bankruptcy designed to clear away old debts that are weighing them down as opposed to forcing an unassisted bankruptcy where the company would be broken up, sold off, and no longer exists.
A lot of American's own GM cars and depend on the warranty for repairs etc... If GM were to no longer exist, those warranties would become void which would cause further harm to our current economy... It would also mean the loss of a lot of American jobs. According to Obama speech today, there will still be job losses and plant closures as GM restructures, however, the impact will be minimized and the company will continue to operate since it is backed by government dollars.
