This is an open letter to my MP, Mike Wallace of Burlington, Ontario, Canada.
Dear Mr. Wallace,
I hope this note finds you well. Thank you for the good work you're doing on our behalf.
I'm writing today to express my strong opposition to our tax dollars being used to bail out General Motors or any other automaker that's not cutting it in today's economy.
I don't know if you heard the reports on the news yesterday estimating the total hourly value of a GM worker's wage package--including benefits--at $78 per hour.
Seventy. Eight. Dollars. Per. Hour.
That's $162,240 to bolt rivets onto pieces of sheet metal.
I cannot emphasize how absurd that number is.
The auto industry and it's workers seem to have sadly fallen into a culture of entitlement and are living as if we're still in the post war boom years. Even at $58 per hour I would oppose our tax dollars being used to bail the auto sector out.
For too long the auto companies have been making products no-one wants. Any kind of government incentive to keep those companies going is a waste of our tax dollars.
I understand that some would state how vital the auto sector is to our economy but I would remind them that the sector has failed. Regardless of how important it used to be, it is clearly no longer viable and has been on a downward spiral for at least 15 years. Propping up a non-viable sector is hiding our head in the sand, throwing good money after bad, and refusing to acknowledge the patently clear; it's time for a new industry (or industries) to rise up and form the backbone of our economy.
We need to invest our tax dollars in developing new technologies and industries to see ourselves, our children and their children into the future. Continuing to prop up a dinosaur of an industry that pays its workers ABSURD wages for the kind of work they do is mismanagement of the public trust and funds of the grossest kind.
As a self-employed entrepreneur, when tough times come, no-one is lining up to bail me out. Routinely over the past ten years my wife (and four kids) and I have had to do without, cutting costs, reducing expenses, and living a very lean existence in order to continue building our life. The thought of my tax dollars, earned with such difficulty, going to support some auto worker who thinks he/she is entitled to a $162,240 a year job for playing with nuts and bolts is infuriating beyond belief.
It's time for GM and the other auto companies to wake up.
1) Supply has outpaced demand. No-one needs a new car every two years. The auto companies must stop using planned obsolescence as part of their product development strategy and start making 'green' cars that last a lifetime.
2) Oil is non-sustainable long-term so we--as a so-called "progressive nation"--must move now to begin adjusting by investing in public transit and in our cities, stopping suburban sprawl, and focusing on local initiatives from farming, to resource development, to healthcare etc. The auto companies should be making fewer cars, bottom line. Our public funds need to go everywhere BUT to the auto sector.
3) The old-timer 'union model' is an obsolete approach from two generations past. Government needs to stand up to the unions and call their bluff. I cannot express how angry I am at the prospect of our tax dollars being held hostage by a bunch of throwback bullies.
I believe that in unprecedented hardship lurks hope as yet unseen. I believe that our country can survive this season and emerge stronger. I believe in ingenuity and hard work. I reject in the strongest terms giving handouts to people working for an industry that's become fat, lazy, non-productive, non-environmentally aware and possessed of an attitude of entitlement.
No-one should be entitled to $162,240 a year.
And we tax paying Canadians certainly don't deserve to be footing that bill.
I sincerely hope you take this very seriously and bring this to the attention of the powers that be in Ottawa, urging them to do what's right, and visionary, and responsible despite the short-term stress and difficulty that may ensue. Now is not the time for looking back to the way things were.
Now is the time for looking, and moving towards, the future with hope, passion and courage.
Sincerely,
Todd Andrew Cantelon
1 comment:
you said it brother!
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