Nov 16, 2008
WITH EACH passing day, the bad news gets more alarming. Sales are
shrinking, revenue is declining, and jobs across the nation could be
lost.
The industry is in crisis. Time is of the esssence. Delaying support will cause irreparable harm.
President-elect
Barack Obama, please rescue the newspaper industry. A thriving, vibrant
press is a critical national need. Besides, newspaper writers across
the country helped elect you.
In an opinion piece published in
USA Today, Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm and Richard Blouse,
president and CEO of the Detroit Regional Chamber, used much of the
above language to press their case for a Detroit bailout.
Part of their plea rested on the federal government's previous decision to rescue
If Washington could "provide a whopping $150 billion lifeline to a
single insurance company," they wrote, then it should be able to "save
and create millions of American jobs by loaning and investing a
fraction of that amount" to the automotive industry.
No one in government is going to back a newspaper bailout and no one should.
Yet these same arguments are winning bailouts for other industries.
Where
will they end? Is there an objective economic formula for deciding who
gets one? Or, is it rooted more in politics, even though Obama pledged
to reject politics as usual if the country elected him president?
Details
of a government rescue of the auto industry are still in the works.
From the start, the proposal felt less like a coherent piece of fiscal
policy and more like a jobs bill and thank you to labor for supporting
Obama and the Democrats during the 2008 campaign. It makes you wonder
who else might get a thank you note from the Obama administration.
The
Service Employees International Union, the Teamsters, the AFL-CIO all
backed Obama at critical moments during the tough primary and general
election seasons. According to the Asssociated Press, Obama received 60
percent of the union vote in 14 states where voters were asked if they
were union members. Union support was even higher in Pennsylvania,
Nevada, Washington, and Michigan. The Michigan AFL-CIO dispatched
85,000 volunteers to knock on 500,000 doors, make 1 million phone calls
to union members, and distribute 2 million leaflets at work sites, the
AP reported.
Already, it's payback time.
Bankruptcy offers
companies the best chance at a fresh start, some experts say. But jobs
and benefits will be shed during the painful restructuring process. In
contrast, a government bailout for
Beyond
the bailout, the labor agenda includes policies that make it easier to
form unions, expand the pool of workers who can join them, and extend
healthcare benefits. The automakers and the United Auto Workers want
half of whatever they get from Washington to help the companies meet
healthcare obligations for more than 780,000 retirees and their
dependents, under contracts signed in 2007.
Any American worker
would be relieved if the government stepped in to preserve health
benefits. Today, the opposite is happening, as companies cut benefits
to cut costs. A better healthcare plan for everyone was a big part of
the Obama campaign agenda, and his ability to deliver on it will be a
major measure of his success as president.
In the meantime, he and fellow Democrats should refrain from playing economic savior on a sector-by-sector basis.
Anyone
in a struggling industry - and that includes the newspaper business -
understands the pain of layoffs and reduced benefits. It's human nature
to beg for the life boat as the waters swirl waist-high. But,
capitalism doesn't call for survival at any cost or by any means
necessary; it's survival of the fittest. Adapt or die, as the corporate
fallen know.
If newspapers aren't producing news in a format that
people want to purchase, it's the industry's problem. If Detroit isn't
producing cars people want to buy, that's Detroit's problem - not the
taxpayers'.
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WITH EACH passing day, the bad news gets more alarming. Sales are
shrinking, revenue is declining, and jobs across the nation could be
lost.
The industry is in crisis. Time is of the esssence. Delaying support will cause irreparable harm.
President-elect
Barack Obama, please rescue the newspaper industry. A thriving, vibrant
press is a critical national need. Besides, newspaper writers across
the country helped elect you.
In an opinion piece published in
USA Today, Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm and Richard Blouse,
president and CEO of the Detroit Regional Chamber, used much of the
above language to press their case for a Detroit bailout.
Part of their plea rested on the federal government's previous decision to rescue
If Washington could "provide a whopping $150 billion lifeline to a
single insurance company," they wrote, then it should be able to "save
and create millions of American jobs by loaning and investing a
fraction of that amount" to the automotive industry.
No one in government is going to back a newspaper bailout and no one should.
Yet these same arguments are winning bailouts for other industries.
Where
will they end? Is there an objective economic formula for deciding who
gets one? Or, is it rooted more in politics, even though Obama pledged
to reject politics as usual if the country elected him president?
Details
of a government rescue of the auto industry are still in the works.
From the start, the proposal felt less like a coherent piece of fiscal
policy and more like a jobs bill and thank you to labor for supporting
Obama and the Democrats during the 2008 campaign. It makes you wonder
who else might get a thank you note from the Obama administration.
The
Service Employees International Union, the Teamsters, the AFL-CIO all
backed Obama at critical moments during the tough primary and general
election seasons. According to the Asssociated Press, Obama received 60
percent of the union vote in 14 states where voters were asked if they
were union members. Union support was even higher in Pennsylvania,
Nevada, Washington, and Michigan. The Michigan AFL-CIO dispatched
85,000 volunteers to knock on 500,000 doors, make 1 million phone calls
to union members, and distribute 2 million leaflets at work sites, the
AP reported.
Already, it's payback time.
Bankruptcy offers
companies the best chance at a fresh start, some experts say. But jobs
and benefits will be shed during the painful restructuring process. In
contrast, a government bailout for
Beyond
the bailout, the labor agenda includes policies that make it easier to
form unions, expand the pool of workers who can join them, and extend
healthcare benefits. The automakers and the United Auto Workers want
half of whatever they get from Washington to help the companies meet
healthcare obligations for more than 780,000 retirees and their
dependents, under contracts signed in 2007.
Any American worker
would be relieved if the government stepped in to preserve health
benefits. Today, the opposite is happening, as companies cut benefits
to cut costs. A better healthcare plan for everyone was a big part of
the Obama campaign agenda, and his ability to deliver on it will be a
major measure of his success as president.
In the meantime, he and fellow Democrats should refrain from playing economic savior on a sector-by-sector basis.
Anyone
in a struggling industry - and that includes the newspaper business -
understands the pain of layoffs and reduced benefits. It's human nature
to beg for the life boat as the waters swirl waist-high. But,
capitalism doesn't call for survival at any cost or by any means
necessary; it's survival of the fittest. Adapt or die, as the corporate
fallen know.
If newspapers aren't producing news in a format that
people want to purchase, it's the industry's problem. If Detroit isn't
producing cars people want to buy, that's Detroit's problem - not the
taxpayers'.
WITH EACH passing day, the bad news gets more alarming. Sales are
shrinking, revenue is declining, and jobs across the nation could be
lost.
The industry is in crisis. Time is of the esssence. Delaying support will cause irreparable harm.
President-elect
Barack Obama, please rescue the newspaper industry. A thriving, vibrant
press is a critical national need. Besides, newspaper writers across
the country helped elect you.
In an opinion piece published in
USA Today, Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm and Richard Blouse,
president and CEO of the Detroit Regional Chamber, used much of the
above language to press their case for a Detroit bailout.
Part of their plea rested on the federal government's previous decision to rescue
If Washington could "provide a whopping $150 billion lifeline to a
single insurance company," they wrote, then it should be able to "save
and create millions of American jobs by loaning and investing a
fraction of that amount" to the automotive industry.
No one in government is going to back a newspaper bailout and no one should.
Yet these same arguments are winning bailouts for other industries.
Where
will they end? Is there an objective economic formula for deciding who
gets one? Or, is it rooted more in politics, even though Obama pledged
to reject politics as usual if the country elected him president?
Details
of a government rescue of the auto industry are still in the works.
From the start, the proposal felt less like a coherent piece of fiscal
policy and more like a jobs bill and thank you to labor for supporting
Obama and the Democrats during the 2008 campaign. It makes you wonder
who else might get a thank you note from the Obama administration.
The
Service Employees International Union, the Teamsters, the AFL-CIO all
backed Obama at critical moments during the tough primary and general
election seasons. According to the Asssociated Press, Obama received 60
percent of the union vote in 14 states where voters were asked if they
were union members. Union support was even higher in Pennsylvania,
Nevada, Washington, and Michigan. The Michigan AFL-CIO dispatched
85,000 volunteers to knock on 500,000 doors, make 1 million phone calls
to union members, and distribute 2 million leaflets at work sites, the
AP reported.
Already, it's payback time.
Bankruptcy offers
companies the best chance at a fresh start, some experts say. But jobs
and benefits will be shed during the painful restructuring process. In
contrast, a government bailout for
Beyond
the bailout, the labor agenda includes policies that make it easier to
form unions, expand the pool of workers who can join them, and extend
healthcare benefits. The automakers and the United Auto Workers want
half of whatever they get from Washington to help the companies meet
healthcare obligations for more than 780,000 retirees and their
dependents, under contracts signed in 2007.
Any American worker
would be relieved if the government stepped in to preserve health
benefits. Today, the opposite is happening, as companies cut benefits
to cut costs. A better healthcare plan for everyone was a big part of
the Obama campaign agenda, and his ability to deliver on it will be a
major measure of his success as president.
In the meantime, he and fellow Democrats should refrain from playing economic savior on a sector-by-sector basis.
Anyone
in a struggling industry - and that includes the newspaper business -
understands the pain of layoffs and reduced benefits. It's human nature
to beg for the life boat as the waters swirl waist-high. But,
capitalism doesn't call for survival at any cost or by any means
necessary; it's survival of the fittest. Adapt or die, as the corporate
fallen know.
If newspapers aren't producing news in a format that
people want to purchase, it's the industry's problem. If Detroit isn't
producing cars people want to buy, that's Detroit's problem - not the
taxpayers'.
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