Now there’s another reason for NASCAR fans to hate Kyle Busch.
Unfortunately there is now a reason to hate Denny Hamlin, Joey Logano, Micheal Waltrip, David Ruetimann, Brian Vickers, Scott Speed, Marcos Ambrose and Jeremy Mayfield.
What do all of those drivers have in common? They all drive Toyota’s, that’s what!
With President Obama announcing that GM and Chrysler would not be receiving anymore bailout money because he was not satisfied with their re-organization plans, it makes me wonder just how some people are going to react.
Well I’ve already seen a taste of what some of the reaction is like, and it is not good. These are some of the comments that I found at Newsvine:
Thank the Unions for the demise of the Auto Industry. It just shows the gall of a group of people who think that balancing the budget is the responsibility of “someone else.”
And just think, the Unions are pushing “Card Check” so they can go in and ruin other industries as well. The Unions, at one time were a good thing for workers in this country. Now, that is no longer the case.
Are you kidding me. As a GM worker what should my pay be. Have you ever worked in a factory when it’s 110 degrees outside. And as for most GM parts are foreign made you are wrong. GM has the lowest forien content among any other manufacturer. I feel the gov’t is leaving the blue collor worker hanging while it gives AIG and other finacial instutuituions money for bonuses. I hope everybody who voted for the Masiah is happy. Hail Obama
Oh cry me a river hoss. I am a self employed construction worker who works in the most hot and humid working conditions. My wife works in a factory in the same conditions as you. She makes 16.50 an hour and doesn’t have near the benefits you do. But, she is working full time, and has never been laid off, and her company has never asked to be bailed out. I don’t know if this is true or not but I heard $1500 of every vehicle goes to pay for the retired workers health plan. Instead of shoehorning money out my pockets for bailouts, the UAW could back off a bit so that a once great enterprise can stay in business and you can keep your job.
Hoss32,
INdeed I have, worked for GE for a number of years, and union negotiations, the wages were pretty good, but not good enough according to the union, we could get more. Now the plants which took up several city blocks are all gone, and houses stand where I once did to do my work. And we built things that were and still are very much in demand, Electrical transformers, traffic signals, baseboard heaters, and ballast’s for lighting systems, all still in demand, but not from that plant.
I would love to see nothing more then you out of job.
That last comment is the most unpatriotic thing I have ever seen or read in my life! What kind of a person do you have to be to wish that someone, ANYONE would lose their job. What Jolie-884782 doesn’t get is that it doesn’t stop with the loss of a job. What Jolie-884782 is saying is that they want everyone at GM, Ford and Chrysler to lose their jobs, to lose their health insurance, to lose their homes, for their children to go hungry and for their loved ones to be put in harm’s way. That is what Jolie-884782 is really saying. What kind of a person do you have to be to actually wish that on innocent children?
Actually you don’t have to be a person – you just have to be a monster.
There’s a lot more that I found but I really don’t want to promote the schadenfreude that’s going on over there right now. I guess what really amazes me is that there are so many people in this country who are willing to jump up and down, dance a jig, and basically piss on the graves of blue-collar workers – usually all at the same time.
What a lot of people don’t get is what they are truly wishing for is for misfortune to befall total strangers who have never harmed them or their loved ones. Most of them only want to support their families, stay in their homes and keep their children warm, fed and safe. Why do some people seem to have a problem with that? I could spend a lifetime trying to figure out that answer, but it would take a philosipher who is wiser than you or I to figure it out so I won’t even go down that road.
So what does this mean to us? What does this mean to the workers who are already unemployed, underemployed and underutilized?
It means trouble, that’s what!
It means less jobs for us to apply to and the possibility that more people from the auto industry will be joining us at the local food bank. I’m not just talking about the assembly line workers that GM and Chrysler may let go, I’m talking about the people who work for their suppliers. See, if GM and Chrysler go down there is not going to be a big demand for parts, and if there isn’t a demand for parts then those parts companies are going to have to cut some of their employees loose. That means more unemployment all the way around.
Yeah I can hear some of you anti-American-worker, pro-cheap-crap-from-China-that-you-can-buy-at-WalMart-so-that-American-workers-get-fired dumbasses working it right now: “Yeah good, screw GM and Chrysler! Screw the UAW! Toyota rules baby! Kyle Busch rules! WHOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!”
Dial it down a little bit Cletus! If there are very few GM cars or Chrysler cars to be found, what makes you think that people are all of a sudden going to start buying Toyota’s?
They’re not! They are going to hang onto their Chevy’s, Ford’s, Chrysler’s, Saturn’s, Jeep’s, Mercury’s, Buick’s, Pontiac’s, Lincoln’s, Volvo’s and Dodge’s for as long as they can out of principle. They are not going to go out and trade in their American cars for a Toyota, Honda, Mitsubishi, Hyundai, Volkswagen, Lexus, Audi, BMW, Mercedes, Nissan, Suzuki, Mazda or Subaru. They are going to be more likely to run those cars off the road into a ditch then drive them!
And that’s one of my fears now. I am afraid that now we are going to hear stories of possible backlash against foreign car manufacturers and their owners, if not against the dealerships themselves. Remember a few years ago that there were some Hummer lots in SoCal that were being vandalized? There were some Environmental Terrorists who were going onto the lot at night, torching the vehicles and vandalizing the showrooms. What I’m afraid of is that we will now be hearing reports of the same thing happening at Toyota, Honda or BMW lots. I’m afraid that we are now going to hear reports of road-rage incidents against drivers of Hyundai’s, Nissan’s and Mazda’s being driven into a ditch by someone driving a Chevy, Ford or Dodge truck that’s three times their size.
I’m really hoping that we don’t see this because that really is not helping those companies, nor does it help the people who are either out of work or afraid that soon they will be out of work.
And what does this all mean for NASCAR? Does this mean that support for the teams is going to evaporate overnight? Personally I don’t want to see Dale Earnhardt Jr. behind the wheel of a Honda. I mean it is bad enough that Danica Patrick has to drive one in the Indy League, but I don’t want to see Honda, Mazda or Nissan at Talladega – that’s just wrong!
There is one thing we can hope for though – we can all pull for Chevy, Ford and Dodge to keep winning in NASCAR – like what happened yesterday. Did anyone see the last 20 laps of that race at Martinsville? Denny Hamlin (Toyota) looked like he was going to win another race in his home state, until Jimmy Johnson (Chevy) got up behind him, got his nose on his left quarter-panel and muscled his way into the lead and got the win.
If that’s not a metaphor for what might happen next I don’t know what is.
But here’s something else to consider:
Toyota came in second in the race and placed four cars in the top-20. After that it really dropped off because the cars that came in 38th – 43rd place…all Toyotas. Out of the 14 Toyotas that were entered in the race, only 5 placed in the top-25. How many did Chevy place in the top-10?
Seven.
Methinks that is a good omen right there!!!
Look at the who the points leaders are right now: Jeff Gordon (Chevy), Clint Bowyer (Chevy), Kurt Busch (Dodge), Jimmy Johnson (Chevy), Denny Hamlin (Toyota), Kyle Busch (Toyota), Tony Stewart (Chevy), Carl Edwards (Ford), Kasey Kahne (Dodge), Kevin Hervick (Chevy), David Reutimann (Toyota) and Matt Kenseth (Ford). Out of the top-12, 75% of the cars are American manufacturers.
Tell a NASCAR fan from the South that Japan makes a better car and that GM and Chrysler deserve to go out of business and you will be lucky if the only thing they will do is spit in your face.
That’s before they drive off in their Chevy Truck with their #3 sticker on the back window.
My opinion of the CEOs of the car companies leaves a lot to be desired. Before I go any further, let me point out that these upper managers and execs are greedy, croc eating, vile snakes that couldn’t wait to hand out bonuses when the bailout money came their way. The bonuses could have waited until the companies were back on their feet. It was not necessary at the time to use the bailout for anything but what it was first intended. People could have waited to be paid the bonuses until the appropriate time.
What should have been done, was use the bailout to help the auto industry. Help the families that rely on the revenue from their jobs, to feed and shelter and clothe their families. If the auto industries fail, then there will certainly be a domino affect. It will effect tire companies, oil, and parts companies, people who make visors, bumpers, and every other vital part of the car, suv, van, etc. Take all that away, and we might as well go back to the horse and buggy. And you can bet with the price of inflation, a bail of hay won’t get a horse very far either.
We need to break the chain of distasterous CEOs. Lets not blame the hardworking Americans who do their jobs, and try and keep a company going. We cannot blame them. The economy is flat broke and needs to heal but in the mean time, the company engineers ad designers should offer alternatives and make the best of the situation by building better and more cost, and environmental autos that will eventually sell. We do not need to cut name brand dealers or makes in the process. They can be used it to their advantage. Keep the name and the quality and make them better and more efficient! Let people keep their jobs, let Americans have a choice to what brand of car or vehicle they use. Don’t compromise the quality, the service and employees dignity because of the stupidity of those people who cared more for the money than they did of people’s lives and livelyhood dependant on needing those jobs that are being taking away. Give credit where it is due and throw out the useless wonders who are keeping the economy from renewed hope, and stamina.
Amen to that! I can’t understand why some politicians and talking heads in the media are so quick to blame blue-collar workers for the economic crisis and the auto industry crisis, when it’s the CEO’s of these companies, the banks and the greed merchants on Wall Street that got us here. Well, in the case of some politicians I can understand it because the blue-collar workforce doesn’t contribute to their campaigns – the CEO’s do that.
What’s really funny is the other day when the CEO of GM stepped down, Bob Corker (R-TN) sprang to his defence. The same Bob Corker who a couple of months ago tore Rick Wagoner a new one when he, Robert Nardelli (Chrysler) and William C. Ford Jr. all went to Capitol Hill to ask for money. Talk about your hypocracy.
That’s what really bugs me about this – the hypocracy. What, do they really think we have that short a memory? Do they really think that we won’t remember the way they spanked the auto industry for asking for help while they grabbed their ankles for the Banks and Wall Street at our expense? I will never understand how they can give candy and flowers to people who shower before they go to work, and they give a bowl of cold gruel to the people who have to shower after work that they then have to share with their families.
Well here’s hoping that help will come from somewhere. I know in the 60′s the people who were involved with NASCAR had a saying: “Win on Sundays, sell on Mondays”. Maybe that’s what we need to get back to in order to turn things around. I know on Sundays there is a huge 4-5 hour commercial on which involves rolling billborads circling an asphalt oval at 180-200 mph, so hopefully more people will take notice of that – and soon. If they do then maybe that will stimulate some spending in Lowe’s and Home Depot, and maybe more people will be spending more of their money at Office Depot, FedEx and buying more Hamburger Helper and Old Spice while drinking their AMP Energy Drink. (You know I had to get Junior in there somewhere.)
I know I’m going to be watching them get at it in Texas this weekend. Anybody with me? And how many times do you think FOX will go to the “Digger Cam” before the day is out?
Yep. saw that interview with Corker, too, and was not impressed. I find how often is the case where these politians don’t back the little guy becasuse we can’t support funding for their campaigns but will support idiotic ideas from those who do. If it doesn’t benefit them, they screw the little people and try and convince us that it is good for us, all the while they pocket bonuses and give themselves raises. We do not get raises to the extremes like they do everyyear and I find it hard to comprehend how they can make thousands more for so little work, than the average Joe on the street.
I was watching CNN this morning and a guy from England was making the statement that the bailouts to these banks, CEOs of large corporations will be our downfall. A banker gets the money from a bailout, which mind you is actually tax payers money, and turns around to lend it to us, only we are having to pay interest on what is lent us. Sounds like double jeapordy since it is tax payer money, our money, that they lend us, and then we are having to pay interest, and taxes for at the end of the year. Where is the sense in that? Makes me want to pull every cent I have out of the bank and keep it hidden in the back yard just so they don’t get it to give themselves in way of bonuses and such. I don’t feel it is fair play when they do this. Why should we have to borrow money that is ours and have to pay more for it? Why I ask you? How many people thought about that one? I certainly didn’t until I heard this man this morning. Just goes to show you I was, like many, in the dark. I didn’t think beyond my own situation or beyond the box. Learn something new everyday!
What really bites my behind is the fact that get away with it. We bailout these CEOs for what reason? To get slammed dunked one way or other. The politicians must be having a party on Capital Hill thinking we are what we are. Hicks! God, you got to love this country but I am getting tired of paying their salaries and footing the bills for higher increases in everything from gas to food, and toilet paper! Come on now, the average person doesn’t get credit for their work nor compensated for their ideas. They don’t get to explain their stories or have someone actually siding with their situations. It is incomprehensible how they live in multimillion housing, have maids and fancy cars, go to these dinners where a samll portion of food costs $1000- a plate and party it up. The average person can barely afford to feed and clothe their kids on unemployment and when that runs out, on assistance they get from the state. They have their utilities cut off because they can’t afford it or they run a month or two behind. They might get a small pension from their previous jobs but can’t afford basics because the cost of living keeps going up and are turned down for loans, reduced lunches for their kids and can’t afford to buy gas when they need work, not that there is much in the job market when thousand apply for one job opening. It is shameful that this is what our country has become. It is hurtful to the people who need to work, want to work but can’t work because they are over qualified, under qualified or under utilized as you have stated. People can’t afford to live because we are supporting these politicians, CEOs and bankers. I pay my taxes, I follow the cross walk rules, don’t jaywalk and I don’t rob my neighbor or run over people. I have seen elderly people have their food stamps cut down or taken away, their social security is far less than most of the higher ups mentioned make in a day! What does it take for them to open their eyes, and cold hearts to take care of the people who put them where they are today? Life isn’t full of roses but full of thorny cacti now adays. And it stinks!
They are all smiles when campaigning and asking for funding and support but they have ulterior motives when they make it. They smile at you and promise they will listen and do right. And like a knife, they stab you where it hurts. In the pocket books of the Average Joe. Then they tell you it is benefitial and will help you in the long run. they are forcing companies to go out of business. Not the CEOs and bank presidents who rob you blind and blame you for their doings. Well, so far, most of these politicians haven’t done a thing that has impressed me. They side and make excuses and blame anyone and everyone for their contribution but they do not, will not take responsibility for what they have done all along.
Let them eat hamburger helper, romain noodles and mac and cheese, and drive a bike to work. Let them have their salaries cut, and cable cut so they can’t watch the sports chanel or races you are so fond of- yes, I was listening-and let them go into foreclosures and let them try to make it on what you and I make aweek. I can bet my last penny they would be crying and begging at the door step of Average Joes for a handout to feed their families and wanting us to feel sorry for them.
I think that a lot of these people who are in a position of power right now have forgotten what it is like to have to struggle every day for survival or just to keep their heads above water. I think that you’re right – they should have to walk a mile in our shoes for at least a week. A week having to deal with the idea that they are behind on the mortgage, behind on an equity loan, behind on a personal loan and that they can’t pay any of it. They have to save whatever they can to keep the lights on, the heat on, the water turned on, and to make sure that they have communications access to the outside world so that they can look for and apply for a job. Meanwhile they have to talk about how they are going to pay the medical bills that are piled up since they have no insurance while they are diving down to the local food bank. While they are in line waiting for food they have to figure out how to afford prescriptions that will keep one of their loved ones alive because of a tumor that is causing them difficulty, and wondering how they are going to be able to get them medical access should the medicine stop working. And they have to do all of this without collecting unemployment because they used it all up and are not elligible anymore, and without collecting any type of welfare because they own too much stuff and are not elliglble for that either.
In the end it is not the physical circumstances that are the worst but the mental anguish that takes the worst toll on us. They have forgotten what it is like for us and they need to walk a few miles in our shoes. In my case, size 12.
I know what you mean. I have medical insurance, through the military but because of one miscoding from the hospital, I have an outragious medical bill not just from the hospital but the doctor who performed my surgery. The insurance would have paid it completely, but the hospital wouldn’t change the coding. So I can only afford to send them each $25- a month until I can afford more. Politicians don’t worry about any of that or what the average person has to go through. Walking in our shoes for a week wouldn’t do it. Let them try several months of worry, anguish and yes, lets hope that one of their loved ones don’t get sick or they have an emergency because without money, see what kind of service they get. Try waiting in an emergency room for hours with a lot more people, compared tothose that can pay to the ones who can’t and see who gets seen first! Let them stand in lines at food banks and feeling helpless and discouraged, and wondering if they can make it to next month. Let them try making a house payment, car payment and car insurance, not to mention basic utilities on a small unemployment check, and let them ponder over what to pay first and what can be set aside for later. God forbid they have children still in school waiting to graduate and finding the $40- for their children’s cap and gown and final year book and seeing the disappointment it could cause on their child’s face when you explain there is no money for it. I gave to the soup kitchen and my heart went out to the people I saw. Yes, I am in need but figured there were people worse off. How many politicians have actually visited one and gave anything but “airtime” and walked away with a smile on their face. What I saw cut me right to my heart. Children and parents who were average people who were living from pay check to paycheck or who use to be better off before their lives were reduced to nothing because the economical mojo, have lost their homes, their livelihoods from this crisis and who are now being forced to get their next meal there, who have to live in shelters with so many. I walked away with tears in my eyes, and more thankful than ever before for the things and people I have in my life. I could have been in their shoes if my circumstances didn’t improve even for a little bit. Politicains play games with people’s lives and fight for their own selfish reasons, which do not take care of the people who voted for them in the first place. This society is hurting all over. A week of being in our shoes would put it lightly. Besides, I don’t they could fit into my size 5 foot! They need to take a good long look at themselves and be forced to explain their actions to children whose parents are now out of work, in need of work, who can no longer afford to feed and clothe them or shelter them. Explain to those children why they (the politician) live in mansions and can afford to eat out or drive their big cars, can afford their vacations and spend on manicures, hairdressers andas well as afford things these children do not have. As far as I am concerned the politicians, CEOs, and Bankers have a lot more going for them than anyone else. I am tired of trying to understand their reasonings when they don’t care. Their insensitivity to what has happened to so many laid-off by their greed and the crisis they put us in, is to blame. I am tired of their false promises, and false hope. The economy isn’t improving. I saw first hand what it could mean to millions. One man at the soup kitchen lost everything, his home, his job, his wife and is trying to raise his children. If you ask me, I have more respect for that man than any politician who only sees what could benefit him/her and who contributes more to their campaigns and causes than the average person trying to survive.Yeah, let them walk in our shoes but make them walk in them many months and have everything they hold dear taken from them and see how far they get. the road is rocky and better hope they don’t have holes in their shoes because they could very well fall into the deep pile of crap they gave us.
OK, I’m testing out a new comment system here. I had to upgrade from SezWho to JS-Kit and I’m seeing how this works.
Not sure how I like it yet. Need time to adjust, I guess. Ha. Ha. So much going on and then this, too. LOL. It is ok. Just not so keen on change just yet…Been packing up and my like is a bit chaoctic right now. Pretty soon, I will be able to breathe easier after the packing is done, floors are cleaned and the place is painted. 7 weeks until the big move. Whewhooo!
Yeah, I’m still adjusting to this new system myself. The thing was, Sez-who was merging with this new company so I had to go with the new system. At least it’s free.
I discovered that you can leave comments as either a guest or you can register a free account in a couple of minutes as whomever you want. You can even choose an avitar (as you can see) and there are more controls then with the previous system.
So, rest up, take a look around, play around with this new comment system and have some fun with it.
[...] even though he hasn’t worked in over 6 years (well not in a real job anyway), and this post where he actually defends American autoworkers in particular is full of fire, ire, and [...]
This might be cool. I can post my pic, not a good one but then I am tired most days. Ha. Ha. Like the avitar Big Daddy. Reminds me of one of my son’s friend’s pics. LOL. anyway, I can understand you needing to switch the system. Free is always good! can’t go wrong there…. The guest reply was me. wasn’t sure how to work the system…Still spinning from the packing and not sure if I am coming or going and if I have packed up a cat or two…They love boxes…