Incompetence is root of Big 3 issue

Cal Thomas blames the Democrats and the UAW for the auto industry's latest woes. Yet he conveniently fails to mention that for the past seven years it was a Republican President who sent our country into two questionable wars; failed to veto even one spending bill proposed by a largely Republican Congress; ran through surplus billions of dollars that were left to him by the previous administration and instead of finding a way to pay for all this he reduced taxes on this country's wealthiest.

These are some of the real reasons our national debt doubled to more than $10 trillion and that we are still adding $500 billion each month to it.

His picture of the Big Three and their workers feeding at a "trough" might seem colloquial to some, but it should be called a "Bailout Banquet Table," as that more accurately depicts the higher class of Wall Streeters who have already eaten at and will continue to partake of its taxpayer provided goodies.

Wall Street greed and the patent lack of government oversight are the real reason this "trough" was initially created.

A study done by the Center for Automotive Research in Ann Arbor, Mich., shows that if we allow one of the Big Three to fail, the other two will follow. Almost 3 million people lose their jobs, many auto related towns will shut down and state, local and federal governments could lose $150 billion in revenue.

Unlike the Airlines he compares them to, where the warranty of a seat is sold on a day-to-day basis, the automobile must carry at least a 3-year/36,000-mile warranty in order to compete, and I seriously doubt that consumers would be willing to take a chance on a company who might not last the life of the car they bought.

Incompetence, not competition is the real problem.

Jim McCusker

Elgin