John McCormick

Commentary: Maybe it's time to turn the tables on the South

The unnecessarily long and painful path toward the approval of government bridging loans for General Motors Corp. and Chrysler LLC has exposed a new threat to Detroit. It's one that Michigan consumers may want to keep in mind as they consider their expenditures, vacation options and even retirement plans.

The problem here centers on certain southern states -- Mississippi, Louisiana, Georgia and, in particular, Alabama -- where certain bone-headed senators seem to have forgotten that the Civil War ended, with the appropriate outcome, almost 150 years ago.

Detroit's demise not concern

During recent Congressional hearings, these 'good old' southern boys made it clear they could care less about Detroit's survival and blocked passage of emergency loans in the Senate, leaving it to a decidedly reluctant President George W. Bush to approve the financial relief package.

What's more, these Alabama representatives argued that they and other southern states had plenty of automotive manufacturing capacity to take up the slack and keep the country's economy going if Detroit was to go belly up. Specifically, Alabama's Republican senator Richard Shelby called Detroit a 'dinosaur' and said bankruptcy was a better solution to the problems facing U.S. carmakers. The state's other senator, Jeff Sessions, also a Republican, said Detroit's collapse would "not be the end of the world. We have a very large and vibrant automobile sector in Alabama."

My recent column expressing outrage at the Detroit Big Three's treatment in Washington, D.C., evoked an outpouring of support from Detroit News readers. The e-mails came not just from Michigan but from across the country, from California to New York.

Apart from a few 'Detroit deserves to die' type rants, the overwhelming majority of correspondents thoughtfully discussed the shocking double standards of Congress grilling Detroit Big Three leaders for requesting $15 billion while willfully handing out hundreds of billions to the criminally mismanaged financial sector. Plus, plenty of readers pointed out the evident hypocrisy of Alabama politicians objecting to use of taxpayer money to save Detroit, while forgetting the billions in tax and infrastructure concessions granted to persuade foreign automakers to set up plants down south.

It's no secret that the Republicans want to use this crisis to cripple the automotive unions, demanding that the UAW concede wages and benefits to bring its workers into line with non-union remuneration in the South. But as UAW President Ron Gettelfinger has pointed out, there are double standards at work here as well. According to Gettelfinger, Alabama has spent a whopping $175,000 per employee to create its automotive work force.

Spend dollars elsewhere

So what should be done about this attempt to put Michigan out of business? The suggestions from readers came in thick and fast.

Apparently Alabama is quite a tourist destination for Michigan residents, so perhaps they will want to find other places to spend their hard-earned dollars. The southern state is also heavily favored by retirees from Michigan, but maybe that could change, too.

One other thought raised by readers concerns disasters; not the financial kind we are all experiencing, but the natural variety -- droughts, hurricanes, tornadoes, floods -- the sort of calamities that afflict southern states on a regular basis.

As you point out, federal taxpayer money flows freely in these circumstances, and so does free assistance from northern states, including Michigan. Detroit automakers, for example, gladly helped with vehicles and personnel when Hurricane Katrina slammed the Gulf Coast.

Is it time the South is reminded that a mean-spirited attitude is not a smart play when the whole country is on the ropes?

John McCormick is a columnist for Autos Insider and can be reached at john.mccormick@detnews.com