Letters: Auto unions and April Fools
Kai Ryssdal reviews listener reaction to an April Fool's Day story and commentaries about auto unions and President Obama's stimulus.
Letters in a computer with red mailbox flag (iStockPhoto)
More on America's Financial Crisis
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Kai Ryssdal: That music can only mean one thing: It's time to hit the inbox. Last Monday, when President Obama put Chrysler and General Motors on notice, we aired a commentary by Kevin Hassett in which he laid the blame for Detroit's troubles on the United Auto Workers union. Not a popular viewpoint among Marketplace listeners. Sue Peterson of East Orleans, Mass., spoke for many of you.
SUE PETERSON: GM failed because they made lousy vehicles, not because they paid their workers a living wage. Enough with the union bashing.
Blaise Jackson of Escondido, Calif., thought Hassett was a little hard on the unions as well.
BLAISE JACKSON: The UAW didn't force or dictate the terms of fiscal surrender to GM. The Corporation willingly signed collective-bargaining agreement after collective-bargaining agreement, like clockwork, every few years.
We kicked off the month of April with Mitchell Hartman's piece on how far some real-estate agents will go to sell a house. Mitchell told us they're hiring actors to make neighborhoods look lived-in. People barbecuing, walking dogs, even hiring local little league teams to play at a nearby diamond. You were outraged. Only one problem though, related to the calendar. Christopher Richards of Oakland, Calif., had this to say about our April Fools' story.
CHRISTOPHER RICHARDS: I was bamboozled. Yes, you took me in. I could see every detail in my mind's eye: the Hawaiian-shirted man at the barbecue, the smell of cut grass and cooking, and the play of unruly kids.
It was pretty well done. But there were some out there who figured David Frum's commentary that same day was the joke. He was talking about why some European governments object to President Obama's stimulus plan. Chet Gardiner of Tucson, Ariz., thought he was onto the gag.
CHET GARDINER: I thought your April Fools' Day segment with David Frum was a hoot! Imagine anyone believing that Europeans just hate living in societies where workers get a livable wage, decent paid vacations and maternity/paternity leave and are "horrified" that Obama would attempt to get a tiny piece of the pie into the hands of American workers.
No such luck Chet. You can hear David Frum's entirely sincere commentaries here every other Wednesday.
And we're going to end today on a poetic note. A challenge, actually. April is National Poetry Month. So we're going to be exploring the poetry of economics, and work, and money. Because yeah, sometimes they do go together. To give you an idea of what we're looking for, here are just a couple of lines from one of my favorites. Philip Levine and his poem "What Work Is."
Philip Levine: We stand in the rain in a long line, waiting at Ford Highland Park. For work. You know what work is. If you're old enough to read this, you know what work is. Although you may not do it.
If you've got a favorite poem you think fits the bill, send it along.
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From Lincoln, NE, 04/18/2009
This poem was written by former U.S. Poet Laureate (and my fellow Nebraskan) Ted Kooser when he was still a corporate executive. These days, people who are employed are supposed to feel lucky just to have a job, but many feel trapped:
They Had Torn Off My Face at the Office
They had torn off my face at the office,
The night that I finally noticed
that it was not growing back, I decided
to slit my wrists. Nothing ran out;
I was empty. Both of my hands fell off
shortly thereafter. Now at my job
they allow me to type with the stumps.
It pleases them to have helped me,
and I gain in speed and confidence.
From Swarthmore, PA, 04/18/2009
One more thing. Auld Caterwaulin' was produced on an iMac. To listen on a PC, you have to have a download of Quicktime from apple.com. It's free, and it's easy. So, visit apple.com and download Quicktime player to your PC and then hear "Enough of Your Auld Caterwaulin'."
From Swarthmore, PA, 04/18/2009
Oops! I did not enter the website address correctly. To hear "Enough of Your Auld Caterwaulin'", go to:
http://web.me.com/hoolitons/Bob_Culleton/Podcast/Podcast.html
From Swarthmore, PA, 04/18/2009
My favorite poem about our current financial mess is by my husband, Robert, and his friend from England, Stephan Fitzgerald, called "Enough of Your Auld Caterwaulin'" which is old English for Old Cat Wailing. It takes a satirical look at the Wall Street debacle and plays with the mysterious language of CDO's, Credit Default Swaps, and the like. The poem begins like this:
"Oh, the Greenfields of Wall Street were bloomin'
Unawares that a recknin' was loomin'
What with CDO's flowing and bonuses growin'
And bankers a-sellin' the bait
'Til September of 2008.
Chorus:
Oh, the price of me shares keeps a-fallin'
And the Mountains of Debt are a-callin'
"So, you still do aspire next year to retire?
Enough of your auld caterwaulin'."
For a complete recording of this poem sung by the poet himself, go to : web.me.com/hoolitons/Bob_Culleton/podcast/podcast.html.
From Scottsdale, AZ, 04/13/2009
As one of many homeowners drowning in Arizona, I still find solace in lyrics from "It Don't Worry Me" penned by Keith Carradine (excerpt below).
"The price of bread may worry some, it don't worry me.
Tax relief may never come, it don't worry me.
The economy's depressed, not me.
My spirit's high as it can be.
You may say, I ain't free.
It don't worry me."
From Brunswick, ME, 04/12/2009
This is a poem written early in 2000, on the day that saw the DJIA cross the 10,000 threshold for the first time. "Wheee," I thought. "My ignorance of this feels just like I've heard bliss feels."
"STOCK EXCHANGE AS SEEN FROM AFAR"
9:00 -- Some things are worth something.
10:00 -- Bigger things are worth less than smaller things; the value of those smaller things increases in correlation with diminishing size.
10:30 -- Big things are worth nothing; things as small as nothing are worth everything.
11:15 -- Nothing is worth everything.
11:16 -- Everything is worth nothing.
11:17 -- Nothing is worth nothing.
12:00 -- Sandwiches are worth what everything else isn't.
1:00 -- Nobody has been this confused since yesterday.
2:00 -- Things slowly regain worth when confronted with the fear that tomorrow, they'll be worth even more.
2:30 -- Things aren't what they used to be, but it's good to know that at least something has worth.
3:00 -- What we need is a return to values; everything is worth at least something.
4:00 -- What are our lives worth?
5:00 -- Some things are worth something.
From MI, 04/09/2009
I am a published poet. My work has appeared in Midwestern Quarterly, The Bridge, The MacGuffin, Wayne State Review, and elsewhere. My book is "Evidence to the Contrary" was published by Plainview Press. I am choosing a poem of my own because I thing it represents the way we Michganders have been coping with an econmic downturn that, in Michigan, has been going on a lot longer than it has in most of the rest of the country. Bridge Loan A white cap covers over the dingy pink heads of the ten-foot tall flamingos standing at the gates of Tropicana Court, its clutch of low-roofed motor homes huddled around their towering metal limbs. Snow mounds in white hills upon their pink metallic rumps. And a veil of snowflakes interrupts their long, immutable necks. Balancing on stilt legs in the middle of a seedy trailer park in a hard Michigan winter takes real stamina they tell us, their white plummage newly-glistening in the blue December light.
From CA, 04/08/2009
You mentioned a company that offers to pray for you for a monthly fee. What about LaserMonks.com? They sell printer ink, dog treats and jam. they are real monks in Wisconsin and they will pray for you for absolutely nothing!
From Carmel Valley, CA, 04/07/2009
"Hay for the horses" by Gary Snyder is a vivid poetic description of a days work, and a great punch line for those of us who still perform physical labor.
From Las Vegas, NV, 04/07/2009
UAW is THE reason! Why is their living wage twice as high as the other auto compnaies. Unions are inflationary and have strong ties to organized crime families. Again how can it be that other companies mantain a quality workforce producing quality cars?
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