Dis Union

When the government stepped in to dish out the remains of Chrysler it ignored convention and went straight to pandering.  When the will was read Obama's  trophy wife (the Union) walked off with the biggest piece of the pie, but by giving the unions a disproportionate interest in the left overs, about 43 cents on the dollar and a majority stake in the brown-trout that comes out the other side of this pig, Obama may have done the UAW and every other union shop in general a potential disservice.

Bankruptcy exists to peaceably reward interested parties by apportioning assets in accordance with the terms and risks of investors.  A judge is supposed to make an unbiased review of those terms and reward the risk takers accordingly.  The union does have a financial stake but Obama has intervened and ignored those who provided better terms and less front end benefit to keep the auto maker afloat to reward his political allies.   By ignoring those other interests he's sending a signal.  That this government can and will politicize everything, particularly the interest of unions.

In the poltical world that's no surprise, but business is still business.  He's given notice that other peoples money--not just taxpayers but venture capitalists, banks, and even international investment, can expect to take a back seat in future negotiations.   That translates into more banks and investors keeping their money away from union shops or pulling it out now, simply becasue the risk factors have been leveraged against them.

That could mean less capital and fewer growth opportunities for companies with union contracts.  Companies that are otherwise healthy.  Less capital in a down economy means contentious contracts, lower wage growth, fewer new jobs and more layoffs.  All courtesy of a glad handing administration obsessed with paybacks to political allies.

To those of us on the right, it's no surprise, but if unions really think the taxpayer (through the government) is going to continue to prop them up when there's no other money to be found or printed, they are kidding themsleves.  Unstable firms will collapse when the federal money is gone, leaving the union in shambles and their workers unemployed.  And those deals they made will be worth less than the money Obama printed to make them with.