Detroit Memes Business: Class Warfare is Breaking Out All Over

Over the weekend, Washington Post carmudgeon Warren Brown framed the pro and anti-bailout debate as a form of class warfare, pitting wealthy college-educated selfish bastards (i.e. journalists, Wall Street, Washington) against UAW-protected American-dream-seeking assembly workers (i.e. Detroit). This morning, The Detroit News’ resident poverty and employment policy specialist picks-up Warren’s placard and mans the barricades. In “Washington’s whipping boys,” Amber Arellano bites the hand that’s about to feed. “While Wall Street was welcomed into the front door on a Sunday night and served a bail-out with hot cocoa, Michigan’s auto chiefs have been publicly humiliated before the national press so Congress and the Bush administration can show voters they’re finally holding someone accountable for this disaster of an era.” I said, “While Wall Street’s 1990s orgy of deregulation wrecks the economy and the Manhattan Brooks Brothers set gets a true bail-out of more than $170 billion, the Detroit Three automakers beg for a loan — and get mocked as if they’re janitors at an arrogant New Jersey country club.” You might not agree with Amber’s assertions (here’s hoping), but this girl’s got some spunk!

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“The United Auto Workers slash their wages down to $14 an hour — little more than McDonald’s wages — and humbly prostrate themselves [?] in front of the altar of Beltway egos. What did Wall Street sacrifice? A few brokers and Starbuck’s mochacinnos.”

OK, OK, I get it.

“Wall Street isn’t easy to pick on, but Detroit is. We, the folks with ties to old economy industries in the very un-hip Heartland, are perceived by many as the weakest on America’s new socio-economic ladder. You can hear it in the nasty undertone lurking in the debate. It’s hardly just about the automakers’ past mistakes, though there are many.”

Such as? Amber? Hello? Amber…

“Throughout history, the poor and working classes have always had to work harder to prove themselves and their worth. Much of the Bible is about busting that myth. Wall Street didn’t have to deal with this lurking, ignorant bias. Wall Street doesn’t have the United Auto Workers and rough-and-tumble factory workers linked with it.”

Fortress Detroit is a bizarre place these days. The people who destroyed it get a pass while the people who are trying to save it (from itself) are vilified. Passive aggressive? Seriously.

“It’s easy to pick on the desperate and vulnerable — and Michigan is that right now. It’s tougher to do what true leaders do: look out for everyone with equal respect and investment, taking care to leave no one region or group jobless and hungry in a ruthless global world.”