"Senator Corker is from Tennessee, home to Nissan’s North American headquarters in Nashville and a large, non-union Nissan facility in Smyrna. Volkswagen is building a new billion-dollar assembly plant in Chattanooga."
Yeah I guess he is a paragon of vitrue in this situation - just like Senator Shelby of Alabama with his Mercedes, Hyundai, Honda plants.
Corker ran a sleazefest of a senate campaign.
He's also had several notoriously corrupt real estate dealings when he was the mayor of Chattanooga.
So basically, he's a politician. And the fact that Nissan and VW have, or will soon have, operations in TN does make his motivations questionable. However his analysis is spot-on.
That being said, he did a great job turning Chattanooga into a much nicer city than it was when he started (see www.worstmayorever.com for news on his successor).
windswords:
One of Corker's number one demands is that the UAW make concessions so that the big-3s' labor costs are the same as the transplants.
That would make the big-3 more competitive against the transplants.
He's just looking out for taxpayers. But he's not doing a good job of it by letting this pour over into the new administration, where any conditions that are currently placed on the bailout will mean nothing.
On the government dole the big-3 are going to slowly die (like British Leyland) and the transplants are going to slowly gain more and more market share.
This is actually much better for the transplants than if the big-3 restructured and became lean competitive companies under Chapter 11 or liquidated under Chapter 7.
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"Senator Corker is from Tennessee, home to Nissan’s North American headquarters in Nashville and a large, non-union Nissan facility in Smyrna. Volkswagen is building a new billion-dollar assembly plant in Chattanooga." Yeah I guess he is a paragon of vitrue in this situation - just like Senator Shelby of Alabama with his Mercedes, Hyundai, Honda plants.
Windswords, don't forget the (former) Saturn plant in Spring Hill that makes the Chevy Traverse.
Corker ran a sleazefest of a senate campaign. He's also had several notoriously corrupt real estate dealings when he was the mayor of Chattanooga. So basically, he's a politician. And the fact that Nissan and VW have, or will soon have, operations in TN does make his motivations questionable. However his analysis is spot-on. That being said, he did a great job turning Chattanooga into a much nicer city than it was when he started (see www.worstmayorever.com for news on his successor).