Henry Waxman, regulator of industry (not limited to environmental concerns), befriended by unions, has replaced Dingell of Michigan. (”Waxman's biggest lifetime donors have been unions and trial lawyers, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.” See story below, momentarily.)

How was Waxman chosen instead of Dingell for this position?

“House Democrats voted 137-122 for Waxman in a secret ballot, lawmakers said.”

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601070...

“Sitting chairmen are nearly impossible to depose, never mind one with the seniority and record of Mr. Dingell, who has served longer than anyone else in the House. The Democratic caucus nonetheless stripped him of his 28-year position atop the Energy and Commerce Committee, which has great power over the climate change and health-care bills that Mr. Obama hopes to pass next year. Instead, California's Henry Waxman, who was elected by a reported 137 to 122, will do the honors. (We say 'reported' because the vote was by secret ballot, which in a rich irony Democrats want to prevent for union organizing votes.)”

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122722722366746...

The easiest way to identify where the blame and problems are found is to ask: Are Toyota, Honda, and Nissan about to fail? Why are they not, while the Detroit Three are? To answer is to learn, in the case of many.

Note that any more broad inferences that can be had from Detroit automakers' and the UAW's predicament include the Blue Nation anti-business ways and destructive results on business, as Michigan as a Blue Nation state exemplifies; and the disappearance of unions from nearly all of the economy, with one notable exception more broad and significant than the UAW: _government_.

As to “Card Check,” as I said, one reason to give a bailout now to Detroit (followed by more bailouts to come, as would be needed) to keep Detroit alive, isn't just to enable it to reach the magic year 2010 when a new labor agreement affecting _some_ workers comes into effect; it buys time for the UAW and other activists (who knows, including Waxman, who is replacing Dingell) to try to place the healthy, modern US auto industry (Toyota, Honda, Nissan, BMW, Mercedes, etc.) into the realm of union labor — made easier by “Card Check.”

True. We've gone too far, in Detroit's and the UAW's case, obviously. (More specifically, the problem there is those parties' refusal to admit they have been wrong for more than a generation, for thirty years or more, in fact; and their denial of reality that should have been grasped at least by the start of the 1980s.)

http://www.nlrb.gov/about_us/overview/national_...

And no, this isn't another “Great Depression” that may develop in the next few years. Worst case it will be more like Japan in the 1990s. Even much of Michigan won't see carnage. I do wonder if the thought may start spreading here in Detroit, though, of federal receivership for not only Detroit metro but all of Michigan, demotion to territorial status (with consequent removal of Congressional representation and all the rest that would entail) in exchange for a model “Marshall Plan” for this state. (Not to mention outdoing Robert Byrd by relocating as much of the federal government from DC to Detroit and elsewhere in Michigan that can be done. National Hurricane Center in Houghton would bring tears to Robert Byrd's eyes…)

http://www.portfolio.com/views/blogs/market-mov...