Automakers rev up for big job boosts in 2012. Texas cattle call seeks Republican to champion. The Mormon moment? KPCC film critics Andy Klein, Wade Major and Charles Solomon join Larry to review the week’s new film releases, including Joyful Noise, Contraband, Beauty and the Beast 3D, Sing Your Song and more. TGI-FilmWeek! Oscar's cure for documentary noms worse than what ailed it?
Automakers rev up for big job boosts in 2012
A decade ago, the U.S. auto industry employed about a million workers; at its low point just over half that number. Falling victim to global competition, lack of innovation and the economic recession, the Big Three automakers were in near-bankruptcy.
In 2008, the Obama Administration rescued two of the Big Three automakers – General Motors and Chrysler – from financial ruin with a nearly $25 billion handout. The administration was heavily criticized for the move by many, including now-GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney, who wrote a New York Times piece in 2008 titled "Let Detroit Go Bankrupt."
This week, automakers announced that the wheels are back on the road – and jobs are back on the horizon. Ford Motor Company and Chrysler Group will be adding close to 6,000 factory workers at their plants in Michigan, Kentucky and Illinois. California will gain more workers from electric car makers Tesla Motors and Coda Automotive.
Why the boom? Auto sales are up – nearly 13 million cars were sold last year, the most since 2008, and sales this year are expected to reach $13.8 million. So, did the bailout work? The administration is trumpeting the rebound as a triumph, but they can’'t take all the credit: many more jobs will arrive thanks to foreign automakers, whose fluctuating currencies are leading them to increase production in their U.S. plants.
German companies Mercedez-Benz and BMW will be adding 1,500 jobs. Japan's Nissan is also shifting production to the U.S.; South Korean companies Hyundai and Kia may follow suit. In all, according to the Center for Automotive Research, total payrolls could reach 650,000 employees in 2012, a 10 percent gain over last year.
It's all good news for American workers – maybe not so much for Republican presidential hopefuls. The 2012 campaign is shaping up to be all about jobs, jobs, jobs, and this news could put a tiger in the president's tank. Will the bailout pay off for the Obama campaign?
Guest:
Daniel J. Ikenson, Director of the Herbert A. Stiefel Center for Trade Policy Studies at the Cato Institute
Dan Neil, Automotive Columnist & Senior Editor, “The Wall Street Journal;” Neil is at the Auto Show in Detroit
Texas cattle call seeks Republican to champion
Today at the ranch of Paul and Nancy Pressler just west of Houston, more than 100 conservative Christian leaders are convening. Number one on the agenda: deciding whether to back a candidate to take on Mitt Romney.
Many social conservatives in the GOP don't see Romney as sharing the conviction of their values. They question his commitment to fighting same-sex marriage and abortion. Major players at the meeting include the president of Focus on the Family, James Dobson; the American Family Association's Donald Wildmon and the Family Research Council's Tony Perkins. While they agree on a policy platform, whether they can unite behind either Rick Santorum, Rick Perry or Newt Gingrich is less assured.
How much power does this group of so-called movement Republicans hold? What about the timing of this meeting? Is it too late or too early to throw support behind an anti-Romney? Will Romney supporters at the meeting try to find common ground? Or is Romney helped by this group's opposition because it lends him a moderate mantle?
Guest:
David Mark, Senior Editor, POLITICO
Arnold Steinberg, veteran Republican political strategist and analyst
Mormon reactions to "The Mormon Moment" mixed
This may seem like a good time for Mormons in America. Mitt Romney, the front runner for the Republican presidential nomination, is a Mormon, as is John Huntsman, another candidate in the race.
It seems clear now that many republicans and independents will be willing to vote for a Mormon candidate regardless of religion. Support for these candidates could be interpreted as acceptance of Mormonism on a wider scale perhaps never before seen in the U.S.
But according to a poll just released by the Pew Forum on Religion and the Public Life Mormons aren’t feeling the love. Nearly half of those surveyed believe they are subjected to discrimination and many feel they are particularly targeted for criticism by Christian evangelicals.
The survey also revealed that though Mormons are deeply rooted in American life, they still feel marginalized and outside of the American mainstream. Not surprisingly, most Mormons polled consider themselves more conservative than the public at large except on the issue of immigration where they are more moderate than most white evangelical voters.
As marginalized as they feel, a large majority of Mormons in the poll said they are optimistic about public acceptance of their church.
Why do Mormons still feel marginalized and misunderstood? Is this typical among most religions, or unique to Mormons? To what extent might this “Mormon Moment” help or hurt this feeling Mormons have of being outside mainstream American life?
Guest:
Patrick Q. Mason, Howard W. Hunter Chair of Mormon Studies and professor of religion at Claremont Graduate University.
FilmWeek: Beauty and the Beast 3D, Joyful Noise, Contraband, Sing Your Song and more
KPCC film critics Andy Klein, Wade Major and Charles Solomon join Larry to review the week’s new film releases, including Beauty and the Beast 3D, Joyful Noise, Contraband, Sing Your Song and more. TGI-FilmWeek!
Guests:
Andy Klein, film critic for KPCC and the L.A. Times Community Papers
Wade Major, film critic for KPCC and boxoffice.com
Charles Solomon, animation critic for KPCC, author and historian for amazon.com
Oscar's cure for documentary nominees worse than what ailed it?
The rumor started early this week: the Academy Awards Board of Governors had a solution for the notoriously controversial documentary category. Official word came down yesterday.
Two major changes are in place. First, voting has been simplified and democratized for Academy members. Second, the eligibility rules have an unprecedented new standard. For a documentary film to be considered, "a review by a movie critic in 'The New York Times' and/or the 'Los Angeles Times' will also be required," said a news release from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
"It's kind of an odd thing," L.A. Times film writer Nicole Sperling said. "There was no consultation with either paper before the rule was passed."
The rule will trim what some say has become an unwieldy number of film submissions. But will worthwhile films get cut, too? Ric Robertson, the Academy's chief operating officer, told The New York Times: "We may indeed lose worthy films. But I don't think we’ll lose worthy theatrical films."
According to Sperling, the L.A. Times reviews films that have been in theaters for at least a week. "It still is under discussion whether or not our policies are going to be changed," she said. The N.Y. Times totes a similar policy.
With the advent of digital video, many documentaries destined for television have sought to meet the bare requirements for Oscar submission. KPCC film critic Andy Klein said that "the number of documentaries in the last 10 years or so has probably quintupled."
KPCC film critic Wade Major agreed, owing most of the genre's expansion to new technology. "Everyone can now afford a professional level camera that you can go out and make a documentary with and edit it with your home computer," said Major. "Barriers to entry for being a documentary filmmaker have plummeted just in the last few years."
By their very nature, the majority of documentaries are not commercially viable enough for major theatrical release. Filmmaker Victoria Mudd told the L.A. Times, "This new requirement favors wealthy filmmakers. It weights the scales toward people with money and with connections to reviewers ... I think it puts too much power in publicists and critics."
Major isn't sure he likes the changes either, after being exposed to movie politics when his wife was involved with "The Buena Vista Social Club." "We know there is an enormous layer of politics that goes on already, and when you introduce all of the politic that would go on to get a review that’s prominently featured, to work the best publicists, now you're adding politics on top of politics," he said.
Klein said the policy is peculiar, but he can't think of a fairer solution. "On the one hand, you want to have rules that encourage inclusiveness, and on the other hand, it's inclusiveness that makes it so difficult," he said.
When it comes to feature films, publicists, critics and deep pockets hold a lot of sway with Oscar, too. Why should documentaries be treated any different? Had the documentary category truly gotten out of hand? How much power does this give the editorial staff of The New York Times and the Los Angeles Times? Will they change their current review policies in light of this?
Guests:
Andy Klein, film critic for KPCC and the L.A. Times Community Papers
Wade Major, film critic for KPCC and boxoffice.com
Nicole Sperling, Film Writer, Los Angeles Times