My “Shitty” Fiesta had almost no troubles while my sisters “Wonderful” Toyota always seemed to have something that just didn’t work.
Fact was overcome by the fear to admit that the purchase of foreign cars was generally a purchase of a less reliable vehicle. The gas mileage argument simply ignores that the comparison was always apples and grapes.
Honestly why should we bail out inefficient companies whos profit margins during the good times of the 90s were 2 cents on every dollar sale they made? For instance during the 70s chrysler begged for cash and got its wish and it would appear they were bankrupt (congress forced creditors to take hits and stockholders were wiped out and lots of workers are laid off) They said it wouldn’t happen again… Guess what? It did, whats worse is why are even considering giving chrysler money without first opening its private books, how can we tell if their business plans are viable if we don’t see what structural damage is there? Also why isn’t there parent company (Private capital firm) not trying to save their “investment”? Why must uncle sam be the one to save these insolvent dinosaurs who cant adapt to the changing times? There were signs of automobile trends shifting by creeping up prices, but did any of the big 3 saw this? No!
No more Corporate socialism, if capitalism can hammer the average tax payer, then capitalism can hammer these inefficient companies that are being bleed to death by retarded unions and poor management decisions with lack of hindsight.
The problem isn’t with a free market. The problem is in propping up failed business and/or overinflated labor. In a true free market failure means failure and makes room for success.
So here’s a little experiment. Imagine that a Congressional bailout effectively pays for $10 an hour of the retiree benefits. That’s roughly the gap between the Big Three’s retiree costs and those of the Japanese-owned plants in this country. Imagine, also, that the U.A.W. agrees to reduce pay and benefits for current workers to $45 an hour — the same as at Honda and Toyota.
Do you know how much that would reduce the cost of producing a Big Three vehicle? Only about $800.
That’s because labor costs, for all the attention they have been receiving, make up only about 10 percent of the cost of making a vehicle. An extra $800 per vehicle would certainly help Detroit, but the Big Three already often sell their cars for about $2,500 less than equivalent cars from Japanese companies, analysts at the International Motor Vehicle Program say. Even so, many Americans no longer want to own the cars being made by General Motors, Ford and Chrysler.
All the figures are a little skewed, but the quality issue is also completely union related. It is almost impossible to fire a union worker. They know this and use it to their advantage. They do as little as they have to and heaven forbid another employee work to their potential. Then the other employees file a grievance and get free money for “lost” hours of work. It is a huge scam and the UAW is going to cost millions of Americans their jobs and possibly kill the American auto industry.
If we’re pointing fingers, I have to say it’s 20% managements’ fault, 20% government’s fault, and 60% UAW’s fault. Even now, in the eleventh hour, the UAW’s “concessions” are token ones.
For example, getting rid of the job bank (that was scheduled to go away anyway), and allowing GM to miss the VEBA payment (as if not allowing them were an option). Until I see “Our union workers will take a $10/hour cut in pay and (perhaps most importantly) agree to medical benefits that are commensurate with the current market,” the UAW will continue to hold the majority of the blame for this catastrophe.
(For my family of four, to get coverage, we have to pay $280/month (pretax because it’s an employer plan…employer pays the rest) and the coverage requires $20 doctor copays, $15 prescription copays, $500 deductible per year and 80-90% coverage of the rest (it’s a little more complicated that that, but that’s roughly speaking).) As I understand it, the UAW plan is much more generous than that.
If 3 million displaced workers were to claim only the minimum $200 weekly benefit in unemployment compensation (due to a collapse of the automotive industry), in 26 weeks the amount would total $15.6 billion; an amount much more than what was approved by the house for the auto bailout and scuttled by the infamous republican senators.
Consequences if auto bailout fails
• 3 million lost jobs; 2.5 million to follow over the next two years
• The cost to local, state, and federal governments could reach $156.4 billion over three years in lost taxes, and unemployment and health care assistance
• pension and health care benefits cut for 1 million retirees, spouses and dependents
• thousands of other businesses — dealers, suppliers and others — would be threatened
• huge pension and health care costs shifted to the federal government
• negative impact on the entire economy, making the current recession much worse
GET THE FACTS ON THE AUTO BAILOUT THRU THE EYES OF AN AUTOWORKER
I think its time to let the Big3 go down & re-structure without ALL these morons making $35+ an hour to do what a robot or an UNSKILLED person can do. Its a JOKE, they’ve had it to good for to long, WAKE UP, we’re just throwing GOOD money at BAD money, this nothing more than a band-aid, the Big 3 are going bankrupt whether you like or not & I like it !!!!!!!!!!!!
Gas 2.0 digs into the viscous world of biofuels and the fast-paced transit arena, exploring the technologies and substances that are the future of transportation.
My “Shitty” Fiesta had almost no troubles while my sisters “Wonderful” Toyota always seemed to have something that just didn’t work.
Fact was overcome by the fear to admit that the purchase of foreign cars was generally a purchase of a less reliable vehicle. The gas mileage argument simply ignores that the comparison was always apples and grapes.
Honestly why should we bail out inefficient companies whos profit margins during the good times of the 90s were 2 cents on every dollar sale they made? For instance during the 70s chrysler begged for cash and got its wish and it would appear they were bankrupt (congress forced creditors to take hits and stockholders were wiped out and lots of workers are laid off) They said it wouldn’t happen again… Guess what? It did, whats worse is why are even considering giving chrysler money without first opening its private books, how can we tell if their business plans are viable if we don’t see what structural damage is there? Also why isn’t there parent company (Private capital firm) not trying to save their “investment”? Why must uncle sam be the one to save these insolvent dinosaurs who cant adapt to the changing times? There were signs of automobile trends shifting by creeping up prices, but did any of the big 3 saw this? No!
No more Corporate socialism, if capitalism can hammer the average tax payer, then capitalism can hammer these inefficient companies that are being bleed to death by retarded unions and poor management decisions with lack of hindsight.
The problem isn’t with a free market. The problem is in propping up failed business and/or overinflated labor. In a true free market failure means failure and makes room for success.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/10/business/economy/10leonhardt.html?_r=2
All the figures are a little skewed, but the quality issue is also completely union related. It is almost impossible to fire a union worker. They know this and use it to their advantage. They do as little as they have to and heaven forbid another employee work to their potential. Then the other employees file a grievance and get free money for “lost” hours of work. It is a huge scam and the UAW is going to cost millions of Americans their jobs and possibly kill the American auto industry.
If we’re pointing fingers, I have to say it’s 20% managements’ fault, 20% government’s fault, and 60% UAW’s fault. Even now, in the eleventh hour, the UAW’s “concessions” are token ones.
For example, getting rid of the job bank (that was scheduled to go away anyway), and allowing GM to miss the VEBA payment (as if not allowing them were an option). Until I see “Our union workers will take a $10/hour cut in pay and (perhaps most importantly) agree to medical benefits that are commensurate with the current market,” the UAW will continue to hold the majority of the blame for this catastrophe.
(For my family of four, to get coverage, we have to pay $280/month (pretax because it’s an employer plan…employer pays the rest) and the coverage requires $20 doctor copays, $15 prescription copays, $500 deductible per year and 80-90% coverage of the rest (it’s a little more complicated that that, but that’s roughly speaking).) As I understand it, the UAW plan is much more generous than that.
True that Tim!
Bail em out now - or later
If 3 million displaced workers were to claim only the minimum $200 weekly benefit in unemployment compensation (due to a collapse of the automotive industry), in 26 weeks the amount would total $15.6 billion; an amount much more than what was approved by the house for the auto bailout and scuttled by the infamous republican senators.
Consequences if auto bailout fails
• 3 million lost jobs; 2.5 million to follow over the next two years
• The cost to local, state, and federal governments could reach $156.4 billion over three years in lost taxes, and unemployment and health care assistance
• pension and health care benefits cut for 1 million retirees, spouses and dependents
• thousands of other businesses — dealers, suppliers and others — would be threatened
• huge pension and health care costs shifted to the federal government
• negative impact on the entire economy, making the current recession much worse
GET THE FACTS ON THE AUTO BAILOUT THRU THE EYES OF AN AUTOWORKER
ww.JoeTheAutoworker.com
I think its time to let the Big3 go down & re-structure without ALL these morons making $35+ an hour to do what a robot or an UNSKILLED person can do. Its a JOKE, they’ve had it to good for to long, WAKE UP, we’re just throwing GOOD money at BAD money, this nothing more than a band-aid, the Big 3 are going bankrupt whether you like or not & I like it !!!!!!!!!!!!