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America’s current economic woes did not come out of thin air. Its not only a matter and question of economics , interest rates , banks and the bailout and tarp funds. It goes much deeper and was a long time coming.
Take for example this auto magazine article – or a mild press release , published in Oct 1992 dealing with BMW’s announcement to open its American factory in North Carolina. You have to remember that this is a highly subsidized announcement - each state made great pitches , offers and tax saving inducements to the firm , to relocate ( move from where Germany ?), to the chosen US state. Its more than amazing at how much is spent on these deals , whether it was in North Carolina or the Southern US states to build what are in effect “Screwdriver Plants”.
The greatest amount of value added is in the home country – be it Japan for Toyota or Nissan , or in this case Germany for BMW. The really high paying jobs and skills are offshore , not in China at low dollars but rather back at “Head Office”. Its only the mundane low paying jobs so to speak that are offered , after all of these great subsidies. When one figures out the cost per worker, including all subsidies , to the American taxpayers you have to wonder if it would not just of been better to have paid the workers – or assemblers – just to stay home or go duck hunting.
Interesting – hidden in the middle of the press release gushing article – inside the paragraph dealing as to why BMW execs choose North Carolina over others , “not the least was easy access to air, rail, and highway routes , is the statement “And while initially up to 80 % of the components will be imported from Germany…… there is a good possibility ( although not probability) , that some type ( not types), of manufacturing capability ( not plural), may be added in the future.
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In response to your request to call legislators and ask for a bailout for the United States automakers please consider the following, and please also pass this onto Troy Clark, the president of General Motors North America for me.
You are both infected with the same entitlement mentality that has bred like cancerous germs in UAW halls for the last countless decades, and whose plague is now sweeping the nation, awaiting our new “messiah” to wave his magical wand and make all our problems go away, while at the same time
allowing our once great nation to keep “living the dream”…
The dream is over!
The dream that we can ignore the consumer for years while management myopically focuses on its personal rewards packages at the same time that our factories have been filled with the worlds most overpaid, arrogant, ignorant and laziest entitlement minded “laborers” without paying the price for these atrocities…and that still the masses will line up to buy our products
Don’t tell me I’m wrong. Don’t accuse me of not knowing of what I speak. I have called on Ford, GM, Chrysler,TRW,Delphi,Kelsey Hayes, American Axle and countless other automotive OEM’s and Tier ones for 3 decades now throughout the Midwest and what I’ve seen over the years in these union shops can only be described as disgusting.
Mr Clark, the president of General Motors, states:
There is widespread sentiment in this country, our government and especially in the media that the current crisis is completely the result of bad management. It is not…
You’re right – it’s not JUST management…how about the electricians who walk around the plants like lords in feudal times, making people wait on them for countless hours while they drag ass…so they can come in on the weekend and make double and triple time…for a job they easily could have done within
their normal 40 hour week. How about the line workers who threaten newbies with all kinds of scare
tactics…for putting out too many parts on a shift…and for being too productive (mustn’t expose the lazy bums who have been getting overpaid for decades for their horrific underproduction, must we?!?) Do you really not know about this stuff?!?
How about this great sentiment abridged from Mr. Clarke’s sad plea:
over the last few years …we have closed the quality and efficiency gaps with our competitors.
What the hell has Detroit been doing for the last 40 years?!?
Did we really JUST wake up to the gaps in quality and efficiency between us and them?
The K car vs. the Accord?
The Pinto vs. the Civic?!?
Do I need to go on?
We are living through the inevitable outcome of the actions of the United States auto industry for decades.
Time to pay for your sins, Detroit. I attended an economic summit last week where a brilliant economist, Alan Beaulieu surprised the crowd when he said he would not have given the banks a penny of “bailout money”. Yes, he said, this would cause short term problems, but despite what people like George Bush and Troy Clark would have us believe, the sun would in fact rise the next day… and something else
would happen…where there had been greedy and sloppy banks new efficient ones would pop up… that is how a free market system works…it does work…if we would let it work…
But for some reason we are now deciding that the rest of the world is right and that capitalism doesn’t work – that we need the government to step in and “save us”…save us, hell – we’re nationalizing…and unfortunately too many of this once fine nations citizens don’t even have a clue that this is what’s really happening…but they sure can tell you the stats on their favorite sports teams…yeah – THAT’S /SPAN>important…
Does it occur to ANYONE that the “competition” has been producing vehicles, EXTREMELY PROFITABLY, for decades now in this country?…
How can that be???
Let’s see…
Fuel efficient…
Listening to customers…
Investing in the proper tooling and automation for the long haul…
Not being too complacent or arrogant to listen to Dr W Edwards Deming 4 decades ago
Ever increased productivity through quality, lean and six sigma plans…
Treating vendors like strategic partners, rather than like “the enemy”…
Efficient front and back offices…
Non union environment…
Again, I could go on and on, but I really wouldn’t be telling anyone anything they really don’t already know in their hearts. I have six children, so I am not unfamiliar with the concept of wanting someone to bail you out of a mess that you have gotten yourself into – my children do this on a weekly, if not daily basis, as I did at their age. I do for them what my parents did for me (one of their greatest gifts, by the
way) – I make them stand on their own two feet and accept the consequences of their actions and work them through.
Radical concept, huh…
Am I there for them in the wings? Of course – but only until such time as they need to be fully on their own as adults. I don’t want to oversimplify a complex situation, but there certainly are unmistakable parallels here between the proper role of parenting and government.
Detroit and the United States need to pay for their sins.
Bad news people – it’s coming whether we like it or not. The newly elected Messiah really doesn’t have a magic wand big enough to ”make it all go away” I laughed as I heard Obama “reeling it back in”
almost immediately after the vote count was tallied…”we might not do it in a year…or in four…” where was that kind of talk when he was RUNNING for the office.
Stop trying to put off the inevitable …
That house in Florida really isn’t worth $750,000…
People who jump across a border really don’t deserve free health care benefits…
That job driving that forklift for the big 3 really isn’t worth $85,000 a year…
We really shouldn’t allow Wal-Mart to stock their shelves with products acquired from a country that unfairly manipulates their currency and has the most atrocious human rights infractions on the face of the globe…
That couple whose combined income is less than $50,000 really shouldn’t be living in that $485,000 home…
Let the market correct itself people – it will. Yes it will be painful, but it’s gonna be painful either way, and the bright side of my proposal is that on the other side of it is a nation that appreciates what is has…and doesn’t live beyond its means…and gets back to basics…and redevelops the work ethic that made it the greatest nation in the history of the world…and probably turns back to God.
Sorry – don’t cut my head off, I’m just the messenger sharing with you the ”bad news”
Gregory J Knox
President
Knox Machinery, Inc.
Franklin, Ohio 45005
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Why GOP Policies Were So Good for the Food Supply | Crooks and Liars – And then there is the mercury contaminated high fructose corn syrup…very dangerous going for groceries in your Ford Pinto these days… Login or register to reply. If.. Thu, 01/29/2009 – 11:42 — Google_Meister …
Found in Mom’s Basement: 1971 Ford Pinto ad – TrackBack. TrackBack URL for this entry: http://www.typepad.com/t/trackback/788694/34661459. Listed below are links to weblogs that reference 1971 Ford Pinto ad:. Comments. I had a brown 1971 Ford Pinto Runabout–it was …
Ford Classic Cars | Miscellaneous Blog & Opinions at 4Wheel & Off … – This car really make ya think, some engineers and designers actually sat down and built this car, and Ford Motor Company backed it. How cool! An old girlfriend of mine had a Pinto, and boy did the memories come rushing back. …
The United Auto Workers may be out of the hole now that President Bush has approved a $17 billion bailout of the U.S. auto industry, but the union isn’t out of the bunker just yet. Even as the industry struggles with massive losses, the UAW brass continue to own and operate a $33 million lakeside retreat in Michigan, complete with a $6.4 million designer golf course. And it’s costing them millions each year.
The UAW, known more for its strikes than its slices, hosts seminars and junkets at the Walter and May Reuther Family Education Center in Onaway, Mich., which is nestled on “1,000 heavily forested acres” on Michigan’s Black Lake, according to its Web site. But the Black Lake club and retreat, which are among the union’s biggest fixed assets, have lost $23 million in the past five years alone, a heavy albatross around the union’s neck as it tries to manage a multibillion-dollar pension plan crisis. Critics call it a resort for union leaders that wastes money from union dues. “It’s their members’ money that they’re spending on this thing,” said Justin Wilson, managing director of the Center for Union Facts, a union watchdog group. “The union has bigger issues at hand than managing a golf course.
Managing the course may become a burden for the union. The UAW covers costs for the Reuther Center from the interest it earns on its strike fund, according to tax documents, but massive losses in the past five years have forced the union to make heavy loans to keep the center afloat. Critics call it a poor investment for a group with over $1.25 billion in assets
According to Forbes: Labor cost per hour, wages and benefits for hourly workers. Ford: $70.51 ($141,020 per year) GM: $73.26 ($146,520 per year) Chrysler: $75.86 ($151,720 per year) Toyota, Honda, Nissan (in U.S.): $48.00 ($96,000 per year) According to AAUP and IES, the average annual compensation for a college professor in 2006 was $92,973 (average salary nationally of $73,207 + 27% benefits). Bottom Line: The average UAW worker with a high school degree earns 57.6% more compensation than the average university professor with a Ph.D., and 52.6% more than the average worker at Toyota, Honda or Nissan. Many industry analysts say the Detroit Three, must be on par with Toyota and Honda to survive. This year’s contract, they say, must be “transformational” in reducing pension and health care costs. What would “transformational” mean? One way to think about “transformational” would mean that UAW workers, most with a high school diploma, would have to accept compensation equal to that of the average university professor with a PhD. Then there’s the “Job Bank” When a D3 (Detroit 3 carmaker) lays an employee off, that employee continues to receive all benefits – medical, retirement, etc., etc., PLUS an hourly wage of $31/hour. Here’s a typical story…. Ken Pool is making good money. On weekdays, he shows up at 7 a.m. at Ford Motor Co.’s Michigan Truck Plant in Wayne, signs in, and then starts working — on a crossword puzzle. Pool hates the monotony, but the pay is good: more than $31 an hour, plus benefits. “We just go in and play crossword puzzles, watch videos that someone brings in or read the newspaper,” he says. “Otherwise, I just sit.” Pool is one of more than 12,000 American autoworkers who, instead of installing windshields or bending sheet metal, spend their days counting the hours in a jobs bank set up by Detroit automakers as demanded by the United Auto Workers Union - UAW – as part of an extraordinary job security agreement. Now the D3 wants Joe Taxpayer to pick up this tab in a $25 Billion bailout package – soon to be increased to $45 Billion if Nancy Pelosi and Hillary Clinton have their way. The “Big 3″ want this money – not to build better autos. No. They want it to pay the tab for Medical and Retirement benefits for RETIRED auto workers. Not ONE PENNY would be used to make them more competitive, or to improve the quality of their cars. We ALL have problems paying for our Medical Insurance – but the Democrat leaders in Congress now want us to pay the Medical Insurance premiums of folks who have RETIRED from Ford, GM and Chrysler.
In Canada, the Conservative minority government must use taxpayers’ money to help out the auto industry.
This is because the Liberals and the NDP have threatened to bring down the minority government if the auto workers don’t receive an “economic stimulus”. The auto workers union bargained for high wages when the car industry was profitable, because the workers wanted their share. Now that the industry is losing money, the union insists that the workers can’t have their wages or benefits reduced.
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