Posted By: geoff on Saturday, November 22, 2008
Very one-sided. It wasn't so long ago that everything "Made in Japan" was basically crap. Everybody wanted "Made in USA" because that was a sign of quality. Somewhere along the way the Japanese realised that selling cheap crap was a bit of a dead end. That was about the time some guy named Ralph Nader pointed out that American cars had turned into crap ("Unsafe at any price"; Frank Zappa was also singing about how "everything we own/is American made/it's a little bit cheesy/but it's nicely displayed") and been surpassed by Japanese quality.Then there seems to be something really contradictory about saying how Americans don't want to be like Europeans, because Europeans have to pay so much money in taxes, and yet... Europeans have an unfair advantage in selling luxury cars (Mercedes, BMWs, Porsches, Audis, Volvos, Ferraris, etc.) to Americans because... their tax rate is so low...Let's face it: the dinosaurs in Detroit just thought they could maintain their monopoly mentality forever; keep churning out SUVs while the rest of the world out-maneuvered them with smaller, lighter, nimbler models...Sort of like the difference between the car mentality itself: someone said Americans like lots of metal around them in case they crash, whereas Europeans like to have small cars that are easier to keep out of trouble...If there was truly a free market, why couldn't American corporations learn from what the rest of the world was doing?Amazing Pat didn't blame all the "Reds" hiding under his bed...
Posted By: Frank on Saturday, November 22, 2008
Innovation is much better than simply "letting it ride" as the U.S. Automakers have done. Saturn is a good example of GM being innovative and creating cars outside of the mold. But then they got complacent and "let it ride". Letting Asian markets flood our economy has all but killed the manufacturing in America. Greed has a lot to do with it as the elite 1% control 24% of the world's wealth. That has never happened in history. How does one spend a billion dollars when the average American could live the rest of their lives happy with 1 million?
Posted By: Good Life on Saturday, November 22, 2008
The problem is tinkle down economics took the money away from the buyers. Wealth always comes from the bottom up.
Posted By: KlarkKent on Sunday, November 23, 2008
Pat, You make a very good and valid point not to mention you spotlight a very ugly truth not only about American Auto industry but the work force of America in general. However my thinking is that maybe just maybe we need to fail and go into not only a recession but a true hard earned depressions. This generation is a fixed on buying instaed of building. The world looks to the USA to sell to big buiness has exploted this for years and it is getting worse. Example try calling calling a help desk- yes I mean India. The world wants and needs America to be bloated and buy buy buy the next great fad, but I say unto you that without jobs we cannot afford to buy food let alone the next fad. So yes I say let the Auto industry fail in the USA - maybe people will wake up and start to understand that jobs being sent overseas is a bad idea. I also noticed the parts where your blaming the Goverment -thats fine it is an easy target. Perhaps you should have state that the Goverments main falt was not raiseing import taxes so that American made items would become cost effective to own.
Posted By: klarkkent on Sunday, November 23, 2008
I offer this artical as a replayhttp://seekingalpha.com/article/107408-the-truth-about-bailouts
Posted By: John Handforth on Monday, November 24, 2008
The unemployment rate is a lot higher than the figures that are published. My unemployment benefits ran out a long time ago, but due to my advancing age, I am not considered for many jobs. My pride, and the long commute, has kept me from jobs that pay only about a third of what I used to make. I may have to bite the bullet because my savings have been depleted, and, thank goodness, the price of gas is currently on the decline.I now live in the country, where the jobs are scarce and the money is hard to find. There are many senior citizens fighting to bag groceries in our one store. I haven't done that in over 40 years, but it is looking better all the time.
