Which changes nothing about what I said.
And we could easily pressure China to sell to us, they import oil and soon grain.
Then please explain to me why BMW, Toyota, Honda, Hyundai, Volkswagen and Mercedes Benz have all opened new manufacturing plants in the US in that time span and not in Mexico? Why do those foreign companies open plants here and pay wages comparable to unionized companies like the big three?If you think they weren't in trouble until $4 gas, you need to tell me where you get your drugs.
And thanks for the comedy $75,000 a year a decade ago didn't have any affect. LOFL
Ask the workers in Mexico if they get the same 75K. bahahha
No, I own Ford Stock.I doubt many poster own gm stock even the far left union lovers.
China gets all the oil it needs from Burma, Iran, Venezuela and various African countries, also remember China could become an enemy some day.
Didn't we make a law forcing them to open plants here if they were going to sell their cars here? I think the only reason they opened plants here was because of that law. Protectionism, not "we're stable"...Then please explain to me why BMW, Toyota, Honda, Hyundai, Volkswagen and Mercedes Benz have all opened new manufacturing plants in the US in that time span and not in Mexico? Why do those foreign companies open plants here and pay wages comparable to unionized companies like the big three?
I'll tell you why. Cause we have infrastructure, logistical resources, communication resources, material resources, a stable political and economic structure and human resources in the form of skilled and professional workers that Mexico and China simply do not have. That's why the US is still the worlds largest manufacturer of autos in the word and the US workers in those foreign owned plants owe their high wages to their union bretheren which forces these companies to pay competative wages or risk being unionized. So those US employees of those foreign companies owe their high wages to the strong influence of labor unions.
Dude your clueless about how union negotiations work. Unions work on the capitalist principle of "Charge what the market will bear". They will negotiate the highest wages, benefits and working conditions they can for their membership. That is their mission. This is what unions do! If Unions charge more then what the market will bear then it's a very easy step for a company to show their books during negotiations to easily demonstrate that they cannot afford additional costs. Unions are not in the business of pricing their members out of jobs regardless of what right wingers think. If a company contractually agrees to negotiated wages and benefits that undermine the profitability and viability of their own company instead of negotiating in good faith concessions from the unions then it is their own damned fault for managing their business poorly and not the unions. That's another one of the things Ford did that GM and Chrysler failed to do! They negotiated concessions from their Unions by showing their books and asking for concessions, in good faith, which they recieved.You are correct in citing the fact that management didn't adjust to the market.
You are incorrect in trying to shift the bulk of the blame to that decision. The pension and health care costs are what drove GM into the ground. Any company that agrees to start paying out pensions at 50 or 55 years of age is doomed to fail. Especially if the company also agrees to continue paying health care costs. It simply isn't sustainable economically given the extended average life expectancy.
They didn't put factories in La and MS for the humidity. The wages are way less than detroit.
This ignores other employee expenses. The unions aren't there, they do not pay the same for health insurance, for retirement benefits, forever care, and the wages are lower just not "that much lower"...No there not Dude. I do business with those plants all the time. Their wages are very comparable. They have to be. It's the only way to keep the Unions out.
Dude your clueless about how union negotiations work. Unions work on the capitalist principle of "Charge what the market will bear". They will negotiate the highest wages, benefits and working conditions they can for their membership. That is their mission. This is what unions do! If Unions charge more then what the market will bear then it's a very easy step for a company to show their books during negotiations to easily demonstrate that they cannot afford additional costs. Unions are not in the business of pricing their members out of jobs regardless of what right wingers think. If a company contractually agrees to negotiated wages and benefits that undermine the profitability and viability of their own company instead of negotiating in good faith concessions from the unions then it is their own damned fault for managing their business poorly and not the unions. That's another one of the things Ford did that GM and Chrysler failed to do! They negotiated concessions from their Unions by showing their books and asking for concessions, in good faith, which they recieved.
GM and Chryslers management has only one group of people to blame for their predicament. Themselves.
ROFLMAO.... I understand that unions try to get the most they can. But you are flat out batshit crazy if you think the Unions simply got 'what the markets' would bare.
the REASON the foreign companies came here to compete is because we REQUIRED them to if they wanted to sell cars here. It was the UNIONS that lobbied for this. Because they knew they could not compete on price with Honda/Toyota etc... if the foreign companies continued producing overseas. They forced them to come here so as to force them to pay similar wages. It narrowed the gap to a large degree, but the foreign companies still don't have the insane health care costs that the US auto companies have.
As I stated, management was certainly at fault for focusing almost exclusively on the SUV's and not updating its sedan lineup to compete better. But it is the huge costs of labor that buried GM and Chrysler. If the unions are going to claim they didn't know that GM and Chrsyler were struggling and thus in need of labor concessions, then the union leadership completely failed its membership as it was plain to see.
This ignores other employee expenses. The unions aren't there, they do not pay the same for health insurance, for retirement benefits, forever care, and the wages are lower just not "that much lower"...
So, combine savings in wages, health insurance, retirement plans, etc. And the savings is substantial and the reason they didn't open plants where the unions were already substantially entrenched.
Didn't we make a law forcing them to open plants here if they were going to sell their cars here? I think the only reason they opened plants here was because of that law. Protectionism, not "we're stable"...
Now don't go off on one, but weren't you against the auto bailouts? It is nice to see the workers getting bonuses for a change, rather the Wall Street fatcats.
Can I get a cite for the bold.
Toyota - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia@@AMEPARAM@@/wiki/File:Toyota.svg" class="image" title="Toyota Motor Corporation logo"><img alt="Toyota Motor Corporation logo" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/e/e7/Toyota.svg/250px-Toyota.svg.png"@@AMEPARAM@@en/thumb/e/e7/Toyota.svg/250px-Toyota.svg.pngBy the early sixties, the US had begun placing stiff import tariffs on certain vehicles. The Chicken tax of 1964 placed a 25% tax on imported light trucks.[20] In response to the tariff, Toyota, Nissan Motor Co. and Honda Motor Co. began building plants in the US by the early eighties.[20]