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Buying American Cars What Does It Mean?

18085 messages,  Last post on Jun 19, 2013 at 6:23 PM

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What is this discussion about? Car Buying

With parts coming from everywhere, does "Buying American" have much meaning anymore? Is quality and price the bottom line?

Messages Page 1701 of 1809

#16999 of 18085 Re: buying American tires [fintail] by tlong

Feb 20, 2013 (11:16 pm)

Replying to: fintail (Feb 20, 2013 7:56 pm)
The US isn't the standard - residents of many other developed nations have it easier than Americans. We're devolved according to many first world Europeans. Germans laugh at what people tolerate here.
 
I tend to agree with this. But of course it's relative.
 
I wonder how long before the first Chinese or Indian cars are sold in the US? So far the only major Chinese assemblies have been from GM (engine).

#17000 of 18085 Re: buying American tires [fintail] by tlong

Feb 20, 2013 (11:21 pm)

Replying to: fintail (Feb 20, 2013 7:55 pm)
The mid level is usually useless, and the upper levels not a lot better.
 
This is where we see things differently. People are people and there is a Gaussian distribution at all levels - the excellent ones, the middle of the road, and the dregs. For a company the problem is that if the top leadership are dregs, it permeates the entire organization. Such as GM for a few decades. Mix it up with a toxic UAW and you have a disastrous dish.
 
But there are an awful lot of very good people at all levels in most companies, too. There is really no reason that "most" management is poor. Although it may look that way to the union workers or cube rats.
 
Seems the transplants have better executive decision making too - the key to the failure of the old Big 3.
 
Agreed.

#17001 of 18085 Re: buying American tires [gagrice] by robr2

Feb 21, 2013 (5:46 am)

Replying to: gagrice (Feb 20, 2013 5:15 pm)
Last if the French are such great workers, why does Michelin make most of their tires in other countries?
 
To avoid tariffs that are slapped on imported tires (depending on the country), to be close to customers, to keep transportation costs down, yada, yada, yada.

#17002 of 18085 Re: buying American tires [gagrice] by robr2

Feb 21, 2013 (6:05 am)

Replying to: gagrice (Feb 20, 2013 5:26 pm)
If you did not pi** it all away on flashy cars and fast wimmin.
 
No no no - you've got it all wrong.
 
According to George Best: "I spent 90% of my money on women, drink and fast cars. The rest I wasted."

#17003 of 18085 Re: buying American tires [tlong] by gagrice

Feb 21, 2013 (7:53 am)

Replying to: tlong (Feb 20, 2013 11:21 pm)
the excellent ones, the middle of the road, and the dregs
 
In all my years in various phone companies, 5 to be exact, I had one very competent 2nd level manager. I would give 3 supervisors high marks. Most of my dealings with 2nd level was as a shop steward. I know for a fact that 2nd level is a position you are dumped in when another department wants to rid themselves of you. At AT&T Alascom it was like a turnstile job. Rarely did they get bumped back to supervisor. Those that went to the next level were either competent or great BSers.
 
I worked with a guy that was a great BSer. He wanted to be in management so bad he would do anything. His chance came while on vacation in TX. He convinced a small Telco he was what they needed as a mid level manager. He was flying high. Calling us all the time to tell us how he would go into the office in the morning line out the supervisors and head to the golf course. This went on for over a year. Then one day he called up wanting to know if there were any openings. He got fired when his boss realized what he was doing with his time. How it took a year is anyone's guess. We did not hire him back as a Teamster technician because we did not need any BSers at the time. We had plenty of them.

#17004 of 18085 Re: buying American tires [robr2] by fintail

Feb 21, 2013 (9:15 am)

Replying to: robr2 (Feb 21, 2013 6:05 am)
Remember, the best retirement plan is the one where the check to the undertaker bounces

#17005 of 18085 Re: buying American tires [gagrice] by fintail

Feb 21, 2013 (9:26 am)

Replying to: gagrice (Feb 20, 2013 10:42 pm)
This was about a loud ugly CEO of undetermined credibility (who certainly climbed a ladder that doesn't exist today and could never ascend to his position now if he exited school after y2k) calling someone else out - when apparently his own company isn't the most profitable. When some confuse hours worked with work ethic, I don't know.
  
The US needs austerity mode 10x more than what the easygoing developed EU members (with higher qualities of life than the average American)will endure. Some of that austerity means ending the corporate welfare and pity-the-rich trickle down trough, cutting back the policeman of the world military-industrial debt machine, and cutting the foreign aid to parasites cord. If we could reel in some of those black holes, we could probably compare to some of their positive standards, instead of racing to the bottom.
 
Go research French consumer behavior. Like some other Euros, they take great pride in buying locally. Very proud and nationalistic people. Cheap (and likely poorly made and built under inhumane and environmentally criminal conditions) Chinese tires won't find a loving customer base in France. I'd be interested to see where Michelin tires actually consumed in France are produced.
 
I am not holding my breath about the Chinese buying MB. They'll try to copy, which the first world shouldn't tolerate, but buy - nah.

#17006 of 18085 Re: buying American tires [tlong] by fintail

Feb 21, 2013 (9:31 am)

Replying to: tlong (Feb 20, 2013 11:21 pm)
I wasn't judging the people as humans, but as useful overhead expenses. Seems a lot of the corporate world has too many chiefs. There are bad apples at every level - but some of the levels themselves maybe shouldn't exist. Even those who actually do the work can judge poor results attained by those who have ascended in ways those who came later simply cannot, and now hold their noses up like they have some special ability. Eventually, the ruse will end.
 
I see the use of "most" in quotes as the typical distraction or deceptive qualities of overpaid underworked middle management, FWIW. If cutting out the middleman is seen as good...

#17007 of 18085 Re: buying American tires [fintail] by tlong

Feb 21, 2013 (10:16 am)

Replying to: fintail (Feb 21, 2013 9:31 am)
I wasn't judging the people as humans, but as useful overhead expenses. Seems a lot of the corporate world has too many chiefs.
 
Well of course there is good and bad in the useful overhead expenses, too. Some of it is absolutely necessary. If too much is bad, then senior management isn't doing their jobs. Sometimes the lower trough types try to lump these things all together, which is typically simplistic and perhaps that's why they're lower types. Lots at that level aren't too valuable, either. After all, even most of the dregs have jobs. More often than not, they *don't* ascend that far.
 
I sure hope the D3 makes are weeding out their dregs. Ford - probably moreso than the others. Chrysler- they're smaller to begin with but I'm not so sure. GM - some progress but not enough. After 35 years of bad DNA it's very hard to extract the good from the bad. I'm not sensing Akerson is dynamic enough as he should be. Perhaps time for a change.

#17008 of 18085 Re: buying American tires [tlong] by fintail

Feb 21, 2013 (12:17 pm)

Replying to: tlong (Feb 21, 2013 10:16 am)
Sadly, being a dreg doesn't seem to stop anyone from rising - not many examples of meritocracy in the world. I'd like to see a lot of these middle aged middle managers be able to start over in the climate of today and rise just the same. Most of them couldn't come close, even though they dismiss complaints about their spoiled and often needless demographic as being simplistic - yet never going into detail as they are simply unable. History won't look too kindly on the boomer middle manager. All they can do is deflect up or down, never explaining what value they add.
 
For GM, I think they've reformed their interior issues. There still might be some dead wood in the styling arena.

Messages Page 1701 of 1809

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