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Automotive News & Views Do You Favor A Government Loan To The Detroit 3?
3958 messages, Last post on Oct 02, 2009 at 4:52 PM
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Replying to: Vinnmar (Jan 12, 2009 11:05 am)
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Replying to: mikefm58 (Jan 12, 2009 11:27 am) |
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Replying to: Vinnmar (Jan 12, 2009 11:05 am) Pay the existing military contractors to greenfield the fab shops and workforce. It's faster and cheaper than trying to gut and reconfigure some inner-city auto plant and cull through the staff to see who can be retained. Do you really think that anyone who works at GM knows how to program the control logic for a UAV? |
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Replying to: Vinnmar (Jan 12, 2009 11:05 am) As that great American Rambo once said "I didn't start this thing!!".  The fact is that it was our corporate and political leaders who started the demise of U.S. manufacturing thru their policies, about 30 years ago. Globalization has led to much cheaper products but the demise of high-paid union jobs. As for your concerns about where we would make weapons for a war, I don't foresee us ever fighting a war where we'd have a year or so to convert an auto-plant, and then need it to build thousands and thousands of tanks over many years. Why? Technology has made warfare like that obsolete. It's almost as obsolete as marching in formation towards the enemy with a drummer. A couple of bombers carrying anti-armor cluster bombs can destroy an armored brigade within minutes. Sort of silly building 60-ton tanks when a single 5 Lb bomblet (of a hundred in a cluster bomb) can take out an enemy tank. http://www.vectorsite.net/twbomb_11.html And if we do need auto factories for something, we'll still have all the Honda, Toyota, Korean, and German factories here on U.S. soil which can be converted. 
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Replying to: kernick (Jan 12, 2009 1:36 pm) |
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Replying to: Vinnmar (Jan 12, 2009 11:05 am) That was then, this is now, lots of patriotic companies are gone including Willys who made Jeep. I am sure the auto industry benefited from the war too - and they sold lots of cars once the war was over....I don't think they made vehicles completely for patriotic reasons. In the time of WW II it was the auto industry that stopped making cars and started making what the USA needed to win the war. Hummer is still around for awhile. Can't hold onto unprofitable business because they might make products for a war. Next wars will probably be fought with missiles and planes anyway. Buy the way don’t the us autoworkers use the American banks? We all use banks, but companies that can't make a profit can't be subsidized. Why no string for the banks? What did the banks do to help win the war? We need banks or everything shuts down. Also, there isn't any competition to turn to. We absolutely need money, we don't need D3 cars, there are alternatives. We came to this country because it was the land of opportunity but today’s generation has no loyalty to America. I would love to buy American, but the quality has to be at least as good...and it isn't. And, I don't feel like subsidizing the UAW. Fact is, many business's and even car makers have not survived over the years. But, the world goes on. We used to make radios and TVs in the USA and that business has gone to Asia a long time ago.....but we still survived. The best hope is for the D3 to go into Chapter 11, reorganize, become smaller...reduce the number of models and concentrate on making them the best in their field, close down dealers, get a new work force that is not unionized. If we keep subsidizing the D3 there is no incentive to change and even now the UAW won't give concessions. Many plants close down because the unions are unreasonable in their demands. Cost of labor is 10% of the cost of the car, so I would rather that extra money that the labor costs go into giving me more car for my money.....I kind of resent paying someone for else's pension and benefits if I don't have to.
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Replying to: kernick (Jan 12, 2009 1:36 pm) Good point. I was thinking of the exact same thing as I was leaving work today, which BTW is Lockheed Martin, the largest aerospace company and largest defense contractor. All of their planes, bombs, satellites, etc, are in fact made in the good old USofA. And I believe the latest Nemitz class carrier the USS George H Bush was also built here. So needing the auto plants here on our soil owned by heritage American companies in case we need to convert them over to war machines is an idiotic argument. Would anyone in their right mind really want to be on a plane made by a UAW worker?
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Replying to: driver100 (Jan 12, 2009 2:05 pm) Fyi, Willys was folded into American Motors, which was bought by Chrysler. So in essence, good old Willys is still alive. |
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Replying to: driver100 (Jan 12, 2009 2:05 pm) boy, are you stuck in the 50's. "I would love to buy American" you live in canada and there are a fair percentage of people in your province that work building vehicles or vehicle components for the D3. now i think you are stuck in the 40's.
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Replying to: explorerx4 (Jan 12, 2009 4:19 pm) Correct, but if they can't compete then I won't buy their cars, whether they are American or Canadian built. I have worked for companies that went under and they weren't subsidized. I'll buy the best car I can afford and if it's made in Canada or the USA fantastic (I love the U.S. - worked for an American company for 16 years), but so far that isn't happening.
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