“In Woodhaven on Friday,” The Detroit News reports, “someone punctured the tires of five foreign cars — a Honda, Hyundai, Mazda, Toyota and Volkswagen — and used a marker to scrawl ‘Buy USA’ on the sides of the vehicles, in the lots of Lowe’s and Kohl’s stores near a Ford plant.” As TTAC’s publisher, I decided not to blog the story. There was no proof that the a Ford worker had carried-out the attack. As an isolated incident, I felt the vandalism didn’t deserve what Margaret Thatcher called “the oxygen of publicity.” We can debate the ethics or wisdom of that decision all day long. But today’s DetN story is flat-out incendiary. “Backlash brews in wake of Big 3 bashing” is strong beer. With that kind of headline, the onus is on scribe George Hunter to prove that Detroit is about to erupt into violence– the clearly implied and then directly stated premise of the piece. “After a month of Detroit-bashing in Washington and nationally,” Hunter writes. “some say a backlash is forming among Metro Detroiters, annoyed by the attacks on their lifestyle and angry at their neighbors’ choices of vehicles. Some fear that simmering resentment could turn to outright hostility.” Some? You mean like some people you specifically rounded-up to prove your inflammatory central thesis? Yeah, like that.
“‘I’m afraid we may be about to see a rerun of a bad nightmare we lived through in the late ’70s and early ’80s,’ said Helen Zia, co-founder of the American Citizens for Justice, a civil rights group that serves Michigan’s Asian-Americans. ‘We’re in the midst of tough economic times, and when that happens you get scapegoating.’”
If you’re a hammer, everything looks like a nail. And if you’re a responsible journalist you have to have a screw loose to prompt someone with an axe to grind to grind it exceedingly fine. By the same token, if you’re a hack writing crap copy, generalities are your best weapon in the fight for attention.
“Most agree the current climate doesn’t approach the open disdain in the 1980s and early 1990s, when workers used sledgehammers to destroy Hondas and Toyotas in union parking lots. But some worry that antipathy toward Asians could return.”
Most? How scientific is that? Could? Keep this up and it just might. Keep in mind this story is speaking to the emotions of scared, desperate people. Or, rather, that’s what Hunter and his editors should have kept in mind. So what else you got, George?
“And it’s not just Michigan: In South Carolina, a Ford dealership began airing ads this month blasting Congress and claiming that Japanese cars are ‘rice ready, not road ready.’”
The dealer’s ad was stupid (and that we did blog). But it’s hardly what I’d call a call to arms. And Hunter is running out column inches. Here’s the “best” he can do:
“But some [!], including retired autoworker Joe Babiasz of Huntington Woods, do blame foreign competition for the state of the Big Three. ‘Not enough people recognize the importance of doing the right thing for their country, which is to buy American,’ he said. ‘My dad, his brothers and his cousins all fought the Germans and Japanese to have what we have today. And with all respect to the German and Japanese people, I’m not going to give away everything my relatives fought for through the automobile industry.’”
How long did it take Hunter to find that guy? How many people did he have to go through who didn’t talk about German or Japanese people? Hunter then trots out the organizer of the boycottalabamanow website, without once mentioning the level of support he’s receiving. Or isn’t. [Hint to George: Google Analytics and you're done.]
Folks, this is the worst kind of journalism imaginable. Check this:
“The situation has some [!] who drive foreign cars re-thinking their decisions. More than a year ago, Jonathan Barlow, 24, of Detroit bought a used Lexus in part because of its gas mileage. Now, his next purchase could come from the Big Three. ‘Most everyone in my circle looks to hopefully buy some type of hybrid in the near future from a U.S. automaker,’ said Barlow, a community organizer. ‘The choice before was what color would you prefer. … But the thought now is: Who would you support?’”
I realize that some of you, Schreiber, are going to defend the central theme of this report. I’ve got no problem with that. I have no doubt that there is considerable anger towards Washington and Senators Corker and Shelby and consumers who buy “foreign cars.” But this is not the time to fan the flames of hatred. Rather, it is the time to encourage rational if passionate debate, and a clear-headed look at how Detroit can have a future.
Oh, and this poll question– Over the weekend, Woodhaven police investigated a rash of vandalism on foreign cars that some fear could signal a growing wave of resentment. Is buying a foreign car un-American?– is simply beyond the pale.
Shame on The Detroit News for publishing this rubbish.
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And, of course, no mention of why people are buying Toyotas, etc…..
John
That writing is worse than what I would expect out of a college newspaper. But then again, it is Detroit: their standards are pretty low, but they still think they are God’s Gift to the World.
So they are sinking the Mafia Godfather marketing plan. “Buy our car or we break your kneecaps”.
Newspapers have to pander to their audience if they want to maintain circulation. Some pander a lot more than others.
It would be interesting to find out how the Detroit papers are doing compared to the others. The industry is obviously on hard times, but they must be even more impacted than most.
Detroit is a dying town, and this paper is anchored to it. It wouldn’t be surprising if the paper’s staff is as pissed off and scared as the auto workers. They have a lot in common.
Pch101 made my point in his last graph. I’d make it slightly differently. If I were on the staff of DetN I’d be VERY worried about losing my job if the shrinking 3 go under.
Additionally, I do remember the Asian bashing. My anger over that prompted me to write an op-ed–published in the Plain Dealer and the Indpls Star, the point of which ended up being that competition was good for Detroit.
And, yeah, the article in question is crappy journalism. But unfortunately it has a lot of company.
Talk about pandering, how bout this Headline:
U.S. Senate to Michigan: Drop Dead
http://www.mlive.com/flintjournal/index.ssf/2008/12/auto_bailout_congress_to_michi.html
Friday’s Flint Journal front page banner Headline.
The Detroit newspapers are cutting delivery to 3 days a week, so they are hurting.
It would be interesting to find out how the Detroit papers are doing compared to the others.
The Det News and Free Press (Freep) have been on the ropes for years.
In 1989 they formed a joint operating agreement – seperate news and editorial operations – but shared printing/distribution/backoffice-type stuff.
The News in particular is riddled with hack writers that do lazy, sloppy work.
(Just last month I took one to task for their annual (expected, predictable, and irresponsible) reporting of 2 MILLION attendance at the Thanksgiving parade in Detroit. Basic 5th grade math pegs the number somewhere b/w 30K and no more than 50K. The reporter did take the time to read my email and even wrote back …just to insult me).
There is supposed to be a big announcement at the Freep/News today or tomorrow. Most likely layoffs and maybe even truncated delivery days.
“…they still think they are God’s Gift to the World.”
“Detroit is a dying town…”
Those statements are as irresponsible and uninformed as the article the DetNews put out. You’re entitled to your opinion, but take it from a Detroiter: you don’t know what you’re talking about.
The people responsible for smashing imports are a tiny fraction of Detroiters, most of whom are working hard to dig ourselves out of a long downward slide. Detroit is going to be fine, albeit much different from decades past.
WHO exactly is keeping North American (UAW at that) workers busy again?
http://www.nummi.com/
That “Buy American” picture gets clouded when you look real close.
http://www.edmunds.com/insideline/do/News/articleId=109831
Relax, people, nobody is going to be trading in a Lexus for a hybrid Ford. Not him, not you, not Alan Mulally. Oh, wait.
You’re entitled to your opinion
The facts support that position. Unemployment in the Detroit metro area is above 10%, housing prices have declined back to 1998 values, and the city is losing population.
Fear & Uncertainty yield neanderthal reactions. Time to carry a shotgun in the Honda methinks.
And lack of attention by the media is exactly what these actions deserve.
I’m surprised no one else caught this. A Mazda allegedly fell victim to a Ford employee’s angst. If it was a Mazda 6 then this whole xenophobic business is beyond pathetic.
Adub:
“That writing is worse than what I would expect out of a college newspaper.”
As a journalist with my own history of working the college paper, I have to say this kind of pandering can– and does– happen somewhat unintentionally on the reporter’s part.
A couple of years ago, I was working as an assistant editor at my college paper, doing random beat assignments whenever bigger stories came across my desk. One day, a gentleman called saying that some of the university’s African-American students were going to be attending a basketball game at a local high school to protest what he saw as discrimination against his mixed-race (black dad, white mom) daughter, who had been cut from the team on relatively little notice.
Well, the students did protest at the game. No violence. But it was newsworthy enough to our campus that we figured it warranted a story.
I did a lengthy interview with the girl’s father and with some of the students from our university who protested at the game. I obtained documentation from the Atlanta governmental office which had undertaken a preliminary investigation of the school’s practices– at the father’s behest. But when I tried to talk to people at the school– the principal, the basketball coach, the county school superintendent and even the county school system’s legal adviser– nobody would comment.
As all journalists are taught in school, “No comment” really is a comment. I advised the school officials that I had to put out the story, which would present essentially only the father’s and the students’ arguments if they didn’t take a moment to issue any kind of rebuttal. Didn’t make a difference to them. No comment.
Faced with the looming deadline, I went ahead and penned the story. In retrospect, I probably included more quotes and accusations from the father and protesting students than was necessary or essential to the main point of the story. Also, my editor probably didn’t step up to the plate at this most needed time to tell me to cut it down– way down. In fact, she ran the whole story with very little copy editing, and chose to attach a headline referencing how “Racial tension” was “still alive” in our region. Both bad ideas. And as far as the editing was concerned, sure my young reporter’s ego might have taken a ding, but that’s how you learn to get better at reporting.
The story received a backlash of sorts. I had a few people contact me asking why I had accused the entire town of racism (I hadn’t– in fact, I had gone to pains to make sure to note that despite the town’s historically low population of minorities, it had just elected its first black mayor by a substantial majority. I even got him to comment, however briefly he was willing to do so, on the father’s accusations.) The problem was mostly that the story was too long and too detailed. In skimming over it, people read mostly the father’s incendiary remarks and considered them my own.
The point being this: It is far easier than most people realize to get too close to your story or your beat. And often, you don’t realize it as you’re working that story or beat because you’re incapable of removing yourself from the situation.
For the duration of my career at the college paper, I stood by my conviction that I had done the right thing in crafting that piece and giving the school officials ample opportunity to provide counterpoint. What I did not see until I left the paper some time later was how many mistakes I made– first among them reporting an in-depth investigative-style story where the primary news tip came from someone with an agenda and reputation (then unknown to me) all his own.
I think that in this case, indeed in the case of most of Detroit’s news writers, they’re too deep in the industry to step outside the fray and realize careless mistakes like this one. In my case, I was too deep in the story and the day-to-day duties of the job to realize that I was too wrapped up in reporting everything that was being said about the situation, which resulted in some flaring tempers among our readership.
Though many do it because of failing finances at newspapers, I think many successful reporters’ practice of moving from one metro to the next every five years or so is probably a good way to combat this isolation and thus limit crummy reporting. It is also why most good editors will move reporters away from their beat after a year or two– because you get too wrapped up in it, too close to your sources, and you become too much of a stakeholder in the outcome of big stories. That is to say, you as a reporter hope those stories drag on because they’re important to building your career as a reporter. Will that slant your coverage? Eventually. I’m sure some of the detractors of TTAC’s Detroit Deathwatches, Bailout Watches, and Bankruptcy Watches will draw their own parallels here.
But for reporters in Detroit, the auto stories are so big, they’re in no way limited to a single beat. They touch every story reported, in some way. You can’t get away from it without leaving the DetNews or the FreeP. I suspect Mr. Hunter should want to move to some other metro paper before he makes many more blunders like this one– if only for the well-being of his own resume.
I too read that article, I always thought that the Detroit News was a bit better than the Free Press, its scary and yes I can believe there are people out there that would cause damage to vehicles for many reasons besides being a Auto Worker that is laid off!
The message is, dont shop in Detroit or area eh!
@John R: yup, this kind of thinking got a fellow killed 25 years back.
Huh, it’s really no mystery why Detroit is dying. It’s cars suck and the people can’t think straight.
It’s always easy to slash the tires of a foreign car but not to process the logic of why foreign cars are winning and American iron is rotting.
well at least if you get attacked by angry Ford workers your Honda is reliable enough to make a quick getaway… sorry I had to.
These kind of actions (vandalism) do nothing more than convince people to NEVER buy a product from the Big 2.8 again. Hooliganism is just what the UAW has been practicing against the Big 2.8 for the last 30 years. Not that the Big 2.8 didn’t make every bad decision possible all by themselves.
I’ve had MANY friends say that if the bailout goes through, that they will never buy a Detroit product just BECAUSE the bailout went through. I’d have real concerns that if the bailout goes through (which it will), that the backlash will result in even LESS people purchasing big 2.8 products EVER AGAIN, even those who might have prior to the BO.
Decades of idiot management, rapacious unions, disposable cars and shoddy business practices killed the Detroit-3. A steady stream of terrible vehicles that paled in terms of quality, reliability, durability, desirability, satisfaction, and value for money relative to Asian and German competitors squandered consumer goodwill. Embittered by appalling product quality and inexcusable customer relations tens of millions of potential buyers, an entire generation, permanently deleted domestic brands from consideration causing sales to collapse with ruinous financial consequences.
Concerning the boycottalabamanow web site.
It almost seems like a frequent poster here has a new hobby.
@David Holzman
December 16th, 2008 at 10:18 am
Additionally, I do remember the Asian bashing. My anger over that prompted me to write an op-ed–published in the Plain Dealer and the Indpls Star, the point of which ended up being that competition was good for Detroit.
In order for competition to works its beneficial effects, there has to be two competitors.
Detroit never accepted (deep in their hearts) that the Japanese were outperforming them – they adopted a “people who want those cars aren’t really our kind of people” mindset.
Decades later, Detroit has been outperformed, and then some. It pays to pay attention to your challengers, and to accept the challenge.
Oh my god, the Senate allowed the Chicago based Tribune company to go into bankruptcy.
Why does the Senate hate America?
Is buying the Financial Times or The Economist un-American?
I’m going to go set fire to stacks of the Financial Times and The Economist at local news stands.
Oh, wait, I won’t do that because I’m not an insecure person from a failed one industry town that expects to be put on permanent Federal welfare.
I hope that bankrupt Circuit City employees can be more mature than those in Detroit and not burn down Best Buys.
Those who are not happy about their taxes being wasted to keep dead companies on life support should consider boycotting Michigan, and all big-3 products.
And if the Detroit News wants to live in the past by exploiting a veteran’s service in the war against Germany then it needs to be said that Henry Ford was influential in supporting Hitler’s rise to power and GM’s wholly owned Opel division was instrumental in developing Germany’s military capabilities.
The Constitution contemplated letting failed companies fail by outlining the duty and right of the Federal Government to establish bankruptcy laws; the Constitution does not say anything about the Federal Government’s duty to bail out failed single-state special interest industries.
The Founding Fathers would most likely have considered that kind of thing un-American.
It is called free enterprise folks, the customers voted with their wallets.
If you really want to get into forcing people to buy something because it is domestically produced, while putting the “workers’ needs” ahead of the customer, while simultaneously allowing government control of the means of production… well then by definition you are a communist.
So which course of action is un-American again?
–chuck
wytshus :
December 16th, 2008 at 10:18 am
Talk about pandering, how bout this Headline:
U.S. Senate to Michigan: Drop Dead
That’s a direct reference to a famous New York Daily News headline about a different bailout:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Ford_to_City.PNG
“Experts fear..”, “most agree…” and ventriloquist quotes. All are hallmarks of lazy-ass hack newspaper reporting. All too common today, unfortunately.
From the “be a whiny baby because you didn’t get your welfare and Boycott Alabama” website:
“The auto companies had nothing to do with this crisis.”
Really, they didn’t have captive finance arms that gave loans at low rates to people that had horrible credit? GMAC did not get into the sub-prime mortgage business?
And then there is this crap:
“It is a national security problem. We only need to go back to World War Two and look at what the domestic auto industry did for the arsenal of democracy. They collectively shut down production of cars from 1942 until 1946 to support the war against Japan and Germany. It is clear that without their support, we would have lost the war and be speaking either German or Japanese today. Does anyone think that Toyota or Mercedes will open up their U.S. plant for a war effort? Unlikely!”
GM helped build the German war machine with Opel. Toyota and Mercedes will allow, if not beg us to use their plants in any serious war the US is involved in; anyone that is threat to US is a bigger threat to them. Anyway, since the plants are in the US we don’t have to ask. China is a great threat to Japan, and Russia is a great threat to Germany and Japan. If we do get into it with China or Russia it will be nuclear. Anyone that thinks it will come down to light infantry vehicles is living in the wrong century.
It must be nice not living in reality.
Puncturing tires? Scratching paint? I think that’s nothing in comparison to what might happen if The Three go down.
(I say this as an observer and not as an expert, and would appreciate being corrected if I’m wrong).
Militancy is normal when a whole area falls apart. You Americans have been lucky — the rustbelt depression went hand in hand with a robust, job-creating economy in the 1980s and 1990s. But what happens when there are no jobs no matter where you go?
Robocop was a apocalyptical vision of a future in which criminality reigned in Motown. But it didn’t go so far as to imagine a Detroit in which no cars are made.
TTAC likes to report, with a wink and a smile, about people who shoot traffic cameras. Where’s the sympathy for misguided criminals here?
Unsophisticated idiots need exactly the Opposite of that type of writing. -Especially in a big Recession.
Aren’t the overpaid bolt-tighteners and people of their stripe racist enough as it is?
In all seriousness, the people doing that piece should have the freaking Riot Act read to them. And if they continue, -with public results, they should be straight-up arrested and thrown into a federal pen for Inciting.
Hopefully, the few among them like our beloved Rick (robot cost-saver, not Waggoner) will help chill things out.
These kind of actions (vandalism) do nothing more than convince people to NEVER buy a product from the Big 2.8 again.
Yep. And everytime I see these autoworkers refer to the competition as Japs, Chinks and Gooks, it makes me feel like buying an Asian import or transplant, just to flip them the bird.
I don’t think that the Detroit defenders realize that this is part and parcel of the marketing side of the problem. Even to those who aren’t civil rights activists, these sorts of comments make it easy to associate Detroit workers and the products they produce with rednecks.
Most of us don’t aspire to emulate the Dukes of Hazzard, we like to see ourselves as being a bit more sophisticated than that. The big and brash and loud and racist message alienates certain customers. It’s no mistake that Lexus, BMW, etc. incorporate sophistication and dignity into their branding.
Robert;
Maybe you could write an op-ed piece for the News. This is the classic “blame somebody else for your problems” tactic.
It’s always the Asians they get upset about. They don’t say anything about the thousands of imported Canadian cars coming across the Ambassador Bridge or the Mexican cars coming from South of the border. There is definitely a racist component to all of this.
In looking at the Babiasz web site, it looks as though he’s one of those people that think we’re going to have to re-fight WWII. In their “Fact and Fiction” section (which seems to be mostly fiction) he states that Does anyone think that Toyota or Mercedes will open up their U.S. plant for a war effort? Unlikely! Do people really think we’re going to have to gear up for a massive land war against Germany and Japan? We’re fighting at least 2 wars right now and how many auto plants has the government taken over? Besides, modern warfare is fought with model airplanes armed with missles. The days of sending in waves of B-29s and Sherman tanks are gone.
This notion of saving manufacturing jobs is a lost cause. Ultimately, it’s not going to be the Chinese and other Asian countries that take away all of the manufacturing jobs. It’s going to be the exponential gains in automation technology. All those wonderful price/performance gains on your home computers and cell phones are happening in the world of robotics as well and there are going to be some huge leaps in capability in the near future.
“Most agree the current climate doesn’t approach the open disdain in the 1980s and early 1990s, when workers used sledgehammers to destroy Hondas and Toyotas in union parking lots.”
I suspect its brimming under the surface…mostly because Union parking lots now have signs that say something like “we are not responsible for damage to foreign vehicles parked here.” Saw it with my own eyes back in ‘98. Now if they took them down afterward, I expect they are coming right back up.
“As TTAC’s publisher, I decided not to blog the story. “
In effect, didn’t you do exactly that?
@ Sajeev Mehta – They don’t need to post a sign. If you’re stupid enough to drive a nice import (or maybe even an 88 Accord with popup headlights) to the plant – it’s getting vandalized. It’s like wearing a Giants jersey to an Eagles home game.
It’s not just at the plants either. You should see what happens if you park a BMW in the “no competitor vehicles” lots near the Big 3 HQs.
Pch101:
“Even to those who aren’t civil rights activists, these sorts of comments make it easy to associate Detroit workers and the products they produce with rednecks.”
I find it ironic that it’s NOT the real rednecks that are the ones bitching. The real rednecks have jobs supplied by the Asian + German automakers.
I alway love comments like “My dad fought the Japs and Germans”.
So, did my father. He was on a 3 man landing craft crew in the Pacific. He carried a handgun and a baseball bat. His job was to shoot or break the hands of any soldier that would not get out of the landing craft when it hit the beach. You did not come back with people. He never shot a soldier but he did use the bat. Never joined the VFW or American Legion. He moved on.
He owned a Subaru and a Honda. Bought me a Beetle in 1974.
He didn’t hold a grudge after the war, because he figured the guy on the other side was stuck in the war just like he was.
The war was 60+ years ago. It’s getting tough to find vets on whatever side. But, I guess, use any excuse to feed your hate and shortcomings.
Robert,
Since the topic ostensibly is journalism, you could also call Joe Babiasz and ask him what kind of support he’s gotten yourself. Whitepages.com is even easier to use than Google analytics. Or, if you want, I can give you his phone number. As for your implication that the DetNews searched high and low for Joe, the simple fact is that he was on one of the local tv news broadcasts last week and at least one of the local dailies featured him in a story. People looking for publicity are not hard to find.
I don’t know if Joe will forward you some of the emails he’s gotten at this point but when I spoke to him last Thursday, he’d already gotten over 250, and that after his site was only up for a day.
[Hint to George: Google Analytics and you're done.]
Hint to Robert: That won’t work. I’m no computer expert, but I did do IT support for about 6 years. I could be wrong but as far as I can find on the GoogleAnalyitcs site, there is no way that you can use GA to find out data on someone else’s site. It’s a tool for site managers. You sign up, you put some code on the pages you want to track, and voila, you get traffic data on your own site. If there’s a way of getting data out of GA about other people’s sites, please feel free to share it. I always like learning new things.
BTW, Joe’s a good guy and has a pretty good perspective on who’s at fault in this mess. He started out as a UAW line worker for Ford in New Jersey, became an engineer and moved over to the salaried/mgmt side of things, eventually retiring from GM. So he’s been in both the union and mgmt and has worked for two different automakers. I’m sure you’ll say folks like Joe are the problem because they are within the industry and insular. He’s no pollyanna, and we had a nice talk about how many of GM and Ford’s most disastrous moves were the result of bean counters overruling engineers (Corvair, Pinto) or asking them to do things to save money instead of following best practices (Olds diesel).
I realize that some of you, Schreiber, are going to defend the central theme of this report. I’ve got no problem with that. I have no doubt that there is considerable anger towards Washington and Senators Corker and Shelby and consumers who buy “foreign cars.” But this is not the time to fan the flames of hatred. Rather, it is the time to encourage rational if passionate debate, and a clear-headed look at how Detroit can have a future.
Since you asked, no I’m not going to defend the article. It’s lazy journalism in my opinion, the kind of pre-written story like the CEOs’ business jets. I expect to see similar lazy journalism as the story filters through the MSM and Detroiters are portrayed as knuckledragging yahoos. The vandals were, well, vandals, sociopaths like the Earth First or ALF terrorists, or like the environmentalists who ‘key’ and otherwise vandalize Hummers and other SUVs.
Once he was committed to writing the story, checking with the Americans For Justice, though, makes some journalistic sense, albeit predictable, since they were the advocates of the family of Vincent Chin, a Chinese American beaten to death by a couple of drunk autoworkers back in the 1980s. Since Hunter devoted a good chunk of the story to an Asian American advocacy group, one could just as easily say that he was portraying Detroiters as xenophobic as saying that the article was inciting hatred.
Sometimes things are not how they appear. A jury awarded Chin’s mother a reparative settlement subsequent to the killers’ conviction, I think it was for manslaughter and I’m too lazy to make a few clicks to check it out. Sometime after that, I saw in the paper how one of the killers was suing Chrysler because they fired him over the beating. His attorney was an old friend of mine so I called him up and gave him a hard time about it and he told me that things are not always how they seem. The guy had no assets and Americans For Justice had asked him to take the case so that Chin’s mother would be able to collect the award. At the time, there were about 30 convicted killers on Chrysler’s payroll.
As for big Dick, Shelby and Sen. Corker. I’m on record as saying that Corker’s plan was a ch 11 in all but name and probably workable, though I do think the UAW wage cramdown was completely symbolic and would have little impact on GM’s ability to survive short term. It’s not the hourly wage rates that are the problem, it’s the legacy costs associated with retirees. Also, I don’t like wage laws in general so I’m uncomfortable with the Senate compelling US workers to take a cut in pay. As well, I think the policy implications of congress compelling an American industry to match the wages of foreign companies is very problematic.
But on whole, Corker was trying to work out a deal and he’s still working with the White House on whatever TARP or Fed based loans they’ll come up with.
Corker acted in good faith for the most part, at least by the standards of big time politicians. Big Dick, Shelby, though, is just a grandstanding hypocrite. He perpetuates the myth that Detroit hasn’t restructured significantly. He ignores the heavy lifting that Mulally has done at Ford, changes that you acknowledge. He also keeps going on about how the “new American auto industry” in his region is doing just fine, something that is demonstrably untrue. If Alabama has such an outstanding workforce, and if Michiganders are so incompetent, why did Toyota spend the better part of a billion dollars building their North American R&D center less than 50 miles from where I sit, in Ann Arbor?
The truth is that, as you have acknowledged elsewhere, there is tremendous engineering and business talent in this region. Lean and mean versions of GM & Ford would be formidable automotive competitors. Around the time Ghosn turned Nissan around I noticed something interesting. None of the people at Ford & GM were cheering for Nissan’s demise. The same is true about Toyota vis a vis GM. While nobody this year wants to be the team that loses to the Detroit Lions, they’d much rather beat the Patriots or Titans. When you have strong competition it means you have to raise the level of your game.
There’s a phrase in Hebrew, al achat kama v’kama. It roughly translates as “how much the more so”. If the DetNews is fanning the flames of hatred for imported cars or Asians, what about big Dick, Shelby fanning the flames of hatred for Detroit? Oh, that’s right, nobody hates Detroit, and if they do, we deserve that hate.
It’s interesting that you featured this story, and said that what was needed was a clear headed look at Detroit but didn’t say anything about Daniel Howes’ article about how an entrenched culture around here of doing things the same way over and over regardless of the insanity prevents progress here, for the car companies, the city of Detroit and the state of Michigan.
It’s ironic that you accused the DetNews of fanning the flames of hatred when some of your own commenters say things like That kind of think will just solidify the Detroit area’s image as a 3rd world wasteland. In a way I hope it happens more, it will kill any support that remains for the bail-out outside of Michigan.
I don’t know if this violates the no-flaming policy, but wanting to see innocent people getting their cars vandalized so hostility to Michigan will be ginned up strikes me as hateful, if not downright sociopathic.
That’s a direct reference to a famous New York Daily News headline about a different bailout:
Geotpf,
Why should he let the facts get in the way of bashing Michigan?
Of course, if our schools actually taught history, people might get allusions in headlines. If I’m not mistaken, I think one of the Detroit dailies riffed on the Daily News headline back during the Chrysler bailout too.
This alone is worth the price of the newspaper:
‘Most everyone in my circle looks to hopefully buy some type of hybrid in the near future from a U.S. automaker,’ said Barlow, a community organizer.
Hilarious, a “community organizer” hangs out among people who want to support US labor unions. Stop the presses! Well I’d say that’s pretty representative of the average man on the street. Heck we just elected a community organizer president!
(Just last month I took one to task for their annual (expected, predictable, and irresponsible) reporting of 2 MILLION attendance at the Thanksgiving parade in Detroit. Basic 5th grade math pegs the number somewhere b/w 30K and no more than 50K. The reporter did take the time to read my email and even wrote back …just to insult me).
The Detroit area regularly has some very large events with 500,000 to a million people attending, like the Woodward Dream Cruise, the Gold Cup hydroplane races, victory parades for the Red Wings and Pistons, and the annual Freedom Festival fireworks on the Detroit River. You don’t need 5th grade math, just aerial views to compare the sizes of the crowds. When there’s a million folks lining Woodward, it’s pretty obvious.
Could you provide a link to the “2 million” figure? That doesn’t pass the smell test since it would mean that fully half the entire region attended the parade. Considering what weather is like around here on Thanksgiving, and considering watching a parade is basically standing around in the cold, that figure is just not very likely.
It almost seems like a frequent poster here has a new hobby
I’m sympathetic to Joe but his site isn’t my style. I did call him to share some information that I thought he would find useful, though. I’d rather contact travel agents and ask them to encourage snowbirds to vacation in Puerto Rico or the US Virgin Islands. The people there don’t call us whining, lazy, greedy incompetents.
The facts support that position. Unemployment in the Detroit metro area is above 10%, housing prices have declined back to 1998 values, and the city is losing population.
By those standards, I suppose you could say that California is dying too. Unemployment statewide is over 8%, almost as high as Michigan. Property values have plummeted. Gov’t services are getting cut back and even some of the illegals are leaving for greener pastures. The flight of affluent Californians, tired of that state’s ills, who have moved to neighboring states so they can still enjoy the casual western lifestyle without Cali’s massive problems has gotten a bit of press.
If Detroit is in such great shape, then you have nothing to worry about.
I think that you need to pick a position and stick to it. Either you are struggling and in need of our charity, or else you are standing on your own two feet and don’t need any help. You can’t have it both ways.
Journalistic integrity – what a contradiction in terms.
raast :
December 16th, 2008 at 10:28 am
WHO exactly is keeping North American (UAW at that) workers busy again?
http://www.nummi.com/
That “Buy American” picture gets clouded when you look real close.
http://www.edmunds.com/insideline/do/News/articleId=109831
Did you even read the article you referenced? If not, here’s a excerpt:
DETROIT — General Motors has announced it is building a brand-new assembly plant in San Luis Potosi, Mexico, which will cost up to $650 million and will build vehicles for the domestic Mexico market only.
I guess fear is the only way to get people to buy a GM, Ford or Chrysler. Sorry, it is not 1978 anymore. These companies are all globally linked. I was given this speech when I bought my Mazda even though that same quarter, Mazda was the only thing heavily contributing to Ford’s bottom line.
I just thought to myself,”Could you imagine how much Wagoner would be making and how crappy and outdated their cars would be if everyone bought them just on the basis of being American?”
@Ronnie Schrieber:
“By those standards, I suppose you could say that California is dying too.”
I would agree… if employers representing the percentages that the D3 represent were losing market share consistently. CA has a diversified workforce… heavy in entertainment, but definitely not anywhere near the reliance MI has on the D3. Biggest company in CA is Chevron.
Check this article out from the Fed Reserve of Chicago talking about high unemployment in MI and net payroll loss (ranks last in growth). Most disturbing is that this article is from 2005, before the financial meltdown:
http://midwest.chicagofedblogs.org/archives/2005/10/michigan_auto_w.html
Ever say that someone “gypped” you?
No, I don’t use those racial slurs, either.
Ever call someone out for saying that they were “jewed” down?
As a matter of fact, I have.
Please, cut the martyrdom routine. You constantly lament how much Michigan is at risk, but then dislike it when someone agrees with your position.
This is a microcosm of the overall problem. The Michiganders demand our money and our business, while being completely unwilling to listen to those who might give it to them. When we complain about the automakers being out of touch, this is exactly what we are talking about. You can’t serve the customer if you are too busy attacking him to listen to what he wants.
I love the fact that they don’t realize starting a wave of vandalism on cars will result in a great increase in insurance claims in that area. If claims go up, so do rates on all cars. An increase in insurance premiums will be a nice parting piece.
I’ve never quite understood the rational behind articles like this about some kind of “seething anger” that one group or another has.
Are we meant to think “gee, there are some violent lunatics out there who are afraid Detroit will collapse. Let’s give Detroit money to keep those violent lunatics from breaking loose?”
Seems to me if anything it’s more likely to have the opposite reaction, i.e. “lets not give tax money to industries that employ violent lunatics or whose captive media uses veiled threats of violent lunacy in order to support their favored industry.”
Furthermore doesn’t this just reinforce the stereotypes of auto workers as xenophobic troglodytes railing against the ‘japs?’
“Ever say that someone “gypped” you?”
No, I don’t use those racial slurs, either.
“Ever call someone out for saying that they were “jewed” down?”
As a matter of fact, I have.
Good for you, though I note you ignored my comment about Japanese racism. I worked for a technology leader that had to JV with a Japanese partner to get business from the transplants.
Please, cut the martyrdom routine. You constantly lament how much Michigan is at risk, but then dislike it when someone agrees with your position.
It wasn’t a martyrdom routine, a tu quoque argument perhaps. Martyrs accept their fate. That’s part of what makes them martyrs.
Nobody knows the ills of this region and our primary industry better than folks who live in Michigan. Like the Chicago sports fans who chant “Detroit sucks” who don’t have the first clue just how much Detroit sucks.
The problem is that this saga has brought out all sorts of Detroit haters, disenchanted consumers, enviros, union busters, racists etc. There is a real sense of schadenfreude and a lot of piling on that is not only unseemly but also inaccurate or just plan lies.
I suppose it’s the difference between constructive criticism and personal attacks. I’ll take Robert at his word that he’d like to see a healthy Detroit and US auto industry. Many of the Detroit bashers, though, want Detroit to fail. That’s hardly constructive criticism.
There’s a difference between a surgeon who tells you that you need a tumor or diseased limb removed and someone cackling “off with his legs”.
It almost seems like frequent poster has a new hobby.
Damn!I was thinking it was me they were blaming.
Ronnie S: I havn’t read a post of yours yet,that I disagree with.Stay at em dude!