My only twist would be instead of a $3 Godiva bar, buy the $1 Dove dark chocolate bar or the white chocolate bar with the rice krispies in it.

Well, that goes both ways. If the US refuses to import poisonous dog food from China, China would retaliate by not allowing Buick to dump their junk to the Chinese car market. So, in a way, the pet owners are supporting the domestic auto industry.

A trade war may not be in the best interest of the US. A stricter regulation may not be in the best interest of some of the American companies either.

For example, this is ironic because people are similarly scapegoating the UAW through misrepresentation.

… In either case CHEAP has its reasons. YOU NEVER GET SOMETHING FOR NOTHING,unless its at anothers costs.

I find these types of rants quite bizarre in logic. The whole point of the outsourcing/contracting is to reduce costs, in this case via geo-econ advantage. This in general can encourage cut corners, but it’s straight up capitalism, and the rant really turns out against the American Way™.

And what makes you think that?

Seriously, if the UAW got the $ directly, they’d all be frickin rich instead of making a few dollars per hour more than transplant workers (which isn’t even unreasonable given geo location, etc).

Put another way, even given wage (and benefit) parity, detroit’s problems are nowhere near solved. In case you haven’t noticed, they still produce subpar cars.

But to be fair, the union is in a small way responsible for that last part, due to totally inane work rules which create an atmosphere of bureaucracy and mediocrity. If you’re to assign blame, at least get basic cause-effect right.

As far as the editors strawberries. You can get some real cheap strawberries from China and they will taste just as good as Godivas. They will also look as apetizing. They will taste delicious. But they have no regulations that threy truly adhere too as chocolate makers do here in the USA. So you make get a box of tainted chocolates that either are tainted with lead or may be injected with sythetic proteins. The question truly is do you care how your CHOCOLATE covered strawberyy is truly made especially when your giving that strawberry to your child. Or is it ok to sell that Chinese product to other children as lond as its not yours or maybe someone elses child sweating over the making of those strawberries in another country. In either case CHEAP has its reasons. YOU NEVER GET SOMETHING FOR NOTHING,unless its at anothers costs.

We live in a “free lunch” society, where the latest generation expects everything to be handed to them on a silver platter and stamps their feet like infants when they don’t get it. I am going to enjoy the reckoning to come. A literal doomer’s paradise!

You’re missing the fact that those loans will never be repaid.

Hear, hear Mr. Farago. I wonder why your detractors try to insist that this is false. There is no mathematics which can prove how they can ever repay these bailout loans. Why don’t the auto industry apologists/enablers simply admit this is a giveaway?

And I will note that people seem easily misled by those who want to scapegoat union workers.

They are no goats. They are taking the lion’s share.

And I will note that people seem easily misled by those who want to scapegoat union workers.

The only reason foreign products can undermine ALL AMERICAN BUSINESSES is do to they have NO RULES. They exploit child labor ,they pollute the evironment unregulated.No safety rules and the list goes on and on. These companies have NO HUMAN RIGHTS policies whatsoever and thrive off of slave labor.
Well, so if it’s not UAW, it must be slavery then?

Is Japan a “no human rights” nation in your book? If Japan is considered a free democratic nation, then GM certainly hires more slaves in China and Brazil than Toyota/Honda do.

I guess I can understand this if you’re one of the few people whose work won’t be commodified by globalization, but that is statistically unlikely.

You are wrong. My work is being commodified by globalization. But I will take whatever pay the free market is throwing at me. I won’t go so low as to beg/rob other tax payers for pays that I don’t deserve.

GM workers deserve whatever pay that GM is willing to pay them without begging for tax payers’ money. While they are receiving my money, they don’t deserve their pay.

I guess I can understand this if you’re one of the few people whose work won’t be commodified by globalization, but that is statistically unlikely.

I can find plans for atomic weapons online. I can find State Secrets. I can learn about the inside workings of just about any business.

The actual production cost of a car, though is beyond top secret. Eyes Only. Compartmentalized. Makes the secrecy around our hypersonic flights look like Times Square.

How about it ? Best and Brightest, email Farago any info you can on this.

I’m convinced they showed Cerebus this number and that propelled the later dealings. When Cerebus learned what Detroit already knew, that a 25k car cost 4k to build, and the 45k car costs 5k to build, but that the expenses (pensions, etc) and excesses combined with crushing inefficiency STILL made it a losing deal.

Come on….someone out there can share..

no_slushbox has obviously never worked in a factory before because he thinks anyone can do it and that those people should be making minimum wage.
Maybe the cubicle people need to fight and organize for their own working conditions instead of trying to bring down others.

We cubicle people are not so low as to beg for other people’s tax dollars. If everybody manages to get undeserving pay by organizing unions, who is going to bail out whom in the end?

I don’t know if those auto laborers should be making minimum wages. The best way to test it is to fire every one of them and hire the same number of capable laborers back. Whatever the market rate is the fair pay. (market rate: rate at which qualified applicants = number of job openings)

I know for sure my employer can safely expect to pay my replacement the same kind of money they pay me. So my employer doesn’t have a problem keeping me here, and can still stay in business without begging.

It sounds like your five year old has a good grasp on supply, demand, and the economy in general.

This level of understanding should be a requirement for anybody to get to vote.

Keep dreaming. Fiat-Chrysler partnership about to happen. The Big 3 have 9 lives and this war has just begun. GM F Chrysler are all here to stay.

Now that it is 1/20/2009 the UAW owns the ballgame and politicians. Look for the govt to start providing tax incentives and all other forms of $$$ to promote the purchase of the Big 3 vehicles.

The domestics don’t offer good value for money. If the vehicles were better, they could get the prices that they are asking, at least once the credit markets are restored.

+1. Excellent analogy.
However, I think the truck market may take a long term hit with any Detroit filing. Cheap parts and cheaper vehicles will keep many owners in their Silverados and F150’s past 200K miles (especially if it’s Rwd).

Chip makers crank out more bytes out of a limited amount of semiconductor.

Car makers crank more horsepower out of a gas engine, or more interior space out of a fixed exterior size.

If you can double the deliverable product from each semiconductor wafer you can halve the price.

I don’t see that as in anyway parallel to the manufacturing techniques auto makers have access to.