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BUT look for everyone to increase the replacement time by a year for this next set of cars. If a car was to be due in 2011 look for a delay. If it was to be changed in 2012 probably no delay since little cost is spent in 2009.
I guess you win some and lose some. I will always buy Fords economical or not, at least they aren't begging for taxpayer money, YET.
The EU has increased its pressure on the US to reconsider the "Buy American" clause in the $800bn (£567bn) economic recovery package now before Congress.
The clause seeks to ensure that only US iron, steel and manufactured goods are used in projects funded by the bill.
A European Commission spokesman said it was the "worst possible signal" the Obama administration could send out.
The EU will launch a complaint with the World Trade Organisation (WTO) if the clause remains, the spokesman said.
The EU and Canadian ambassadors to Washington have already warned that the clause could promote protectionism and trigger retaliatory moves.
The rescue plan has already been approved by the US House of Representatives and is under discussion in the Senate this week.
For example: China is one place that GM manages to make a profit. If the Chinese say screw you we will buy Toyota and VW cars, it could further erode GM's financial bottom line. Every action causes a reaction.
Looks like we actually get more from them than what we buy from them.
Export to Europe
Europe is the main trading partner for U.S. The size of their bilateral trade is huge with U.S accounting for 24% of European Union exports and 18% of its imports. Exporting to Europe present, an excellent opportunity to U.S manufactures. Europe receives nearly a quarter of all U.S exports. Some of the emerging important sectors for exports to Europe are automotive parts, medical and telecommunications equipments, consumer goods, and travel and tourism related services.
And what do we import? cars?
Boo hoo. The way i see it, the legislation is intended to stimulate the AMERICAN economy, not the European economy, not the Chinese Economy, and not the Canadian Economy. I have no problem with language stating that this stuff should be using American materials, etc etc.
Beyond that things can stay status quo. I like buying products from other countries at times, and other countries make some good stuff we need. But somehow I think all of these people who are squawking are coming up with their own economic stimulus plans and making REAL sure that as much of that as possible stays within THEIR borders too. Which is fair. I don't expect the EU to come bail me out...their job is to bail Europe out...well, you get my drift, right? So why is it the rest of the world expects the American taxpayer to come bail them out as well?
I think the Edge and Flex are worlds better than the Explorer and I bet alot of the quirks with the Explorer have disappeared as well.
Yeah right, and where is my piece of that legendary 'free' Canadian health care?
The content law needs to stipulate USA content.
Agreed. This kind of garbage courtesy of NAFTA I guess, but you need to tell this to those laid off UAW workers in Detroit or wherever else we have economic disaster areas. Ford, for example, closed 14 plants in the last year, and expanded operations in their newer non-union Mexican faciilties. It's like buy a Ford, and send your money to Mexico, buy a Chrysler and send your money to Canada etc etc - in more cases than you would believe. More stuff like this coming (GM is no better) , because the US manfacturers have to do it to be able to compete and those new loan codiciles force them to do it.
Have no real problem with Mexico and/or Canada, but just think those folks that altruistically go out and spend their money to support this country need to know the real truth - that in all probability the $20k+ you could spend on a Camry or a Tundra would actually help more Americans than any other choice .
patroitism can be a wonderful thing, when it is not exploited.
This is a question I have. What can China do to put us in a world of hurt? We supply virtually nothing to China so they cannot cut off our exports to them. We only buy stuff from them so I guess they could cut off their exports to us but I think that would only hurt them since we could always buy from someone else. Sure it would take awhile but someone somewhere would supply us with the crap we buy from them. If they tell us to pay them back how could they force us? Threaten war? Send over hordes of chinese soldiers.
I am serious about this. What could they do? I guess they could kick out our 49% ownership of some of our companies?
And the upshot if it happened? Less demand for Chinese products and a rise in protectionism. And our trading partners would buy fewer Chinese goods since there economies would be hurt too. So the Chinese would be shooting themselves in the foot, since dumping Treasuries would hurt their economy about as much as it would hurt ours.
Japan is the other big holder of Treasuries. The Bank of Japan abruptly stopped buying treasuries in '06 and no one noticed. Not the same as dumping, but the hand wringing may be a bit overwrought.
Then again, Greenspan says there's nothing to worry about with the Chinese owning US Treasuries, and he's turned out to be wrong about everything. :shades:
Isn't China the only place GM is making money? China in January bought more vehicles than the USA. They are now the largest auto market in the World. About 8 years ahead of the predictions. We start getting tough on tariffs what is to keep Canada and Mexico from selling their oil to China where they are still buying more cars?
It does not surprise me that this Congress is worthless when it comes to writing legislation. Most of the same losers from the 110th are still there. I look for a full blown depression caused by their messing with trade agreements. Buying American means less every day in my opinion.
Not quite the same situation because at that time China was expanding their purchases of them. No one is in that situation to pick up the loss today.
As for imports going down, so will exports unfortunately because people won't want to deal with shaky US dollar and economy in that situation. Other currencies could get hurt if the dollar isn't predictable or trustworthy. I don't think that situation will make things better for America. Also, I think wages would have to significantly deflate here before we became a major exporter instead of importer.
File under be careful what you wish for?
In case any of y'all missed all the news or Dieselone's earlier post today, vehicle sales, and not just American cars, are way in the dumpster.
Fleet Cutbacks Help Shrink January Sales to Early-1980s Levels
You want good screwdrivers buy Enderes. Made in the USA.
http://www.enderes.com/catalog/index.php?SCREEN=item&sid=a3jpG6xjDQVQxWaV&depart- ment=16&item=10
Last night Mr Obama gave a strong signal that he would remove the most provocative passages from the Bill.
“I agree that we can’t send a protectionist message,” he said in an interview with Fox TV. “I want to see what kind of language we can work on this issue. I think it would be a mistake, though, at a time when worldwide trade is declining, for us to start sending a message that somehow we’re just looking after ourselves and not concerned with world trade.”
Mr Brown does not want to join criticism of President Obama’s stimulus proposals, which he sees as vindicating his own, but the Prime Minister remains strongly anti-protectionist, resisting calls yesterday for more safeguards for British workers.
I know exactly what I'm saying. Build them in the US and keep Americans working. Otherwise our tax money is going to stimulate the Mexican and Canadian economies. Let their own taxpayers stimulate their economies. There has to be a line drawn somewhere, and it's not protectionist to say that funds taken from American taxpayers to stimulate the American economy should remain in America as much as possible.
Oh horror of horrors...you mean the American President isn't allowed to put Americans first? I'm going to be paying VERY close attention to EU stimulus packages now...
Buying American is good as long as we provide the best product for the money. To just buy American to keep people working results in the featherbedding you see in the UAW. Competition is good for everyone. The Unions would like to do away with competition. You need to compare the product coming from the new Ford plant in Brazil with one coming from Detroit. Which is best? Which provides the most for the money? That is what the American consumer deserves. The best product for the money. If you believe the crap put out by the UAW on quality, you are being deceived. Some is good. Some is not. The company should have the right to weed out the crap without a Union battle. Ford should have had the right to build that fancy Brazilian factory in the USA. They were denied that by the UAW work rules. You know what I am saying is TRUE.
let me put this very bluntly as an example....we pass a stimulus package to stimulate our economy. That money is handed out, say $50 billion for construction jobs, gonna build some bridges to nowhere, right? Couple of ways to spend the money...you can buy materials from domestic sources, equipment from Caterpillar, pay the workers, and most of that money remains in the US to stimulate the US Economy, right?
Option 2: import materials, buy equipment from Daewoo and Kawa, and hire illegal aliens (this is an extreme and illogical example for the purposes of making a point). Ok, the money goes to Canada for granite and steel, Korea and Japan for the equipment..the illegals send their pay to Mexico to take care of their families (though they will spend some here, yes I know). Most of the money leaves the US economy and does NOT stimulate it...though Japan, Korea, Canada, and Mexico are quite stimulated and thank you very much to the American taxpayer...but we're going to keep your money.
Remember, we're not talking about generic private enterprise here...we're talking about government hand-outs of our tax money, supposedly to help our economy. THAT money should stay domestic, because I have SERIOUS doubts that any other country's stimulus packages will end up sending money to us, and I find it highly likely that they will want their tax revenues to go primarily towards their economies as well, which is certainly fair and reasonable. I don't expect the Canadian taxpayer to bail me out. That's the job of the American taxpayer. :shades:
Tell the American Tax Payers. We are willing to do whatever is necessary to keep the Domestic automakers afloat. If that means working for $20 per hour instead of $30 we will sacrifice. Do you think that would fly with the UAW?
Already passed by the UAW. Just need to retire the old guard. Chrysler is basically buying out the entire work force in the hope that someone will buy into them w/o the old UAW.
In an effort to shave ongoing losses, General Motors offered lucrative buyouts Tuesday to 74,000 employees - its entire U.S. hourly workforce.
The current veteran UAW member at GM today has an average base wage of $28.12 an hour, but the cost of benefits, including pension and future retiree health care costs, nearly triples the cost to GM to $78.21, according to the Center for Automotive Research.
By comparison, new hires will be paid between $14 and $16.23 an hour. And even as they start to accumulate raises tied to seniority, the far less lucrative benefit package will limit GM's cost for those employees to $25.65 an hour.
Heck the entire cost of the new hire is less than just the old hourly wage. This would make the domestics the low cost producers here in the US.
I don't think it will make much difference with US losing 500 million jobs per month.. :sick:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x8hMJVXt09E
Of course she has to say that. We have to claim a crisis to get something passed before it gets closely examined for all the pork. And did she document how she gets 500000 jobs? And does she add in the people finding new jobs?
I wonder if she drives an American car?
Also I heard something about congress appropriating $100,000 more each for maintaining their offices in their districts. I can't find it on the web. Is it true?
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
Then we have more environmental regulations than all the other countries put together. Face it we are not manufacturing friendly anymore. I think the tide started turning about the Korean war. Isn't that when we signed GATT?
news flash...if your workers don't like their job or their pay, you're doing something wrong, and you're going out of business anyway because A: no one cares about the quality of their work, B: They all quit to work somewhere else, you spend too much time training new hires, and the quality of the work suffers, or C: Employees form a union and force you to start paying fairly.
Take away unions and A and B still apply, which means that guy's manufacturing company is dead anyway (and he probably had no business starting a manufacturing company to begin with anyway). Incidentally, you can see how this might apply to auto manufacturers too? If the UAW weren't around, GM and Chrysler would still be run by brainless boobs and losing money.
There is a flase assumption that only cars made in Eurpoe or Asia are the best. Just read Consumer Reports, their bias views don't hold water.
The fact is we are more dependant upon 3rd world countries to produce parts, and even vehicles, and everything else that is labor intensive. The things made in the US are items that when labor is taken out still leaves a profit for the company. In some things like shoes SAS in texas still makes quality shoes, at $130. and they last for many years. Walmart sells cheap shoes and cheap prices, and you are lucky if they last a year. This means we all have to decied what is important to us. Our Chrysler Pacifica was assembled in Windsor, Canada from Us made parts. American made now means Central, middle, and North America. We either help other countries less fortunate than the US or we allow third world starvation countires stay in proverty. In order to help other improve their lives, we may well have to adjust our living standards.
Here is the worst example of "American Made" i know of, the Chevy Equanox has a engine made in China, transmission made in Japan, and parts made in Mexico and assembled in Canada. That'a a global vehicle for sure. I personally will not buy a vehicle with a engine made in China. Heck if they can't make baby formula right or toys what makes us think they can make a quality engine?
We all have some big adjustments to make in the coming years. I hope the Big 3 make it and can make a vehicle we all will be proud to drive and own.
farout
they will introduce an amendment dubbed the "Sell Fuel
Efficient Cars Amendment" that would provide a rebate of $10,000 to
buyers who trade in a car more than 10 years old for a new car assembled
in the United States. The amendment provides $16 billion which would
cover more than 1.5 million purchases. The program would end once the
funds ran out, but no later than Sept. 30, 2010.
The Association of International Automobile Manufacturers, a trade
association representing Toyota Motor Corp., Honda Motor Co. and Nissan
Motor Co. among others, oppose the Harkin Amendment, said Mike
Stanton, president of AIAM.
???? :confuse:
One item Obama won't be faced with immediately is a proposal from Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, and Stabenow that would have provided a rebate of $10,000 to buyers who trade in a car more than 10 years old for a new car assembled in the United States. The senators withdrew their amendment to the stimulus bill in the face of stiff opposition from two major auto industry trade groups.
The amendment would have provided $16 billion that would have covered more than 1.5 million purchases. Harkin vowed to pursue the measure as a stand-alone bill.
"Given the push from a significant portion of the Senate to cut spending in the economic recovery package, we did not think this was the right time to push this policy," Harkin said.
Regards,
OW
He is now married to a Chinese lady. His FIL, an old line communist, is not to happy about it though.
Chrysler had some Cams shafts made in China for the 5.7 L Hemi engine made in mexico. They had to replace a large number and no longer use Cam shafts from China. China makes some quality stuff, but consistancy is a problem. I find it very difficult to buy much of anything made in the US. Most all our clothes are made in places I ahve never heard of. I wonder what it will be like is 2100.
farout