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Comments
Now we are a protected market, since when?????? We open our doors to everyone, the offshore guys get the new assembly plants and tax breaks up the you where, low wages, no retirement plan, and the UAW stays away..Our tax dollars are used to fund the new buildings..
The Asians started with rickshaws, motorcycles, and finally got to the car stage, and ask to come to America..We gave them 5 yrs to plot their invasion back in late 70's and told them, come on in, all we want you to do after the 5yr years you must have 70% of the cars content manufactured in the USA...
You know the rest of the story, they buried the Big3, and we wonder where the problem lies..Too late now to fix, we screwed ourselves.
Our politicians pulled it off...I spent 2 yrs with a Japanese company 1982-84, based in Battle Creek, Mich. and watched the slaughter. The selling price was a give away to the Automotive and Marine Industry..
Drive what ever you desire, it's your money!!!!!!!We are nice folks and our foreign competitors know this, and have killed our industry...
My hypothesis is that we all want to see a strong US economy and successful employed citizens. Some people see it as you state above, and there's a lot to like in your comments. Others see it as "let's reward strength (regardless of source) and discourage mediocrity (regardless of source)". In that way, the weak companies perish (regardless of source) and from those ashes, new startups arise and many become very strong. And what is not contained in your comments is that when we breed strong companies at home, they also sell all over the world. Take Apple, or Boeing, or McDonald's, or Coca-Cola, or Disney, or Universal.
The alternate point of view would say that we should have let C and GM fail, because Ford would then sell even more cars, and would have great incentives to put out superior products. And that would make them more competitive overseas as well. And perhaps out of the GM remnants some new car company, with new thinking management and non-union workers, would create a new car company that would be innovative and much more competitive. But we will never know.
The Big 3 buried themselves.
My Honda is made in USA, as is my Acura. With more domestic content than many vehicles of the Big 3.
If I ever come into some money, I'd like to design and manufacture toasters. Really pisses me off that I can't buy an American made toaster! :mad:
I really like this one.
I'll stop ranting now and go back to the tele (LG).
I'll be watching on my Toshiba.....
We as Americans are complete and utter failures in the automotive market. We just suck at engineering, we suck at assembling, we suck at designing, we suck at building cars.
We should let other countries, organizations, and opportunties for new start up companies to thrive in the automotive market.
We should concentrate our efforts on making stuff we ARE compentent and good at making, building, assembling, and engeering and designing. Maybe it's guns, rifles, and ammunition so that all those countries that want to kill each other can buy from us. Maybe it's airplanes, computers (I'm typing on a new FUjitsu Laptop :P) Televisions, or something else. Maybe all were good at is exporting hamburgers, but the point is, we should do what were good at, and then get great at it, to the point of being the best.
My wife's a probation officer and the issued her a glock sidearm that is not made in the USA. Go figure! :confuse:
What do you think will happen to a country that continues to send its wealth and jobs overseas?
If you lost your job to "outsourcing" or your job moved overseas for "cheaper labor how would you feel? How would you pay for what you "want with your money" if you don't have any? Yes, it is your money, yes you earned it. There are American products and services available to you. The big box retailers only sell overseas goods/services to make maximum profit. They don't care about the average working American. This is why over the last 4 years I have shifted my spending to local spending. Meaning I shop craft fairs, farmers markets ect. It is amazing the gifts, food, clothing you can find. I also shop online for Made in America goods. Sure it may take a few days to get to me, so what. I know I have kept my money keeping Americans working, paying taxes, supporting our tax base for schools, roads, bridges.
So much more I would like to debate with you. Just about every day I get a chance to make one more American think about how they spend their money. How it will eventually come around to effect them, a family member, a friend. It seems as though most Americans are so short sighted they cannot even think about the future.
Well, the economic data is in folks. As a nation we still have not learned what it means to buy forgein goods and services. Hold on to your hats, the next recession/depression is on its way..
:sick:
Don't worry so much about spending on foreign made goods allowed to be imported into this free market society.
Regards,
OW
Isn't the overall trade deficit something like $1.4T? So that's like 3.5% of the total deficit, unless I've misplaced a decimal. That would be like me spending $3,300 more a month than I make, and deciding to cancel the $116/mo Directv bill to reduce spending. Hardly a dent.
Regards,
OW
However, being a fair and passionate country, our offshore competitors were given the 'green flag" to come on over",for we will build you state-of-the-plants and you can avoid extra duties or worrisome taxes on cars, motorcycles, or what ever we build over here, we welcome competition, and may the best one win..
We lost, in fact we got our butts kicked..The Japanese, Koreans, and the labor unions have done a number on our manufacturing base..and the rush to "save the planet" will be the final blow..
I have lived in the "best of times" where we witnessed the "American Dream", and now we are involved in the flip side waiting for the next "shoe" to drop..Yep, I am not optimistic about any return to the "good old days", checked your real estate values lately, probably down 60% from the highs..Now is the time to buy your real estate...sure isn't time to buy a car...Another pathetic relationship is Fiat/Chrysler as mentioned previously, and the GM/China which is reality untold to the general public..
When the interest is in electric or hybrid cars along with solar panels, mercury light bulbs, and whatever scheme the politicians can concoct to save us, try not to vomit...
Mine: 1995 318ti Club Sport-2020 C43-1996 Speed Triple Challenge Cup Replica
Wife's: 2021 Sahara 4xe
Son's: 2018 330i xDrive
This man wholeheartedly agrees with you:
So, we (wife and I) went washer shopping Sunday...looked at Samsung, LG, etc...bought a top loading Kenmore, made by Whirlpool (checked the mfg code), which, is either made in America (I hope) or as close as I can come to made in America...
You know old, Bob, trying to support those unskilled, overpaid union workers with their gold plated healthcare, obscene pensions, and Jobs Bank...:):):)
Really, I tried to Buy American...I hope I succeeded...
Those that make a big protectionist deal for Only USA need to lighten up. We are all in an economy together. :shades:
Regards,
OW
Those that make a big protectionist deal for Only USA need to lighten up. We are all in an economy together
Maybe if other markets were as open as ours is, but that's not the case. Your buddies over in Korea are some of the worst for closed markets and loopholes against the US, while they leech on exports to America and US subsidy of their armed forces. Hyundai, Kia, LG, Samsung - No Thanks!
This "free trade" propaganda is very much a one way street right now. The trade deficit proves it.
Au contrair! GM? HAHAHAHA!
Hyundai continues to invest heavily in its American operations as its cars grow in popularity. In 1990, Hyundai established the Hyundai Design Center in Fountain Valley, California. The center moved to a new $30 million facility in Irvine, California in 2003, and was renamed the Hyundai Kia Motors Design and Technical Center. Besides the design studio, the facility also housed Hyundai America Technical Center, Inc. (HATCI, established in 1986), a subsidiary responsible for all engineering activities in the U.S. for Hyundai. Hyundai America Technical Center moved to its new 200,000-square-foot (19,000 m2), $117 million headquarters in Superior Township, Michigan (near Ann Arbor) in 2005. Later that same year, HATCI announced that it would be expanding its technical operations in Michigan and hiring 600 additional engineers and other technical employees over a period of five years. The center also has employees in California and Alabama.
Hyundai America Technical Center completed construction of its Hyundai/Kia proving ground in California City, California in 2004. The 4,300-acre (17 km2) facility is located in the Mojave Desert and features a 6.4-mile (10.3 km) oval track,[6] a Vehicle Dynamics Area, a vehicle-handling course inside the oval track, a paved hill road, and several special surface roads. A 30,000-square-foot (2,800 m2) complex featuring offices and indoor testing areas is located on the premises as well. The facility was built at a cost of $50 million. An aerial view can be found here.[16] Hyundai completed an assembly plant just outside Montgomery, Alabama in 2004, with a grand opening on May 20, 2005, at a cost of $1.1 billion. At full capacity, the plant will employ 2,000 workers. Currently, the plant assembles the Hyundai Sonata and the Hyundai Santa Fe. It is Hyundai's second attempt at producing cars in North America since Hyundai Auto Canada Inc.'s plant in Quebec closed in 1993.
Hyundai USA is GM China!
Regards,
OW
The non-petroleum trade deficit actually narrowed to $16.9 billion in March from $20 billion in February
Regards,
OW
GM went global a long time ago.
Regards,
OW
Just like those who believe the decline of manufacturing jobs is a positive and the mcjobs that replace it are superior, or that some miracle industry is going to come along and save us. Not gonna happen. Look at the nations who are kicking our collective butts in so many development and quality of life indices right now - they've worked to protect a lot of their industrial base. Not us, we must sell it all so a few can profit.
The Big 3 started globalization in the auto industry. They just did not know how to run a business that was successful.
Regards,
OW
Willy Loman thought the same thing. Look what happened to him.
No doubt about it. Ya gotta believe!
Regards,
OW
No one knows a clear path to improvement unless it is a clear and conscious belief.
Focus on the fact that as a global community, the power of sharing far exceeds the will of containment and protection.
Regards,
OW
Blind faith in crooked corporations and hypocritical "capitalist" "free market" supporters, no thanks.
Fair competition improves. The unfair trade globalized race to the bottom we are experiencing now does not. Simple.
I'm oddly reminded of NBC's "V: The Final Battle" of 1984 fame. There was a line in it where a well-off woman, who sided with the alien invaders who pretended to be our friends said to her son, who had joined a resistance movement, "Those of us who respect law and order are free."
To which he responded, "You're only as free as the leash you're on. You tug it too hard, and they'll hang you by it!"
I think things are improving, short-term at least, for some people. But, I shudder to think, at what ultimate cost?
Oh, and I gotta confess, I bought something Chinese-made today. One of the locks in my house, an old-fashioned style called a "Mortise Lock" had broken and needed to be replaced. Well, as luck would have it, Home Depot still sold the relics. Alas, all they had was Chinese parts. So, for $19.77 plus Maryland's 6% of the graft, I sold a little bit of my soul. AND the thing wasn't as well-built as the original part that failed! My guess is the old part dates back to the 1930's. Somehow, I have my doubts that the new one will last that long. :sick:
No choice but Chinese products - I can't be the only one who sees this as less than ideal. I hope the entire door hardware business hasn't been offshored yet - I bet if you go to a hardware store in Britain or Germany you can find first world products...
You may have a point. What do you say that we cut off the flow of foreign oil into the US - to heck with globalization! Park those cars and start walking!
Failure regardless. At the end of the day, things WILL balance out.
You can't keep it unless you give it away.
Regards,
OW
Yeah, no more trade with those unfair OPEC bullies. We'll teach 'em a thing or two or three!
This is what we need to devlop...too bad the big 3 are focusing on June sales and forgetting the future...except in China, that is!!
Regards,
OW
China's State-Fueled Growth