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Comments
Condensing? Come on! You're setting him up!
But there is an amusing accountability gap between the executive ranks and those below, and it continues to grow along with the exploding wealth gap as what was the first world continues to decay.
I'll tell you one thing, the host better not try to condense me!
Mine: 1995 318ti Club Sport-2020 C43-1996 Speed Triple Challenge Cup Replica
Wife's: 2021 Sahara 4xe
Son's: 2018 330i xDrive
- gasoline (not from China)
- food (almost none from China)
- housing? (not from China, except maybe drywall)
- utilities? (not from China)
- services (mail, yard work, housekeeper, etc. - none of it from China)
- communications (internet, phone, cell phone, TV, etc. - not from China)
- booze, cigarettes (not from China)
- entertainment (movies, plays, football games, etc. - not from China)
Thought about this more and more...
More and more car parts, even sub-assemblies, are coming from China. The electric engine for the Malibu Eco is made there.
Gas is refined here but a lot is imported. They just lifted a tax on Brazilian ethanol so if you're using E10 a good amount likely comes from the sugar cane fields in NE Brazil. Not China, but a BRIC country at least.
The people doing those services are likely wearing shoes and clothes made in China, and probably many tools as well.
All the comms tech is pretty much coming from China. Especially after the tsunami hit Japan and created shortages of tech from that island.
Indirectly, a lot of money spent ends up in China one way or another.
Over Christmas read a Michael Crichton book Micro about condensing people and things. A company in Hawaii had developed the capability to reduce all kinds of things in size. So people were stuck in an Hawaiian forest smaller than ants and trying to survive against the antagonist.
So many we each could be "condensed."
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
Kind of like the Big 3 not demanding concessions from the UAW 30-40 yrs ago.
Maybe their management is pigheaded, thinking losing money on a car built there is nobler than making money on a car built elsewhere (for overseas consumption, not "domestic").
Living in SW Florida, Asian and European cars dominate the roadway..The B3 are on a rapid decline inspite of the hype of sales reports coming from the media..Look at the stock pricing of GM and Ford, both in the cellar..VW is getting serious about expanding sales with a new plant in Tenn..Toyota and Honda will always shine in spite of their occasional mistakes..The Kia and Hyundai lines are going strong with their new stateside assembly plants, 10 yr warranty and cheapo pricing..Throw in Nissan to complete the volume foreign nameplates and you have enough selection available, so who needs Detroit??
After owning 51 "Big 3" wheels and 2 German autos, my last selection will be a 2012 5.0 Mustang GT which should take me into the "twilight zone" or the DMV revokes my license..
I imagine that most you fine people on this forum missed the great Detroit automotive years, well I didn't, it was a blast!!!!!
Happy New Year!!!!!!
You did? Congratulations! Doesn't it feel good? I bailed on my megabank (the other bad one).
But there is an amusing accountability gap between the executive ranks and those below...
I don't find it amusing at all.
I'm sure that while I owned a big 3 car the mechanics, tow truck companies, and auto shops and Dodge dealerships in my area all threw big parties and had a blast at my expense.
I remember an episode of Bewitched where Endora shrunk Derwood down, and he almost got eaten by Mrs. Kravitz's great dane! I imagine the Michael Crichton story had a bit more depth to it, though. :P
I think this is what Derwood was driving in that episode...
My amusement was kind of ironic or sarcastic...if anything, there seems to be a nearly inverse relationship between pay and accountability. Where a high exec can blunder into huge losses and skate free, a manager can destroy a laptop and never answer for it, but a lowly CSR will be canned for being 10 minutes late. Must be the service economy blossoming into maturity.
Memo to BERRI: Bin Laden is dead.
I don't think he's rolling over in his grave.
Apple products have a reputation for great reliability and quality.
If they were made in the USA, I'm sorry, but that probably wouldn't be possible based on my experience. People need more training to be worthwhile and good in the USA.
Now there's a news headline - just kidding!
My point was that I won't buy anything Pakistani because he is what they are all about.
Fair enough, it's a free country, but somehow I think the right people aren't the one's being punished by your refusal to buy a pakistani belt or shirt at a clothing store.
I mentioned how I balanced it out with a long list of good companies, one of which for example was Audi. He said I was biased "since I guess I own an Audi which makes me biased???" Anyway, I mentioned how they sent me a couple of letters extending the warranty on some key parts to 10 years, or 120,000 miles, which is saving me about $800 currently. He didn't seem convinced, so I mentioned that Dodge never sent me any such letters, and his comment was, "well, if Dodge had sent you those letters, they'd of gone out of business and run out of paper and stamps!"
Alludes to my previous argument that you can go out of business with respect and dignity covering and standing behind your parts, or you can go out of business anyway eventually, but with no respect or dignity, and with burned pissed off customers to boot (but the latter takes a little longer and gets you bailed out).
Either way, you are going out of business, might as well do it without burning fellow Americans. Unforgiveable!
It's easy to complain about Apple. Fact is that they employ thousands of highly paid workers in Cupertino. They make US Brand products that are the envy of the world. Many of the parts assembled in China are procured outside of China. Apple is building a semiconductor factory in Texas where future processors for its i-devices will be manufactured. They are also moving some production to Brazil. And Steve Jobs complained about the regulations in the states, especially California.
I'd rather be proud of Apple than be embarrassed by GM. Why can't GM be the Audi of the US, or like Apple? They should be making products that are coveted by others all over the world. The only place that this is currently true is in China, for some irony.
Some good quality products come out of China, as do some terrible ones; the choice of effort, cost, quality does come down to the companies own choices sometimes.
Exactly. My company distributes a Chinese manufactured product and our clients are always suprised at how high end the product is. The Chinese will build whatever you specify. Spec junk - get junk. Spec Six Sigma - get Six Sigma.
I see Chinese tires are hitting our shores now...I wouldn't go there.
If a good manufacturer chooses to make one of their products there, the perception is they did so to line their pockets with more profit and not to make a world-class leading edge new product with the highest quality possible.
*Canada, Japan, Germany, England, India, yada yada.
China isn't at the top of the list. Let's be real.
There are exceptions to every rule, this doesn't eliminate the rule.
Ming vases (fine porcelain in general)? China is right up there.
Commercial jets? US (Boeing), although the case could be made for Airbus.
Heavy ships? South Korea.
Cars? Well, China and India would have to be near the bottom. Japan and South Korea were once perceived to be there too.
Computers? My Lenovo is still ticking.
Sneakers, solar panels, gotta be a long list there.
I don't know if I can compare the Japanese or Korean industrial ethos to what I see coming from China.
How much of that Chinese assembled material was designed and/or refined there? Yeah, I didn't think so :shades:
China's big problem is that they haven't discovered SuperBowl advertising. Won't be too many more years until more of their brands are household names; we just haven't heard about them yet. We just hear about the Yankee brands that are being made there. Maybe this is as good as a Whirlpool.
Maybe if we spoke Mandarin....
The Chinese government could buy tons of advertising if they wished - we've sent them enough money (in exchange for sheeple-distracting knickacks) to fund a superbowl a day for the rest of time. Maybe they know the products, for the most part, simply aren't up to par.
Should be a dream for the bleeding heart one worlders out there anyway, what a great legacy some will have on their heads - makes em feel good about some kind of past misdeeds, I think.
Maybe the one on the bottom is as good as the one on the top, too. Right.
They do fine pottery just about everywhere.
Sort of props up my argument. No reason the Chinese (or the Indians, eventually) can't make good cars.
The numerous copycars sum it all up, in my eyes.
I don't know if that was a good deal for them or not, but at least they didn't get completely shafted.
I agree.
Last year, a total of 145,000 vehicles were built in the U.S. for foreign markets by Japanese automakers, up from 95,000 units in 2010.
Fintail - you are a person I would love to converse with. You hit it right on the money about how there are those Americans who are so greedy and self centered they don't think about OUR country and its future. Short term profits and gains no matter the cost.
I had a conversation in another chat room about a guy who bought a KIA Optima a while back. He went on and on about price, value, ect.. I asked him about the longterm price to the U.S. economy. He just looked at me in a blank stare. After a good debate and adult conversation. He understood what I meant and how his purchase didn't help our economy here at home nor his future job prospects or stability.
Ummm.......as much as I would LIKE to agree with you, there is a caveat with the Tacoma and the Corrolla. Prior to the closing of the NUMMI plant in Fremont, Ca., all American built Tacomas and Corrollas were built there with UNION LABOR!!!! Now, if it is that much newer, it was built with NON UNION labor in Tx.
But it IS a point well taken. Much like the time I saw a guy on 495 in Mass w/ a bumper sticker saying that we should boycott French companies.
Driving his Nissan Altima.
It won't die either.
He probably didn't want a lousy v6 Dakota, an ancient Ranger, or a weak kneed undersized Colorado. I wouldn't buy a domestic midsize pickup either.
I know lots of steel mill workers and iron workers that drive non domestics. I'm not going to buy a product I don't like.. PERIOD.
My FIL is retired from the steel mills as USW union retiree. He bought my MIL a Camry. He didn't care that it wasn't union built, he just cared that it was assembled here.
I buy domestic or at least as fintail would describe (1st world) as often as possible. I do have two domestic vehicles in the driveway, though as usual there is a maintenance price to paid for doing so.
I try to go by US content. Some transplants like Camry are actually more American than some D3 vehicles like Fusion.
On cars though, my purchases don't matter - I have never bought a brand new car and maybe never will, I just don't see the value proposition when so many depreciate like day old bread, and most cars are so good now that a few years age doesn't hurt them.
Short term profits and unsustainable policy are the mantra of the new world breed of corporate and political leadership. No thought to the future, and no accountability. At least an Optima is built with US labor - beats buying something with a "K" VIN or even worse, something in the future that might have a "C" VIN.
UAW has a few imports on their "Acceptable" list.
Cars, Trucks & Vans by Union Members
in the United States (UAW) and Canada (CAW) 2012