I have only owned one american car and will never own another unless one of the big three develops a 10 year superior reliability/depreciation record vs. foreign cars. I am well versed in economics, and while I'd prefer to support one of our companies, doing so perpetuates mediority. I have no doubt the US is capable of making a superior car - we don't for cost reasons. Unions had their place decades ago and still produce some benefits for the unambitious worker. Be let's face it, companies with unions have a serious competitive disadvantage against companies who don't. If workers unionize, it hardly makes the company more competitive. It typically increases the companies' cost without any increase in revenue, eroding the company's profits, which was the motive for their being in business. If you owned your own company and the employees conspired to attempt to force you to artificially increase their wages, how would you feel? My inention here is not to trash unions; they evolved in response to unacceptable labor practices decades ago. However, the economic reality is that the addition of a 3rd party which is supported by the corporation (through employee dues from wages paid by the corp) drains money that would have been used elsewhere. The US companies simply cannot build the same car as their asian counterparts for the same price. Everyone wants to be paid as much as possible and does not want to hear that they are worth less than they think. Members of the auto unions do not seem to realize they are essentially bleeding their companies dry and will sadly soon be unemployed. Teacher's unions have the same problem - teachers think they are providing a priceless service and are entitled to a high salary. They are indeed providing a valuable service, but the economics speak for themselves. Most schools are funded by real estate taxes from their local towns. Since schools do not generate ANY revenue, schools can afford to pay teachers what the population in the town is willing to pay - not a penny more. I love it when the rate of inflation is 3% and teachers think they are entitled to a 5% raise. Wat they are asking people to do is give up the raise they got and more and hand it over to the teacher. Education of kids is extremely important, thus the role of the teacher is too. If you want to be wealthy, you've got to work somewhere that produces revenue, not somewhere that is a purely financial drain.
>Teacher's unions have the same problem - teachers think they are providing a priceless service and are entitled to a high salary.
I don't think they're entitled to a high salary, just one commensurate with typical engineers often with less education for their profession.
>Most schools are funded by real estate taxes from their local towns.
You need to check into how schools in successful states are funded. It will enlighten you.
>schools can afford to pay teachers what the population in the town is willing to pay
That's why many state education systems are jokes. If they raise their pay, they will get an keep more effective teachers. Otherwise the people get what they deserve in those states.
> I love it when the rate of inflation is 3% and teachers think they are entitled to a 5% raise
Teachers' pay raises are the first to be put off when income to the state or local school support methods is low. In a few cases they are reduced. When there are monies, the rate of increases are often greater than the nominal existent rate of inflation in that area. But the overall increase over decades is less.
> Education of kids is extremely important, thus the role of the teacher is too.
And that's why I want my sixteen-year old in a school with excellent teachers at a good rate of pay, with a strong union so the good teachers aren't fired because the superintendent (principal, board member, friend of one) has a relative or a coach friend he/she wants to hire instead of the effective, sometimes less-than-popular great teacher.
>If you want to be wealthy, you've got to work somewhere that produces revenue,
Maybe you should analyze doctors and lawyers and their pay. Insurance agents also.
In my opinion may I respectfully suggest you listen to highly paid nighttime comedian shows who along with Rush Limbow like to criticize education but really have little knowledge. If you have further need to edification, send an email with a clear subject line so it won't be deleted with all the spam to the email in my profile to take this off-topic branch out of the American Cars. But I've noticed people like to throw in criticism of public education in certain of these discussions and since my wife has many years of public education under her belt, I have to counter the flawed thinking.
"while I'd prefer to support one of our companies, doing so perpetuates mediocrity." I have no doubt the US is capable of making a superior car - we don't for cost reasons.
That is the most succinct reason why folks often buy imports...I wish I could have said it myself...
American engineers and Japanese engineers were discussing about what's the philosophical differences that caused the American auto manufactures to struggle but their Japanese counterpart to prosper. Their conclusion:
Japanese philosophy: How to keep cost the same but improve the car.
American philosophy: How to make a same car in order to reduce cost.
"Your explanation is exactly why we should be able to buy what we want, not what someone thinks our "obligation" is...so, while we will acknowledge that buying Japanese may send $$$ out of USA, for those who have had horrible experiences with Big 3, buying Japanese or Korean seems the logical solution..."
Donlt forget about Uncle Sam getting that 7% sales(New Jersey)for every car sale in our state tax that get sent to Washington DC and it doesn't matter if you buy a GM or Honda or GM because Honda or GM do not see a penny of that 7% sales tax that goes back to Washington DC.
Like lotteries in Georgia. Not helping the educational quality
Are you kidding? HOPE scholarship is probably the best scholarship in the country if not around the world. Many Ivy League candidates decided to stay in-state to go to states' top universities like UGA, GA Tech and Emory. Since the incoming students' quality went up, those schools are forced to hire good professors and offer honor programs in order to retain their students. Because of this, the used to be party school UGA has become a decent university in the last 10 years or so. It has ranked among top 20 public universities for at least the last 7 years. Not to mention that GA Tech and Emory are ranked among top 50 universities overall (public and private) for as long as I could remember.
Say what you want about Georgia's education system but its HOPE scholarship (funded by Georgia Lottery) has helped many kids going to college and raised the competitiveness of Georgia's college system.
"The US companies simply cannot build the same car as their asian counterparts for the same price."
Yeah but the thing is GM and Ford build good SUV's that or equal or in some cases SSUVS that might be better than the Japanese makes but the Japanese do dominant the middle market over the Domestics(think Camry, Accord, Corolla, Civic, and Altima.)
But my guess is: Build cars that no one else can top then customers will come.
The German reliability is actually on the rise. BMW is ranked very close to Toyota and Honda now, MB is rising and better than average (or around average) bud Audi/VW still sucks.
They used to do that, then the appreciating Deutschemark and the pesky LS400 came along at the end of the '80s, and Benz took a long header off a short pier. BMW managed to survive by turning the 3er into a Driving Machine God, and VW/Audi went with gorgeous interiors to save their butts.
If you owned your own company and the employees conspired to attempt to force you to artificially increase their wages,
Let's start w/ this one. I work for Verizon, am unionized, and all we receive for PAY raises is 2-3% or about what inflation is. IF, over the length of the contract, the rate of inflation surpasses our "raise", we get an extra cola adjustment in the last yr. That has only happened ONCE in my 16 yrs here. Healthcare (duck everyone-here it comes :sick: ). We pay NOTHING for our premiums, and THIS is the SOLE REASON for the discrepancy in pay between the big 3 and the [non-permissible content removed] big 3 here in the US. What amazes me is, as we argue over the merits of unions or not, how much we are worth, what we should pay for goods, etc., the crooks who run our health insurance plans are bleeding US ALL DRY with their DOUBLE DIGIT PREMIUM INCREASES every year, and NOBODY says a word about it. We just accept it. CEO's don't care, they just pass the cost on to their employees, if they can. If not they pass it on to the customers. Either way, we all pay in the end. How about these foolish drug commercials on TV??? We see double digit increases in our prescriptions, drug companies conspire w/ health insurance providers to squeeze Mom and Pop pharmacies out of the equation, yet we say NOTHING when we see commercials on the SUPER BOWL of all places hawking pills to stiffen out your johnson. I have NO DOUBT that that commercial added to the cost of my High Blood Pressure pills as well.
Yet, what do we do??? Argue over who gets what in this country, and who deserves what, while they fatten their pockets.
Ask me what the biggest scoundrels are in this country?? Lawyers? NO! Car Salesmen??? NO! Accountants who can't keep their minds off the bottom line??? YEP!!! While there is nothing wrong w/ increasing profits, at what expense do we do it? There is nothing wrong with suing someone if you are wronged, but like the lawyer who sued his dry cleaner FOR MILLIONS over a lost pair of trousers....
In 1980 the average CEO made about 13 times the average employee. In 2000 the average CEO was paid over 500 times the average employee. Therein lies the problem. Not the working man in the USA, Union or non-Union.
True, indeed. Even non-union employees making $10-12/hr can't compete w/ people overseas making 50,60,70 CENTS an hr.
I can understand peoples complaints about quality or perceived lack of quality in American products. The car issue is becoming more (yet not totally) moot because so many are produced w/ our labor, even by foreign companies. Yet nobody seems to show any concern for the large amounts of money that LEAVE this country every day via the TRADE DEFICIT, let alone profits going to foreign companies.
Someday, we'll have $5 Levi's jeans and $200 LG TVs and X-BOX's for $49.99 on the shelf, but nobody will be able to afford them, because all our jobs, skilled and non skilled alike, will be in China, India, and S. America.
How much of that trade deficit is due to the fact that we have to import oil to feed those trucks that Detroit has relied heavily on since the early 90s?
Japan manages with nearly 100% oil dependence. They have very few natural resources. I think the sending jobs elsewhere is a bigger problem than the trade deficit. I don't think the Japanese government will allow their companies to export any more jobs than are necessary to avoid big tariffs on their own exports.
“Japan manages with nearly 100% oil dependence. They have very few natural resources. I think the sending jobs elsewhere is a bigger problem than the trade deficit. I don't think the Japanese government will allow their companies to export any more jobs than are necessary to avoid big tariffs on their own exports.”
Actually Japan does make cars lots of them outside of Japan. The Toyota Yaris sold in the USA is made in Malaysia. My Nissan Versa was made in Mexico. I think the trouble is the big three only had themselves to compete with until the imports showed and that hurt them a lot. The other problems I think is that the big three headquarters are all located in one small part of the country, Detroit.
The big three tend to do the same thing at the same time then when the market changes it hurts them, bad. For instance they did not make small cheap subcompact until the Germans showed up with the beetle. They thought that the baby boomers should have been forced to buy used cars in the 60ies until they could afford better and to this day they seem the have a lack of understanding of the subcompact/compact market. About the only company that seems to slightly get it is Ford. And even then the Escort and Focus do have their problems.
Another change of the market is toward cars that last longer vs. cars that are replaced sooner. The Japanese discover that people were willing to spend more on a car that lasted a bit longer and broke down a bit less. Detroit figured people would treat cars like they do cloths as fashion items. Detroit went for cheap and disposable. Japan went for expensive and sturdy. This might have only cost Detroit a little market share, but Detroit was too slow to realize the problem and only now has cars that are near equal of Japan in reliability.
Detroit also just does not spend enough on R/D and esp. not on cars in the 90ies. R/D allows you to get the bugs out before you sell it to the public (i.e. The Focus). Allows you to see what people want in a car (i.e. the unloved Aveo).
They spent the bucks on the SUV and truck and have very good SUVs. The problem now is that SUV’s are about as fashionable as a 1970ies evening suit and the Truck market is not as hot as it used to be.
You need a lesson in taxes, apparently...sales taxes only go to their respective state and counties, NEVER the Federal gov't...you are living in a dream world if you think otherwise...
BUT, the feds do collect on things like excise taxes, tariffs, and a special per gallion tax on gasoline...
100% of 50 gallons imported is likely to make a smaller dent in trade deficit than importing 50% of 200 gallons.
Japanese companies aren't manufacturing things locally either. They may not be exporting jobs like American companies do, however (which are supposed to be beneficial to the health of the companies exporting the jobs without caring for the health of US economy).
take a look at any japanese brand name product and you will find they were made in everywhere but japan. Unless you got one of the really highend stuff or 1st gen of whatever the gizmo is, most of them were manufactured elsewhere. I think they learn their lessons from the tariff wars, knowing that the general public likes their product, but their governments may not.
...countries that are thoroughly dependent on each other for providing essential goods and services to one another cannot afford to commit war against one another. It becomes unthinkable. Is this not the philosophy embraced in "The New World Order"? Motor vehicle production may be just one minor expression of the one world philosophy.
Tut, tut, I knew a comment about teacher unions would be risky. Don't take it so seriously. The comments made were only for their relevance to the car industry. One cannot respond to a individual's cursory comments lacking in substance and assume he or she knows nothing! I live in the town in my area with the public education having the best reputation ( and also very high taxes). I'm well aware that most states pay varying percentages of school's budgets. This does not change the fact that schools and all government funded operations are courtesy of the tax payer. There are therefore limits to what is financially possible. The fact that some funding comes from the state or fed government as opposed to the specific town is irrelevant - it ultimately comes from the US taxpayer. My general comments said nothing about my or your personal Choices. I was merely making a point. I certainly want the teachers in my town to make what is required to keep them (most of them anyway). Teaching like any job; there are great performers and those that are so-so. How about we judge teachers based on student's performance? By the way, I think will on agree in one area; the way lawyers are paid is criminal. Buy again, we can thank out fellow citizens; they are willing to pay it.
I am curious...what is the problem with the way lawyers are paid???
Criminal defense lawyers are paid by the Client, as are Bankruptcy, Contract, Estate, and most litigating attorneys...
Personal Injury lawyers work on a contingency fee, usually a percentage of the Client's award...that also means we share the risk that we may litigate and get nothing...it is a rare individual who would work for someone, have the potential to put in MANY hours of work, for the honor of receiving nothing...
Please explain what it is about the process that is criminal to you...
That's because you strayed into a Limbaugh like slam at the dedicated teachers who have eduated my children, my doctors, my lawyers, etc., without understanding teachers unions mild effects at all and I didn't stand for a post with errors in it. I've known the teachers with whom my wife associated through 30 years of low paid teaching. Most would not have been dedicated teachers save that their spouses had higher paid employment. Many would have been discriminated against save the rules negotiated by their unions. I.E., the principal has a daughter married to a teacher who coaches basketball and the disctrict wants a new basketball coach; guess who loses their job to make room for the new coach. And it happens for lesser reasons in states where rules protecting teachers' employment rights are even less well written than in Ohio.
Marsha: I threw in lawyers and doctors because insidious6688 said schools don't make money therefore teachers don't deserve to be paid like other professionals. or the ING guy who (currently) has my retirement plan with whom I'll meet next week because he's doing a poor job doesn't make money--he just uses other people's money.
In deference to the hosts I'll stop here with the union hot button for me. It's probably off topic now and I said one post earlier was my only post re teachers and their mild unions. A junk email is in my profile for further discussion and I check it occasionally for title names I know aren't spam.
Where does one find all these stray topics that really interest me???...topics like "UAW" and "Politics" I only learn about when a Host suggests it as a way to stay on a topic, but offers the chance to pursue the alternative...
You and I both would like something I suggested to a couple of hosts a year or so ago. I suggested that along with "Today's Top Discussions" there could be a few, 5-10 discussions listed from the thousands (millions?) of topics here. They would change randomly every day or two days and wouldn't repeat until most others had been listed. Or have hosts post a list of "Discussions You Might Like."
And a list of new discussions added the day before would be interesting--but many die early because of being duplicates or similar to others.
Even if it were something to click on a link to see..., I'd find it interesting. But that Forums Landing page is busy and has some advertising potential so landscape there is precious.
I have found new discussions from the Top Ten listed.
In the meantime, check the CarSpace Daily Connect blog for interesting discussions that you may have missed. There's an RSS feed link there so you can even get it delivered.
I've obviously irritated some people which was not my intent. My sole point really was that unionized labor (good or bad) cannot compete on price with non-unionized labor. I was wasn't trying to make a value judgement on unions. All I'm saying is that unionized labor or not, there are economic forces in play affecting american competitiveness. I didn't realize my fellow readers were quite so sensitive. Making observations does does not necessarily reveal one's own opinions on an issue. I'll try harder to stay on topic, but please everyone an example for illistrative purposes does need to get such a hostile response! :surprise:
Well, MOST of us union guys are proud of the work we do. We feel as though we get paid as well as we do not just because of the work we do, but also because of who we are (good, honest, upstanding people). Thats not to say non-union people aren't that too. I'm not one of those "Either your with us or against us" people, but I do see a value in sticking together, whether it's as an employee, a voter, or just a citizen.
I saw the DOL poster that shows the national min. wage going up to over $7/hr. I think thats great. However, even at the old $5.85/hr, we can't compete with 65 CENTS an hr. being paid in some countries. Even an Engineer, who may have invested HUNDREDS of THOUSANDS of dollars on that bachelor's degree, and TENS of Thousands MORE for a masters, who may ask for a "paltry" $45,000 starting salary so they can pay off their student loans and afford an apartment, can't compete with $4-600/mo. being paid to someone in India who may be able to do the same job from afar.
At some point, we as an American society have to stand up and say enough is enough, or pretty soon all a PhD will get you is a job at a 7/11 owned by -you guessed it- an Indian. (OK, maybe a little overboard, but you get the point)
I think you are right on. Anyone working for hourly wages at a non union job is not likely to have a very decent retirement, compared to his peers that are in a Union. I started out my career thinking Unions were not good. After 45 years as a Union member I think a lot differently. Not all Unions are doing well or run honestly. That is a direct result of the Union members participation in the process. You stand back and let a bunch of gangsters run your local, you get what you deserve.
Comments
Teacher's unions have the same problem - teachers think they are providing a priceless service and are entitled to a high salary. They are indeed providing a valuable service, but the economics speak for themselves. Most schools are funded by real estate taxes from their local towns. Since schools do not generate ANY revenue, schools can afford to pay teachers what the population in the town is willing to pay - not a penny more. I love it when the rate of inflation is 3% and teachers think they are entitled to a 5% raise. Wat they are asking people to do is give up the raise they got and more and hand it over to the teacher. Education of kids is extremely important, thus the role of the teacher is too. If you want to be wealthy, you've got to work somewhere that produces revenue, not somewhere that is a purely financial drain.
I don't think they're entitled to a high salary, just one commensurate with typical engineers often with less education for their profession.
>Most schools are funded by real estate taxes from their local towns.
You need to check into how schools in successful states are funded. It will enlighten you.
>schools can afford to pay teachers what the population in the town is willing to pay
That's why many state education systems are jokes. If they raise their pay, they will get an keep more effective teachers. Otherwise the people get what they deserve in those states.
> I love it when the rate of inflation is 3% and teachers think they are entitled to a 5% raise
Teachers' pay raises are the first to be put off when income to the state or local school support methods is low. In a few cases they are reduced. When there are monies, the rate of increases are often greater than the nominal existent rate of inflation in that area. But the overall increase over decades is less.
> Education of kids is extremely important, thus the role of the teacher is too.
And that's why I want my sixteen-year old in a school with excellent teachers at a good rate of pay, with a strong union so the good teachers aren't fired because the superintendent (principal, board member, friend of one) has a relative or a coach friend he/she wants to hire instead of the effective, sometimes less-than-popular great teacher.
>If you want to be wealthy, you've got to work somewhere that produces revenue,
Maybe you should analyze doctors and lawyers and their pay. Insurance agents also.
In my opinion may I respectfully suggest you listen to highly paid nighttime comedian shows who along with Rush Limbow like to criticize education but really have little knowledge. If you have further need to edification, send an email with a clear subject line so it won't be deleted with all the spam to the email in my profile to take this off-topic branch out of the American Cars. But I've noticed people like to throw in criticism of public education in certain of these discussions and since my wife has many years of public education under her belt, I have to counter the flawed thinking.
Apologies to the host and readers.
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
That is the most succinct reason why folks often buy imports...I wish I could have said it myself...
American engineers and Japanese engineers were discussing about what's the philosophical differences that caused the American auto manufactures to struggle but their Japanese counterpart to prosper. Their conclusion:
Japanese philosophy: How to keep cost the same but improve the car.
American philosophy: How to make a same car in order to reduce cost.
Like lotteries in Georgia. Not helping the educational quality though since the grads there still buy lottery tickets. :P
There may be a place to take this in OTC:
OTC - Discussion Suggestions
Donlt forget about Uncle Sam getting that 7% sales(New Jersey)for every car sale in our state tax that get sent to Washington DC and it doesn't matter if you buy a GM or Honda or GM because Honda or GM do not see a penny of that 7% sales tax that goes back to Washington DC.
Are you kidding? HOPE scholarship is probably the best scholarship in the country if not around the world. Many Ivy League candidates decided to stay in-state to go to states' top universities like UGA, GA Tech and Emory. Since the incoming students' quality went up, those schools are forced to hire good professors and offer honor programs in order to retain their students. Because of this, the used to be party school UGA has become a decent university in the last 10 years or so. It has ranked among top 20 public universities for at least the last 7 years. Not to mention that GA Tech and Emory are ranked among top 50 universities overall (public and private) for as long as I could remember.
Say what you want about Georgia's education system but its HOPE scholarship (funded by Georgia Lottery) has helped many kids going to college and raised the competitiveness of Georgia's college system.
(yeah, I get a Powerball tix too now and then, but I know the odds are ridiculous).
Yeah but the thing is GM and Ford build good SUV's that or equal or in some cases SSUVS that might be better than the Japanese makes but the Japanese do dominant the middle market over the Domestics(think Camry, Accord, Corolla, Civic, and Altima.)
But my guess is: Build cars that no one else can top then customers will come.
The German reliability is actually on the rise. BMW is ranked very close to Toyota and Honda now, MB is rising and better than average (or around average) bud Audi/VW still sucks.
Well BMW is ranked near the bottom in CR surveys in CR's car issue(april 2007.)
"MB is rising and better than average (or around average)"
CR ranks a 8 yr old Lexus (LS I think) more reliable than the 2006 Mercedes ML. I think enough is said there.
"bud Audi/VW still sucks"
CR ranks a couple of Audi's models average reliability but your right on VW's reliability or lack there of.
NORTSR
Let's start w/ this one. I work for Verizon, am unionized, and all we receive for PAY raises is 2-3% or about what inflation is. IF, over the length of the contract, the rate of inflation surpasses our "raise", we get an extra cola adjustment in the last yr. That has only happened ONCE in my 16 yrs here.
Healthcare (duck everyone-here it comes :sick: ). We pay NOTHING for our premiums, and THIS is the SOLE REASON for the discrepancy in pay between the big 3 and the [non-permissible content removed] big 3 here in the US. What amazes me is, as we argue over the merits of unions or not, how much we are worth, what we should pay for goods, etc., the crooks who run our health insurance plans are bleeding US ALL DRY with their DOUBLE DIGIT PREMIUM INCREASES every year, and NOBODY says a word about it. We just accept it. CEO's don't care, they just pass the cost on to their employees, if they can. If not they pass it on to the customers. Either way, we all pay in the end.
How about these foolish drug commercials on TV??? We see double digit increases in our prescriptions, drug companies conspire w/ health insurance providers to squeeze Mom and Pop pharmacies out of the equation, yet we say NOTHING when we see commercials on the SUPER BOWL of all places hawking pills to stiffen out your johnson. I have NO DOUBT that that commercial added to the cost of my High Blood Pressure pills as well.
Yet, what do we do??? Argue over who gets what in this country, and who deserves what, while they fatten their pockets.
Ask me what the biggest scoundrels are in this country?? Lawyers? NO! Car Salesmen??? NO! Accountants who can't keep their minds off the bottom line??? YEP!!!
While there is nothing wrong w/ increasing profits, at what expense do we do it? There is nothing wrong with suing someone if you are wronged, but like the lawyer who sued his dry cleaner FOR MILLIONS over a lost pair of trousers....
Where does the madness end???
In 1980 the average CEO made about 13 times the average employee. In 2000 the average CEO was paid over 500 times the average employee. Therein lies the problem. Not the working man in the USA, Union or non-Union.
I can understand peoples complaints about quality or perceived lack of quality in American products. The car issue is becoming more (yet not totally) moot because so many are produced w/ our labor, even by foreign companies.
Yet nobody seems to show any concern for the large amounts of money that LEAVE this country every day via the TRADE DEFICIT, let alone profits going to foreign companies.
Someday, we'll have $5 Levi's jeans and $200 LG TVs and X-BOX's for $49.99 on the shelf, but nobody will be able to afford them, because all our jobs, skilled and non skilled alike, will be in China, India, and S. America.
Actually Japan does make cars lots of them outside of Japan. The Toyota Yaris sold in the USA is made in Malaysia. My Nissan Versa was made in Mexico. I think the trouble is the big three only had themselves to compete with until the imports showed and that hurt them a lot. The other problems I think is that the big three headquarters are all located in one small part of the country, Detroit.
The big three tend to do the same thing at the same time then when the market changes it hurts them, bad. For instance they did not make small cheap subcompact until the Germans showed up with the beetle. They thought that the baby boomers should have been forced to buy used cars in the 60ies until they could afford better and to this day they seem the have a lack of understanding of the subcompact/compact market. About the only company that seems to slightly get it is Ford. And even then the Escort and Focus do have their problems.
Another change of the market is toward cars that last longer vs. cars that are replaced sooner. The Japanese discover that people were willing to spend more on a car that lasted a bit longer and broke down a bit less. Detroit figured people would treat cars like they do cloths as fashion items. Detroit went for cheap and disposable. Japan went for expensive and sturdy. This might have only cost Detroit a little market share, but Detroit was too slow to realize the problem and only now has cars that are near equal of Japan in reliability.
Detroit also just does not spend enough on R/D and esp. not on cars in the 90ies. R/D allows you to get the bugs out before you sell it to the public (i.e. The Focus). Allows you to see what people want in a car (i.e. the unloved Aveo).
They spent the bucks on the SUV and truck and have very good SUVs. The problem now is that SUV’s are about as fashionable as a 1970ies evening suit and the Truck market is not as hot as it used to be.
BUT, the feds do collect on things like excise taxes, tariffs, and a special per gallion tax on gasoline...
Japanese companies aren't manufacturing things locally either. They may not be exporting jobs like American companies do, however (which are supposed to be beneficial to the health of the companies exporting the jobs without caring for the health of US economy).
By the way, I think will on agree in one area; the way lawyers are paid is criminal. Buy again, we can thank out fellow citizens; they are willing to pay it.
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
Criminal defense lawyers are paid by the Client, as are Bankruptcy, Contract, Estate, and most litigating attorneys...
Personal Injury lawyers work on a contingency fee, usually a percentage of the Client's award...that also means we share the risk that we may litigate and get nothing...it is a rare individual who would work for someone, have the potential to put in MANY hours of work, for the honor of receiving nothing...
Please explain what it is about the process that is criminal to you...
Thanks...
>Somehow, We've strayed far off target.
That's because you strayed into a Limbaugh like slam at the dedicated teachers who have eduated my children, my doctors, my lawyers, etc., without understanding teachers unions mild effects at all and I didn't stand for a post with errors in it. I've known the teachers with whom my wife associated through 30 years of low paid teaching. Most would not have been dedicated teachers save that their spouses had higher paid employment. Many would have been discriminated against save the rules negotiated by their unions. I.E., the principal has a daughter married to a teacher who coaches basketball and the disctrict wants a new basketball coach; guess who loses their job to make room for the new coach. And it happens for lesser reasons in states where rules protecting teachers' employment rights are even less well written than in Ohio.
Marsha: I threw in lawyers and doctors because insidious6688 said schools don't make money therefore teachers don't deserve to be paid like other professionals. or the ING guy who (currently) has my retirement plan with whom I'll meet next week because he's doing a poor job doesn't make money--he just uses other people's money.
In deference to the hosts I'll stop here with the union hot button for me. It's probably off topic now and I said one post earlier was my only post re teachers and their mild unions. A junk email is in my profile for further discussion and I check it occasionally for title names I know aren't spam.
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
But that can't be American... is it?
It does get a bit much to browse the thousands of discussions here. Maybe we can start a discussion about neat discussions....
That stuff needs to be done by hand no way around it.
And a list of new discussions added the day before would be interesting--but many die early because of being duplicates or similar to others.
Even if it were something to click on a link to see..., I'd find it interesting. But that Forums Landing page is busy and has some advertising potential so landscape there is precious.
I have found new discussions from the Top Ten listed.
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
Glad you liked the pic.
I've obviously irritated some people which was not my intent. My sole point really was that unionized labor (good or bad) cannot compete on price with non-unionized labor. I was wasn't trying to make a value judgement on unions. All I'm saying is that unionized labor or not, there are economic forces in play affecting american competitiveness. I didn't realize my fellow readers were quite so sensitive. Making observations does does not necessarily reveal one's own opinions on an issue. I'll try harder to stay on topic, but please everyone an example for illistrative purposes does need to get such a hostile response! :surprise:
I saw the DOL poster that shows the national min. wage going up to over $7/hr. I think thats great. However, even at the old $5.85/hr, we can't compete with 65 CENTS an hr. being paid in some countries.
Even an Engineer, who may have invested HUNDREDS of THOUSANDS of dollars on that bachelor's degree, and TENS of Thousands MORE for a masters, who may ask for a "paltry" $45,000 starting salary so they can pay off their student loans and afford an apartment, can't compete with $4-600/mo. being paid to someone in India who may be able to do the same job from afar.
At some point, we as an American society have to stand up and say enough is enough, or pretty soon all a PhD will get you is a job at a 7/11 owned by -you guessed it- an Indian.
(OK, maybe a little overboard, but you get the point)