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Comments
You keep repeating this "Hon/Toy are perfect". Saying it all the time when we've said that's not so is pretty dumb. It's the relative numbers rather than whether there are ANY problems. Which we know you know. So why not a real argument rather than fluff?
I read through quite a few posts and sorry I don't have time to respond to all of them. Marsha7 and his $35 an/hr. floorsweeper comments are something else. Yeah you trying to get my goat is funny. Beth has only sold like 4 cars this month and might have a few going this week but it ain't pretty. You guys can say what you want about the working class but the iron isn't moving because everyone around the country is working for less or can't find a damn job. The un free-market and socialism for the rich has failed with no tax base aka jobs to pay for all that we are spending yet many in Washington, want to keep down the same road. It makes me puke!!!!
Rocky can't afford a college degree with his big buck child support and other monies he his obligated to pay his now ex-wife. How can I afford to pay for college when my wife will do everything she can to garnish my wages??? I refuse to live anywhere in the south period iluv. I'm sorry but don't trust anyone south of Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Ohio, Pennsylvania. If you live in a confederate state I will totally refuse to live there. Maybe one exception and that is Florida, because enough yankees live there to keep it civilized. I might be over reacting to many but after you have gone through hell like I have for the past couple of years it has really changed the way I now think. I have some really good friends in the south but I will likely never again move away from Michigan. I have all my family and friends here and my letter is complete. Beth is going to make it a professional letter for me and hopefully by the end of this week I will be mailing it to the local and national media and god willing they will bite and I can expose all the wrongs in the system because I'm not the only spouse that has received a major screw job by a judge.
I have pictures of the living conditions my kids have to deal with on a daily basis and it would make anyone with a soft spot for children really upset and ask why isn't their anything being done and this is allowed?
Beth and I are just best friends Bob. I got to get my life straightened out first before I could even persue another woman. I have a lot of baggage for any woman to take on. I am very blessed that I do have her for moral support along with a rock solid family. I also will have a big problem trusting any female again and Beth is probably the only female outside of my family I do trust. If I met a nice girl guys it would be a tough situation for her as it took Beth a solid year and a half of regular contact for me to say I trust her. It isn't just woman I don't trust but people in general. I guess you have to walk in my shoes to maybe understand?
I guess back on topic the UAW workers are screwed. Fritz Henderson like I predicted is running GM into the ground. I and others will not buy Chinese Made CRAP thus they might as well liquidate the company. iluv might be the only person I know that would buy a chinese made car. The domino affect on wages, taxes, disposable income, of millions has already shown it's teeth. We are done!!! I do agree with gagrice that were are screwed. I can go back to college and get retrained in something and by the time I finish there will be no demand for it. This has happened to many members in my family. Getting a Criminal Justice Degree is a worthless degree. Ask my ex girlfriend and good friend Tammy. She had two interviews at the nuke plant and wasn't hired. I'm still scratching my head???? Has a CJ degree, relavent experience, and a female?????? :surprise: She got called back to her manufacturing job thank-god where she is making $11 an/hr. atleast.
It's not a pretty picture. I interviewed last week for a couple of jobs. I interviewed for a Debt and Mortgage Consolidation Company (Still Pending) and the Casino 86 miles south of G.R. thus I have to watch my email over the next month for a 2nd interview date and time. My buddy is trying to get me a job where he works and applied on-line this evening. I also applied for a meter reader job for a firm 25 or so miles south of here this evening and last week I hit up a car dealership for a sales position which is pending also. I'm trying to remain optomistic about the future. Maybe I will get a book deal or something? -grin :P j/k.....I can be the Jose Canseco of the justice system for father rights or something!!!
Well I do appreciate all of your support guys and hope each of you had a blessed and safe memorial holiday weekend.
And for the UAW workers: My thoughts and prayers are with each of you. If I can break free from my personal life issues I will try to attend the Lansing, MI rally June 1st with Virgil Bernero. The "Reinvest in America/Keep the American Dream Alive" rally
-Rocky
For years it's been see how well the foreign companies use US workers to assemble those wunderkars? They are so good. And they don't use union labor which is what messes it all up. Now that since about 2003 the wunderkars are not so wunderlich and their warts are showing rather than being hidden by no recalls and quiet repairs while in the shop for other things..., we don't want to use those glorious nonunion products as the archexample. :P
Gimme a break.
>It's the relative numbers rather than whether there are ANY problems.
Ibid.
If it's the relative numbers then we want to look at the fact that most cars are much closer in the numbers of repairs or problems than they were 10 years ago, indeed. :surprise: But instead you want to keep razing the UAW American car companies as being poorly built because of the UAW, when the product has improved steadily since a nadir in the 90s.
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
Yet you keep missing the point (conveniently, perhaps?) that the so called "steady improvement" still isn't enough to catch up with the competitors let alone lead the class.
If we only discuss problems with the recent cars then you'll miss the whole point on how GM and UAW got screwed this bad. History is a huge part of this, and I believe you actually know that already.
I think the main issue with GM is profit and loss. GM has not made 5% profit in any year for 25 years. Most years they had big losses. They kept borrowing on the future to pay for the sins of the present. Whether it was poor judgment with speculation as with FIAT or crumbling under the pressure of the UAW strikes. They have been poorly run for decades. They lost money when EVERY other company made big bucks. How can a business survive under those conditions? The only reason they sold so many cars below cost to the rental agencies was to pay the legacy costs and work rule requirements. They should have locked up and moved out of the USA in 1998. Now they are impacting a lot more people for their lack of management ability. Think Wagoner as he is the one that has stuck his head in the sand the last decade.
Rocky, Good luck with the job search.
Here are the five best states to be looking for a job right now:
5 NEBRASKA
4 UTAH
3 SOUTH DAKOTA
2 NORTH DAKOTA
1 WYOMING Lowest unemployment in the Nation. And you might get a hunting trip with Cheny. :shades:
Obama got his training in Chicago where the Daley Mayors are/were reknown for using their patronage workers and trades union people to help out in political campaigns.
Believe that there is still a Ford assembly plant on south side of Chicago employing UAW.
I heard about that phenomenom. It was called, setting aside areas for development of "teachers' ghettos" which means it was housing cheap enough for someone on a teacher's salary to live.
Hey, Dick! Put these antlers on your head and go into the brush and flush out the deer!
As far as Silicon Valley ghettos for teachers, it would probably be nicer than much of Detroit or Philadelphia. From my point of view ALL cities are future ghettos. It has been the nature of the beast since the beginning of time.
That is an example of how Unions keep people from realizing their true potential. I know it kept me from trying to do better. It was just good enough to support my chosen lifestyle. Hopefully the younger UAW workers will learn from this experience that being an unskilled worker is a dead end street. Being satisfied at any skill level can be shaky.
But I have a problem that I do not know how to solve...I often respond to 2 or 3 posters in one of my diatribes (did I ever mention about the $35/hour UAW floorsweepers???...probably not, so I will discuss it one day in the near future...:):):)...), so hitting the "reply" button does not seem to me to be what I need to do...can you hit "reply" to 2 or 3 posters at once???
Plus, sometimes I have 20-30 posts to read, then I want to reply to the first post, but that means I have to go back a page...then I forget where I am...I find the "reply" button more confusing...
As Dr. McCoy (Star Trek) might have said..."I'm a lawyer, Jim, not a computer technowhiz"...with apologies to the estate of Gene Roddenberry...
rocky: for the record, I wonder how a Michigan judge would have treated you, compared to Texas...and to hate all southern states just because of ONE judge in ONE town for ONE incident is really shortsighted...but good luck on the job hunt...
But that's the same method used by many to judge the quality of a brand of car... they have some problem with a 1996 XXhoe and they say all of that brand are junk. Then they blame the UAW for building the car of the parts supplied on the floor to place on the chassis on the skillet as it goes by, when it was the manufacturer who had that item built to specifications.
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
Don't think so, although I'm not sure. Then again, I've never tried.
If the 2 or 3 posts that you want to respond to are related to one another - if, in other words, they deal with the same subject matter - then I'd suggest that you simply reply to the most recent.
If the posts that you're responding to deal with different things, then you should reply to each one separately. Suppose, for example, that I'm following a car-specific discussion & that I want to respond to 2 posts, 1 of which comments about the car's handling while the other is about the car's climate control system. Since handling & HVAC are unrelated subjects, I should post 2 separate replies. This has the added benefit of keeping my posts short & to the point.
I know that I don't have to tell you about the value of brevity. Do I, Bob?
Levis I got at Kohls recently were made in landlocked and high altitude Lesotho, not China. No evidence that they were union made. Wonder if union labor costs drove Levis out of US made.
Just be glad that Bob doesn't number every line like some lawyers; otherwise we'd be reading "back on 4/31 in Post 12,xxx, on line 68, I specifically said...."
Busy week ahead:
GM Faces Decisions This Week as Bankruptcy Deadline Looms (AutoObserver)
"United Auto Workers officials, representing 54,000 GM workers, are gathering in Detroit Tuesday to learn the details of its latest concessionary contract agreed to last week by UAW leadership.
Of key interest will be whether the union was successful in negotiating a rollback of GM's plan to cut 21,000 UAW jobs while it increases imports to the United States from its factories in China, Mexico and South Korea.
Voting by the rank and file is to begin immediately; the union hopes to have the votes tallied by Thursday.
Among other things, the contract proposes a change in payment terms on $20 billion owed to a UAW health-care trust fund for retirees. The Voluntary Employee Beneficiary Association (VEBA) was approved in the 2007 contract and requires GM to make payments into the union-run fund."
(I always pick 4/31 as the day the ice goes out on the Nenana)
37 years working in Alaska I only bought one chance on the Nenana Ice Classic. I was weeks off if memory serves me. You were only a dollar short this year, eh?
Speaking of Alaska, did you ever meet Virgil England. He and I started at Alascom the same Week. We started making knives together and it was obvious who had the talent. He is featured in the Anchorage Daily news. His knives cost more than most cars. He was in both the Teamsters and IBEW, to stay on subject.
http://www.adn.com/slideshows/v-swf/story/798809.html
5 NEBRASKA
4 UTAH
3 SOUTH DAKOTA
2 NORTH DAKOTA
1 WYOMING Lowest unemployment in the Nation. And you might get a hunting trip with Cheny.
Every state you listed is dirt [non-permissible content removed] poor and pay people crap wages because they are a bunch of ignorant imbred red state rednecks!!! Tell me how they vary from the Texas Panhandle??? :confuse: I don't want to go relive the TX Panhandle Gary.
-Rocky
P.S. I lived in Utah for a whole summer. No thank-you!!!
Every state you listed is dirt [non-permissible content removed] poor and pay people crap wages because they are a bunch of ignorant imbred red state rednecks!!!
Well how do you think Detroit's intelligence looks to us?
-Rocky
Detroit has nothing on the South, I assure you...yes, we have our rednecks, but our rednecks are no more ignorant that your illiterate UAW folks...and after 10 years in Detroit, I KNOW how illiterate your unskilled UAW people are, because they needed 20 minutes to fill out their name and address on an entrance form...
So, please, do not think that rednecks are only in the South...they make up a substantial portion of your beloved UAW...
And they will NEED some literacy soon, as they will soon be filling out employment applications for jobs that will pay what they have always been worth, about $10-15/hour...the $35/hour UAW worker will soon join the ranks of the dinosaurs, as they canot be paid that much and keep the compnay profitable...
I hope you realize that statement makes you look even less educated than the people you like to debase. A family from here moved last year after losing his job, home and two new BMWs. He is doing better in Wyoming than he ever did in San Diego. What you are missing is the fact that if you are at the top of your class the odds are better in a market filled with ignorant rednecks. That means if the education you received in Michigan is as good as you would have us believe, you could be much more successful in a state with less competition for your advanced skill levels. You know a big fish in a small pond vs a small fish in a big pond.
The biggest advantage to a state with overall lower wages is also overall lower cost of living. States like Michigan, Ohio and Illinois are so over inflated by a few high paid Union people that the people at the bottom suffer even worse than a place where everyone makes a little less and the cost to live is a little less. That is why my daughter and her family are doing so much better financially in Indiana vs CA. When a home costs less than half and your wages are 2/3rds you are doing better financially. When my daughter moved to Indiana they had one car, a Yaris. They now own a brand new GMC PU truck and the Yaris. They are paying half what they paid in rent here. She makes the same money as she is an escrow officer working on foreclosures from her home office.
Sadly unless you can get out of the UAW mentality it is going to be rough ever getting ahead. There are still lots of opportunities for those willing and ready to take a risk. You have not gotten to that point yet.
Regards,
OW
OW, all I know is what I read in the funnies. I think GM will go Ch. 11 to wipe out the bondholders and cut off the closing dealers' complaints. I think that the UAW may have hit bottom though. The new Supreme Court nominee/appointee made this statement back during the baseball strike case:
"That's what unions do: protect those in the union from those not in the union."
(Sorry for replying to more than one person Jimres
Yup. I think BO found himself another real intellectual brain in that one. Really sharp on constitution.
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
Can you get any more sexist or Racist than this woman?
“I would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn’t lived that life,”
One thing that has yet to sink into you, yet, is that you and your people have lived in a dream world so long you actually believe it is reality...no where else in this country can unskilled workers with little or no education get paid the kind of wages that unskilled UAW people made, because they literally could pass off their ridiculous wage rates and benefits onto American car buyers...no more, that bubble has been popped, along with real estate values...
You lived in a bubble with so much power you actually think that they, UAW, were worth what they were paid, when no such reality exists...they have no real marketable skills, little education and what they did do for a living could be taught to a new trainee in a few hours...that it went on so long is a miracle, but you have yet to see that the light at the end of the tunnel is really an oncoming train that is about to slam you into a reality check...bolting a door together will be worth about $10-15/hour, simply because that is all it is worth, as it takes zero skill to line up the panels and bolt them together...yet, what is amazing is that for the lack of skill required, so many cars left the plant with screws missing, windows misaligned, and simply shoddy workmanship...it is like a stockboy at WalMart, but he places the toilet paper in the produce aisle...even with jobs that require no skills at all, your UAW people could screw it up...
Americans never actually knew why the cars were junk, but they sensed SOMETHING was wrong...most of them never knew there was a UAW, but they knew that squeaks, rattles and clunks were not part of a quality product...they never knew how overpaid the UAW worker was, especially considering how much pure junk they made, but they knew something was not up to par when they sat in a Honda and everything fit like a glove and there were no rattles and squeaks...American car buyers simply knew they had been sold a piece of junk and they rebelled...
They did what ANY smart person would do, they voted with their feet and took their money elsewhere...slowly, a trickle at first, taling years to become the flood it is now...50% of the car buying public will NOT buy a UAW made car, altho they don't classify it as UAW car, they see it as a GM/F/C...
Your people have taken the good name of the Big 3 and ran them into the ground, and they still think they are underpaid...they have been overpaid for years, but it will take time before they figure it out...if you expect UAW-wages for performing unskilled work, that is now history that will never be repeated...you need to stop believing everybody outside Michigan is a hick, because the ignorant, uneducated, unskilled hicks make up the vast majority of the UAW...I have met them, I have known them, and they simply do NOT rank near average on the IQ scale...they ARE the ignorant rednecks you want to avoid, yet you are surrounded by more of them than we will EVER have in the South...
If I had not lived in Detroit-Dearborn area, I would not know...but I can guarantee you they are some of the most illiterate, least educated, overpaid workers the world has ever seen, and that model has ended...
When they seek new jobs, they are about to learn how the world REALLY values the unskilled laborer, and that is why the minimum wage was created...if not for that, they would barely be worth $5/hour. simply because no one in their right mind would pay them more to do what a 14 year old could do with an hour's training...if not for child labor laws, high school kids could make these cars...
Look in the mirror, rocky, because the folks you describe that you despise the most are the ones who have surrounded you since birth, and they are about to learn what the word "unskilled" really means, and what its value is in the real world...
Boy, are they in for a shock...
Good luck with your job hunt, and remember, there is life outside Grand Rapids...
I guarantee you one day the day of wreckening will come for all the college graduates as the right-wing and some on the left want to expand immigration and many of those would be immigrants would be college educated Indians from India. The Bachelors degree are a dime a dozen thus becoming worthless because employers are seeking real world experience and work ethic.
I will never change my views on believing in a strong, well paid, industrial base with organized labor. If we had a strong industrial base with a solid union pay scale this economy and country would not be tanking. I would think after years of studying and witnessing this Bob you would finally learn? It doesn't take a PhD to recognize WHY this country is failing. It went from a one state recession (Michigan) to a national recession because people borrowed more money to make up what they lost on there paycheck. Some of you that are a lot older than me and have secure jobs or retired can sit high and mighty and are oblivious to reality. I don't know if some of you live in a bubble or what? I have traveled a lot across this country and can grasp what people do for a living in certain area's of this nation. Yes automobile and furniture manufacturing were the solid ground of Western Michigan. I see positive signs finally that things might be getting better but until you and the rest of the country get rid of your "I'm entitled to buy whatever I want duty free" attitude I'm afraid your offspring will be living not the american dream but a place called U.S. of hell as world wars will be certain. :sick:
So yes Rocky is going to stay here and endure the pain. I love Grand Rapids/Western Michigan, and these are my people. I know how the justice system works and while not perfect it isn't corrupt like the south. If I'm ever approached by another southern holding a bible I pulling my Glock 17 on them and running the other way!!! I will not tolerate fake and dishonest people.
Beth sold 6 cars today so things must be getting better!!! :surprise:
You guys have a great night!!!!
-Rocky
P.S. There is no life outside of Michigan. Crossing the state border is now a scary thing for me!!!! :P
You have much too high of an opinion of the importance of the auto industry to this countries success and failures. The housing bubble & sub-prime lending was the cause of the recession we are in. The auto industry is a fly speck on the wall of time. Most of the millions out of work are related to the failures in the banking industry and building trades. NOT the auto industry. We could start buying our cars from India and China tomorrow and it would not make a lick of difference. In fact that is what GM plans to do if they survive. You have to also accept the false run up of oil prices last year stuck a knife in the heart of GM that had NOTHING to offer the fickle US car buyers.
college degrees are becoming worthless because employers are seeking real world experience and work ethic.
I do know people out of work with college degrees. A couple I would not hire to mow my lawn. It is your statement about work ethic that is most important. That is something hard to tell from an interview. My nephew has a degree in Philosophy and works as a bartender in a posh Seattle restaurant. He has been accepted as some University in San Francisco to do post grad work. Still not a field with a lot of potential. He seems to support himself while pursuing his education. Good for his parents as they just retired.
So college is hit and miss. I disagree with your goofy remark about our colleges compared to the rest of the world. Some reason they come from all over the world to go to our universities.
I disagree. When I graduated I was immediately offered a good paying job, and recently the company hired a newbie and had to offer him $58k/year simply because so many companies wanted him. It's worth it as he's doing a great job (thankfully not as good as me) :P .
I agree with the others that going out of the so called "rich" states bubble is necessary. You can make good money (probably even more if you're a top notch material) and yet still spend less due to lower living costs.
However, I make exception on Utah, IMO it's just... blah. No discrimination intended, but I tried, and Utah is definitely not for me.
I agreed to be assigned in Indonesia, a country some posters here so call 3rd world country, toilet, or name it whatever you want. I get more than 50% raise while spending 90%less than I did in US, and in reality it really isn't that bad once you get used to it. This way when I get back to US in 2 years or so I can finally afford a new Audi or Porsche and finish all my payments on my house. Sounds good to me. :shades:
Like I said: follow the money because the money will never follow you. And it's not just literally speaking.
I'm trying to figure out how the UAW outsourced suppliers for those rattles and squeaks and clunks? Did they use the normal bidding process of GM suppliers or did they use their own supplier company list? :P
>but they knew something was not up to par when they sat in a Honda and everything fit like a glove and there were no rattles and squeaks...
You might want to rethink that about the WunderKar Honda because squeaks, rattles, clunks became part of their character in 2003. The company even took back some to disassemble to find out where the noise came from in their impervious design. Road noise is another characteristic.
I sat in several a couple years ago and was unimpressed with the quality, fit and finish of the hard plastics in the car. And the seats were bad to sit in without leaving the showroom let alone driving to Nashville/Atlanta for 5-6 hours.
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
Dang Rocky, you really have an attitude when it comes to people with a college degree, don't you? May a little bit of an inferiority complex, perhaps?
Just because you choose to take several years of schooling you should be paid 5-10 times a autoworker???
At least
You can't do my fathers job and he probably couldn't do yours. So what is the difference? He reads blueprints and manuals and you read stapled togeather legal jargon
Maybe Marsha7 couldn't, but I sure could. See, I draw up the "blueprints" (electrical schematics really, but close enough) that a technician might have use to wire up a board or get the artwork made to build a printed circuit card.
What kills me is the college educated think they are so freaking smart because they took 75% repeat courses from high school
Wrong, at least in my case. No college level course I ever took was a repeat of anything I had in high school. My first year college math was differential and integral calculus, and it went up from there.
The Europeans look at our colleges as a joke which is what it is a giant [non-permissible content removed] joke!!!
Then why are so many foreigners (and I'm not talking about people from the South!) willing to pay the full tab to attend many of our top-tiered universities?
I have several UAW and non-UAW members with college degrees and all have said most of what they learned in college was a complete waste of time and money
Again, not my experience. Sure, there have been courses I took that I have never used in my career. That does not mean they were useless or a waste of time. My college education has served me well in the 41 years I've been working.
The Bachelors degree are a dime a dozen thus becoming worthless because employers are seeking real world experience and work ethic
There ya go again! Some might be, but an EE or some other technical degree from MIT or any one of the upper tiered schools is not worthless by any means. Graduates from those institutions can almost write their own ticket, even in today's market. The real world experience you think can substitute for a college degree is, unfortunately, not all it's cracked up to be in many cases.
No rocky, they simply refused to live within their means, and when real estate appreciation stopped, their house of cards caved in...add into that the subprime mortgage mess, where lenders KNEW people could not afford the houses they were buying, and you have the mess we are in now, as the entire loan structure of the nation was based on rising real estate values, that, when they stopped rising, became a game of musical chairs...
Now add to that the perceived quality difference of Big 3 cars vs imports (imidaz: maybe Honda quality has changed, but they have still attracted buyers away from Big 3 in sufficient quantities to alter their market share of the US market...and the buyers have left Big 3 quite voluntarily, so SOMETHING in Big 3 cars has turned off millions of people), and our auto industry is in trouble, for which I place more blame on overpaid UAW than mgmt...
If folks bought the smaller home, less luxurious car, and lived within their means instead of paying every available dollar to credit cards for purchases they really don't need, this wh;le mess we are in would never have happened...
No, I can't read blueprints, and I seriously doubt windshield installers, lug nut tighteners, and floorsweepers, plus door assemblers and seat installers read much blueprints, either...remember, Iaccoca said that they could not read a simple sign telling them to keep their arms out of stamping presses, you actually expect me to believe they read blueprints???...spare me...
You cannot convince anyone here they have any skills whatsoever, except maybe holding a picket sign, and they won't be doing that much longer, either...
That is going to leave out a bunch of folks.
Employers are seeking reliable people they can count on to do a good job. That is why laid off UAW workers, and those that think like them, are going to have a hard time finding and holding a job.
> It doesn't take a PhD to recognize WHY this country is failing".
True!
Us Southerners recognize that GREED is the real culprit here.
Greed of people thinking they are Entitled to a $300K house, even though they hardly qualified for one half that price. Greed of the bankers loaning that money.
Greed of the UAW sucking the life out of the Big 3. Greed of the Big 3 giving in to the UAW instead of letting the strikes take place and the UAW learn they don't own the companies.
>"So yes Rocky is going to stay here and endure the pain."
And Rocky thinks southerners are ignorant?
Although we would like to see him get a real job, our oldest son has been selling cars for 15 or so years. He has managed to feed himself without relying on us to take up the slack. He may work at several dealerships over the course of a year. No problem finding a job. He has worked at the same dealerships several times. For the first several years he was successful selling GM, Ford, and Chrysler. For the past few years it has been the imports.
Selling cars is not a rocket science. Dealers are happy to have sales persons with good work ethics. If the sales aren't produced, the dealer does not pay.
He understands he is not "entitled" to anything, and must produce to be a value to the dealer and himself. But he is just an ignorant Red Neck. What does he know?
You claim to be well traveled and qualified for so many things. With those credentials, it seems you would be snapped up by just about any company you approach. Your attitude that the rest of the world is screwed up, and any state other than Michigan is full of inbred red necks, might be holding you back.
Kip
Maybe, just maybe the quality of some of the imports have gone down as more and more are built outside their mother country. Can the poorly constructed Honda's which are documented built by US workers. Maybe the UAW has tainted the whole American auto industry. :sick:
Didn't VW lose a lot of customers over poor quality cars built here in the 1980s. I think those were built in Pennsylvania.
Has the United States work ethic deteriorated over the last 50 years. I think it is possible. We are complacent about being the best and in the meantime have been outdone by many other countries. My guess is the "You Owe Me" mentality of the UAW workers could be just the tip of the iceberg. I see it in young people I have hired to do yard work. Some are good. Others not worth a hoot. My two best are now in the Coast Guard and Border Patrol. Not easy finding good help even in this recession. I am not going to pay a $100 a day to a kid that goofs off.
Actually, I'm not so sure a college education is only the path to success. There are a lot of blue collar guys who make money that cubicle-bound college educated folks would envy. If a college degree isn't what's going to make Rocky happy, he can always learn a trade - a skill no corporate bigshot can take from you. I would suggest becoming a plumber or electrician. I'm not going to China to find a guy to fix my toilet and I'm certainly not going to trust some unskilled day laborer no matter how good a work ethic he has. Heck, I need a guy who's good with concrete at my place! Rocky loves cars - how about a GM-Certified mechanic? Heck, if he becomes good at it, he can always branch out on his own. A great HONEST independent mechanic is always a valuable asset in my book!
Absolutely!
In our area they are doing extremely well right now.
Of course, a person has to have the self drive and the initiative to get the necessary training.
One suggestion I read to protect yourself from outsourcing is to go in to one of the fields that you mentioned. There will always be a need for GOOD plumbers, electricians, auto mechanics, even cable guys. Think of jobs where you have to be hands on, develop good people skills, learn industry best practices. I'm going through hell now with Bright House trying to get their digital phone working in my house. They've had 4 different techs out and I see a HUGE difference in their technical ability, communication skills, and just good overall competency.
And I second the poster who said a technical degree like Engineering from a good school is pretty much bullet proof. I've already told the story about my son, but I'll tell it again since I'm a proud dad. He's graduating shortly from UF with an engineering degree, starting with a company in the oil industry, starting pay $60K with a $5K signing bonus.
That's fair to an extent. UAW does not to my knowledge select suppliers, design interiors or engines, or determine specifications of components. That's management and management's directives to engineering.
Ultimately, it is top management of a company that determines its fortunes and destiny. As has been pointed out here many times, top management made numerous mistakes, including not having forsight to stand up to union's excessive wage and benefits demands, work rules, 2000 page contracts, etc. over the "decades".
But, even if management had managed/controlled union differently, still highly doubtful that top management would have the wisdom to use those cost savings from union labor/benefits/work rules to fund/direct engineering and other disciplines that could rival that from Honda and Toyota.
And they had the power seat ALL the way back--I wonder if they do that to the Audi and other cars in their test group to check for variances from their high standards.
It's petty picks like this that rankle my feathers about how they _work_ to find something wrong with the car. I read just enough of other test drives to decide the writing style is Consumer Reportsesque.
Oh and did you know you can't get 3 sets of golf clubs into the trunk. Lengthwise that is. But somehow they did get all three sets in and get to the golf course because the writer gripes about spilling the clubs when removing the bags (apparently physics 101 isn't in his past resume).
And most important is the Past of Cadillac: we have to include something about someone elderly liking the car. In this case an 80-year old loved the car.
Just shows how awful those UAW assembly folks were.
Actually I just looked at a new CTS belonging to a friend at a birthday party Monday evening. I didn't notice any missing covers inside. And he's an avid golfer who was late because he was golfing with his wife's next year's principal. He didn't mention club problems and trunk space shortage.
Then he mocks resale value for such a piece of junk, "By the way, the asking price for the Cadillac is over $30,000. Any takers?"
I've mentioned in discussions how the peer influence seems to have spread through the PR chain over the years and affects the technqiues used to diminish the cars not acceptable. These two writers are a perfect case in point.
http://blogs.edmunds.com/roadtests/2009/05/2008-cadillac-cts-mpg-squeaks-and-the- - -importance-of-demographics.html
click on "continue reading" in the article for more.
Then click on "wire under the seats" to read the other expert's technique for finding what's wrong.
http://blogs.edmunds.com/roadtests/2009/02/2008-cadillac-cts-shortcuts-that-try-- - my-patience.html
Are these trivial things made into mountains awful and are they examples of the UAW's failures?
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
That change in UAW ownership could result in one of two things. GM could use the additional equity to sweeten an offer to bondholders in an effort to avoid bankruptcy. Or GM could give the government more equity, which would help the company emerge from its restructuring with a cleaner balance sheet. Sources close to the company say the latter is more likely."
GM Slashes the UAW's Equity Stake (Business Week)
That is absolutely true. Having a good trade can be a means to moderate success with potential for an upper middle class income. I was also lucky in the trade I chose. If I had stayed with AT&T I would probably be a WalMart greeter to supplement my income. I wanted more and took the first opportunity to leave CA for AK. 37 years later I have a very nice pension. No gold plated health care as the UAW retirees have.
I talked to a co-worker yesterday. They are negotiating the contract for the next 3 years. The Teamsters want $8.50 per hour for the health care. That is more than goes into our pension plan. The average working Teamster in Alaska has $1200 per month paid by their employer for health care.
It is becoming prohibitive for employers to pay full health care benefits. Government health care is not the answer. Many doctors are now refusing to take patients over 65 because it is so hard to collect from Medicare.
The cost of doing business in the USA is going to be our downfall. High wages, health care, Workman's Comp, very high taxes. Why would an investor want to start a business in the USA? Go to Mexico get some land, a little graft to the local politicians and you build a factory. Lots of GOOD cheap labor. Health care is mandatory, but very reasonable. I see little reason for the Auto makers to stay here at all. I guess that is why Ford has moved so much of their operation South of the Border.
In the USA you have all the above costs plus the graft to the local politicians. NAFTA is the escape clause from overbearing regulations and cost of doing business in this country.
This is the crux of the entire problem, IMO!
Regards,
Dale
And you're fine with the plastic they use in Cobalts and Malibus??? :confuse: That's the first time I ever heard anyone saying that.
Those cheap flexy plastic Chevy use in it's cars probably aren't acceptable even for a tupperware. hell, it sure doesn't meet my bare minimum standard. I make exception for Tahoe, it's the only Chevrolet with materials acceptable for the price (well, somewhat).
Btw, Camry's and Accord's materials meet my standards but the fit-finish don't.
For a luxury car it's appropriate, they should be doing this to EVERY car out there.
While I got no problems with CTS costing over $30k, I do have problems with the fact that a decently equipped CTS costs about $42k. A comparably equipped G37 costs only $39k, and another equivalently optioned BMW 335i costs about $45k. From my point of view it's no brainer, I'd take the BMW for the driving fun, or the G for the value. And with the much more luxurious and comfy Infiniti M or Lexus GS priced at roughly $45k, I'd take one of those before the CTS.
However, fairly speaking I don't think the CTS' fit-finish is that bad. I saw some misaligned panels or unequal gaps at times, but it's not as bad as people said.
But for that kind of money, for any brand, wouldn't you expect panels NOT to be misaligned???...and, while not to pick on the UAW (who, me?) doesn't this just fall in line with all of our comments???...can't they get the panels to line up straight so at least, from the outside, the car looks pristine???
Counting down to the GM Chapter 11...