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Comments
It was 15 years ago when I started wondering what would eventually become of my job as I saw many jobs being replaced with robots. "Hey, they'll need people to maintain those things," I thought. Thus, I applied to get into the skilled trades training program. I finished 6th out of over 500 people who took the apprenticeship tests.
It took 4 years and a lot of school mixed in with still having to work but I eventually finished it with 10 A's and 3 B's in my classes. With many thousands of additional hours of training on the job I became a journeyman electrician.
I simply love working with robotics, computers, programming and the occasional conduit projects. Chrysler pays me to do something I enjoy.
They will have to close the doors before I will leave. 24 years is a lot of time to have invested with one company to just toss it away. With 15 years experience in a trade I have a lot more options than the workers still on the line who have just been installing seats or whatever for several decades.
I will see what the future holds.
Yeah, it was nuts to have Boeing send me packing after 19 years and 9 months of employment with them. But this one truly was a lemon turned lemonade for my wife and I and our five pets. We like it better in Arizona and I have a great boss and a small, rural hospital to work at that will only need to offer more services to the community as time moves along. I get paid better than my pay leaving Boeing, though my Boeing health and dental insurance was better than what I have now. The three of us Respiratory Therapists actually work for a sub-contracted RT service company and are in the process of breaking off from them and having the small hospital we work at buy out our contracts from them. We will then be direct employees of the hospital we work at and we hear that their insurance is much better than our contract company's is. I have heard that ER services we receive if we need help ourselves are paid for in full if we need them, for instance. So we shall see how that all pans out. In short, my wife and I are enjoying our lives more now in rural SE Arizona than we did when I was working my Boeing job and living in the crowded Puget Sound area of western Washington. Even though I was born in Seattle and the Puget Sound area is my homeland.
We can thank St.Louis for giving us our first Drive-By Truckers rock show. It was in April of 2004 at Mississippi Nights on the waterfront. We gained a lot of enjoyment by seeing that show and finding a great talented rock band to enjoy from then on out. And that huge Arch is a trip to go up in, too. Missouri was a good experience, overall, for us.
Well, tedebear, sounds like you'll be fine. I am not so sure about Chrysler, though, at this juncture.
2021 Kia Soul LX 6-speed stick
The company should have started weaning themselves off their high profit trucks and SUVs several years ago, instead of waiting until now to begin thinking seriously about hybrids and smaller, higher mpg vehicles. They had the 30 mpg Neon but the SOHC had a bad reputation for quality issues and it affected the entire Neon name. We had two DOHC versions in our family that were fairly reliable.
The "merge of equals" with MB didn't do Chrysler any good, either. 10 years ago Chrysler had one of the highest cash reserves in the auto industry. The leeches in Germany sucked that dry and when they saw that Chrysler could no longer support them they left.
Chrysler's timing for the unveiling of the new Challenger could have been better. A 425 hp muscle car that is rated for 13/16 mpg isn't what a lot of people are shopping for lately. Some people have said that anyone who has an extra $40k for one of those isn't concerned about fuel economy anyway.
Chrysler had a big gathering at their headquarters in Auburn Hills several days ago to honor Lee Iacocca and give him a lifetime achievement award. Lee mentioned that the company had been through tough times before and in his experience that's what motivated the employees to put forth their best effort. He said that things will work out.
SE Arizona, eh? I used to fly down there each February with my bicycle for a weeklong loop through the desert for warm weather (usually) training. We started and ended in Tucson but stayed in small towns such as Globe, Safford, Douglas and Sierra Vista.
If your job ever gets shaky you should think about locking in your UAW retirement and joining the IBEW. It only takes 5 years to be vested. Not sure of the SL local, but most places are good at job placement. We will ALWAYS need electricians. Though I understand your desire to stay in robotics. That would be a great field for the future also. You will be very employable as long as you want to work. That is not the case for most UAW workers.
Yep, I'm in one you may have not frequented much, if at all. Did you travel to Willcox? It's the home of famous Rex Allen, the singing cowboy.
2021 Kia Soul LX 6-speed stick
From looking at my road atlas it appears that Willcox is near the center of a big loop we traveled around. We usually had lunch in Tombstone. Our lycra cycling attire and the cowboy hats and old west outfits of many others walking around were an interesting contrast.
Back to the UAW, it was just announced several hours ago that the St. Louis Chrysler minivan plant will be closed indefinitely after October. The Dodge truck plant next door is cutting back to one shift in September. The minivan plant is where I've worked for over 24 years.
Chrysler to Close Missouri Plant Indefinitely
I guess it's time to see if anyone has an opening for an industrial electrician who specializes in robotics and Rockwell programming software.
You are absolutely loaded with work skills and there will be several companies that will not only want your skills but I'm thinking there will be some that will need your experience and skills. Keep us posted and I am one who is pulling for you.
It is probably premature to think that Chrysler is done so maybe they can transfer you somewhere else. Then again, even if they could, you might not want to do that, eh?
2021 Kia Soul LX 6-speed stick
We have been able to convince the world to lend us money and to provide us with goods that we don't produce and that we can't afford to pay for with exports. And it has gotten to the point now where the problem is so big, especially since the real-estate bubble.
We've now borrowed so much money from abroad. Our trade deficits are now very big, and our industrial base and our infrastructure have been allowed to decay for so long, that we are now at a point that we can only survive as an economy thanks to the charity of the rest of the world.
They have provided us with all the goods that we can no longer produce because we lack the industrial capacity. And they have to lend us the money because we don't have any savings anymore."
- Peter Schiff, June 2008
I call them corporate terrorists, super capitalists, the Gordon Geckos and the mysterious billionaire in the movie Network. America is just another place on the map to them. A place that, if you give them the opportunity, they will ruthlessly exploit for their own advantage. It's a game to them and the only thing that matters is whether they win or lose; and they only want to win.
Capitalism is a good thing, but like government, it needs a system of checks and balances to work properly. And no folks, the 'free market' is not enough of a check. See monopolies, inside trading, deceptive advertising and price fixing as just a small sample of problems we humans bring to capitalism.
A country can't remain properous if it doesn't MAKE things; manufacture stuff. Making things builds the social capital of a country. People figure out how to do stuff.
Americans are mostly consumers now. We've brought along a generation (40 and under) that mostly doesn't know how to figure out stuff, (it's not their fault). Go figure.
The real culprits are you those of you that purchase cheap foreign products from countries with no labor or environmental standards, the corporations that have lost any and all sense of civic duty, and, finally, the bought and paid for government that passed so-called "free trade" agreements with countries which the US could never fairly compete because of a lack of labor and environmental laws/standards. Simply put, no country can compete with another when the playing field is not level.
If anything, then, the unions had the prescience and foresight to see this coming and did their best to prevent all the crap you are currently witnessing.
And, as they originally intended, i.e. the so-called "free" traders, blame the unions.
I find the hostility to unions here puzzling. Who outsourced jobs to foreign companies? The unions? No, the management. Saying the unions made them do it is like a young kid saying his sister made him hit her.
And if the argument is that blue-collar workers should work for $1 a day, no health care, no benefits, and a ditch in the street for a sewage system, just like the people they're competing with jobs for, consider--would YOU? Henry Ford realized that unless he paid his workers a living wage, they wouldn't have enough money to buy his products. Corporations have forgotten that since then.
I was visiting with the Mexican fellow that helps keep my place weeded yesterday. His wife does not have a work visa or green card and cannot come to the US and work. She works in a factory in Tijuana that makes printed circuits for Sony. She makes less than $20 per day. She does have health care insurance and the reason she keeps her job there. Almost every Japanese Company has factories in Tijuana. They are taking advantage of NAFTA. Make the product, stick it in a Mexican truck with a low paid Mexican driver and deliver it anywhere in the USA. Eventually it will even out. I think the US worker will have to go down further than the Mexican worker will come up.
No candidate is addressing this issue with any strong rhetoric.
Regards,
OW
This is the problem with this version of democracy, elections trump what is best for a nation.
Hope all is going well iluv ??? I haven't sold cars since the end of May. I'm selling AT&T's U-verse products through a contractor thus I'm a1099 employee. U-verse, is based on AT&T's "fiber optic" network. I'm making a little more money than I was in the car business and working a lot less hours. The banks drove me out of the car business because they wouldn't approve people for loans and some of those people that had border line credit had medical collections and the banks wouldn't look at the whole picture thus instead of Rocky, selling 15-20 cars a month the most I sold was 7 (2x) February & April.
The U-verse product is the cutting edge & latest and greatest TV Programming, Internet, Home Phone, on the market today. I do not see myself doing this full-time for much longer but perhaps I may continue to do it part-time for some extra cash. I need to keep plugging away and find areal job with benefits but until we get new leadership in Washington, that will fix our "trade issues" I'm afraid this recession will continue !!!
I'm sorry I don't get on edmunds as often as I should but to be quite honest all the UNION bashing and Anti-GM rhetoric has gotten old and I'm not going to waste time fighting my friends on the other side of the aisle.
"The Rock"
P.S. Gagrice, Pantex is going to lay-off 100 Security Police Officer's !!!
Um, Rocky, I could be wrong, but I believe AT&T's product is a Fiber to the node, which carries the signal over the traditional copper wires to the customer's house. Our Verizon Fios carries a fiber optic signal right to the customers house, therefore it is superior.
But Verizon is only putting it on the coasts. They are using their incomes from the flyover states to subsidize giving a good service product to certain areas.
ATT is putting Uverse in this area in adjoining ATT phone service country and hopefully into adjacent communities. This will give the monopoly Timeless Warner a run more than DirectDish has.
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
It's been tough battling the anti-GM/anti-Union forces without you!
So, did the banks drive you out of the car business, or did sound lending policies finally take root in the market???...your own phrase of "borderline credit" means that they never should have been granted any credit to begin with...
This entire housing situation would never have occurred if the sub-prime market had been sent back to their apartments and never allowed to borrow money on a home that they could not afford...
Good luck in a better field, rocky...with truck and SUV plants closing everywhere, the loss of auto jobs will be quite severe, since they will have lots of workers but no work...plus, I would not be surprised if the same vehicles, trucks and SUVs, are the same high profit vehicles for the dealers and salespeople...so, if trucks ain't selling, all there is to sell are Ford Fusions and the like...maybe not the highest commissions out there...
Whether Hussein Obama or John McCain, please remember...those jobs cannot, and will not, return to Michigan...ever...if anything, Japanese makers will gain market share as Big 3 trucks disappear until $4/gal gas, and the imports already know how to make small cars, we still seem stuck on Pintos and Vegas...
While the political situation may change under a new President, do not think for one minute that Michigan will see anything change until THEY change their emphasis on one industry and move away from it...Pittsburg moved away from steel and went hi tech...just because their team is called the Steelers is meaningless...they still call them Georgia Peaches down here, but most of them come from South Carolina...:):):):):)
Pittsburgh didn't move away from steel, steel moved away from it until all you have now is a relative handful of geeks with good high-tech jobs until they are outsourced to China or India. Meanwhile tens of thousands of former steel workers are either dead, working in low wage jobs, living on public assistance, or wards of the criminal justice system. Well, at least there is a lot less pollution. Well, if "Steelers" is a now meaningless name, maybe we can call 'em the "Pittsburgh Software" to honor those temporarily employed in high tech or simply change one letter to call them the "Pittsburgh Stealers" to refer to either the corporate cowards who offshored all the steel mills or the current profession of the unemployed to make ends meet?
Gee, what do you suppose we do with all those former autoworkers in Michigan? Maybe we should ship 'em halfway around the world to be cannon-fodder in some senseless war?
According to some on Edmunds who blame the UAW for their problems with their 1983 Cavalier..., we should take them out and shoot them along with GM. :sick:
Funny they don't blame Honda assembly line workers for transmission problems or Toyo workers for the poor assembly and sludge in their Toyotas... :shades:
Amazing attitudes. As long as it's not them or immediate neighbors, who cares about jobs.
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
They could pack up and go to Alaska, North Dakota, Alberta, Canada or even TX where the economy is better. They could head South and work in one of the Japanese, German or Korean auto plants. This process of shuffling factories to get better tax and labor costs is not new. It started in the 1960s or before.
I just posted an article about the new VW plant that will be built in the USA. They eliminated Michigan because of horrible taxes and previous experience with the UAW. What is important is not whether you are Union or Not Union. It is the cost of living relative to your income. There are good states and bad states. I would say CA and Michigan are real bad. Many companies are pulling out due to lousy tax and high cost of doing business. My son in law was given the opportunity to move from San Diego to Indiana at the same wage. Many in his company were told they could go with a cut in pay. They may shut this operation down. So my SIL took the opportunity while it was being offered.
PS
My wife's niece and nephew live in Ohio. He is an airplane mechanic. Some airline went broke that he was working for. He was offered a great job in Alaska and turned it down. He cannot stand to be away from family and his Ohio State Football team. He is going to drive truck so he can stay in OHIO. He had a great job for the government here in San Diego and quit to go back to OHIO. go figure :sick:
You know, it's funny how the well known sludge and transmission problems of Honda and Toyota get thrown around.... as if a high fraction of those cars are highly unreliable... every make has its problems.... but there is NO COMPARISON to the problems of the big 3.
When I read the arguments supporting the UAW, it seems everyone wants things to stay the same and that cannot happen. The market place has changed, times have changed. We are now part of a global market. The auto manufacturers have to change with the market. Unfortunately, some of GM, Ford and Chryslers bad decisions are coming back to bite them and the UAW is suffering.
With all of these buyouts, I hope the workers are using the money to learn a new career. The economy is not all bad. There are many fields that have shortages. Remember when one door shuts, another opens. You have to be willing to take the step through the door. Too many people are afraid of taking those steps.
Right on. There is talk now how the manufacturing jobs will come back to US because of low dollar value. The companies are having trouble finding skilled trades. Of course it's the companies' faults for taking jobs overseas so that no one prepares for skilled trades here and it's possible they don't want to pay what the work is worth. IOW they want to pay third world to the workers (but not the management salaries
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
I certainly believe that is a very debatable topic.Seems to me that there are a lot of companies that went under because of long srikes.
You know, it's funny how the well known sludge and transmission problems of Honda and Toyota get thrown around.... as if a high fraction of those cars are highly unreliable... every make has its problems.... but there is NO COMPARISON to the problems of the big 3"
Well said...there is no comparison, as the number of bad cars due to sludge and transmission problems probably PALES to the number of cars put out by Big 3 that barely qualified as boat anchors...
Mind you, I am NOT anti-American, as I own a Crown Vic and Dodge Ram, and am looking at Buick, Caddy, MKS, Taurus and other...but I have had 4 Hondas, and I believed, as I do to this day, that they were better made than any Big 3 car I have owned...just my opinion, of course...but I have seen my share of American junk and I CAN see the forest for the trees, whereas the union folks just want to be sure that floor sweepers get paid their $30/hour for a job worth $5/hour...
I may rail against the unions, but, oddly enough, I have been buying Big 3 since 1998, five vehicles...
Does that mean I have earned the right to be critical???...
BTW, from a tax viewpoint, Mich and calif are probably two of the worst states to do business, which is why business is leaving to move to Nevada, Ariz, Oregon, Idaho...Michigan business is simply shutting down, as what they make is wanted by fewer and fewer people as time goes on...
Looking at this macroeconomically, the auto business isn't going away, it is simply changing, and change is always painful...While Big 3 plants shut down, new plants are being built by competitors in the South...they will NOT hire the experienced workers of the North simply because of their entitlement attitude and militant thoughts, where anytime the sun shines the wrong way they strike...I would bet it will be along time before any plant down south has any kind of a strike...
Unions were useful in the 1930s, maybe thru the 50s/60s...after that, they became too powerful, as workers should NEVER control the company, unless they have placed their risk capital on the line...the fact that they work there does NOT give them power...you might call the right to strike the power of the worker, but what you see happening is the long-term response to that right to strike...they will keep the right to strike when there is only one plant left in Michigan, and then the last UAW member will, hopefully, turn out the lights when the last unionized plant closes...
How many Toyotas?
It's interesting how there seems to have been a coordinated effort to stomp out talk about sludge on the part of Toyotas. If it were so minor, like the wrong snap ring having been installed in certain transmissions, it wouldn't have necessitated a PR effort. But there was a discussion here on edmunds with a rep of Toyota talking about that. But then the snap ring problem evolved into more with the shifting problem that people were having with the new fly-by-wire system. Kind of strange.
If GM were to have had the money saved from high paid workers and nonworkers, and high paid executives so that they could have done more PR and more replacements and recalls, it would help their image also.
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
My first Honda was a 1985 Prelude...buying one living in Detroit at the time was almsot dangerous...paid $12K, put 20K miles on it in 20 months, sold it for $11,500...try that with any Big 3...
Next, bought a 1986 4 Door Accord, so we had more room than the Prelude...
In 1988, bought 88 Prelude Si 4WS, and 1988 Legend L, easily the 2 best cars I have ever owned...the Prelude had all the power options and 4 wheel steering, which was the best option on any car in history...parallel parking and turning was a dream...kept it 180K miles, until 2001
88 Legend, to me, was the best designed family car I ever had...perfect size, well designed, everything ergonomic like the person who designed the dash actually sat in the car, something I often wonder if Big 3 designers ever do...kept it to 165K, and traded it for a 1998 Buick Regal, almost the worst car I ever owned since the 80s...
When we gave away the Prelude in 2001, we bought a 2000 Sable...
Ever since the Regal and Sable, altho my heart really wants imports because I believe Honda really makes superior cars, I buy American because I think it is the right thing to do (so far...:):):)...)...
So, I rail and scream about unions and the welfare-entitlement mentality of those they call "members", I think they should be thrown to the wolves for making some of the junk they do, yet I buy American because I want to support American industry...just because I want to support American industry does not mean I can't complain about what is wrong and how to improve it, and dumping the union and its workers WILL improve it...
Don't tell rocky I buy American, or I will never hear the end of it...he thinks I have a stable of Hondas and Toyotas, and I don't want him to think otherwise...:):):):):)...
Our experience was about 180 degrees out. I bought cheap Japanese vehicles from 1964 till 1978. All but one Datsun PU were PURE crap. I went back to BIG 3 vehicles in 1984 with a Ford Bronco that was great. From 1988 to 1998 it was all GM PU trucks and a Suburban. I traded the 98 Suburban for a 2005 GMC Hybrid PU truck that was just tinny. That is the best description I can give. I do NOT blame that on the UAW workers that built it in Indiana. I blame it on the bean counters, engineers and the Federal regulations. They destroyed the toughness of the PU trucks with crumple zones and light sheet metal to save a few pennies on gas. The 98 Suburban was a solid vehicle. I should not have sold it. I switched to a Sequoia as an interim vehicle until I can get a diesel SUV I really like. It will be made in the USA. Not likely by a UAW shop. That I blame on the UAW for making themselves the bad guys of the industry with some of the recent unwarranted strikes against GM.
I beg to differ. FTTP like Fios, is in limited availability because FTTP is very expensive to do on a mass scale and it's not 100% digital like U-verse.
-Rocky
-Rocky
I suppose we could rename the Detroit Pistons, the Detriot Bullets, since Washington, changed it's name to the geeky Wizards and like Killadelphia, where once proud industry's stood are now replaced by well bullets, and other violence.
Like I've said before my friends on the other side are getting what they wanted !!! The Free Market, has yielded us low paying jobs, and those high-tech jobs and service jobs you righty's love to talk about that are going to replace all these union jobs..... well where are they ??? huh ?? I didn't hear you ??? You've had 8 years of a republican president and 6 years of congress and all those low paying manufactoring jobs ya'll allowed to be shipped out are not being replaced by these high-paying service/high-tech jobs. Well from what I can see is this folks that manufactoring went to China/Mexico, The High-Tech/Service Jobs went to India, and everything else left here is being done by illegal aliens. The only secure jobs created under Bush, has been the healthcare industry but with everyone losing their jobs and not having insurance benefits who's going to pay the doctors and nurses ??? :surprise:
So lemko and I might jump off the deep end occassionally but darn it their is a lot of truth in what we say. I guess if you are surrounded by corn fields on all sides life may look differently in your perspective.
-Rocky
With the way you rail on UAW workers I would never have guessed you would drive a american made car. I almost wished you drove Honyota's but I have a feeling you wouldn't rail ontheir workers even though they make a helluva alot more in wages and benefits than your average UAW worker !!!
Also your anti-union/michigan rant from a earlier post is sad. Marsha7, you said something to the fact that workers don't have capital invested in the company thus they have no right to strike. Funny you rail on communist, socialist, dictators, but capitalism breeds that same mentatlity. The bottom line in all three is the select few at the top get it all. The greedy with money control the world and the chess game called life. Unions and other organizations that get togeather, and stick togeather like pawns can checkmate the kings. "United We Stand, Divided We Fall"
"The Rock"
My wife's niece and nephew live in Ohio. He is an airplane mechanic. Some airline went broke that he was working for. He was offered a great job in Alaska and turned it down. He cannot stand to be away from family and his Ohio State Football team. He is going to drive truck so he can stay in OHIO. He had a great job for the government here in San Diego and quit to go back to OHIO. go figure
Well who wants to live in Alaska, full-time ??? Maybe 2-3 months out of the year for me !!!! With the cost of living in Alaska, his truck driving job will more/less be equivalent I'm sure. I did the whole move out of state deal gagrice, and while I respect your accomplishments pal, which included a lot of moving around it's not for everyone. Some people are really close to their family's and trust me at times I regret moving back to michigan, but I believe 14 months later that I would still make the same decision over again as it has blessed me with a lot of happy times with my parents, brothers, grandparents, and a couple of lady friends that have lifted my spirit in my most difficult times.
"The Rock"
I have given you plenty of places to look. Companies are NOT going to move into Michigan with the political climate that exists there. Just talked to one of the guys that retired after I did. He is back working in his home town in Tennessee. He cannot believe the level of incompetence in the workplace. He is wiring schools and hotels for network access. He is 55 and claims these young guys are so slow. He did not want to go back to work but a friend begged him to at least work part time so the company could get caught up with all the work they have. Pulling cable through big buildings is not easy work. That is why they have a hard time getting help. Young people in general feel entitled to a paycheck for doing little or NOTHING.
A better question is who wants to eat? Who wants a decent lifestyle? Anchorage weather is very much like Michigan weather. Alaska was settled in the 1930s by people from Michigan. This is not the first time that Michigan was in the dumps. During the great Depression the Feds helped relocate several hundred families from Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin to the Matanuska Valley of Alaska. That was obviously a tougher breed of people than the current Michigan populace. I have NO sympathy for someone that will not move to get a job. I say let them starve where they like.
I hated to see my daughter and family move from here to Indiana. It was a good opportunity for them to own a home and get out of apartment living. His company gave him a raise to move out there from San Diego. They would have never been able to afford a home here. There they can have a home and a better life style than was possible here with his level of income.
The UAW workers that do not get re-trained in other skills are headed for the homeless shelters when the unemployment runs out. Obama is NOT going to save your jobs or the state of Michigan. He has no interest in the plight of the working man. NAFTA is here to stay and be expanded. Better to work within the confines than to be walking the streets digging in dumpsters.
I can tell you in TN he is making less than half of what he made working in Alaska. He just wanted to spend more time fishing with his grandkids and decided to take early retirement. He probably took the job to keep that big Dodge Ram filled with diesel and his 200HP bass boat motor running.
Amazing statement.
We are part of the global market when it comes to the wages which the companys wish to pay the worker actually making/handling/selling the stuff.
We are part of the global market when it comes to importing stuff.
We are part of the global market when it comes to the salaries paid executives in the companies NOT.
Through the years I've watched the executive compensation packages swell on the stocks I've looked at. But the worker compensation drops. The executives are understood by the people who end up in congress much better than they understand the working guy. The executives are the ones carrying the money to congress ( the housing industry is giving more and more as the legislation to bail them out with taxpayer money increases ). Now we're up to an $8000 tax credit for a new home mortgage to help the industry pawn off the costs of their bad mortgages onto the taxpayer.
And we have people ranting about UAW workers who soaked the industry through the years with the executives carrying the water buckets for them to do so. Overpaid yes.
For those gleeful that people are losing their jobs in Michigan, sometimes that comes home to roost. I have to admit there's no sympathy from me for those who sucked at the benefits of having those well-paid UAW workers.
I cut cross country through an area I used to drive on the way back from an antique shop yesterday. Many small businesses run out of small buildings along the route are GONE. It's been 3-4 years since I went that way and looked; but it's obvious they've gone with the decline in the economy.
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
That is just one of the American Dreams. To own a little shop along the highway for your retirement income. Along come the Interstate highways and bypass all those old state highways. The best example I can think of that shows what a person does when the clientele are removed is Kentucky Fried Chicken. I try to only drive on the back country highways and avoiding the Interstates when possible. You are right, more businesses have gone broke than have survived. Life is all about change. The UAW workers will have to adapt to the changes that are coming. I am not happy to see the Unions go. I hope my Union stays strong to keep my retirement going. If worse comes to worse I do have a 401K to fall back on. Everyone should have contingency plans for now and for their future. That is each persons responsibility. Not the job of the government.
It used to be called "Saving for a Rainy Day".
Yes, but there IS a difference that you fail to recognize...in a capitalist society like ours, EVERYONE has the opportunity to start a business and try and make it to the top...whereas someone who works for Ford IS at the mercy of Ford, s/he can leave and use their talents to start or run a business, whereas that is quite hard to do under communism and socialism...
Capitalism is a cruel master...those who don't make it will go down in flames, but thay had the chance, and, can try again...to use a worn out example, Colonel Sanders started KFC when he was 66, and when he was 66, 66 was considered very old, now it is considered middle age...he could not have done that in Russia...
But, those who make it have earned it...it is simple...capitalism is the equivalent of Business Darwinism...some computer guy years ago called it Creative Destruction, where successful businesses die off because of newer and better technology, and Society is better off for it...in the company that dies, the workers lose their jobs, but that is the consequence of capitalism...the economy is certainly stronger when weaker compaies die off, and the stronger economy will absorb the displaced workers, PROVIDING THAT THE WORKER TRIES TO IMPROVE THEIR TRAINING AND LOT IN LIFE, instead of simply lamenting the loss of the "jobs bank"...
Just like the drug addict who finds himself in the gutter, and then wakes up and realizes what he has done to himself, so it is with the Big 3...after 25 years of Japanese imports, they are FINALLY realizing they are in a fight for their lives, and THAT is what will bring change to the industry...they will shed the unions as the albatross they are, and motivated workers WILL come to work for them, like they line up when Honda builds a plant in Alabama and Kia builds a plant in Georgia...people who want to work a day for a day's pay...
What you cannot yet see is simply the gut-wrenching change in the auto industry called Creative Destruction...it may take the near destruction of GM or Ford for them to throw out the deadwood and get back on track...they got big, they got arrogant, and they thought they could sell us anything THEY wanted, until competitors came in right under their collective noses and gave us what WE wanted...
The entire state of Michigan will forever be caught up in the union "gimme gimme" mentality until they finally bury the state...not because I say so, but because anyone who can see the fluorescent handwriting on the wall (since 1985) will realize that Michigan is about as business-unfriendly a state as one can be...
No one is moving into the state, people and businesses are leaving in droves, and the wishful thinkers think Obama will "bring jobs to Michigan"...he can't and he won't...the rust belt will continue to rust because they refuse to change with the times...
If you insist on staying in Michigan, get into an industry that caters to retirees, because that is all that will be left when the workers have no jobs...
Juts like the nation changed dramatically when the auto industry grew from 1910, and workers came to Michigan in droves, now the pendulum has reversed and you won't see it...the jobs are elsewhere, but Michigan pretends that it is still the center of the auto world...it isn't, it lost it years ago, and it will never return...
Michigan rode the top for 75 years, and now it is time to acknowledge that its time has come, and passed...
10 years from now, rocky, you will be posting about how President XYZ will bring jobs to Michigan...while the state will probably turn into the next Mississippi...
http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/business/articles/0705biz-blogspot0705.- html
Yeah, and it seems we've been going through an eight-year monsoon! Every one of those closed shops has a story behind it. Could be the owners just got very old and wanted out. Could've been a family legacy that was promised but wasn't passed down to the younger generation or the young people didn't want anything to do with it. Could be a young person threw his whole life savings into it, went bankrupt trying to compete with the big boxes, and then went home and ate a pistol.