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What are the instances of improperly assembled cars causing problems vs improperly designed cars?
I suspect a lot of problems with panel misalignment come from low quality materials as much as anything - cut costs so the few at the top can collect their undeserved fortunes.
Funny you'd bring up the Roadhazzard, because I like everything about that car...EXCEPT its looks! :P Big, roomy, comfortable, V-8, RWD, body-on-frame, GM, and a Buick. Too bad they had to muff it up with the styling. Honestly, the style wouldn't be enough to turn me off...in fact, I've come close to buying one on several occasions. But I'll agree, it ain't no beauty queen!
I think the reason they look so fat is that the front and rear are severely tapered, yet in the middle they're about as fat as you can before you have to register the thing as a truck. And that skirted look at the rear wheels doesn't help, either.
Is it me or did anyone else notice in the GM 60 day guarantee that all the cars featured were new 2010 model years except for the Malibu? Cars that would be almost impossible to find in the lot.
I think I might take them up on the Cobalt and come back after 60 complaining about something that broke and how it was put together by the UAW.
They took our jerbs. They took our jerbs. They took our jerbs.
I've seen 85 year old, 350 pound women with no teeth in Spandex that look better than the Roadmaster...that is a vehicle that, while probably poorly assembled by unskilled, overpaid UAW workers, is a living (dying) monument to what the engineers/designers can do to a car when the boss is away for a week or two...who, in heaven's name, had the guts to APPROVE that design and was then probably promoted to "head design engineer" for such an aerodynamic design that put GM on the forefront of automotive engineering...at least in the lemko stable, maybe, but nobody else on Planet Earth...
Hey, has anyone checked lemko's credentials???...we don't really know is he is from Planet Earth either... :P
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Heck, I'll be there Nov 8-13 - will just miss it. Maybe that's why I got such a great deal on my room rate for that week if there are no major conventions in town.
The DTS is a good-looking car. It's amazing how well the Art & Science look works on this car, considering that the platform and basic body shell had debuted before Cadillac switched to that divisional look.
The dealer group that I bought my Intrepid from has a black 2008 DTS with 20,000 miles on it, for $27K. At that price, I'm kinda tempted, although even that's still more than I've ever paid for a car! I don't know what trim level it is, but the specs say it has 275 hp and it runs on regular unleaded. I think that's a base model; don't the more uplevel ones like Lemko's have around 300 hp?
Rentals don't bother me. I have sold hundred of them used and never had and customers have problems with them. The more highline expensive rental cars aren't getting beat on anyway. I would look for something with a little less miles 20,000 miles on a 2008 is a little on the hefty side. Most of the off rental cars we get are under 15,000 miles and sometimes they are under 10,000 miles.
That's a lower-end DTS. Mine is the top-of-the-line DTS Perfomance and has 300 hp. The hierarchy was: DTS V8, Luxury I, Luxury II, Luxury III, Performance.
Yeah, I am sure most of the higher line rentals are rented by more mature people. But some of the lower cars seem to not be babied....I rented a Spectra once that had been neglected.
Carfax says two owner first time in New York where it was registered as a commercial vehicle and it says TAXI.
I take everything Carfax says with a grain of salt but that is not a good sign.
Was sold at auction with 15,000 miles listed as manufacturer vehicle.
Sold by a dealership in Maryland Ourisman Rockmont Chevrolet Rockville, MD 301-424-5900
Looks like they sold it to someone who registered in in VA for six or so months then got rid of it.
02/04/2009 Virginia Motor Vehicle Dept. Arlington, VA Registration issued or renewed Title or registration issued New owner reported Loan or lien reported
07/27/2009 20,722 Lindsay Lexus of Alexandria Alexandria, VA 703-931-3000 www.lindsaylexus.com Tire condition and pressure checked Pre-delivery inspection completed
Interesting that it was at a Lexus dealer before it got to the Sheey place in Springfield.
08/17/2009 20,762 Virginia Inspection Station Springfield, VA Passed emissions inspection 08/22/2009 20,779 Online Listing Vehicle offered for sale
>rentals don't bother me...never had customers have problems with them.
Aren't some of the cars listed as rents actually some kind of lease car or long term use by a company or an individual?
I've watched the rentals going through some local dealerships. CarFax says they were sold to a rental company, but those cars don't look abused at all. I even noticed one with bits of packing tape on the windows like someone had had a sign in the window the way people do when they put up their car for sale.
Ohio is spending about $52 billion in welfare, food stamps and Medicaid for workers of 50 largest employers due to their low wages (or is it the very high threshholds for losing eligibility for the welfare programs these days?).
Would having unions help? Note, I see Kroger's which owns food and other stores around the country listed as employer of some of those receiving my money.
1. Unionize 2. Better wages and benes, state saves money 3. Company paying union wages and benes is uncompetitive, folds. 4. Workers on welfare, even more state costs than before. :shades:
...of Sam Walton on CNBC last night. Was he a hero or a villain or just a clever businessman who got lucky? His wife Helen shares the lion's credit for the ordinary Wal~Mart associates getting into the profit-sharing plan. Today's Wal~Mart is far different from the company Sam Walton started. I wonder if he'd be pleased or appalled at what it has become? The Feds subsidize a lot of Wal~Mart associates because of the poor pay.
I believe the states contribute a lot of the Medicaid costs and that total will increase as Medicaid is expanded even more under legislation pending. Note that Nevada, New York, and 3 others have been exempted from the cost of the increased coverage, but the rest of us will pay our own increases along with the federal costs to pay those states' shares for them.
My point was that while certain unions deserve criticism for their greed, there are others who are being taken advantage of by their employers with short hours, low pay, and/or limited benefits. The taxpayers pick up that extra cost at the same time we're hit with the costs of lowering economic activity due to certain union's high costs and the fed's hurting manufacturing and business in this country.
Sam Walton would NOT be pleased with what this has turned into.
Yes just because carfax says it is a rental doesn't mean that it is. Just cause carfax says it was a commercial lease doesn't mean it wasn't actually a rental either.
The only way to tell for sure is to look at the title of the car. If the title says Hertz then yup it was a rental. If it says some other company that doesn't look like it was a rental agency then maybe not.
I saw the same show about Sam Walton...naturally, they whined about the loss of Mom & Pop stores, but never go back to investigate that when Mom & Pop were in business, their prices practically raped the townspeople...
Be glad that WalMart is NOT unionized...please explain to me why shelf-stockers, floorsweepers, and cashiers using bar code scanners would be worth any more pay than they are paid now...this is no different than the lugbolt tighteners of the UAW thinking they are worth $25-plus/hour, plus gold-plated health insurance, plus a pension until they reach 125 years old...
The managers at Walmart are skilled, I'm sure...but the guy who puts Rice Krispies on the shelf is, should be, and always will be, a minimum wage job, and that is the wage before they raised it from $5.25/hour...
Let's face it, he does not even have to read...just look at the picture of the Wheaties or Cheerios and you know where they go on the shelf...
I am waiting to see who responds to this, arguing with me about the skill level of shelf re-stockers or UAW lugnut tighteners...
".......but never go back to investigate that when Mom & Pop were in business, their prices practically raped the townspeople..."
Did it ever occur to you that they "raped" you because their wholesaler is "raping them"??? There is NO excuse for a "Mom & Pop" to pay less for an item sold at retail (like Coke products, or Hunts) at a Wal Mart than they would from a wholesaler or the Coke distributor. That's not "free market" that's "market manipulation"
"...please explain to me why shelf-stockers, floorsweepers, and cashiers using bar code scanners would be worth any more pay than they are paid now..."
They probably aren't, but it must be pretty frustrating when they see the thousands of dollars in products they scan every hour, and all they got out of it is a measley $8.50.
We can probably agree that pro athletes aren't worth anywhere near what they get, but they get what they get because they see TV networks throwing money at the leagues feverishly, and all they have to do is stick their hands out and threaten to walk away, (gee, what a novel concept) and they get what they want.
$412,000 MINIMUM WAGE in MLB, just for ONE DAY IN THE MAJORS!!!!!
we have a theoretically free market can a player make that $$$
"$412,000 MINIMUM WAGE in MLB, just for ONE DAY IN THE MAJORS!!!!!"...Someone is voluntarily paying those players...in principle, I have no problem with that in a somewhat free market, but my problem is that the local taxpayers pay for the stadium so hot dog vendors can make minimum wage (now argue with me about how skilled hot dog vendors are and how necessary they are to the national economy and national defense)...let the team owners pay for their own damn stadium, and quit pretending that taxpyers need to pay for a billion $$$ stadium so a few inner city residents can have a job on Sundays...if the team owners bought the stadium, they would be less likely to hold a city hostage, threatening to move the team (if I was mayor I would let them leave in a heartbeat), and the stupid politicians who are afraid to tell the team owners to stick it...
Let the stadium go, and let the UAW go with it...send them all to Guatamala...
>let the team owners pay for their own damn stadium, and quit pretending that taxpyers need to pay for a billion $$$ stadium so a few inner city residents can have a job on Sundays
I was going to bring up the owners' blackmail of cities who stupidly pay for stadiums to keep the teams there. It's like the UAW's strikes against the automakers in the past.
I think someone mentioned minimum wage for hot dog vendors... the stadiums use charitable groups to staff some of their stands. Actually they contract those stands out to huge multinational corporations who have subsidiaries that use charitable groups at very low pay per hour. The charitable groups raise money for their school clubs and groups. I believe the one stadium food vendor in Cincy was going to pay 30$ per person for the groups to work from approx 9 am to 5 pm. One of the corps is DNC, Delaware North Corporation , which I believe also operates gambling devices in some way. But at the same time they pay a pittance to the groups operating their concession stands.
The underpaying of workers is what the UAW and other unions formed to work against. The big corporations take advantage of workers.
I was going to bring up the owners' blackmail of cities who stupidly pay for stadiums to keep the teams there. It's like the UAW's strikes against the automakers in the past.
Actually, doesn't WalMart sort of fit the same category? They get all these big subsidies and tax breaks and such to move into a community, incentives that existing business owners don't get. So yeah, maybe they're charging lower prices, but in the long run we're all paying for it. And then, after a few years, sometimes they'll move their location just outside city limits to avoid paying taxes, leaving an empty shell behind that's too big for anyone else to occupy, so it just gets boarded up and becomes an eyesore.
Actually, doesn't WalMart sort of fit the same category? They get all these big subsidies and tax breaks and such to move into a community, incentives that existing business owners don't get
I don't think the tax breaks/incentives/etc that are thrown at companies like Walmart are any where's near as bad as what's done to attract and keep professional sports teams.
At least in some cases, the incentives used to attract businesses have a better chance of providing a return on the taxpayers' investments than do those associated with sports stadiums.
There's been a couple of papers written about the ROI that South Carolina has seen when it attracted the BMW plant to the Spartanburg area. According to one article, SC's initial incentives were around $130 million, and the state has since kicked in some more to support expansion of the plants. According to this same article, BMW will have invested around $4.2 billion, and it's suppliers another $2.1 billion. The jobs at the BMW plant itself are around 6,000, with many more provided by it's suppliers. So, it looks like from SC's perspective, this has been a roaring success.
rockylee, this particular posting to which I am replying has some stuff I'd like to ask you about.
Lot's of water has passed under the bridge, so to speak.
DCX and GM are the happy recipients of much more than $1 billion. You, me, and the rest of the taxpayers will be paying interest on that money for the next 30 years. The UAW's man in the White House stole GM from its owners and gave part of that ownership to GM.
Have these events served to increase or to sour the loyalty you expressed for UAW two years ago?
Rocky bailed on us a while back and hasn't reappeared (yet....). But maybe he'll see your post.
In Ford/UAW news,
"While Hinrichs said consolidating skilled-trades classifications might not save a lot of money, there are big differences between Ford and its domestic competitors.
“Chrysler went to two skilled trades classifications. GM went to three skilled-trades classifications,” Hinrichs said. “We have roughly 20.”
it must be pretty frustrating when they see the thousands of dollars in products they scan every hour, and all they got out of it is a measley $8.50.
Yeah, ask Bank Tellers.
Professional Ball Players - the $400K minimum salary is because there is a limited pool of workers with the necessary talent. This drives wages up. That is, if anybody could play ball at the Pro level, they'd be making minimum wage.
Cashier-checkers.... anybody can do it.
Simple as that.
WalMart - Buys large volumes of product. Sellers give them a better price because they're guaranteed a minimum volume. It's called "Economy of Scale".
Mom & Pop - The cost of delivering them six cans is the essentially the same same as delivering 100 cases to WalMart - cost of processing an invoice is the same regardless of the dollar amount of the invoice. Cost of the truck and the driver doesn't vary much between the two situations, and so on.
Did it ever occur to you that they "raped" you because their wholesaler is "raping them"??? There is NO excuse for a "Mom & Pop" to pay less for an item sold at retail (like Coke products, or Hunts) at a Wal Mart than they would from a wholesaler or the Coke distributor. That's not "free market" that's "market manipulation"
After reading that, I'm just about certain that you have no experience in business-to-business sales. I have, & I can tell you that it's cheaper - in many cases, much cheaper - for a distributor, wholesaler, or manufacturer to service 5 or 10 large accounts than 50 or 100 small accounts. The big accounts know that, & they expect you to share some of that savings with them by giving them lower prices or easier credit (allowing them an extra 30 days to pay, for example). And that's OK with you, because instead of sending 100 trucks out to 100 stores spread across a dozen states, you'll send 5 trucks to one regional warehouse. You'll also issue just 1 invoice instead of 100. (And never mind the cost of running credit checks on 100 small stores, some of which weren't in business last month & won't be around next month.)
Customers who buy in bulk have always gotten lower prices than customers who buy one or two at a time. That was true long before Walmart came along & it would still be true if Walmart disappeared tomorrow. For the life of me, I can't see why anyone would see this as "rape".
Fast Company says Amazon is the new Walmart nowadays, so everything will be dropped shipped anyway.
The only question is who wins bringing trinkets to your door - union UPS or non-union FedEx?
This may surprise some of us:
"Labor costs at Ford Motor Co (F.N) are about $16 an hour higher in Canada than in the United States, the Canadian Auto Workers confirmed on Friday, but union said it needs guarantees on production levels before it agrees to concessions to level the field.
The CAW and Ford have been in cost-cutting negotiations since Sept. 8."
"Labor costs at Ford Motor Co (F.N) are about $16 an hour higher in Canada than in the United States, the Canadian Auto Workers confirmed on Friday, but union said it needs guarantees on production levels before it agrees to concessions to level the field.
The CAW and Ford have been in cost-cutting negotiations since Sept. 8."
Where's the universal health care savings?
Good question. The UAW always claimed it was the health care costs that made them more expensive, not the wages. So why is Canada so expensive?
According to one article, SC's initial incentives were around $130 million, and the state has since kicked in some more to support expansion of the plants
A standoff between South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford and the state's unemployment agency is endangering benefits to thousands of people.
The state's unemployment fund will run dry by the end of the day unless the state accesses a $146 million federal loan to keep benefits flowing through March.
But the Republican governor has said he won't sign a request for the loan ...
Since the recession began in January 2008, nearly 85,000 people in Mecklenburg County - 18 percent of the workforce - have filed first-time unemployment claims after losing their jobs
That fellow in South Carolina thinks that trade is working for him now that foreign investment is coming to a state with low taxes and no unions to manufacture cars and other things for export. The weak dollar surely makes such things very attractive for those manufacturers at the moment, but it's not clear that this trade has been "fair" at all. South Carolina lost over 250,000 jobs since the '90s, not even close to the jobs it's gained from these plants. But conservatives truly believe that "their betters" have their best interests at heart, so they've come to believe these people are actually heroes of a sort:
The industry in Canada is inseparable from the U.S. market, thanks largely to the historic Canada-U.S. Auto Pact, signed in 1965. Under the deal, U.S. carmakers, in exchange for tariff-free access, had to assemble in Canada at least one vehicle for every one sold in the country. By 1999, at 3.1 million vehicles, the industry had a two-to-one ratio - unmatched in the developed world. That same year, the World Trade Organization struck down the Auto Pact, which in the era of free trade and NAFTA was no longer valid. And unnecessary, many thought, given the industry's incredible output. Since then, production has been scaled back, and this year, the ratio will be about 1.5 to one.
The little hitch in taking Obama money is the mandate to continue extended unemployment. The states cannot afford that. Many are on the verge of BK. Someone getting $400+ per week on unemployment is not going to take a job paying $8 per hour. Unemployment is not a job. It is supposed to cover for SHORT periods while you are unemployed. I know people waiting for the unemployment to run out before they get serious about job hunting.
Comments
GM profits? Where? I can't find them!
I suspect a lot of problems with panel misalignment come from low quality materials as much as anything - cut costs so the few at the top can collect their undeserved fortunes.
Regards,
OW
At least the DTS does have some decent looks, whereas the Roadmaster looks like a pregnant whale from the rear...
And probably assmebled ny UAW labor, but what does THAT have to do with it???...
I think the reason they look so fat is that the front and rear are severely tapered, yet in the middle they're about as fat as you can before you have to register the thing as a truck. And that skirted look at the rear wheels doesn't help, either.
link title
I think I might take them up on the Cobalt and come back after 60 complaining about something that broke and how it was put together by the UAW.
They took our jerbs. They took our jerbs. They took our jerbs.
Hey, has anyone checked lemko's credentials???...we don't really know is he is from Planet Earth either...
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2015 Kia Soul, 2021 Subaru Forester (kirstie_h), 2024 GMC Sierra 1500 (mr. kirstie_h)
Review your vehicle
Carfax says two owner first time in New York where it was registered as a commercial vehicle and it says TAXI.
I take everything Carfax says with a grain of salt but that is not a good sign.
Was sold at auction with 15,000 miles listed as manufacturer vehicle.
Sold by a dealership in Maryland Ourisman Rockmont Chevrolet
Rockville, MD
301-424-5900
Looks like they sold it to someone who registered in in VA for six or so months then got rid of it.
02/04/2009 Virginia
Motor Vehicle Dept.
Arlington, VA Registration issued or renewed
Title or registration issued
New owner reported
Loan or lien reported
07/27/2009 20,722 Lindsay Lexus of Alexandria
Alexandria, VA
703-931-3000
www.lindsaylexus.com Tire condition and pressure checked
Pre-delivery inspection completed
Interesting that it was at a Lexus dealer before it got to the Sheey place in Springfield.
08/17/2009 20,762 Virginia
Inspection Station
Springfield, VA Passed emissions inspection
08/22/2009 20,779 Online Listing Vehicle offered for sale
Aren't some of the cars listed as rents actually some kind of lease car or long term use by a company or an individual?
I've watched the rentals going through some local dealerships. CarFax says they were sold to a rental company, but those cars don't look abused at all. I even noticed one with bits of packing tape on the windows like someone had had a sign in the window the way people do when they put up their car for sale.
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
http://www.daytondailynews.com/news/ohio-news/employees-of-big-companies-fill-oh- - ios-medicaid-food-stamp-rolls-report-says-323224.html
Would having unions help? Note, I see Kroger's which owns food and other stores around the country listed as employer of some of those receiving my money.
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
Perhaps temporarily:
1. Unionize
2. Better wages and benes, state saves money
3. Company paying union wages and benes is uncompetitive, folds.
4. Workers on welfare, even more state costs than before.
:shades:
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
I believe the states contribute a lot of the Medicaid costs and that total will increase as Medicaid is expanded even more under legislation pending. Note that Nevada, New York, and 3 others have been exempted from the cost of the increased coverage, but the rest of us will pay our own increases along with the federal costs to pay those states' shares for them.
My point was that while certain unions deserve criticism for their greed, there are others who are being taken advantage of by their employers with short hours, low pay, and/or limited benefits. The taxpayers pick up that extra cost at the same time we're hit with the costs of lowering economic activity due to certain union's high costs and the fed's hurting manufacturing and business in this country.
Sam Walton would NOT be pleased with what this has turned into.
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
Feds subsidize a lot of Wal~Mart associates
Where would these folks be working if there were no Wal~Mart?
Would those jobs be paying them more? If so, why aren't they leaving Wal~Mart now for those jobs? :confuse:
Who was it that said the Deere strike vote was just business as usual? Speak up so we can give you credit.
Ah, it was Cooterbfd. Here's his prediction come true:
Deere and UAW reach new 6-year contract (MarketWatch)
The only way to tell for sure is to look at the title of the car. If the title says Hertz then yup it was a rental. If it says some other company that doesn't look like it was a rental agency then maybe not.
How can an individual get the previous title for the car?
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
Be glad that WalMart is NOT unionized...please explain to me why shelf-stockers, floorsweepers, and cashiers using bar code scanners would be worth any more pay than they are paid now...this is no different than the lugbolt tighteners of the UAW thinking they are worth $25-plus/hour, plus gold-plated health insurance, plus a pension until they reach 125 years old...
The managers at Walmart are skilled, I'm sure...but the guy who puts Rice Krispies on the shelf is, should be, and always will be, a minimum wage job, and that is the wage before they raised it from $5.25/hour...
Let's face it, he does not even have to read...just look at the picture of the Wheaties or Cheerios and you know where they go on the shelf...
I am waiting to see who responds to this, arguing with me about the skill level of shelf re-stockers or UAW lugnut tighteners...
Did it ever occur to you that they "raped" you because their wholesaler is "raping them"??? There is NO excuse for a "Mom & Pop" to pay less for an item sold at retail (like Coke products, or Hunts) at a Wal Mart than they would from a wholesaler or the Coke distributor. That's not "free market" that's "market manipulation"
"...please explain to me why shelf-stockers, floorsweepers, and cashiers using bar code scanners would be worth any more pay than they are paid now..."
They probably aren't, but it must be pretty frustrating when they see the thousands of dollars in products they scan every hour, and all they got out of it is a measley $8.50.
We can probably agree that pro athletes aren't worth anywhere near what they get, but they get what they get because they see TV networks throwing money at the leagues feverishly, and all they have to do is stick their hands out and threaten to walk away, (gee, what a novel concept) and they get what they want.
$412,000 MINIMUM WAGE in MLB, just for ONE DAY IN THE MAJORS!!!!!
And you think $8.50 is too much???
I think I'd better get my glove out of the closet. :P
"$412,000 MINIMUM WAGE in MLB, just for ONE DAY IN THE MAJORS!!!!!"...Someone is voluntarily paying those players...in principle, I have no problem with that in a somewhat free market, but my problem is that the local taxpayers pay for the stadium so hot dog vendors can make minimum wage (now argue with me about how skilled hot dog vendors are and how necessary they are to the national economy and national defense)...let the team owners pay for their own damn stadium, and quit pretending that taxpyers need to pay for a billion $$$ stadium so a few inner city residents can have a job on Sundays...if the team owners bought the stadium, they would be less likely to hold a city hostage, threatening to move the team (if I was mayor I would let them leave in a heartbeat), and the stupid politicians who are afraid to tell the team owners to stick it...
Let the stadium go, and let the UAW go with it...send them all to Guatamala...
I was going to bring up the owners' blackmail of cities who stupidly pay for stadiums to keep the teams there. It's like the UAW's strikes against the automakers in the past.
I think someone mentioned minimum wage for hot dog vendors... the stadiums use charitable groups to staff some of their stands. Actually they contract those stands out to huge multinational corporations who have subsidiaries that use charitable groups at very low pay per hour. The charitable groups raise money for their school clubs and groups. I believe the one stadium food vendor in Cincy was going to pay 30$ per person for the groups to work from approx 9 am to 5 pm. One of the corps is DNC, Delaware North Corporation , which I believe also operates gambling devices in some way. But at the same time they pay a pittance to the groups operating their concession stands.
The underpaying of workers is what the UAW and other unions formed to work against. The big corporations take advantage of workers.
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
Actually, doesn't WalMart sort of fit the same category? They get all these big subsidies and tax breaks and such to move into a community, incentives that existing business owners don't get. So yeah, maybe they're charging lower prices, but in the long run we're all paying for it. And then, after a few years, sometimes they'll move their location just outside city limits to avoid paying taxes, leaving an empty shell behind that's too big for anyone else to occupy, so it just gets boarded up and becomes an eyesore.
I don't think the tax breaks/incentives/etc that are thrown at companies like Walmart are any where's near as bad as what's done to attract and keep professional sports teams.
At least in some cases, the incentives used to attract businesses have a better chance of providing a return on the taxpayers' investments than do those associated with sports stadiums.
There's been a couple of papers written about the ROI that South Carolina has seen when it attracted the BMW plant to the Spartanburg area. According to one article, SC's initial incentives were around $130 million, and the state has since kicked in some more to support expansion of the plants. According to this same article, BMW will have invested around $4.2 billion, and it's suppliers another $2.1 billion. The jobs at the BMW plant itself are around 6,000, with many more provided by it's suppliers. So, it looks like from SC's perspective, this has been a roaring success.
Here's the article.
BMW Keeps SC Economy Humming
Lot's of water has passed under the bridge, so to speak.
DCX and GM are the happy recipients of much more than $1 billion. You, me, and the rest of the taxpayers will be paying interest on that money for the next 30 years. The UAW's man in the White House stole GM from its owners and gave part of that ownership to GM.
Have these events served to increase or to sour the loyalty you expressed for UAW two years ago?
In Ford/UAW news,
"While Hinrichs said consolidating skilled-trades classifications might not save a lot of money, there are big differences between Ford and its domestic competitors.
“Chrysler went to two skilled trades classifications. GM went to three skilled-trades classifications,” Hinrichs said. “We have roughly 20.”
Ford stays patient on UAW pact changes (Detroit Free Press)
Yeah, ask Bank Tellers.
Professional Ball Players - the $400K minimum salary is because there is a limited pool of workers with the necessary talent. This drives wages up. That is, if anybody could play ball at the Pro level, they'd be making minimum wage.
Cashier-checkers.... anybody can do it.
Simple as that.
WalMart - Buys large volumes of product. Sellers give them a better price because they're guaranteed a minimum volume. It's called "Economy of Scale".
Mom & Pop - The cost of delivering them six cans is the essentially the same same as delivering 100 cases to WalMart - cost of processing an invoice is the same regardless of the dollar amount of the invoice. Cost of the truck and the driver doesn't vary much between the two situations, and so on.
After reading that, I'm just about certain that you have no experience in business-to-business sales. I have, & I can tell you that it's cheaper - in many cases, much cheaper - for a distributor, wholesaler, or manufacturer to service 5 or 10 large accounts than 50 or 100 small accounts. The big accounts know that, & they expect you to share some of that savings with them by giving them lower prices or easier credit (allowing them an extra 30 days to pay, for example). And that's OK with you, because instead of sending 100 trucks out to 100 stores spread across a dozen states, you'll send 5 trucks to one regional warehouse. You'll also issue just 1 invoice instead of 100. (And never mind the cost of running credit checks on 100 small stores, some of which weren't in business last month & won't be around next month.)
Customers who buy in bulk have always gotten lower prices than customers who buy one or two at a time. That was true long before Walmart came along & it would still be true if Walmart disappeared tomorrow. For the life of me, I can't see why anyone would see this as "rape".
The only question is who wins bringing trinkets to your door - union UPS or non-union FedEx?
This may surprise some of us:
"Labor costs at Ford Motor Co (F.N) are about $16 an hour higher in Canada than in the United States, the Canadian Auto Workers confirmed on Friday, but union said it needs guarantees on production levels before it agrees to concessions to level the field.
The CAW and Ford have been in cost-cutting negotiations since Sept. 8."
Where's the universal health care savings?
Ford Canada labor talks aim to cut $16/hr gap (Reuters)
The CAW and Ford have been in cost-cutting negotiations since Sept. 8."
Where's the universal health care savings?
Good question. The UAW always claimed it was the health care costs that made them more expensive, not the wages. So why is Canada so expensive?
A standoff between South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford and the state's unemployment agency is endangering benefits to thousands of people.
The state's unemployment fund will run dry by the end of the day unless the state accesses a $146 million federal loan to keep benefits flowing through March.
But the Republican governor has said he won't sign a request for the loan ...
http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1A1-D95DO0VG0.html
Since the recession began in January 2008, nearly 85,000 people in Mecklenburg County - 18 percent of the workforce - have filed first-time unemployment claims after losing their jobs
http://www.charlotteobserver.com/business/story/961777.html
That fellow in South Carolina thinks that trade is working for him now that foreign investment is coming to a state with low taxes and no unions to manufacture cars and other things for export. The weak dollar surely makes such things very attractive for those manufacturers at the moment, but it's not clear that this trade has been "fair" at all. South Carolina lost over 250,000 jobs since the '90s, not even close to the jobs it's gained from these plants. But conservatives truly believe that "their betters" have their best interests at heart, so they've come to believe these people are actually heroes of a sort:
http://www.alternet.org/story/69927/
http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/index.cfm?PgNm=TCE&Params=M1ARTM0012328