When the product COST is $2000 more on a sub 20K car, it is significant. It means that for what it costs you to build, your competitor can build the same car and add $2000 more in refinements to it and still sell it for the same price.

What did you expect? That Obama will send someone to your house to cook you meals? Other than the debt (which has been going up significantly since Bush took over) I generally like the changes the new govt has made so far.

It seems like you haven't been paying much attention. I can think of at least one union that the Obama administration has irritated: the teachers' union. As to the UAW, I wouldn't call them being in bed with the govt either. The UAW just signed major concessions, and if the govt has its way, they'll make more cuts in GM's budget to cut costs.

True, my point was that Nike has a 100 year plan, while I believe our automakers had more like a 1 year plan. You cannot be shortsighted in a global economy, and it bit them in the ass. Whoever said a Focus was a good car better look into the SOHC 4 bangers. I have a dead one right now, that the valve seat broke, sending pieces into the piston destroying the motor. Still waiting on the junkyard to find another motor for less than 1k (because they fail so often). Have not had any experience with the DOHC ZTEC's yet. How bout the Quad 4's that puke their coolant into the oil, got one of them too. New head gasket didn't fix that one. IMO, the American companies haven't figured out the 4 bangers yet, so I'll keep driving the Honda.

In my opinion the UAW has noone to blame than themselves.
Back in the day when American cars were plentiful & cheap the UAW held a lot of power up in Detriot. They got excessive wages, benefits & retirement plans. Which was OK then, good for them.
Now it's a different story. Their fighting for their lives and the UAW needs to wake up and see that they don't hold the business end of the gun anymore. They need to take pay cuts & work less hours until the economy comes back. Then maybe they can get back to decent not excessive wages.
Much like the iron/metal industry has done.

It kills me when they say they can't live if they take a pay cut into their $120,000 salaries. Especially considering most of them do a job a monkey can be trained to do. It's not like their college educated.
Everybody's living above their means. Whatever happened to saving for a rainy day? Well, it's raining!

Rant over

Danny

My mistake. I meant to say in bed with the Democrats rather than the government as a whole. As for making major concessions. Too little too late. They still exist which means the company will still be stuck with an albatross round it's as it attempts to "reinvent" itself.

- Peter.

Hopefully not. Otherwise, it will be late, bad and I will have to fill out 300 forms just to take a sniff of it. Where is our tobacco windfall money? Why do I still have to wait at the drive thru for the pharmacist to ask if I have any questions for my 100th refill? Why is medicare billing still such a huge mess that is paying less and asking for more? You wanna talk about the Ethanol problems?

Such as? Sure, I like his stand on abortion and stem cell research but what else has been accomplished so far?

Well, they were calling our place to vote for Obama because the wife works in a union hospital. Guess they will be disappointed at their investment.

Sentence of the day.

Your opinions may be different, but I think the stimulus bill was overall a good thing. I also like the new single federal mileage standard for cars that will at least for now replace a patchwork of different state rules. I also like that Obama banned torture and re-focused on Afghanistan and Pakistan. I'm still waiting to see what comes out on health care. If we had a single payer health care system like in other countries, you wouldn't have those billing issues that you mentioned. Sadly, the single-payer system is currently off the table, apparently due to strong lobbying by health insurance companies. But at least a govt plan to compete with private health insurance is supposedly in the works. I'll definitely examine it if and when it comes out. But we're getting off-topic...

Somebody missed the Case For Working With Your Hands thread.

That was about somebody who went with a different job that he liked. Unfortunately, I think most of the assembly line workers are there because they are unsuitable for any other job that will pay as well.

one of the direct effects
 

I have a co-worker that purchased a Saturn SUV about a year and a half ago. He went to the dealer today for an oil change and he said all the cars and salesmen were gone. There were some guys there servicing the customers cars and they were able to change his oil though.

one more
 

China Hummer

It is going to be interesting to see how much China can put Hummers on the $treet for versus GM. I'm guessing they will ship production to mainland China and build em there for distribution throughout the world. Interesting that they own the company that builds our military vehicles now isn't it:rolleyes:.

Let's have a quiet moment of silence for the late, great, America when Packards, Dusenburgs, Pierce-Arrow, Cadillacs and Lincolns ruled.

GM only has the consumer grade Hummers. The real HMMWVs are still made by AM General in the USA. The military would never let that go, for good reason.

Or, said another way, are untrained for any other job that will pay better.

I remember going on a tour of the Harley Davidson Final Assembley plant in York PA back in the late 90's. There was a blonde gal lacing up wire wheels. Thought to myself on that hot August day in the plant without A/C, what a crummy job. Went back two years later and I ain't lying, same woman doing the same job. (I remembered the blonde hair;))

Probably a pretty good paying job in So. Central PA. Pay and benefits at union scale. She was maybe mid 30's Probably making 20-25 an hour, say 40-50k a year. A high school grad (assuming she was) without trade skills ain't gonna do much better than that in most places.

Life's a *****. Then you die.

Did you find out if the carpet matched the drapes? :D

Or you marry one who sends you to the poorhouse. :D