Corporate evolution. Let the bastards fall and the successful rule.
Compare the mpg ratings of competing GM and Ford models and they're essentially the same. Some people need and/or prefer larger cars. That doesn't automatically mean they're "gas guzzlers". My 88 Olds for example still gets close to 30mpg and it is a full size car. My SUV doesn't achieve that mileage, but I don't expect it to. It's the union workforce and its demands that have pulled heavily on the Big 3. Until it was too late, the union didn't realize they were demanding themselves out of a job and hurting the company for which they worked.JahManRed wrote:
They got to build cars which suit the times. Gas guzzlers are out. I'm not too well informed on the subject. Is ford doing better because it has started to supply the same cars (40mpg) that they have been selling here for years?
The other two of the big 3 seam to do more of their business in the US where large gas guzzler where the norm. You never see a GM here. We have loads of fords. Possible more fords than anyother. So ford already had cars designed and in production already suited to the current harsh finical times. Is that why they are doing better than the other two?
Last edited by Stingray24 (2009-02-18 09:42:18)
Its a fucking privately owned company. They should recieve no help from the federal government under any circumstances. Especially when something like 90% voted against it.
Just like the federal government cannot put a price cap on gas. If i start a clothing company can you put a price cap on my t-shirts?
Just because the oil company has huge success and your jealous you didn't invest in it earlier doesn't mean you can be a pussy little bitch and tell them what to do.
Just like the federal government cannot put a price cap on gas. If i start a clothing company can you put a price cap on my t-shirts?
Just because the oil company has huge success and your jealous you didn't invest in it earlier doesn't mean you can be a pussy little bitch and tell them what to do.
15 more years! 15 more years!
If they don't cap it you'll end up paying more..... I don't see your logic at allMitch wrote:
Just like the federal government cannot put a price cap on gas. If i start a clothing company can you put a price cap on my t-shirts?
Capping the price doesn't allow for the market to regulate the price and in the end may result in an artificially high price. Example: demand skyrockets, oil prices climb, but gasoline price is capped by the government. When price of oil drop, gasoline does not drop as companies attempt to recover what they lost because of the cap.
i agree. don't hate the player, hate the game...usmarine wrote:
why are you angry at the car companies? if someone wanted to give you money would you not take it? you are mad at the wrong people.
well, it looks like one or even two of the three big car companies in the us will be gone soon. economically, it seems to be the best to let them fall, but this is easily said by someone who hasn't relatives working for them, who will loose their jobs
Great post overall -- especially the part about privately held companies.rdx-fx wrote:
Here's a bailout plan;
Let them FAIL, then let the newer, smarter, better upstart companies feast on their bloated corpse.
I'm sure a few fresh corporations would make better use of the IP, property, and trained personnel.
Pull some retired Lockheed or Boeing managers out of retirement, for the upper management.
(i.e., people who understand the meaning of the words quality reputation)
Put someone like Warren Buffet in as the financier, and general money-man watchdog
Use the trained technicians and engineers from the old car companies, where needed (the non-UAW technical/engineering slots)
Automate the over-paid UAW drone positions, just like the Germans and Japanese do.
We need more privately held corporations, not beholden to shareholders and profit margins at all costs. We need to return the focus to build a reasonably priced, reliable, quality product. The customers will trust you, and be loyal to your product - and thus insure steady jobs for your workers.
This current corporate system where the company is legally obligated to seek shareholder profit at any cost, regardless of damage to reputation, quality, worker security, or customer safety.. is fucking insane.
A company is about the customer and the employee - all else is a cancer in the system.
Fuck the stock market.
I would be mad at the American car companies because they're so grossly inefficient.cl4u53w1t2 wrote:
i agree. don't hate the player, hate the game...usmarine wrote:
why are you angry at the car companies? if someone wanted to give you money would you not take it? you are mad at the wrong people.
well, it looks like one or even two of the three big car companies in the us will be gone soon. economically, it seems to be the best to let them fall, but this is easily said by someone who hasn't relatives working for them, who will loose their jobs
It's the way things are going to be now... it's like a little kid who bugs his mom for some money for candy... once she caves... he keeps asking and asking... I am looking forward to buying a 2010 Chrysler Kremlin... or maybe a Chevy Comrade... lol
Love is the answer
This times infinity.We need more privately held corporations, not beholden to shareholders and profit margins at all costs. We need to return the focus to build a reasonably priced, reliable, quality product. The customers will trust you, and be loyal to your product - and thus insure steady jobs for your workers.
The paradox is only a conflict between reality and your feeling what reality ought to be.
~ Richard Feynman
~ Richard Feynman
I don't care what happens in Detroit. They did this to themselves, and America will pay.
When they go down, the taxpayers will pay the union members retirement and severance plans. Think of the money, retiring hundreds of thousands of people out of my pocket. Fuck them. Fuck them all.
All I care about is being able to buy a brand new 2500 Duramax Diesel for under $10,000. After that, I need nothing more out of the auto industry.
When they go down, the taxpayers will pay the union members retirement and severance plans. Think of the money, retiring hundreds of thousands of people out of my pocket. Fuck them. Fuck them all.
All I care about is being able to buy a brand new 2500 Duramax Diesel for under $10,000. After that, I need nothing more out of the auto industry.
Seal, Lincoln is a Ford brand not a GM.
But, fuck them. Let them fall. If they had not been building over priced pieces of shit for the last 20yrs they would be fine. The American auto industry has always been 2 steps behind the rest of the world.
But, fuck them. Let them fall. If they had not been building over priced pieces of shit for the last 20yrs they would be fine. The American auto industry has always been 2 steps behind the rest of the world.
Yet they are the less ugly carSgtHeihn wrote:
Seal, Lincoln is a Ford brand not a GM.
But, fuck them. Let them fall. If they had not been building over priced pieces of shit for the last 20yrs they would be fine. The American auto industry has always been 2 steps behind the rest of the world.
Surely you mean 'people who understand the meaning of sucking at the teat of govt subsidy, pork barreling and bailouts?'rdx-fx wrote:
Pull some retired Lockheed or Boeing managers out of retirement, for the upper management.
(i.e., people who understand the meaning of the words quality reputation)
And let me tell you, its an awful lot harder getting quality out of a $10,000 vehicle compared with a $100m one.
I spent a year of my life trying to make a $5 dollar component for $3, without sacrificing quality, drivablility, compliance with regulation (over the 10 year life of the part) and without killing a single customer, and I can tell you its no fun at all.
Did I get a slice of the $800,000 a year Ford saves, or so much as a thankyou?
Dilbert out.
Fuck Israel
Many of the analysts have been saying from the beginning that bankruptcy would be the best course of action (for GM, at least).Burwhale wrote:
GM is thinking about doing some creative accounting.Sourcecaradvice.com wrote:
A report on Reuters newsagency says that General Motors Corporation, nearing a Tuesday deadline to present a viability plan to the US government, is considering as one option a Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing that would create a new company.
The plan was also reported on in the highly reputable Wall Street Journal, which said in its Saturday edition: “One plan includes a Chapter 11 filing that would assemble all of GM’s viable assets, including some US brands and international operations, into a new company.”
The newspaper said: “The undesirable assets would be liquidated or sold under protection of a bankruptcy court. Contracts with bondholders, unions, dealers and suppliers would also be reworked.”
Its a sneaky way to get rid of the bad bits of the company, but it is probably what GM needs.
“Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.”
― Albert Einstein
Doing the popular thing is not always right. Doing the right thing is not always popular
― Albert Einstein
Doing the popular thing is not always right. Doing the right thing is not always popular