Pro-union though I may be, the reality is that the Big Three can’t afford their labor situation.

tripleonefive: “D3 unwillingness to build reliable cars got them in this mess.” WHAT??
JakeK66: “their products’ problem is hardly reliability.” You’re right.

Lau: “GM’s reputation they have that AND bad quality.” When will the General shake that reputation. Anyone who’s paying attention knows it’s no longer deserved, but who’s paying attention?

rds130: job banks need not be a bad idea. They are, when there’s no real hope of demand swinging up soon.

DB9: “I know people who work at Toyota’s plants in Kentucky, Texas and Cambridge Ontario Canada(management, engineers and on the line), a few are ex UAW, never hear any complaints from them – they love their job.” That’s why Toyota workers will not go UAW. Nothing to gain.

sequoiatrader: “This current cyclical slowdown has much more to do with lack of consumer confidence and lack of financing options than is does with a shabby product offering from the domestics.”
You’re about as smart as your name suggests you are.

“For the average Hybrid driver, the idea of driving a Hybrid has much more to do with a feeling that they are doing something for the enviroment than it does with saving money.”

again, very smart.

“buying a Tundra built in the Texas is in no way equal to buying an F150 built in Dearborn.” For one, the F-150 is a much better truck.

The Accord is better than the Fusion.

scarface – “I also wonder if they have the audacity to moan about the fact that they’re losing their job of not having a job.” Lol, I do too. “You mean I’ve gotta lift a box today!? Damn!”

I think it’s also informative that the retiree healthcare trust has an $80 billion burden on the Big Three, and it was negotiated into the labor contract ONLY LAST YEAR. Was the writing not on the wall last year? I don’t know who’s more to blame for that one, the automakers for agreeing to it, or the UAW for doing what they can to make sure the Big Three stay on their knees.

How much would U.S. automakers save if they just paid for UAW wages and standard health insurance, disability insurance, and whatever else *normal* employers have to pay, and just pitched all the fringe benefits that no one, except UAW, seems to get.

These fat-assed congressmen should be asking more about that B.S., and grilling the UAW, rather than asking why the CEO’s used a private jet to get to Washington. And while they’re at it, they should be asking about what that $150 BILLION to AIG will be used for. Congress required detailed plans from the Big Three for their $50 billion LOAN (not grant) to help save 2.5 million jobs, yet AIG gets $150 billion (one company!) with no questions asked, no plan, no CEO scruitiny, nothing. And the media laughs it up, trying to portray the Big Three executives as stupid beggers. This country is really pathetic sometimes. With this kind of behavior, no wonder most of the world hates us.

The Japanese government bailed out Mitsubishi a few years ago, with BILLIONS of their tax payer’s money, and that company was in far worse shape than the Big Three, and no one here made fun of them, or compained about a damned thing. Freakin idiots.

Home sales are way off… does that mean that we just don’t build house in America that people want to live in? Electronic sales are way off… I guess that the Asians just don’t build TV’s that we want to watch? Shoe Pavillion is closing… I guess nobody wanted to wear name brand shoes at discount prices.

As far as Hybrids go, they are truly the biggest scam perpetrated on the American public since the carpet sweeper. They are highly overrated. For everyone that considers the Europeans a progressive society that has better ideas than Americans, take a look at what they drive. Clean burning, efficient, diesel powered cars that get well over 50 MPG. For the average Hybrid driver, the idea of driving a Hybrid has much more to do with a feeling that they are doing something for the enviroment than it does with saving money. Think about it, Hybrids are very expensive and really don’t pencil economically. I guess my favorite argument from Hybrid drivers is that they are doing something now for the future generations. My question is… really? What about all of those spent batteries in the Hybrids… what are the future generations to do with all of those batteries?

As for letting the automakers fail… that is a terrible idea. First off, that is a popular idea only with people that resent Big Business for all that it has while at the same time forgetting all that Big Business really does. They are the same people that think profit is a bad word. The same folks that think that wealthy people should be taxed until they have the same amount of money in their checking account as the non-wealthy. The people that are botherd by an executive flying in a corporate jet rather than a commercial jet… as if that really had anything to do with the core problem the industry faces. If the domestics were to fail many people would be out of jobs. That is one direct effect that those workers would feel. Further all of the businesses directly connected to the automakers would begin to fail. It would create a vortex that would eventually consume many businesses that most people don’t even consider at all connected to the auto industry. Read up on what really happened during the Great Depression and also what went on in the 20’s leading up to the Great Depression. It is very similar to our current situation.

One final point to set the record straight, foriegn automakers that build their cars here are not American automakers. They are foreign businesses doing business in America. Sure the salaries they pay stay here but the profits they make go overseas and are used to improve their companies, infrastructures and homelands. Make no mistake about it, they will always over the long term take home more in profit than the salaries they pay the American worker. If they didn’t they wouldn’t be here. So buying a Tundra built in the Texas is in no way equal to buying an F150 built in Dearborn. In fact, it would be better to purchase a Fusion made in Mexico than to buy an Accord made in the USA. People of America, it is time to support our American businesses. It is time to support your local businesses. It is time to support America and be proud that we are Americans. No is not the time to be bitter and reluctant to help. We can get through this if we all do our part. That is what sets America apart from the rest of the world.

For all you UAW member’s don’t forget US DEALER, YES THE ONE’S THAT SELL THE CARS AND TRUCKS YOU BUILT READ THIS WEB SITE DAILY, AND TO HEAR YOU SAY… THE THING’S YOU SAY, AND US TRYING TO FIND EVERY WAY POSSIBLE TO STAY IN BUSINESS, NOT TO SAY TRY TO MAKE A SELL…

IF WE CAN NOT SELL THE CARS YOU MAKE, AND WE ARE FORCE TO CLOSE OUR DOORS, WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO??? SUPPLY AND DEMAND… NO ONE IS BUYING, CAN YOU SEE THE NEWS, THE BIGGEST UNEMPLOYMENT RATE IN YEARS… HOW DO YOU EXPECT US TO SUPPORT YOU, IF WE HARDLY SUPPORT OUR SELFS!!!

THINGS ARE BAD, SANTA IS NOT COMING TO TOWN FOR THE HOLIDAYS!!!

YOU SAY YOU ARE SICK OF THE BASHING THE UNIONS…
WE ARE SICK TO HEAR HOW GOOD YOU HAVE IT, WAY’LL WE CAN’T SELL THE CARS YOU MAKE,

THE AVERAGE OVER HEADS FOR A “SMALL” DEALER ANY WERE IN THE U.S. IS $100.000 A MONTH, HOW MUSH YOU THINK WE MAKE IN SELLS, PARTS, SERVICE, DID YOU KNOW SOME BANKS PAY US IN 60 DAYS AFTER A SOLD CAR ROLLS OF THE LOT, WHAT ARE WE GOING TO TELL OUR EMPLOYEES? SORRY CHUCK, YOU GET PAYED IN 60 DAYS FOR WASHING THAT CAR, OR SELLING IT, OR CHECKING IT OVER BEFORE IT WAS GOOD TO SALE…YOU THINK YOU HAVE BILLS TO PAY, WE STILL HAVE A ELECTRICITY BILL, WATER, SOME OF US LEASE THE BUILDING WE ARE IN, WE HAVE STATE AND LOCAL TAX TO PAY MONTHLY,

DO YOU SEE THE BIG PICTURE?
DO YOU SEE THE MESS WE ARE ALL IN, CAN YOU? AND IT IS ACROSS THE COUNTRY, NOT JUST IN SUNNY CALIFORNIA, NOT JUST TEXAS, NOT JUST FLORIDA, YOU CAN NOT DENIED THAT THE CONTRACTS OF THE UAW HAS NO PART IN THIS MESS, YOU CAN NOT…

SO ” I ” A PART OWNER OF A DEALER GROUP, SMALL-SMALL PART, BUT STILL PART OWNER, HOW DO YOU EXPECT ME TO FILL, HEARING YOU SAY YOU HAVE NO PART IN THIS… HOW?

DB9

DBro is right, the union doesn’t come out from behind its rhetoric unless it absolutely has to.

Pay for healthcare like what the Japs and Germs and S. Koreans do for their autoworkers?

How about those countries’ markets allow US cars to be sold there?

I’m sick of this **** that it’s the union’s fault.

It’s the goddam Wall St a-holes who took in bad mortgage securities, and the damn credit market is dried up!

Cheap material is bad, but with GM’s reputation they have that AND bad quality. I love GM, but honestly they didn’t live up to expectations before, and now? I just don’t know.

I hope that the people who put the UAW down will admit their opinion about them may have been wrong.