Good L.A. times article on American auto makers

[Lyion]

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld ... &cset=true
Washington Needs to Break Out Jumper Cables for Big Three
Ronald Brownstein Washington Outlook
November 28, 2005

No industry did more to build the American middle class than the big domestic auto manufacturers.

The rise of the automobile in the 20th century provided Americans unprecedented personal mobility. But the social mobility the industry offered may have changed the nation even more. Detroit's assembly lines not only transformed rubber and steel into Buicks and Chryslers, they also carried men with strong backs but little education — whites and blacks, immigrants and native-born workers — from lives with meager prospects into the security of the middle class.

Henry Ford started the escalator in 1914 when he raised the pay for workers building his Model T to $5 a day, roughly doubling the prevailing wage.

After World War II, the contracts Walter Reuther, the visionary president of the United Auto Workers, negotiated with General Motors established such crucial benchmarks as cost-of-living raises, pensions and health insurance benefits. As other employers matched their terms, those agreements helped inaugurate a quarter-century of shared prosperity that created the largest middle class in American history.

The postwar labor gains at GM "provided a basis for advances in the general wage level of everyone," said Nelson Lichtenstein, a labor historian at UC Santa Barbara. "It created, for a moment, a working class with the world's highest standard of living."

Today, the domestic auto industry is wasting away like a patient in a terminal ward. Employment at GM has dropped from its peak of 618,000 in 1979 to 142,000. Last week, the beleaguered giant announced it would cut 30,000 jobs and close 12 plants over the next three years.

Delphi Corp., GM's largest parts supplier, has filed for bankruptcy protection, largely to shed pension and healthcare costs for its retirees. Ford Motor Co. recently announced that it would cut its white-collar workforce by 10% and is rumored to be planning a GM-like round of plant layoffs as soon as January.

It's easy to say the industry is only reaping what it sowed. The U.S. companies responded slowly to the initial Japanese challenge in the 1980s and grew so addicted to the high profits from gargantuan SUVs and trucks in the 1990s that they failed to plan for the era of high gas prices now confronting them. For too long, the UAW tried to preserve privileged contracts that the companies' weakened competitive position could no longer justify.

Even now the companies struggle to produce cars that American consumers find as attractive as imports from Japan and Europe. At bottom, the companies' real problem "is product," said Kim Hill, assistant director of the Center for Automotive Research, a nonprofit organization in Ann Arbor, Mich. "They are not putting out a product that people want to buy."

With this recent history, the domestic auto industry is hard to love. But it remains important to preserve. Too many communities still depend on the big domestic manufacturers to passively accept their continued collapse. It's safe to bet there wasn't much holiday cheer last weekend in places that GM targeted for plant closings, such as Lansing, Mich., and Spring Hill, Tenn.

Some say it doesn't matter if the domestic manufacturers (which include DaimlerChrysler, the merger of Germany's Daimler-Benz and the old Chrysler Corp.) continue shrinking because Asian and European companies will simply build more cars in the U.S., and create more jobs, as their market share here grows.

To an extent that's true. But replacing the sale of a GM car with the sale of an Audi or a Honda is not an even trade for American workers. Foreign manufacturers now assemble in the U.S. about 44% of the cars they sell here, up substantially since the 1980s. But GM assembles in the U.S. about 97% of the cars it sells here. Although foreign manufacturers are using more American parts in the cars they assemble in the U.S. (a Honda Accord, for instance, has 70% domestic content), the domestic manufacturers typically buy even more American-made parts.

For all these reasons, an agenda to revive the domestic auto industry makes sense. Any initiative would start by lightening the companies' crushing burden of healthcare costs (GM spends $1,500 per car on healthcare).

One good idea is the proposal from Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) for Washington to assume some of the companies' retiree healthcare expenses if they commit to produce more fuel-efficient vehicles. The auto companies also provide the best justification for proposals from Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) and Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.) to lower health insurance premiums for employers by shifting the most expensive cases to a public reinsurance pool. Others see the industry's distress as a compelling reason to resume discussions about transferring all healthcare expenses to a national single-payer system.

Other, more immediately viable, ideas include using federal procurement to steer the companies toward greater production of hybrid vehicles and mounting greater efforts, through state-run manufacturing extension services, to increase productivity at small suppliers who provide most of their parts. Reciprocity should be the key: All public aid should be conditioned on reform at the companies.

None of this will be easy, partly because the industry (abetted by its myopic congressional defenders) has been as short-sighted in its political demands as its management decisions. (Does anyone doubt the Big Three would be in a better position to compete with the Japanese today if they had not blocked federal efforts to mandate greater fuel efficiency?) But it would be a national tragedy if Washington stands aside and lets the domestic auto manufacturers drive themselves, and the millions of workers who depend on them, deeper into the ditch.

[Eziekial]

Pinko left communist drivel.

[Minrott]

What?

Pretty much sums up the situation nicely I'd say.

[Tikker]

well

If you're a right wing wingnut, you have to let them rot on their own

helping them out would be very left leaning

[Eziekial]

It's a build up to the "solutions" of which entail government (ie taxpayer) bailouts. Obama's Washington retirement expense "assumption" or Frisk and Kennedy's "shift" to "public" reinsurance pool. Guess who pays the premiums for that insurance pool? Or how about just having uncle sam buy every car,truck and minivan made by GM? Every govenment employee would have a government vehicle. Please stop the ride, I really need off.

[Minrott]

Or, cut their fucking benefits like everyone elses in the country. Guess what, they're back on the taxpayers dime.

[Captain Insano]

hahah you all just don't get it... This is ONLY the beginning...

The rest of the world's workforce can do your jobs cheaper, more efficiently and better than your fellow Americans.

The days of fantastic benefits are over. Done. Kaput. They have to get rid of that shit to afford to even be able to do business in this country.

Until America starts actually designing competitive products and finds ways to manufacture cheaply here in the US we are going to continue to get killed by the Japs and Chinese.

[Eziekial]

I'm not saying there is a perfect way out of this mess that will not result in some people suffering for the mistakes of GM management and Union labor leadership but that does not mean we should throw our hands up and FORCE (notice I didn't use "ask") every citizen in the country to cushion the blow. This nation was built on free market principles. Those principles have no feelings or remorse. They know of no racial, ethnic or sexual difference. They are automatic and show no pity. This company is in trouble because it can not find a way to make more money than it spends. The leadership of this company MUST find a way to get customers (willing participants) to buy it's products for more than it takes to make them without coercion or deciet and all will be right in their little world.

END OF STORY.

[Lyion]

Until America starts actually designing competitive products and finds ways to manufacture cheaply here in the US we are going to continue to get killed by the Japs and Chinese.

The problem isn't engineering, it's one of cost of living in competitive environments.

It's difficult for American workers to compete and live a good quality of life, when their jobs can be relocated for pennies on the dollar to other countries.

Their needs to be middle ground, and right now we're leaning too heavily to helping the corporate world, versus protecting the middle class.

[Tikker]

living a good quality life?

if you want a good job, get an education

being a grunt on an assembly line shouldn't garner high wages

[Lyion]

Obviously these guys deserve more than 9-5 welders, strippers, and builders.

[Minrott]

captain_insano wrote:

Until America starts actually designing competitive products and finds ways to manufacture cheaply here in the US we are going to continue to get killed by the Japs and Chinese.


The problem isn't engineering, it's one of cost of living in competitive environments.

It's difficult for American workers to compete and live a good quality of life, when their jobs can be relocated for pennies on the dollar to other countries.

Their needs to be middle ground, and right now we're leaning too heavily to helping the corporate world, versus protecting the middle class.

You're part right part wrong. Ralf has got it. Engineering is a huge part of the problem. Complacency and corporate greed is another part. So the chinese have .10 an hour labor, we can beat that with automation. My company does. We're one of the few US companies that manufacture here, and sell to the chinese. There used to be 38 companies in the world that do what we do, now there are 3. Us and 2 chinese companies. And we've garnered 70% of the market. How? Technology. Automation. Advancement. We spend the money for the best engineers, the best toolmakers, the best research and development. We're constantly trying to find ways to lean manufacture, to improve our product, and to develop new and better product. And the company spends the money to do it. We're growing and growing, a manufacturing business in the United States, while the Auto industry, the electric motor and gear drive industries, the casting industries and injection molding industries are losing to the Chinese. The reason is development, rather than relying on 1960's technology and some ridiculous assumption that because a product is made here "it's US quality."

living a good quality life?

if you want a good job, get an education

being a grunt on an assembly line shouldn't garner high wages

And that's ridiculous. No, an assembly line worker shouldn't be making a doctor's wages. But their job is just as essential to a western economy as a doctor's, a lawyer's, an architecht's or any other so called "professional." We can't have a nation of out of work IT professionals and service workers. If we're not exporting manufactured goods, we're not bringing any money in to replace the money that goes out for what we import. It's pretty simple. Half the reason our economy is going to tank and why we're going to lose the manufacturing battle is because of this ideology. The lack of skilled tradesmen and manufacturing and mechanical engineers is what is keeping us from developing competitive processes. No one wants to get into manufacturing anymore, and it's going to kill us.

[Phlegm]

Until America starts actually designing competitive products and finds ways to manufacture cheaply here in the US we are going to continue to get killed by the Japs and Chinese.

The problem isn't engineering, it's one of cost of living in competitive environments.

It's difficult for American workers to compete and live a good quality of life, when their jobs can be relocated for pennies on the dollar to other countries.

Their needs to be middle ground, and right now we're leaning too heavily to helping the corporate world, versus protecting the middle class.

I think the main problem with the American car companies is that they make products people dont want to buy. That's why their market shares keep declining. They also have the reputation of manufacturing lower quality cars than their foreign competitions whether this is deserving or not. Another problem is that their managers and executive sucked major ass. They cant predict trends if they fell on top of their stupid heads.

GM and Ford are laying off people and closing plants while company like Toyota, Honda, and Huyndai are hiring people, enlarging existing plants, and opening new plants here in the US so you cant solely blame the problems on cost of doing business here because the foreign companies are doing it.

[Captain Insano]

Here is another thing...

The government and the unions need to get the fuck out of businesses way.

Any business no matter how large or small should NOT have to pay taxes or give benefits.

Businesses should focus on making money, creating innovative products, growing and employing people. They do not need the overhead of taxation and unnecessary regulation involved in these ri-fucking-diculous benefits packages they all pay for (GM).

They also need to shitcan all race/gender rules. Look: if women and blacks can't compete in job A or B, they can fuck off and go form their own companies.

Once that is complete raise the minimum wage to 8 dollars for, lets say, food services... Manufacturing minimum wage should be 9 or 10 dollars an hour etc etc.

Leave the overhead of healthcare/dental etc to the employee. If you need that shit that bad call fucking Kaiser Permanente. I get full coverage for myself for like 60 bucks a month.

American companies have way WAY too much BS overhead lumped onto them by the government to operate efficiently and competitively against our foreign counterparts.

That has to change, but it won't. American's would rather stand in free soup lines and go to state sponsored hospitals instead of giving up their corporate welfare.

The chinese are going to fucking kill us. Get used to the idea people.

[Harrison]

They also need to shitcan all race/gender rules. Look: if women and blacks can't compete in job A or B, they can fuck off and go form their own companies.