I hope that an agreement can be made and the Big 3 can ride this out... Having said that, if they go down the crapper due to their own decisions, then the companies that are managing to make cars will still make cars...and will make more cars...and will need more parts, etc. What is to keep your 4000 companies from doing business with whomever is able to profitably make the cars and will be making more of them if the Big 3 collapse?
My company is involved in transportation and the Big Three corporate headquarters in Michigan is who we do business with the most. I suppose if we were in SouCal we would endeavor to do business with the Asians but their actual headquarters are all overseas. Even if we did sell parts I don't think they are prone to buy from American suppliers. Interesting isn't it that Citi and AIG just stick their hand out without so much as a rebuke for piss poor management while the Big Three have to grovel and be chastised to get their paltry 25 billion. I can tell you that the Republicans are wasting their time and money to ever campaign in this state ever again. On Obama's Clinton connections....BC's administration and presidency was very successful and that is why the Republicans were so slimy desperate to try and bring him down over the BJ....because their goose was cooked in the 2000 election without dredging up some serious dirt on Clinton.
There are lots of small companies around here that deal with the Honda plant in Marysville, OH. Your desire to blame everything on Republicans is something. Here I thought that it was Democrats that led Michigan down the path...what do I know?
Again you show your glaring ignorance of the American economy. In Indiana alone, there are numerous companies who supply parts to the auto and truck industry...... Honda, Toyota, Nissan, as well as the Mediocre 3. Remember the argument that if the Big 3 go under, millions would lose their jobs? Less than 500,00 are auto workers. The rest work for American suppliers. When you try to argue your points here, you bring a pocketknife to a gunfight.
I KNEW it had to be something simple. Hummergate! Case closed. Change you can believe in. :lol: [/quote]
I do realize that some Japanese car companies do buy from some American parts manufacturers but with all things being equal I'll bet they lean more to Jap parts. You don't think that's what I have been saying? It's the supplier network that would cause the largest loss of jobs to the economy not direct automotive jobs. Other than parts suppliers it's the hundreds of service suppliers like my company that would be in trouble also. The headlines in Detroit this morning are big and bold and they reflect my feelings exactly on the double standard that has been set-up with regard to bailing out Wall Street with hundreds of billions with no questions asked while bludgeoning the auto industry over only 25 billion. People around here are getting plenty angry and when it becomes even more evident who is leading the charge against Detroit in Washington that party is finished for good in Michigan. I watched the proceedings and you were not paying attention if you don't think it was a Republican led circus last week. Maybe you didn't hear Shelby's comments.
Ummmm, I don't think that is quite accurate..... http://www.nypost.com/news/news.htm I watched them as well almost in their entirety....we were clearly watching two different things. Your comment is simply not true. The committee chair is a dem, the Speaker is a dem and majority leader in the Senate is a dem. It was the Pelosi/Reid cabal that shelved the vote.....the had everything they needed to inject $25B cash in a plan the President supported. They didn't get it done.....it's on them. It seems, you are so blinded by partisanship you've lost touch with reality....
They shelved the vote because almost every Republican except for the Michigan delegation was against an auto bailout. They couldn't get the votes needed so they wisely waited on a vote. Speaking of partisanship.... From the New York Times: "The prospects of a government rescue for the foundering American automakers dwindled Thursday as Democratic Congressional leaders conceded that they would face potentially insurmountable Republican opposition during a lame-duck session next week."
They have majorities in both houses.....the President supported the $25B injection therefore no veto threat. What else did they need? :shock: What's wise about that? They, Pelosi and Reid, left the auto industry swinging at the end of the rope....nobody else.
I did....the facts remain the facts. What is insurmountable when you have a majority in both houses and President supportive of the initiative? Why would Pelosi choose not to vote? Perhaps she did not have all her dems lined up???? The President was in support but she couldn't rally her party...... Could it be that it was actually the dems that torpedoed it-it has to be. There can be no other way....
I have to agree with BuckeyeT here, the Republicans are in the minority. Voting along party lines the measure passes both houses, now they don't have a veto proof majority so if they know the President is going to veto the legislation then sure why bother. But they have already been signaled that the President would sign the Bill. So tell me again why the Dems bailed on this bill. Could it be that the many democrats would not vote with Pelosi and Reid and they don't want to be embarassed?
Don't make me look up more facts Dave. The headquarters for Nissan North America is in Franklin, TN. They have a manufacturing plant in Smyrna, TN. You're the industry leader here so are you telling me that they don't buy American and ship everything across the United States from overseas?
What puzzles me is how fashionable it has become to buy foreign vs. American. Somehow...American made...is a negative whereas foreign made products like automoblies are hailed as "quality"...and revered by some who are somehow misguided as to which companies are American and which are foreign. http://hoovweb.hoovers.com/nissan/--ID__41879,target__business_directory--/free-co-samples-index.xhtml I have never bought a foreign car....never will...
Wow....I don't even know this guy but his points are very close to many I have made: http://www.newburyportnews.com/puopinion/local_story_329223603.html
I thought that same way... until my last purchase. I buy two new vehicles every three to four years. The resale value percentage has been falling the last three purchases. I researched average resale values and made my last purchasing decision off that data.Honda Accord and Toyota Camery has the best resale value so that is what I bought... Two Accords for the McCords.
Dave, The person who is 'saying the same thing you are' is lying... In that article you linked he says: You've suggested that time and time again and I call bullsh*t. The people I know that work at auto plants, or their families, do not live anything like you suggest. In fact, they live BETTER than their counterparts in Michigan IMHO. But back to my point, according to this article: UAW losing pay edge The following quotes should make you ask... why so many lies out of pro-Union backers? I would like to mention that the writer of the article I cited takes a major swipe at the Southern, at the hands of another Southerner who seems to think little of his heritage. All I know is you folks are welcome to come for a stay anytime and compare the growing area in which I live to the dying areas that are suppose to be so much more 'civilized.'
I'm driving a 2003 Infiniti G35 with 114,000 miles. It still drives like new and has never had anything but routine maintenance. I have never driven an American car that was anywhere near this reliable.[/quote]
My experience precisely Krebsie.....up until 1995, I owned nothing but GM products my entire life. Not one of them was reliable transportation after 100,000 miles...not one. Since the 90's, I've owned nothing but Toyota and Honda and ALL have been reliable transportation well in excess of 100,000. Indeed the car I still drive daily is a 1995 Toyota Avalon - without question the finest car I've ever owned - made in the US by US workers by the way and the wife drives a Honda Pilot, also made in the US by US workers. It isn't rocket science.....until Detroit makes cars with equal or better quality at equal or lower prices they will continue to get their a$$es handed to them in the market by the US consumer who votes every hour of every day with their checkbook. Until they address the engorged structural cost of their short-sighted labor partners, they can't possibly do either or both.....the numbers just don't work. It needs to be blown up and start again....