Saving the US Auto Industry

[Trilby]

You're obviously right, bruce. Some GM people did work. ok: 9 out of 10 gamed the system.

[TheMercenary]

In GM's case alone they have to many parts. Like Griff says, let them fail, re-organize, and be sold off to those who have the money to keep them going. Problem is not all the bits are going to be bought off, esp some of the auto production parts. I am afraid IAW may have been part of the problem here. If you look at other plants that do not have IAW involvement they seem to be doing better financially.

[xoxoxoBruce]

And if you had worked in the cafeteria, 9 out of 10 would have been hungry. Limited perspective.

[sweetwater]

I'd rather see the money go to mass transportation, higher fuel efficiency development, bike paths and work-from-home practices, and while we're at it, to me. Or at least not more from me.

[TheMercenary]

I had no idea they owned a part of so many smaller companies: Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, GM Daewoo, GMC, Holden, Hummer, Opel, Pontiac, Saab, Saturn, Vauxhall, and Wuling.

GMAC finance part alone is the biggest part of the ship under water.

[xoxoxoBruce]

Originally Posted by sweetwater

I'd rather see the money go to mass transportation, higher fuel efficiency development, bike paths and work-from-home practices, and while we're at it, to me. Or at least not more from me.

Get out of my country, ya damn hippie.

[TheMercenary]

Originally Posted by xoxoxoBruce

Get out of my country, ya damn hippie.

Comrade, do not try to resist. Resistance is FUTILE!

[richlevy]

The Asian auto manufacturers have a secret weapon - Feng Shui. We simply can't blame the incompetent leadership of any US automaker or coddling by both parties in Congress that mistakenly thought that giving in to requests to not toughen pollution/mileage/safety regs would actually help them build better cars. No, that would require someone to actually take responsibility.

So I propose a feng shui solution, one that will cheaply solve the problem without assigning blame to any group.



Step 1: On the 4th Monday of any month, go to headquarters building of automaker needing assistance.




Step 2: At 1:34 PM local time, open windows in top two floors of the building starting from one of the four cardinal directions depending on season (East/Spring, South/Summer, West/Autumn, or North/Winter) in a counter-clockwise order.




Step 3: Throw any guy wearing a suit out of one of the open windows.

[xoxoxoBruce]

Originally Posted by Griff

Picture this, GM sold off piece by piece and busted into half a dozen small innovative car companies building the cars people want and need. Let it fail.

I wonder if a half dozen little guys, without an established dealer network, could win the trust of the public. Might need a new system of handling parts and warranty work through independent outlets.
No, I'm not buying a car from fucking walmart.

Of course they might just coalesce like the baby bells.

[classicman]

Let it go and restructure - then they can also renegotiate with the unions for a more realistic compensation situation. I heard that the average employee gets something like $55 and hour plus some insane benefits. That just is not gonna work in a globally competitive market

[xoxoxoBruce]

$55 and hour plus some insane benefits

Not true.

[Pico and ME]

Nope not true at all. We live on an autoworkers salary and although we live in ease...we are barely into middle class.

[classicman]

Got any numbers then? What is the average? Anyone?

[HungLikeJesus]

Originally Posted by TheMercenary

In GM's case alone they have to many parts. Like Griff says, let them fail, re-organize, and be sold off to those who have the money to keep them going. Problem is not all the bits are going to be bought off, esp some of the auto production parts. I am afraid IAW may have been part of the problem here. If you look at other plants that do not have IAW involvement they seem to be doing better financially.

IAW?

[Trilby]

I googled UAW average salary and found this one at the top.


According to Forbes:

Labor cost per hour, wages and benefits for hourly workers, 2006.

Ford: $70.51 ($141,020 per year)

GM: $73.26 ($146,520 per year)

Chrysler: $75.86 ($151,720 per year)

Toyota, Honda, Nissan (in U.S.): $48.00 ($96,000 per year)

According to AAUP and IES, the average annual compensation for a college professor in 2006 was $92,973 (average salary nationally of $73,207 + 27% benefits).

Bottom Line: The average UAW worker with a high school degree earns 57.6% more compensation than the average university professor with a Ph.D. (see graph above, click to enlarge), and 52.6% more than the average worker at Toyota, Honda or Nissan.