Charade
<font color=royalblue>I'm the one on the LEFT side
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Auto Bailout Talks Collapse
- Thread starter Tigger Woods
- Start date
Did Charade or JonS99 ever post any proof for their claim that the memorandum published by MSNBC that established that the GOP southern senators were union hating idiots was false??? Has any republican senator come forward to challenge that memo yet? That memo will be used in the2010 elections to motivate the unions for any greater support of Democratic candidates and one would think that if the memo was false, there would have been some actual denials by now.
S. C.
The mitten state
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- Nov 17, 2002
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AP study finds $1.6B went to bailed-out bank execs
http://apnews.myway.com//article/20081221/D9575TMG0.html
By FRANK BASS and RITA BEAMISH
Banks that are getting taxpayer bailouts awarded their top executives nearly $1.6 billion in salaries, bonuses, and other benefits last year, an Associated Press analysis reveals.
The rewards came even at banks where poor results last year foretold the economic crisis that sent them to Washington for a government rescue. Some trimmed their executive compensation due to lagging bank performance, but still forked over multimillion-dollar executive pay packages.
Benefits included cash bonuses, stock options, personal use of company jets and chauffeurs, home security, country club memberships and professional money management, the AP review of federal securities documents found.
The total amount given to nearly 600 executives would cover bailout costs for many of the 116 banks that have so far accepted tax dollars to boost their bottom lines.
Rep. Barney Frank, chairman of the House Financial Services committee and a long-standing critic of executive largesse, said the bonuses tallied by the AP review amount to a bribe "to get them to do the jobs for which they are well paid in the first place.
"Most of us sign on to do jobs and we do them best we can," said Frank, a Massachusetts Democrat. "We're told that some of the most highly paid people in executive positions are different. They need extra money to be motivated!"
The AP compiled total compensation based on annual reports that the banks file with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The 116 banks have so far received $188 billion in taxpayer help. Among the findings:
_The average paid to each of the banks' top executives was $2.6 million in salary, bonuses and benefits.
_Lloyd Blankfein, president and chief executive officer of Goldman Sachs, took home nearly $54 million in compensation last year. The company's top five executives received a total of $242 million.
This year, Goldman will forgo cash and stock bonuses for its seven top-paid executives. They will work for their base salaries of $600,000, the company said. Facing increasing concern by its own shareholders on executive payments, the company described its pay plan last spring as essential to retain and motivate executives "whose efforts and judgments are vital to our continued success, by setting their compensation at appropriate and competitive levels." Goldman spokesman Ed Canaday declined to comment beyond that written report.
The New York-based company on Dec. 16 reported its first quarterly loss since it went public in 1999. It received $10 billion in taxpayer money on Oct. 28.
_Even where banks cut back on pay, some executives were left with seven- or eight-figure compensation that most people can only dream about. Richard D. Fairbank, the chairman of Capital One Financial Corp. (COF) (COF), took a $1 million hit in compensation after his company had a disappointing year, but still got $17 million in stock options. The McLean, Va.-based company received $3.56 billion in bailout money on Nov. 14.
_John A. Thain, chief executive officer of Merrill Lynch, topped all corporate bank bosses with $83 million in earnings last year. Thain, a former chief operating officer for Goldman Sachs, took the reins of the company in December 2007, avoiding the blame for a year in which Merrill lost $7.8 billion. Since he began work late in the year, he earned $57,692 in salary, a $15 million signing bonus and an additional $68 million in stock options.
Like Goldman, Merrill got $10 billion from taxpayers on Oct. 28.
The AP review comes amid sharp questions about the banks' commitment to the goals of the Troubled Assets Relief Program (TARP), a law designed to buy bad mortgages and other troubled assets. Last month, the Bush administration changed the program's goals, instructing the Treasury Department to pump tax dollars directly into banks in a bid to prevent wholesale economic collapse.
The program set restrictions on some executive compensation for participating banks, but did not limit salaries and bonuses unless they had the effect of encouraging excessive risk to the institution. Banks were barred from giving golden parachutes to departing executives and deducting some executive pay for tax purposes.
Banks that got bailout funds also paid out millions for home security systems, private chauffeured cars, and club dues. Some banks even paid for financial advisers. Wells Fargo of San Francisco, which took $25 billion in taxpayer bailout money, gave its top executives up to $20,000 each to pay personal financial planners.
At Bank of New York Mellon Corp. (BK), chief executive Robert P. Kelly's stipend for financial planning services came to $66,748, on top of his $975,000 salary and $7.5 million bonus. His car and driver cost $178,879. Kelly also received $846,000 in relocation expenses, including help selling his home in Pittsburgh and purchasing one in Manhattan, the company said.
Goldman Sachs' tab for leased cars and drivers ran as high as $233,000 per executive. The firm told its shareholders this year that financial counseling and chauffeurs are important in giving executives more time to focus on their jobs.
JPMorgan Chase chairman James Dimon ran up a $211,182 private jet travel tab last year when his family lived in Chicago and he was commuting to New York. The company got $25 billion in bailout funds.
Banks cite security to justify personal use of company aircraft for some executives. But Rep. Brad Sherman, D-Calif., questioned that rationale, saying executives visit many locations more vulnerable than the nation's security-conscious commercial air terminals.
Sherman, a member of the House Financial Services Committee, said pay excesses undermine development of good bank economic policies and promote an escalating pay spiral among competing financial institutions - something particularly hard to take when banks then ask for rescue money.
He wants them to come before Congress, like the automakers did, and spell out their spending plans for bailout funds.
"The tougher we are on the executives that come to Washington, the fewer will come for a bailout," he said.
---
http://apnews.myway.com//article/20081221/D9575TMG0.html
By FRANK BASS and RITA BEAMISH
Banks that are getting taxpayer bailouts awarded their top executives nearly $1.6 billion in salaries, bonuses, and other benefits last year, an Associated Press analysis reveals.
The rewards came even at banks where poor results last year foretold the economic crisis that sent them to Washington for a government rescue. Some trimmed their executive compensation due to lagging bank performance, but still forked over multimillion-dollar executive pay packages.
Benefits included cash bonuses, stock options, personal use of company jets and chauffeurs, home security, country club memberships and professional money management, the AP review of federal securities documents found.
The total amount given to nearly 600 executives would cover bailout costs for many of the 116 banks that have so far accepted tax dollars to boost their bottom lines.
Rep. Barney Frank, chairman of the House Financial Services committee and a long-standing critic of executive largesse, said the bonuses tallied by the AP review amount to a bribe "to get them to do the jobs for which they are well paid in the first place.
"Most of us sign on to do jobs and we do them best we can," said Frank, a Massachusetts Democrat. "We're told that some of the most highly paid people in executive positions are different. They need extra money to be motivated!"
The AP compiled total compensation based on annual reports that the banks file with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The 116 banks have so far received $188 billion in taxpayer help. Among the findings:
_The average paid to each of the banks' top executives was $2.6 million in salary, bonuses and benefits.
_Lloyd Blankfein, president and chief executive officer of Goldman Sachs, took home nearly $54 million in compensation last year. The company's top five executives received a total of $242 million.
This year, Goldman will forgo cash and stock bonuses for its seven top-paid executives. They will work for their base salaries of $600,000, the company said. Facing increasing concern by its own shareholders on executive payments, the company described its pay plan last spring as essential to retain and motivate executives "whose efforts and judgments are vital to our continued success, by setting their compensation at appropriate and competitive levels." Goldman spokesman Ed Canaday declined to comment beyond that written report.
The New York-based company on Dec. 16 reported its first quarterly loss since it went public in 1999. It received $10 billion in taxpayer money on Oct. 28.
_Even where banks cut back on pay, some executives were left with seven- or eight-figure compensation that most people can only dream about. Richard D. Fairbank, the chairman of Capital One Financial Corp. (COF) (COF), took a $1 million hit in compensation after his company had a disappointing year, but still got $17 million in stock options. The McLean, Va.-based company received $3.56 billion in bailout money on Nov. 14.
_John A. Thain, chief executive officer of Merrill Lynch, topped all corporate bank bosses with $83 million in earnings last year. Thain, a former chief operating officer for Goldman Sachs, took the reins of the company in December 2007, avoiding the blame for a year in which Merrill lost $7.8 billion. Since he began work late in the year, he earned $57,692 in salary, a $15 million signing bonus and an additional $68 million in stock options.
Like Goldman, Merrill got $10 billion from taxpayers on Oct. 28.
The AP review comes amid sharp questions about the banks' commitment to the goals of the Troubled Assets Relief Program (TARP), a law designed to buy bad mortgages and other troubled assets. Last month, the Bush administration changed the program's goals, instructing the Treasury Department to pump tax dollars directly into banks in a bid to prevent wholesale economic collapse.
The program set restrictions on some executive compensation for participating banks, but did not limit salaries and bonuses unless they had the effect of encouraging excessive risk to the institution. Banks were barred from giving golden parachutes to departing executives and deducting some executive pay for tax purposes.
Banks that got bailout funds also paid out millions for home security systems, private chauffeured cars, and club dues. Some banks even paid for financial advisers. Wells Fargo of San Francisco, which took $25 billion in taxpayer bailout money, gave its top executives up to $20,000 each to pay personal financial planners.
At Bank of New York Mellon Corp. (BK), chief executive Robert P. Kelly's stipend for financial planning services came to $66,748, on top of his $975,000 salary and $7.5 million bonus. His car and driver cost $178,879. Kelly also received $846,000 in relocation expenses, including help selling his home in Pittsburgh and purchasing one in Manhattan, the company said.
Goldman Sachs' tab for leased cars and drivers ran as high as $233,000 per executive. The firm told its shareholders this year that financial counseling and chauffeurs are important in giving executives more time to focus on their jobs.
JPMorgan Chase chairman James Dimon ran up a $211,182 private jet travel tab last year when his family lived in Chicago and he was commuting to New York. The company got $25 billion in bailout funds.
Banks cite security to justify personal use of company aircraft for some executives. But Rep. Brad Sherman, D-Calif., questioned that rationale, saying executives visit many locations more vulnerable than the nation's security-conscious commercial air terminals.
Sherman, a member of the House Financial Services Committee, said pay excesses undermine development of good bank economic policies and promote an escalating pay spiral among competing financial institutions - something particularly hard to take when banks then ask for rescue money.
He wants them to come before Congress, like the automakers did, and spell out their spending plans for bailout funds.
"The tougher we are on the executives that come to Washington, the fewer will come for a bailout," he said.
---
Galahad
.....an appointment
- Joined
- May 22, 2000
- Messages
- 11,464
I don't have much trouble with the stock options part of this but the rest..........
Years and years of this kind of rank opportunism has invited the very regulation some are railing against. It's about time that comes home to roost!
Rep. Frank is exactly right. It's extortion pretty much.
arminnie
<font color=blue>Tossed the butter kept the gin<br
- Joined
- Aug 22, 2003
- Messages
- 9,064
Believe it or not I DO NOT want the car makers to go out of business.
I don't want to see lots of people being unemployed. But business as usual is NOT the answer. I don't blame this all on the unions.
But if you've got a piece rotten fruit - you need to cut out the bad pieces if you hope to salvage anything. Trying to place all of the blame on the unions OR top management is fruitless.
There is so obviously mis-management from top to bottom. No it will never be perfect - but it HAS TO CHANGE. Artificially supporting the status quo is as doomed to failure as the Madoff pyramid scheme.
- Joined
- Jun 7, 2005
- Messages
- 9,106
I agree in the past there was most likely a lot of mismanagement but actually in the last few years the Detroit 3 have really made a lot of accomplishments in the auto business and I am hoping the in the next few years we will see many more.
This column was in the Detroit Free Press:
Link:
http://www.freep.com/article/20081205/COL14/812050400
- Joined
- Jun 7, 2005
- Messages
- 9,106
From this Harbor Report:
Link:
http://www.reuters.com/article/pressRelease/idUS156979+05-Jun-2008+PRN20080605
Link:
http://www.reuters.com/article/pressRelease/idUS156979+05-Jun-2008+PRN20080605
/
- Joined
- Jun 7, 2005
- Messages
- 9,106
Here is a very interesting PDF article by Representive Carolyn Maloney entitled:
The Ripple effect: Why a failure of the Big 3 is not option
It has graphs and shows how 1 in 10 jobs is tied to the auto industry:
http://maloney.house.gov/documents/economy/employment/The Ripple Effect (2).pdf
The Ripple effect: Why a failure of the Big 3 is not option
It has graphs and shows how 1 in 10 jobs is tied to the auto industry:
http://maloney.house.gov/documents/economy/employment/The Ripple Effect (2).pdf
S. C.
The mitten state
- Joined
- Nov 17, 2002
- Messages
- 26,703
Japan exports plunge record amount on weak demand
http://apnews.myway.com/article/20081222/D957HITO0.html
TOKYO (AP) - Japanese exports plunged a record 26.7 percent in November, the Ministry of Finance said Monday, highlighting the drop in global consumer demand for automobiles, electronics parts and other Japanese products.
Economists warned that exports - a mainstay of the world's second-largest economy - would tumble further with no recovery in sight for the global economy. Even exports to the rest of Asia are falling sharply.
"Demand is rapidly cooling not only in the United States and Europe but also in Russia and the Middle East, and we are expecting a further plunge in exports as the global economy is deteriorating," said Hideki Matsumura, a senior economist at the Japan Research Institute in Tokyo.
Battered by falling sales and a strengthening yen, major exporters like Toyota Motor Corp. (TM) and Sony Corp. (SNE) have already announced job cuts and lower profit projections.
Exports suffered their biggest year-on-year drop since the current system of statistics went into effect in 1980. Exports totaled 5.3 trillion yen ($60 billion) while imports fell 14.4 percent from a year earlier to 5.55 trillion yen ($62 billion), the ministry said.
That resulted in a trade deficit of 223.4 billion yen ($2.5 billion) - the fourth time this year Japan said its imports exceeded exports after January, August and October.
For years, Japan was blasted by its trading partners over its trade surpluses. But now, the global economic slump is turning Japan into a net importer, at least in recent months.
"The plunge in exports in November clearly reflected a severe global downturn. Demand for Japanese goods, especially cars and electronics products, is falling sharply everywhere," said ministry official Yu Oki.
Exports to the United States, the world's largest economy, plummeted by a record 33.8 percent in November, marking the 15th consecutive year-on-year fall.
Among U.S.-bound shipments, vehicle exports plummeted by 44 percent in the month, while exports of auto parts fell 40 percent and those of audio equipment was down by 48.2 percent.
Japan's exports to the European Union tumbled by 30.8 percent, with vehicle shipments to the region falling by 37.2 percent, the ministry said.
Asia-bound exports fell 26.7 percent as semiconductor shipments dropped by 30.2 percent. Japan's exports to China alone plunged by 24.5 percent.
Exports are also shrinking as the yen appreciates against most major currencies. That means overseas sales in dollars and euros translates into fewer yen.
The ministry said the yen traded to 97.97 to the dollar on average in November, up 16 percent from the same month last year.
The yen continued to climb against the dollar in December, hitting a 13-year high as investors dumped the greenback on U.S. economic worries. The Japanese currency was quoted at 90.02 to the dollar in Tokyo Monday afternoon
http://apnews.myway.com/article/20081222/D957HITO0.html
TOKYO (AP) - Japanese exports plunged a record 26.7 percent in November, the Ministry of Finance said Monday, highlighting the drop in global consumer demand for automobiles, electronics parts and other Japanese products.
Economists warned that exports - a mainstay of the world's second-largest economy - would tumble further with no recovery in sight for the global economy. Even exports to the rest of Asia are falling sharply.
"Demand is rapidly cooling not only in the United States and Europe but also in Russia and the Middle East, and we are expecting a further plunge in exports as the global economy is deteriorating," said Hideki Matsumura, a senior economist at the Japan Research Institute in Tokyo.
Battered by falling sales and a strengthening yen, major exporters like Toyota Motor Corp. (TM) and Sony Corp. (SNE) have already announced job cuts and lower profit projections.
Exports suffered their biggest year-on-year drop since the current system of statistics went into effect in 1980. Exports totaled 5.3 trillion yen ($60 billion) while imports fell 14.4 percent from a year earlier to 5.55 trillion yen ($62 billion), the ministry said.
That resulted in a trade deficit of 223.4 billion yen ($2.5 billion) - the fourth time this year Japan said its imports exceeded exports after January, August and October.
For years, Japan was blasted by its trading partners over its trade surpluses. But now, the global economic slump is turning Japan into a net importer, at least in recent months.
"The plunge in exports in November clearly reflected a severe global downturn. Demand for Japanese goods, especially cars and electronics products, is falling sharply everywhere," said ministry official Yu Oki.
Exports to the United States, the world's largest economy, plummeted by a record 33.8 percent in November, marking the 15th consecutive year-on-year fall.
Among U.S.-bound shipments, vehicle exports plummeted by 44 percent in the month, while exports of auto parts fell 40 percent and those of audio equipment was down by 48.2 percent.
Japan's exports to the European Union tumbled by 30.8 percent, with vehicle shipments to the region falling by 37.2 percent, the ministry said.
Asia-bound exports fell 26.7 percent as semiconductor shipments dropped by 30.2 percent. Japan's exports to China alone plunged by 24.5 percent.
Exports are also shrinking as the yen appreciates against most major currencies. That means overseas sales in dollars and euros translates into fewer yen.
The ministry said the yen traded to 97.97 to the dollar on average in November, up 16 percent from the same month last year.
The yen continued to climb against the dollar in December, hitting a 13-year high as investors dumped the greenback on U.S. economic worries. The Japanese currency was quoted at 90.02 to the dollar in Tokyo Monday afternoon
JimFitz
<font color=deeppink>possum chauffeur<br><font col
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Everyone keeps talking about this economic crisis as being the event that killed the automakers. GM, FORD, and Chrysler have been building crap cars for years while bowing to greedy unions.
Plain and simple.
Plain and simple.
Charade
<font color=royalblue>I'm the one on the LEFT side
- Joined
- Jan 2, 2005
- Messages
- 26,073
You've never offered proof that it is authentic.
- Joined
- Jun 7, 2005
- Messages
- 9,106
If everyone such as Pesident Bush, Governor Grandholm (Mi), Reprsentive Carolyn Maloney(NY), Oakland County Executive L. Brooks Patterson (Mi), Senator Levin (MI) many newspapers, many financial advisors keeps talking about this economic crisis as being the event that killed the automakers perhaps the ecomomic crisis is at fault.
From this Detroit Free Press article:
Link to full article:
http://www.freep.com/article/20081203/BUSINESS01/812030378/1014/BUSINESS01
It is your opinion that GM, FORD, and Chrysler have been building crap cars.
It seems that more than 50% of car buyers must think differently since GM, Ford and Chrysler outsold Toyota by 1.2 million cars last year.
Link:
http://www.freep.com/article/20081205/COL14/812050400
From Cosumers Report:
Just an FYI :
In my opinion the UAW is not powerful any longer.
Thankfully the days of Jimmy Hoffa are long gone.
The UAW gave many connessions in the spring of 2007:
Link:
http://www.counterpunch.org/sustar04102007.html
Just my 2 cents
jodifla
WDW lover since 1972
- Joined
- Jan 19, 2002
- Messages
- 11,605
Guess Toyota builds CRAP too! They are posting their first loss in 70 years.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20081222/ts_nm/us_toyota_6
Toyota sees first oper loss, "unprecedented" crisis
Buzz Up Send
NAGOYA, Japan
(Reuters) Toyota Motor Corp forecast a first-ever annual operating loss, blaming a relentless sales slide and a crippling rise in the yen in what it said was an emergency unprecedented in its 70-year history.
Toyota, the world's biggest automaker, had been expected to issue its second profit warning in less than seven weeks after domestic rival Honda Motor Co also cut its outlook again last week, but the downward revision was bigger than predicted.
"This is very, very, very bad," said Koichi Ogawa, chief portfolio manager at Daiwa SB Investments. "There's a chance they could fall into the red in the next business year as well.
"This is also not just a problem for Toyota. What is good for Toyota is good for the Japanese economy."
Automakers around the world face their toughest business environment in recent memory, caught in a sharp reversal of demand as the financial crisis spreads, squeezing credit and consumer sentiment.
Toyota cut its group operating forecast to a loss of 150 billion yen ($1.7 billion) for the year to end-March, after shocking financial markets last month by slashing its group operating profit forecast by 1 trillion yen to 600 billion yen.
It made a record profit of 2.27 trillion yen last year.
Analyst forecasts on Reuters Estimates ranged from a loss of 150 billion yen to a profit of 800 billion yen for figures not updated since conditions deteriorated in the past month.
Toyota now expects group net profit of 50 billion yen instead of 550 billion yen.
Toyota shares closed down 0.2 percent ahead of the announcement in a firmer Tokyo market. Its Frankfurt-listed shares fell 2.4 percent in light trade.
For a Graphic on Toyota earnings, click:
https://customers.reuters.com/d/graphics/JP_TYTFY1208.gif
BIG STEP BACK
Like the rest of the industry, Toyota has idled factories, slowed assembly lines and delayed manufacturing projects, such as the start of a Mississippi plant under construction to build the Prius hybrid model, and said it would continue those moves until the tide turned.
"We are facing an unprecedented emergency," President Katsuaki Watanabe told a year-end news conference. "This is a crisis unlike the crises of the past."
Toyota will postpone all projects to expand capacity, move 16 of its 75 global assembly lines to a single shift, and cancel directors' bonus payments for this year, among a wide range of steps aimed at improving near-term profitability, he said.
Even the electric hand dryers at the company's Nagoya office building have been unplugged in an effort to cut costs.
Watanabe stopped short of projecting what global car sales and earnings would do next year, saying only that Toyota hoped to return to profit and cut capital spending to below 1 trillion yen next year, compared with the 1.4 trillion yen planned this year.
"Conditions next fiscal year could be more severe given the yen's strength and worsening market conditions, unless the company and the government cope flexibly with external factors," Shotaro Noguchi, auto analyst at Mitsubishi UFJ Securities, said.
Toyota lowered its dollar assumption for the remainder of the year to 90 yen and its euro assumption to 120 yen, versus current rates of 90 yen and 126 yen.
Honda made a similar move last week, cutting its annual profit forecast by 67 percent, and outlined a list of counter-measures such as putting off non-urgent investments to prop up its profitability.
In the United States, automakers are in even bigger trouble, with President George W. Bush throwing General Motors Corp and Chrysler LLC a lifeline of up to $17.4 billion to stave off bankruptcy.
India's Tata Motors Ltd has agreed to inject "tens of millions" of pounds into Jaguar Land Rover to prevent an immediate cash flow crisis, the Financial Times reported.
Elsewhere, Japanese small-car makers Suzuki Motor Corp and Daihatsu Motor Co announced more production cuts, of 29,000 units and 16,000 units, respectively, by the end of March, along with a reduction of non-permanent workers. Germany's BMW was also considering further production cuts, an executive said.
Bridgestone Corp, Japan's largest tire maker, on Monday cut its operating profit forecast for 2008 by 24 percent to 118 billion yen on slower tire demand for new cars and replacement purposes.
Its French rival Michelin said it faced costs of nearly 150 million euros ($209 million) as it cuts back operations to cope with a decline in tire demand.
MUM ON DIVIDEND
Departing from past practice, Toyota did not disclose its sales and production forecasts for the coming calendar year, saying it was impossible to predict where the bottom for the global vehicle market lay.
"We need to be prepared for the tough conditions to continue, and maybe even worsen," Watanabe said. He said Toyota was undecided about what to do with its dividend, which rose to a record 140 yen last year and is widely feared to fall.
For 2008, Toyota estimated group-wide global sales, which include sales at units Daihatsu and Hino Motors Ltd, at 8.96 million vehicles, down 4 percent from last year.
For the business year to March 31, Toyota lowered its vehicle sales forecast to 7.54 million vehicles from 8.24 million. It sold 8.913 million vehicles last business year.
($1=89.27 Yen)
(Additional reporting by Kiyoshi Takenaka, David Dolan and Yumiko Ni****ani; Editing by Lincoln Feast)
Galahad
.....an appointment
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- Messages
- 11,464
The key word is "first". That well and truly can be attributed to the economy. GM has been doing poorly for a very long time relative to those other makers. Much longer than the current "credit crunch".
jodifla
WDW lover since 1972
- Joined
- Jan 19, 2002
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- 11,605
So it proves that I'm right, of course. It's the CREDIT CRISIS. GM did NOT ask for anything before that, and their numbers were actually doing pretty well.
Toyota and Honda's sinking numbers are all the proof we need.
Galahad
.....an appointment
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This is entirely illogical. That GM is doing poorly and has for years is not arguable. Nobody has argued that. GM posted losses in 2005 and 2006 and 2007. "Charge offs" don't give them a pass. They were poorly managed (which includes poorly managing their labor costs). The credit crunch made them vulnerable to extinction. This is not the case with Toyota or Honda.
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I agree.
ntsammy5
DIS Legend
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- 12,094
I'm sure this has been brought up before, but in addition to the support that foreign governments give to their auto manufacturers, the US is the only country where manufacturers cover health care costs - in other countries the government pays for that - a HUGH disadvantage for US manufacturers.
jodifla
WDW lover since 1972
- Joined
- Jan 19, 2002
- Messages
- 11,605
I actually agree that they were poorly managed for years...no argument there. But GM has been the worlds' largest seller of cars...pretty much forever..people DO buy their cars worldwide. But they are bloated and needed to streamline.
GM and Ford would be surviving and in turnaround mode if it weren't for the credit crisis. Maybe not Chrysler, though.
We need these companies for the jobs they create and can help us create in the future with electric cars and other new technology. That's why Bush and Obama will step forward and help and not through them and the entire state of Michigan under the bus at the first opportunity.
Galahad
.....an appointment
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- Messages
- 11,464
But the foreign manufactures that have plants here also provide health coverage to their workers. The disadvantage is not as huge as other disadvantages they have.
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