shadows's Blog

He's not President YET!!! They HAVEN'T Impeached Bush and Cheney YET!!! EITHER. Just MAYBE that might change after January 20, 2009 and I really HOPE SO ... there is not time limit on Impeachment. Gee, what will our new Best Buddies Communist China and KGB Russia think of that? Seems the World has finally discovered America is REALLY important to the World Economy. Will they pull all the Jobs out of These United States Of America? Jobs are going anyway, Outsourced by Corporations, A Body With No Head. Good. We made our OWN PRODUCTS better than any other country before with Home-Grown Entrepreneurs from Main Street and achieved the Wealthiest Economy and Standard of Living this World has every witnessed, and we can do it again. If, indeed, we are at WAR, then let us get mobilized like we did for World War II. Now THERE'S a way to quash the New Depression. BUY AMERICAN MADE AND LOCALLY PRODUCED. IMHO Thank You For Your Indulgence

Abunai, you brought forth some good points.

I can't really agree about the government regulations being the reason that the American Car makers being in trouble though. Every other car that is sold in this country has to meet the same standards, and the lobbyists of the auto industry have done a very good job of enabling the auto industry to avoid penalties for such things as car mileage standards being applied to SUVs. And I believe that there was some involvement of such people as Roger Smith of General Motors on the Catalytic converter mandates.

I agree with Jeokar, that we are at war in one sense of the word. However what we should be most concerned about is the intellectual property that is being stolen by other countries at will. Our government is not protecting our intellectual property sufficiently and ideas and creativity are being used by other countries to beat us. The pirating of clothing, recordings, and other goods is costing billions. The illegal drug situation also is also costing us billions each year and needs to honestly and openly be addressed.

Well the other dirty little secret here is that its NOT the Auto industry in trouble! Its the UNION! The "southern" auto makers in TN are not having the problems the "nothern" are because the price of their product does NOT carry Union pension,and compensation plans.

Its the United Auto Workers Union that seeks the latest bailout...

I suggest research just how many companies actually buy rights to produce products in China instead of their home nations to avoid enviromental regulations and infrastructure. Even the military when Clinton was stealing a quarter of their budget started doing what repairs and maintainence OVERSEAS where it was much cheaper! Your Airline industry is having maintainence done overseas as well, and for the same reasons.

Abunai, you really shouldn't take everything that you read on Google at face value. The UAW is not asking for a bail-out, the auto industry is actually asking. Sure the UAW has agreements with the auto industry for such things as the UAW agreeing to assume responsibility for the health insurance of retirees in order to save the companies money, and the companies agreed to pay a certain amount to the UAW so that they could do so. The same goes for closing plants, etc.

If the contracts were not agreeable or in the best interest of the auto companies, why did management and the Board of Directors agree to them? The auto industry has clearly been mismanaged and the executives responsible should be gone.

As far as intellectual property, I was referring to foreign infringements of copyrights and patents. Why bother to invent or create something unique if it can be stolen and manufactured in another country using the same name, etc.? Even in the music business, CDs are duplicated abroad and sold as originals without the "artists" receiving any royalties from them.

Abunai, I could sense from the ending of your last comment that you are needing either some food or rest. After meeting your basic needs you should return to rational thoughts and behavior.

BTW, what does Harvard making good investments have to do with executives in the auto industry and financial industry that should be gone?

Southern auto makers? What brand of car is a "Southern" car......is it called a confederate? LOL

Abunai, here's a news flash for you......the auto makers in Detroit are quickly turning out big trucks again since gas prices went down....just like in the 1970s.

Here's another bit of information for you.....the UAW is not limited to Detroit. In fact it is not limited to the U.S. For example, check-out their presence in Canada.

You keep referring to auto plants in TN and AL as "thriving and even expanding." What kind of cars are you talking about? If they are American cars, why is it that the American auto makers are asking for bail-outs? And how could any car manufacturer being experiencing "thriving" business when they are are all down tremendously in sales?

The airlines are also industries that have been plagued with poor management and greed for decades.

Abunai, please take your meds or sit and meditate for a while. You need to focus.......

Abunai, your disillusionment is astounding. Car sales are down for Chrysler 38%, Ford 30%, Toyata 23% and Honda 25%. Even Mercedes-Benz is down by double digits. And they don't have UAW workers. Here's a link to bring you up to date:

http://blog.cleveland.com/business/2008/11/ford_sales_p
lummet_in_october.html

You keep talking about the UAW making cars......they are a labor union.....United Auto Workers.......not a car manufacturer.

Decisions that are made for both the airlines and the auto makers are made by management and their respective Boards. Those decisions are what has made them fail. Just a few months ago the CEO of GM said that they had enough money to last them for at least a year or two regardless of the economic conditions. Well it turns out that he was either not being truthful or else he wasn't up to date on the finances of the company. Poor management.

shadows... finds a single story, and attempts to apply it to everyone.... Now you are trying to fillabuster the union connection to the automaker industry. 99.9% of everyone here "gets it," and the fact is, the left wing, socialist mentality is what is spraying gas on the fire instead of water...

Now I'm just waiting for libs to blame Bush for the comming depression, and not even look at who has actually been running this nation since 06...

Biggest Scam... well... I think Global Warming is the top scam myself... Notice how even now after Democrats (aka liberals) won the election, we STILL are not hearing from the Climate freaks? I guess that sting of almost 5 dollar a gallon gas woke enough people up, that now they are demanding proof.

BTW- notice how this article does NOT discuss the compensation package of Union officials?...

instead of Global warming, it should be called global changing...just like a river erodes it's banks, the globe changes over time. history has shown, through ice core drilling, other global changes.....long before we had Toyotas...
So, while they may be some merit to global warming, Al Gore's the biggest hipocrit on the planet; with his "carbon footprint," his name should be changed to "Bigfoot."

LOL! EVERYONE in academia knows full well that Professors make NOTHING! They however once making tenure are like union folks... job security over risk and reward.

You forgot that it is the unions that made it harder for any re-tooling of the company. Its government that put ridiculous standards on the automakers! Autos required to have safety features out the nose, but then after all the REQUIRED materials, THEN the autos have MPG requirements! THEN with almost 60 different types of fuel blends across the country ALL must STILL meet the MPG requirements!

(mind you ethanol blends NEVER burn at a rate even close to regular gasoline, thus the cars can't meet the requirements BECAUSE GOVT REGS CLASH!!)

Between the Gov. and Unions (Which are in each other's back pocket) I'm amazed we still have the big 3!

Now Gov. and Unions are going to get rid of the secret ballot, and that is an infringement on a basic theory of our country! It is designed to go and unionize all those who are successful without them!

I say let the big 3 go into bankruptsy, kill the legal bind with the unions, and start over!

Don't feed me the sob story of all the poor workers! Didn't see anyone tossing a bone to the carpenters, and bricklaywers when the housing market died! When we stripped the military in the 90s by half, didn't see anyone help the shipbuilding workers...

Who died and left the UAW God...