If we could dig up and re-animate Henry Ford (before he got overly obtuse/senile), and make FoMoCo a family owned, private company again, HE might have jumped at the opportunity to repay GM for their long history of double-dealing (and show up the competition's hubris) by eschewing the private jet and DRIVING to D.C. in a Ford product!



That style of flamboyant leadership might make people think twice about buying foreign cars, especially since Toyota, Honda, etc. are beginning to fall prey to the same corporate complacency that protracted success always seems to bring.

But, as long as the "old boy" U.S. executive club, with their golden parachutes/sweetheart bonuses (that reward failure) are running things, customers will remain cynical, and brand loyalty will likely become an obsolete concept.

6 VOLTS/POS. GRD. NW INDIANA

Henry would do it in a Model A! Of course Henry would have us still driving Model A's (or would it be ZZZZ's by now? The big three have been operating in a monopolized vacume for too long. They got too darn greedy. I've seen very little effort to go to battle with the imports (other than trying to buy them up). They have lobbied our government to put high tariffs on import cars to help protect their market! I know the workers and Union's would disagree but $55 per hour with overtime and benefits is pretty darn good money. If the Union really believes in the worker they should take steps to insure their employment even if that means a pay cut (including the white collars).

Does anyone know the general salaries of the top level employees at these companies? I'll bet there are Millions flying around up there! My 2bits, Chuck in NH

Y's guys rule!
Looking for McCullouch VS57 brackets and parts. Also looking for 28 Chrysler series 72 parts. And early Hemi parts.

MoonShadow, 292 w/McCulloch, 28 Chrysler Roadster, 354 Hemi)
Manchester, New Hampshire

Guys, I feel like I need to apologize for my remarks regarding President Bush. Overly harsh. I'll try to do better in the future.

Best regards,



Paul Menten

Meridian, Idaho

Calling Mr. Bush a corporatist is not the worst thing he has been called and it has the advantage of being pretty close to the mark. 

With regards to the big executive saleries, it seems to me to be a function of how corporations are governed.  The Board of directors should set executive pay at a reasonable levels.  However BofD's are dominated by huge fund managers who cast enormous votes by virtue of the millions of shares they control but don't own themselves.  Further these fund managers do not care about anything the company does, they are only interested this Quarter's bottom line.  Thus management's incentive is just to get this quarter's bottom line and therefore share value as high as possible which is generally what they are rewarded for doing.  So in addition to the advantages of tax give backs and free training in the deep south, Foreign companies operating in the USA are not asking their management to boost this quarter's bottom line all the time, they can afford to take a longer view.  GM Ford and C  are forced to go for the fast buck by modern American business practices such as come out of the Harvard school of business.  US managers aren't a lot dumber than foreign ones but they are working to different rules. 

But I do get cranked up by the senators from BM-Toy-sen such as Shelby of Al, McConnell of Ky and Corker of Tn who are so free market doctrinaire about the auto industry and pretend they don't recognize these differences.  Then they say GM F & C can't compete because their state supported foreign companies are soo much smarter.

As for the legacy health care costs the local paper here in L'ville published these figures Today.

                   US companies        Foreign in USA

Base hourly wage     $29                        $26

Cost of vac OT etc    14                           9

Health & Taxes         12                          11

Retiree Health &

pension costs           16                           3

Totals                     $71                         $49

However, adding the legacy Retiree costs to the man hour rate is a bit of a sham make the domestic company employee rate look higher than it is.  The actual rate is $58 still higher than $49 but not so bad.

Doug T

The Highlands, Louisville, Ky.

The part that's missing here is the unbeleivable overhead that the "Big" (not any more) three have to carry in health, retirement and wages. That's going to be difficult to overcome. In another 25 years the Japanese and Germans will have the same problems, but by then our Auto industry will be a footnote in some third grade history book.

     Doug and I have gone around on the health care thing for a number of years, we don't agree on the solution, we do agree there's a real problem.

      I should also point out, that, after 35 odd years of supplying castings to the Auto Mfgs, there is definitely too many peple working for them. Union AND management. Much of it is created by our own Govrnment's rules and regs. EPA, Cafe stds, NHTSA, Tax regulations. OSHA. Blah, blah. The absolute LAST thing we need are another round of ridiculous regulations to insure the re-election of a bunch of egotistical, long winded lawyers to Congress. Another thing we don't need is a "Car Czar" or 50 mpg CAFE stds.  

Frank/Rebop

Bristol, In ( by Elkhart) 

A friend of mine, retired Ford engineer, told me there are more retirees from Ford than there are workers.  That sounds like a deadly formula to me.

John

John - "The Hoosier Hurricane"

I would think there were more retirees than workers after all these years, but if the money for retirement fund was put in  & left there, there should be more than enough there with the interest made to cover those workers. That is the way it supposed to work & yes I believe workers should be entilted to this after working most of their lifes for these companies.

  I have seen these Senators that Doug is talking about on TV & frankly make me sick with their attitudes, & a lot of people will buy it.  I don't ! I think it is Un- American.  These japanese companies have set up shop with all their tax incentives, etc & with non-union workers who's pay scale, health care, & no retirement, etc., which underscores the principles of which America was built on.  Like Wal-mart, these companies are destroying America, & forcing the other guys out of business, with their practices...........

We have played into their hands & must change our attitudes & support our American companies and workers, & keep their right to Negotiated wages, health care, and a decent retirement.   We must not look the other way!   That is why it has come to this and will get worse !

     

O K guys, I was going too stay out of this but ya'll yanked my chain. How much of the big three's product is made in the USA anymore? The 94 F150 that I had before I got my 99 F350 was made in Canada, said so right there on the door. Seems like every part that I buy from the dealership is made in Mexico or some other third world country. The south used to have textile mills and sewing factorys in every small town, this was our bread and butter. All these jobs are gone now due to NAFTA, just look at the labels on your clothes. I don't like rice rockets and everything I drive has a Ford or John Deere name plate on it, but at least now American workers are building some of the "rice rockets" and putting food on the table. Its a sad state of affairs, but Sen Shelby and others are doing just what "we" elected them to do, bring jobs back to the south.

Glen Henderson



Freedom is not Free

Letohatchee, AL

That's why I like to say "It doesn't matter what brand you buy.  It's all made in China."

I hope these retirees of The Big Three are not relying solely on The Big Three for retirement.  It is not a good idea to rely on another person or entity for ones own retirement future.

Lawrenceville, GA

It is outrageous that anyone (Democrat or Republican) in the government should use any of my tax dollars to bail out any corporation,company or individual that has not operated their business or personal life in a responsible manner.That includes the already bailed out financial institutions and the automakers and all the foolish,greedy,self-centered narcissistists who bought houses and vehicles and toys that cost far more than they could afford.

 

Paul,

Boonville,MO