Interesting article in the December 'o8 Newsweek magazine about the "politics" of the auto industry bailout. It's always "about me, me, me" but I found this interesting to read how our foreign "investors" have such a big influence in our American political system...and our political spending.
This snippet from the Newsweek article:
"A second auto industry has emerged: nonunion, Southern-based and foreign-owned. Large plants, with names of Asian and European carmakers emblazoned upon them, now dot the Southern landscape alongside civil War memorials. By moving aggressively into Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, South Carolina, Georgia and Texas, foreign manufacturers--call the the "Little-Eight"--have transformed the economic geography of the nation's auto industry and the political debate surrounding its future."
"To hear the rhetoric wafting down from Capitol Hill of late, you'd think that Toyota, Hyundai, BMW, and the rest are as all-American as Mom and apple pie. And, in many ways, they now are. Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky made an impassioned plea on the Senate floor for his colleagues to oppose the $15 billion aid package the house of Representatives had approved for General motors, Ford and Chrysler. "Labor costs need to be brought on par with companies like Nissan, Toyota and Honda--not tomorrow, but immediately," he said. By the weekend, McConnell and fellow antibailout Republicans like Richard Shelby of Alabama and Bob Corker of Tennessee had stopped the bailout bill in the Senate. The southerners seem to have chosen an especially precipitous time to pick their fight with the Detroit Yankees....."
So, it would appear that those predictions from decades past that we beat the Japs on the war front, but they would come back and beat us on the economic side are slowly coming to be true. It's like a sad case of cancer. But the American public seems to sit back and continue to smoke the cigarettes and tell everyone how wonderful it is. BUT NO ONE SEEMS TO NOTICE THE INFLUENCE THAT THE JAPANESE HAVE ON OUR OWN REPRESENTATIVES!!! THE PEOPLE THAT WE ELECT TO RUN OUR COUNTRY!!! Talk about having your head in the sand!!!!
Bankruptcy is always an option for the Big 3. But I don't really know if the average guy on the street understands the ripple effect of a major U.S. automaker bankruptcy. All of the "little suppliers" that the automaker owes....those guys....they are the ones who don't get paid. And those little guys employ lots of people too. And when they don't get paid, their employees don't get paid. And it goes on, and on.
Well, I'll keep buying my Chevy's and Fords. No one can convince me that the Nippon cars are of better quality. I've owned American for the last 25 years and have been very satisfied. A minimum of 100K per vehicle before I sell them to a relative (one now has 260K on it).
Meanwhile, the foreigners are taking over our Government. Like a silent case of cancer....and we see it....but we choose to ignore it, and we keep buying their products that allow them to fund it. Go figure?
MHO
Dave
