Do you remember what all cars were like in the 70s and 80s? Fiats, Renaults, BMW, Toyotas, Fords everything was shitty compared to today. Lets be honest about that. Most forget that a 1977 Toyota Corolla was no gem (they remember it was cheap though). There is a reason you don’t see many cars from those vintages on the road and Japanese cars are no exception.
Allen said:
“GM became a success due to economies of scale and ultimately failed for the same reason: It lacked the agility to compete because of it’s cumbersome size and unresponsive management structure. To lay blame for this fiasco solely at the feet of competing countries is to avoid not only responsibility but the truth of why it happened and to help prevent it from happening again.
If you’re going to be honest about this, be honest about this and present all of the facts, not just those that your support your end of the argument. Oh, and my family only drives American (Ford) and always has, so let me blunt your riposte before it even comes.”
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There is no reason GM had to fail because its been serving America for 100 years. How old is Nissan/Datsun (really old)? If GM was making money 4-8 or 10 years ago or whenever, why not again?
Maybe we CAN lay blame for its demise solely at the feet of predatory trade partners? I am not saying GM was perfect, made all the right decisions or anything like that, that would be silly.
How do you know if our Gov. had demanded fair trade over the years that GM might be healthy right now?
Do you know how GM would have faired if our Gov. tarrifed cars from countries with national healthcare to an ammount equal to the unfair advantage they gain from that direct Gov. subsidy. How about currency manipulation? Nobody disputes the Asians have been doing it for decades and continue to do so.
How do we know that fair currency alone would not have put GM on a fair playing field?
How about law suit protection equal to what Asian firms enjoy?
Do you doubt that fair laws on ALL three fronts would make GM competetive? I don’t. Even the most fervant of Japanes or Korean car supporters would probably admit that the US auto industry would be in much better health today if they only enjoyed what Japan and Korea have enjoyed for decades.
Asian countries do whatever it takes to keep them good jobs at home. We do little to nothing. They’ve got the jobs and we have the worst employment numbers since GD1.
Agressive fair trade policies work to keep jobs and money flowing into a country, Asian countries have resoundly proven that.
Total lack of fair trade policies provide MASSIVE job losses (lets not candy coat or down play the number of job losses here) and huge trade deficits and lack of money to fund infrastructure, America has resoundly proven that.
With all due respect, (you are a smart cookie I know), I don’t believe facts you think “I left out” are facts as much as arguements that fail.
And please everyone no more “evil UAW” posts. There are 400-500 car parts suppliers here in SoCal hurting because of this mess. So move on from the UAW rant and look at ALL the job losses. UAW is the poster child for the “its ok to want them to die” movememt but they are a small portion of the total jobs we are losing.
