[quote=Rt.66]I disagree. GM could have gone on paying $14 an hour to new hires and $27hr (about what Toyota and Honda pay US employees) to their very long term UAW employeees forever IF, if…. the 3 unfair trade advantages mentioned above had been addressed.
I’ve read that all 3 together add up to $4-$6k per car. Can you imagine how much more development GM could put into small profit margin economy cars had it not been for the Unfair advantage that Toyota, Hyundia etc. enjoy from their Job friendly and aggressive Governments?
GMs legacy costs are not an evil, anchor of non-competetiveness we should be chastising them for. Those legacy costs are pensions and healthcare. Important things that we all should be fortunate enough to have. They are doing our country a solid. Our Gov. should recognize that and provide a fair trade counterbalance to keep those flowing.
What do they do instead? Send the jobs to China, Japan and Korea and have the tax payer pick up the bill for folks cheated and thrown into poverty?
I don’t care what it is anyone does for work I would just as eagerly defend any pension you earned.
Its f@cked up to let retired people and American jobs take it in the @ss because people in charge thinks its cool to allow foriegn countries with predatory, unfair and unjust trade policies to scam us into GD2.
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No, GM’s legacy costs are not evil. However, it seems to me that those high wages and benefits such as pensions and healthcare are part of the problem. GM is a reflection of the nation as a whole. The standard of living for US inhabitants have been far higher than most the world by a large degree. You can’t expect that gap to continue indefinately.
The Asian countries played the one card that they had, cheap labor. You/we would have done the same. And, eventualy, the tables will turn. The low cost producer of today will become old, fat and slow. Some young energetic kid will come along and fill the void, maybe Africa (if they can ever stop fighting amongst themselves).
Let’s not forget the US has its own protectionst trade tariffs and subsidies.
