R.I.P. General Motors (1931-2006)

I once owned a Chevy Monza and had lots of problems with that car.
It was the last GM car that I have ever owned. The last two cars
that I have purchased were Honda Accords. It's my guess that there
are thousands of people like me. They stopped buying GM cars as a
direct result of having lots of mechanical and electrical problems
with GM cars. I do beleive that GM and Ford does a great job in
regard to making full sized pick-up trucks. I have yet to meet anyone
that complained about the quality of their full sized GM and Ford
pick-up trucks.
Jason

 

And GM, Ford and Chrysler still outsold Toyota and every other import by
hundreds of thousands, even millions more vehicles in 2005. Obviously
hundreds of thousands and millions of buyers do not agrees with your opinion
of who makes
the best vehicles


mike hunt

..

 

I agree with you. You understand statistics and market trends much better
than the other posters.

One of the other factors that I don't believe anyone has mentioned is
related to car sales in foreign countries. Anyone that has visited a
foreign country or has access to car sales data from foreign countries
will tell you that Honda and Toyota sells many more vehicles in foreign
countries than Ford or GM. That is related to the bottom line (eg profit
vs loss).
Jason

 

Then you think it is good thing for the American workers to buy a Toyota
made in Japan of Chinese parts or a Chevy made in Korea of Korean parts to
help send their childrens jobs off shore? LOL


mike hunt

 

You forget to say GM no longer makes the cars they made in the eighties.


mike hunt

 

Well, it is hardly his fault that you are linguistically challenged, is
it?

 

Sort of make the statement seem foolish doesn't it. Same management same
workers and in many cases same engines, trannys as in the some of the cars.
The fact is every mnaufacture is making good vehicles today, the only real
differance amoung them is style, price and dealer service. I have not owmed
a foreign car that was any better than the dometics I've owned. The only
differace I have encounted was the higher prices charged at foreign dealers
Today I'm more interested in how the deaership takes care of me when I take
my cars in for service.



mike hunt







I do beleive that GM and Ford does a great job in

 

"Of course, each job that is unskilled or less skilled but somehow
undesirable in some other way must be evaluated individually for
'proper' compensation. The true test is whether the wages for a
particular job can be justified and sustained in a competitive world
market. It's my contention that the jobs we're largely discussing
here (UAW workers) do not meet that competitive market test."

No. You are lying. That is not the true test. The ONLY true test is,
can a person working forty hours a week at the pay you're considering
provide a middle-class lifestyle for a family of four? If not, you're
underpaying. Society exists for the 98% of people who are workers, not
for the 2% who are owners. Your "argument" is just a thinly veiled
argument for the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer. It
wasn't just when unions were formed, and it isn't just now.

"Let me bring up an anecdotal example I'm aware of...."

(Translation: Let me make up a pie-in-the-sky hypothetical to bolster
my weak point.)

"A "local" company (non-Union) found that their 'unskilled' workforce
was grossly overpaid (25% or more) when compared to similar jobs in
the area. Management, faced with fierce international competition
(even within the same company) had to make adjustments in several
areas -- not just wages -- to either become competitive or close
down. They went to the employees and told them that wages would be
frozen until further notice in order to save the plant and their
jobs. Since this is a non-union plant, they were able to do it,
keeping the plant going, so that everyone was able to keep their
jobs. It's been 4 years and the plant is still there. Not many
have left and they're almost to the point of being competitive."

Did management take a pay cut? Not likely.
Did they end sweetheart deals?
Did management take the bus to work instead of limos? Not likely.
What were considered similar jobs? (In NYC, we have registered nurses
being told to their faces that their work is no more technical or
skilled than that of a candy-striper.)
On top of all this, many union shops have made EXACTLY the sort of
concession you describe since 9/11. So really, a shop being fairly
represented doesn't make the diference you say it makes.
I hope your check from the GOP is in the mail; you've earned it.

"A union shop, faced with the same choice, would have most likely
chosen differently -- and all would have been out of work making
nothing by now."

This is simply fabrication. By now, SO many unions have conceded SO
much, to the auto industry, the airlines, etc.--that this simply holds
no water. And do these concessions lead to more prudent management?
Well, here's my anecdote...

After 9/11, the airlines cried poverty and asked for a $15 billion
bailout. The main point of this gift, they said, was to avoid layoffs.
The VERY FIRST thing they did with the money was vote themselves fat
raises. The very NEXT thing they did with our tax money was--hire a PR
firm to make the THIRD thing they did---lay off a whole lot of
workers--look more sympathetic in the press.

You were saying about it all being the damn greedy unions fault...?

 

I guess we'll all have to go back to living in 4 family houses with our
adult married kids like the old days. We'll have to learn all over again
how to get along.
wow, we've come full circle. how nostalgic.

 

In a free market, I think it's a good idea to buy the best product
at the best price from whoever makes it. If all things were equal,
I'd be ecstatic to buy American again. I used to buy GM (Chevy and
Buick) until I realized that I was spending way too much for the
cars -- both to purchase and maintain -- them for the quality I was
getting. So, after many, many years of GM purchases, about 5 years
ago, I started buying Honda/Acura. The quality is exponentially
better while the cost is normally less -- or a similar price with
much higher value.

For those who think we should just "Buy American" no matter what,
consider that the advantage of buying for the best value is that it
rewards those who are able to provide the better products. Those
who aren't able to do that, either get better or go out of business.
We as consumers then get better value for our money because of
reasonable competition.

Buying inferior vehicles for too much money just so we can buy
American is not -- in the long run -- the best thing to do for us
personally or for us as Americans.

 

About 20% less diesel for the same amount of energy.
http://www.ucsusa.org/assets/documents/clean_vehicles/dieseldilemma_exsum.pdf

Or we will learn to use renewable fuels.

Jeff

 

I wish that I never heard the name Bush already.

Jeff

 

I guess that is OK if imports were actually better, as you seem to believe,
and if you don't have children who might need a job some day. Your
experience is the opposite of mine. I was buying imports then switched to
domestics because the imports were costing to me too much to buy and
maintain.


mike hunt

 

When was Barry Goldwater President?

 

Get real what renewable fuel can possobley take the place of gasolene in the
near future? Renewables may up take care of some ot the growing need but
will not take the place of gasoline in the next 50 years, even if we had
started ten years ago LOL


mike hunt

 

No matter how you spin it, you're a bald-faced liar, "Mike".

 

No, they did not, you bald-faced liar. And Toyota is no more an
"import" to the entire world than GM and Ford are.

Not obvious at all, dumbshit. As has already been explained to you
countless times, most people don't buy what they consider to be the
"best vehicles". They buy what they can afford, based on perceived
value and often, yes, a strong bias for "the home team".

 

Prius saves 620 gallons per 100K of driving.
So if you log 40K per year, you STILL need 18 years of driving to break even
@ $3/gal.

 

1 large nuclear power plant can power a lot of cars

 

I bet it will.

Bullshit.