Gregg Henson.com

Alec Baldwin is an ignorant twit!

When Alec Baldwin isn't cussing out his his own flesh and blood in a profanity laced tirade, it's good to know he is becoming a automotive expert.

Baldwin took time from his stellar parenting duties recently to pen this article "The Rise and Fall of Detroit" for the far left rag "Huffington Post."

While I don't take issue with him having an opinion, some of his opinions are flat out false and others are just a product of his extreme left wing views.

One of his issues is with management and how they ran the auto companies over the last 30 years.

"The heads of these corporations did not spend the last thirty years lying in bed each night, sleepless. They did not turn their spouses in the wee hours and say, "How do I serve the automotive needs of the American public and better protect their health and safety AND help them conserve energy?" They never said that."

Alec, YES, they actually did "serve the needs of the American public." They made HUGE cars and trucks and the AMERICAN PUBLIC gobbled them up because they liked 'em.  Alec's "build a better car" routine is just played out.  American cars are just a well made as any foreign car and they have all the "awards" to prove it.  For some strange reason American's hold the auto industries poor decade (the 70's) against them but hold no such ill will for the crap the Japanese dumped on us for many years.  Much of this routine is simply far left self hating rhetoric and doesn't mean much coming for a limousine liberal. 

Instead, they spent billions of dollars attempting to bribe the Congress to avoid putting in seat belts and air bags, installing catalytic converters and reaching more ambitious fuel efficiency standards. For the most part, they succeeded. Congress approached those issues with the same combination of sentiment, fealty and fear that Detroit's customers accepted. It was said to be "bad for Detroit." Little did we know that falling for that bull for so long was what was bad for Detroit. Now, the American automotive industry, once the industrial pride of this country and a source of so many great paying jobs that changed the economic fortunes of millions of Americans in assembly, parts, dealerships and service, is about to go away.

I guess the fuel standards argument is ok IF you actually believe there is man made global warming or an actual shortage of oil.  I don't think it is a bad thing to improve fuel standards, but not at the risk of killing jobs.  It is too bad that companies don't invest in new technologies BEFORE we get to the crisis point.  BUT, most companies are acting in the interest of the shareholder, which in many cases is US.

He makes a great point without even realizing it, when he says the American auto industry  was a source of GREAT PAYING JOBS. BINGO, American auto jobs are priceless because they create so much wealth.  Jobs with the big three are much more important to economic growth in this country than foreign jobs because they create more jobs in return.  The UAW for all its pluses and minuses has helped build a thriving middle class in this country and we should do what we can to protect the manufacturing sector in Detroit.

There can be only one legitimate response to this crisis. Let energy conservation and fuel efficiency rule the day. Let the car makers go under. In the same way we have subsidized Big Oil by destabilizing the governments of petroleum rich countries, or outright invading them, we have subsidized Detroit long enough. Just as every barrel of oil is undervalued because we do not factor in that portion of the defense budget that helped bring that oil to market, so we have undervalued our government's, and therefore our, complicity in producing cars that not only were inferior, but drove Detroit itself right off a cliff.

More left wings garbage.  Yep, let the car makers go under and take viewers of your weak TV show and movies with it, I'll never understand why "actors" and those who's livelihoods are dependent on the middle class spend so much time shitting all over the very people who pay their way.  Just remember this Alec, these workers that you so despise produce more in an hour than you have ever produced in your life, how about a little respect?

 

Chrysler and GM do look like they are going to make it.

After reading about Chrysler and GM tonight, I couldn't help but recall the warnings that were posted on this web site in 2005.

I wrote about this and referenced this article in July of 2005, but it bears repeating.  The American people are DIRECTLY responsible for the decline of the American auto industry.  Before you go off half cocked and attack me, re-read the article I linked to above.  It clearly lays out why, if you are an American you should have supported the people living in your community by buying their products.

If you buy foreign cars, you can argue all you want about the foreign cars being made in the USA, yadda, yadda, yadda.  I don't want to hear about quality when the Japanese were dumping shit cars in the US for most of the 60,'s and 70's; the cars are all just about equal (within their class) and all have pluses and minuses.  Bottom line, if you drive a Toyota or a Honda, you are responsible for your own predicament.  The US auto industry paid well and even if you disagree that a guy on the line shouldn't be making $75k a year, you cannot deny the "wealth effect" it had on Detroit and Southeast Michigan.  That is why Michigan teachers and other public servents are among the highest paid in the country and why Michigan, at one point, was the 9th richest State in the Union.  Michigan currently stands at 24th on that list, yet teachers are still making the wages of teachers that USED to be in the ninth richest state.  If you are a public servant in Michigan, SHAME on you if you don't own an American car.

I also urge you to not attempt the "competition is good for everybody stance," that only applies when the competition is fair and we know the European, Japanese and Chinese automakers don't play by the same rules.

America and Detroit's decision to buy foreign cars has all but erased Detroit, maybe next time paying a few thousand dollars more to buy an American automobile will be the way to go when it saves your won job and standard of living.

Business week takes aim at Southern Republicans!

Copied from Business Week - Dec 13, 2008

Detroit: The Real Battle Is Politics

The Detroit bailout isn't about saving the U.S. auto industry, it's about Democrats and Republicans jockeying for power - By Ed Wallace

In the ongoing power struggle between Republicans and Democrats, Detroit is the latest, and possibly the bloodiest, battleground. And because it is a battle of ideologies with no apparent connection to pragmatic economic reality, the matter of whether the U.S. auto industry survives takes a backseat to which party gets its way.

That's because the two parties see the fate of Detroit as a watershed moment, the kind of event that could potentially redraw the political landscape forever. By refusing to bail out General Motors (GM) and Chrysler, Republicans see a way to end the last vestiges of unionism in America and the unions' longtime backing of the Democratic party—a political base the Democrats will fight tooth and claw to save. If neither side can win—if they destroy the American automobile industry in its entirety and if in doing so they set off a chain reaction that turns out to be the last straw for our shaky economic system—they don't care.

How can that be? Simple party politics. Because if these individuals bring down the American economy by destroying Detroit, they'll simply walk away from the disaster saying "It was the other guy's fault."

Detroit Is Still Viable

Somewhere along the way this debate seems to have overlooked the fact that Detroit, for all its blunders, is still a viable economic engine, providing jobs to millions and creating some of the world's best cars. For example, the best-selling vehicle in America, even in this downturn, is still Ford's (F) F-Series truck, and second place goes to the Chevrolet Silverado . Even the Dodge Ram continues to hold a strong position in the Top 20 vehicle list, while sales of the Toyota Prius are down substantially with the fall-off in gasoline prices. (We assume that the Prius is the type of car the left wants Detroit to build.)

And speaking of Japanese cars, I hate to point out the obvious, but car sales in Japan are lower today than they were 15 years ago, down over 30% just last month. Yet you won't see the heads of the Japanese auto companies on the carpet in front of their government officials, being drilled with questions like, "Why don't you build cars the public wants to buy?"

What's amazing is that Senator Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) is such a huge critic of using taxpayer money to bail out Detroit. Amazing because the state of Alabama has provided hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars to lure foreign auto companies to build factories on its soil.

Tax Breaks for Jobs

Of course, when Alabama gave Mercedes-Benz (DAI) $253 million to build a factory there, or about $168,000 per job created, that was considered a good thing. When Honda (HMC) considered building a new factory there, that was worth $158 million, and Hyundai's Southern site choice forced the state to cough up $234 million more. Again, these were considered wise investments because the promise was that they would create more jobs for the chronically underpaid Alabama workforce. However, in the summer of 2003, Mercedes brought in Polish workers on questionable B-1 work visas to expand the factory because they could be paid far less than the local workforce.

So you had Alabama gifting state tax dollars to Mercedes' factory, only to discover that some of the jobs it created went to much cheaper labor imported from Eastern Europe.

Look at Senator Bob Corker of (R-Tenn). The former mayor of Chattanooga was one of those responsible for winning the new Volkswagen (VOWG) factory at a cost of $577 million in tax incentives. Moreover, Tennessee got that factory only because Alabama offered the Germans a mere $385 million.

Mississippi paid $284 million for a new Toyota (TM) plant; Kia got $324 million from Georgia. Texas had to fork over only $133 million for Toyota's Tundra plant in San Antonio, while Tennessee gave $197.6 million not for a new Nissan (NSANY) factory but simply so Nissan would move its American headquarters to Nashville. There are other factories—BMW (BMWG) in South Carolina, Nissan in Mississippi, and so on—but you get the point.

The Republican senators from these states see no problem whatsoever with paying to bring new automobile production to their states, and the media always quotes them gloating about how smart it is to spend that type of money because it creates jobs.

The reality is that there's no end to the tax largesse handed out to some of the most successful car companies in the world. And you know their names: Volkswagen, Toyota, Honda, Nissan, Hyundai, Kia, Mercedes-Benz, and BMW. The fact that many of these companies' brand-new, state-of-the-art American plants—nonunion plants, low cost-benefit plants—are also struggling seems to have escaped the notice of these same elected officials and the media.

Scanty Orders

Mercedes recently offered a buyout to its entire workforce in Alabama, and Hyundai has never gotten its Alabama factory up to full capacity. Toyota will not use its upcoming Mississippi factory to build its Highlander SUV, and Nissan is converting its factory in that state to build commercial vehicles. Toyota has been forced to shut its Texas truck plant because of scanty orders for the new Tundra, and so on. So Senator Shelby's statement that Detroit "doesn't innovate. They're a dinosaur," while his partner Senator Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) brags about the "very large and vibrant automobile sector in Alabama," doesn't exactly ring true.

So we find that nonunion, low-cost, state-subsidized, state-of-the-art auto plants in America are having their fair share of problems, too. But according to Senate Republicans, the only part of the American car industry that isn't working is in Detroit.

Worldwide Auto Slump

Other governments aren't being so stingy—or mercenary. Sweden gave $3.5 billion to stabilize both Volvo and Saab on Dec. 10. Volkswagen has applied to tap into the bank bailout fund set up by Germany for that nation's troubled financial system—our Treasury and Fed may be compelled to offer similar help. And China just lent Chery Automotive $1.5 billion to continue operations.

That's right, other industrialized countries around the world will be stepping in to ensure that their own automobile industries will still be working when whatever financial downturn we are looking at is finally over. Moreover, they understand that the world's economy is precarious right now, so they aren't demanding that corporate jets be sold, they aren't demanding new business plans to save the individual companies, and they aren't publicly embarrassing the heads of Honda, Toyota, Mercedes, BMW, VW, Nissan, Renault, and others by demanding that they explain why their profits and sales have dropped suddenly. In the rest of the world, elected officials understand serious downturns in the economy and that the automotive industry is cyclical in nature.

As for Congress, shame on you for playing politics when so many jobs and, in many ways, the future of American manufacturing is at stake. But then again politics is all you know. Maybe you should let American carmakers get on with what they know how to do: build cars.