  Frenchman_in_the_d Member Username: Frenchman_in_the_d Post Number: 102 Registered: 08-2006 |
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs .dll/article?AID=/20061108/NEW S99/61108054 "Bush to meet with automaker chiefs on Tuesday WASHINGTON - President George W. Bush will meet with leaders of Detroit’s three automakers next Tuesday, the White House announced today, finally confirming a date for the oft-delayed meeting." Coincidence? Or a sudden change of priorities now that Americans slapped Dubya in the face and told him they have more pressing and important issues in mind than terror, blood and Irak?? | ||
Dialh4hipster Member Username: Dialh4hipster Post Number: 1841 Registered: 11-2004 |
I'm voting for coincidence. | ||
Matt_the_deuce Member Username: Matt_the_deuce Post Number: 672 Registered: 10-2003 |
Wanted to wait until after the elections as to not bring any undue attention to the struggling domestic auto industry. | ||
Lmichigan Member Username: Lmichigan Post Number: 4682 Registered: 10-2003 |
He had already said he'd meet with them after the election months ago. | ||
Cambrian Member Username: Cambrian Post Number: 292 Registered: 08-2006 |
I for one don't blame Bush or the republican House / Senate for our bad economy. They only and enacted lopsided trade laws that their corporate benefactors wanted. Yes, of course there is just as much corruption on the other side of the aisle, but as my Union Local prez put it, Labor at least has one ear of the Dems, does not mean they still won't side with big business. Where as the Neo / Cons are like yeah right! So I don't look for much from this meeting, what could Dieter, Bill, and Rich possibly want? Tarriffs on imports? We know that does not work, national healthcare to relieve their pension burdens? A good start. I suspect, and yes I am a hard core cynic, it will be to make more of the globalization picture work for the big 3, right on more outsourcing. Maybe ways of getting out of agreed upon union contracts more painlessly. | ||
Bobj Member Username: Bobj Post Number: 1387 Registered: 11-2003 |
Bush has cancelled meeting with the Automakers at least 3 times, is it George's problem to fix the domestic automakers, NO. But, as a major industry and employer in our country, he should listen and make sure we are on a level playing field. I wonder how often he has met with Oil Industry leaders or defense contractors?? | ||
Detroit_stylin Member Username: Detroit_stylin Post Number: 3234 Registered: 10-2003 |
"Ask not what your country can do for you....ask what you can do for your President" -George W. Bush- | ||
Spartacus Member Username: Spartacus Post Number: 157 Registered: 07-2005 |
The "lopsided trade laws" don't seem to be hurting the other 49 states. Don't be fooled by the Granholm/Stabenow b.s. | ||
Detroit_stylin Member Username: Detroit_stylin Post Number: 3236 Registered: 10-2003 |
Yeah too bad the other 49 don't depends as HEAVILY on one industry like we do... ignorant... | ||
Hagglerock Member Username: Hagglerock Post Number: 338 Registered: 03-2005 |
Amen brother, You also forgot to mention how "welcoming" the Japanese are when the Big 3 tries to sell cars over there. | ||
Supersport Member Username: Supersport Post Number: 10855 Registered: 10-2003 |
Seriously, do you even follow the news at all? This meeting has been scheduled for months. It was decided that it wouldn't take place till after the election many months ago. Detroit_stylin, Well, blame our governor for not diversifying our economy like the other 49 states have. Seems like we're the only state where our leadership continues to play the blame game instead of finding a solution. I would like to remind everybody of something, a fact that apparently most choose to ignore. We are in this situation because of the following: President Bill Clinton made the passage of NAFTA a major legislative initiative in 1993! Everybody wants to point the finger at Bush, the Republicans, and whatever else doesn't agree with their party. When in fact the Democratic party, WITH support of the unions, played probably the biggest role in the demise of manufacturing in this state. So how ignorant is that, that they STILL vote for Democrats each and every election? The Democratic party have it's followers so brainwashed with bullshit that they don't even realize that their own party they support is responsible for them being jobless. | ||
Cambrian Member Username: Cambrian Post Number: 293 Registered: 08-2006 |
Nafta was Bush Sr's baby. And yes Damn Clinton for not killing it as soon as he got in office. | ||
Hit24sqft Member Username: Hit24sqft Post Number: 12 Registered: 11-2006 |
Clinton & co eventually got NAFTA through and now under Jorge Bush the entire process will be completed with his NAU plan to merge US, Mexico and Canada by 2010. The big 3 auto makers are done. | ||
Quinn Member Username: Quinn Post Number: 1032 Registered: 01-2005 |
I'm with deuce...I'd like to think it helped get that meeting but doubt it. | ||
Jjaba Member Username: Jjaba Post Number: 4459 Registered: 11-2003 |
Don't kid your damn self. Asian and European car makers build a lot of product in USA. Sadly, not in Michigan but in non-union efficient plants elsewhere. The South shall rise again. But Bushie wants to reassure GM that he's still running 3 shifts at the Hummer plant, also not in Michigan. Buicks still rule China. Maybe they'll have some American content. jjaba. | ||
Spartacus Member Username: Spartacus Post Number: 158 Registered: 07-2005 |
Stylin, you think I'm ignorant? Blaming everything on NAFTA and free trade is a little simplistic, don't you think? I suppose you're smarter than 99% of the nation's economists who support free trade. Keep pointing the finger while our economy keeps sinking. That sort of populist sentiment might get people elected, but it sure isn't going to fix anything. Ignorant, indeed. | ||
Cambrian Member Username: Cambrian Post Number: 296 Registered: 08-2006 |
Not true about 99% of the Economists. The Economy is not an exact science, there are right winged economists and left winged economists. We've only been hearing from the right winged ones in mainstream media, because we've got right wingers running the government at the moment. There are plenty o' economists that agree that Labor Unions are good, they are the only reason we ever had a middle class in the 20th century for christ sakes, and that manufacturing jobs are better off here. Other wise if globalization was so hot, why did the big 3 start tanking once they bought into it? | ||
Mrjoshua Member Username: Mrjoshua Post Number: 966 Registered: 03-2005 |
I just find it hilarious that some people on this board continue to lament NAFTA was passed and act as if Globalization can somehow be stopped. Capital goes where it can gain the best ROI, it's nothing personal. | ||
Cambrian Member Username: Cambrian Post Number: 297 Registered: 08-2006 |
Sending labor to low wage countries that can't afford your product is sure fire way to drive your company into bankruptcy. Henry Ford was smart enough to know that. You can't build cars the way you build nike shoes. | ||
Burnsie Member Username: Burnsie Post Number: 727 Registered: 11-2003 |
Not sure what you mean, Cambrian. If the automakers expected all the cars built in Mexico to be sold in Mexico, that wouldn't work. But a lot of the cars the Big 2 make in Mexico are sold in the U.S. The low wages Mexican workers make more than compensate for the added shipping costs. | ||
Hit24sqft Member Username: Hit24sqft Post Number: 13 Registered: 11-2006 |
Mrjoshua: The NAU is about more than just "globalization" (as you call it) - it is about a complete abortion of national sovereignty. Then again, you may be in favor of that (as many people are) and as such, the whole plan would appeal to you. | ||
Spartacus Member Username: Spartacus Post Number: 159 Registered: 07-2005 |
Cambrian-- you are right that Economics may not be an exact science. It is notoriously difficult to get economists to agree an anything. That's what makes their universal agreement on free trade so remarkable. There is nearly an absolute consensus on this issue. | ||
Cambrian Member Username: Cambrian Post Number: 298 Registered: 08-2006 |
Well maybe on Fox news, I've heard economists on MSNBC railing against the current trade policies, not good at all. We have such a terrible trade deficit, we are financing our national debt to Saudi Arabia and China, how's it good when are in debt to other countries? | ||
Yvette248 Member Username: Yvette248 Post Number: 99 Registered: 10-2006 |
"The "lopsided trade laws" don't seem to be hurting the other 49 states." Actually other states in this country ARE hurting from imbalanced trade. All you have to do is do a search on economies in other midwestern states. It is affecting Michigan MORE, but areas of Penn, Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois are hurting also. (p.s. The economy was listed as the 3rd highest concern of nationwide voters.) | ||
Cambrian Member Username: Cambrian Post Number: 300 Registered: 08-2006 |
You know how it is with President Bush.. the more jobs lost, the happier he is......sickening. Of course the execs figured out a way, in the midst of big losses and the need to close factories, to give them selves big bonuses. Dana to Close 8 Plants, Cut Staff The Wall Street Journal 11/10/06 (Copyright (c) 2006, Dow Jones & Company, Inc.) Auto-parts maker Dana Corp. said it plans to close eight U.S. plants and cut staff at three others in North America. Dana, which filed for bankruptcy protection in March, also said in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing that it would eliminate health benefits for retirees and attempt to alter labor contracts at its unionized plants. Our existing labor costs, especially in the U.S., impair our financial position and are a significant impediment to a successful reorganization, the Toledo, Ohio, company said in the filing. Dana will announce within the next month which plants will close, Chief Executive Michael Burns said in a letter sent to the company's 40,000 employees. Dana, which sells brakes, axles and other parts to most major auto makers, has said in its bankruptcy filing that rising energy costs were driving up production costs and hurting demand for its customers' products. Closing the plants, eliminating health benefits and reducing other labor costs should save $405 million to $540 million each year, Mr. Burns said. The company also plans to renegotiate contracts with its customers and cut administrative costs. We expect to continue to move manufacturing capacity from the U.S. to lower-cost countries, such as Mexico, the company's filing said. Dana wants to set up executive bonus plan The Detroit News 11/09/06 (Copyright 2006) TOLEDO -- Dana Corp. is pitching a toned-down version of an executive bonus plan that it hopes won't strike out with Judge Burton Lifland a second time. As part of an effort to entice senior managers to stay, the auto parts maker wants to pay CEO Michael J. Burns up to $4.5 million during 2007 and up to $2.25 million in 2008, the company said in court papers Monday. The payments are tied to reaching various benchmarks for earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, amortization and restructuring costs. | ||
Ray Member Username: Ray Post Number: 818 Registered: 06-2004 |
Per above "They only and enacted lopsided trade laws that their corporate benefactors wanted" Uhh... there's been no change in the status of trade laws during the Bush administration as would affect US automakers and or other heavy industries OTHER than he took an (ill advised) action to PROTECT US steel makers from imports. No wonder the left hates Bush. They derrive their political views from a fantasy world that has no bearing on reality. Unfortunately, they then repeat their fairy tales on the nightly news and the pages of leading newspapers until the public accepts as uncontrovered truth these wholesale fictions. | ||
Ray Member Username: Ray Post Number: 819 Registered: 06-2004 |
The reason US automakers are losing market share is they are horribly managed and make shit products that no one outside of Detroit wants to buy. People pay a premium to buy a Toyota that would more than cover the $1500 per car in overly-generous insurance programs that GM/Ford lavished on the unions. Why should the rest of the country support economically devastating restrictions on trade to benefit a pack of overpaid losers in the industrial midwest. Why should people in Miami have to pay even $1 more to buy a car so that people in Detroit can have zero deductable health insurance, a snowmobile, a 2700 square foot house, and the many other entitlements that people here think are their birthright. The rest of the country competes -- successfully -- in a globalized economy and they no longer interested in carrying the industrial midwest. (Message edited by ray on November 12, 2006) | ||
Barnesfoto Member Username: Barnesfoto Post Number: 2717 Registered: 10-2003 |
QUOTE: No wonder the left hates Bush. They derrive their political views from a fantasy world that has no bearing on reality. Unfortunately, they then repeat their fairy tales on the nightly news and the pages of leading newspapers until the public accepts as uncontrovered truth these wholesale fictions. QUOTE: "We've got a plan for victory in Iraq!" President dressup, early november 2006. QUOTE" "We're an empire now and we create our own reality" -Bush propaganda mouthpiece, Oct. 2004 | ||
Cambrian Member Username: Cambrian Post Number: 302 Registered: 08-2006 |
Quote "No wonder the left hates Bush. They derrive their political views from a fantasy world that has no bearing on reality. Unfortunately, they then repeat their fairy tales on the nightly......" Thankfully most of the country buys into the fairy tale by voting the dems into the house for a majority. I heard that the religious right voters where the ones that shifted the vote to the left, they were tired of seeing the middle class getting beat up by the George Bush Corporation, the Christian voters want a higher federal minimum wage. Appearently the economy is not all rosy every where else like DeVos tried to tell us. | ||
Charlottepaul Member Username: Charlottepaul Post Number: 38 Registered: 10-2006 |
Economy is going well elsewhere. Blame who you want to blame. I blame it on the 'one industry town'of Detroit. | ||
Livernoisyard Member Username: Livernoisyard Post Number: 1727 Registered: 10-2004 |
"I heard that the religious right voters where the ones that shifted the vote to the left, they were tired of seeing the middle class getting beat up by the George Bush Corporation, the Christian voters want a higher federal minimum wage." The minimum wage only affects those with minimal (or subminimal) talents [Detroiters? perhaps]. Just why would "Christian voters" want a higher federal minimum wage? Are you implying that Christians have poor work skills and education? Or did you simply make this peculiar angle up yourself? | ||
Cambrian Member Username: Cambrian Post Number: 303 Registered: 08-2006 |
I actually heard that on a radio news program. The christians saw paying people fair wages as the right thing to do, go figure. |
