Amid all the talk of bankruptcy of the auto companies, it’s easy to forget that there is another, very desirable part of the Great Lake State. The family of a friend of mine in high school had a cabin on the Au Sable River, and I remember how peaceful it was myself, in both summer and winter.
[Update a few minutes later]
Speaking of bankrupt auto companies, Kaus has some good questions:
How many of the UAW’s members are skilled workers? I thought one of the big virtues [of] assembly line work is that it can be done by unskilled workers. Even with all the fancy computer-assisted quality control systems, does most auto assembly work really require skills that can’t be learned fairly quickly?
The unnamed “task force official” implies that Chrysler’s work force (and GM’s) is so precious that it must be protected from sharing in the sacrifice of bankruptcy. Is it? If UAW workers are so distinctly productive then why do virtually all auto manufacturers starting production in the U.S. try to get as far away from the union as possible? Is there any doubt that if all Chrysler’s workers quit tomorrow they could fairly quickly be replaced by workers–from local communities–who were a) cheaper and b) just as good or better?…
Gee, you’d almost think that they were just favoring a Democrat political constituency that gives them lots of campaign donations. Here’s another one:
Why should the government tax unskilled workers making $18 an hour, who haven’t bankrupted their employers, in order to protect unskilled workers making $28 an hour, and who have bankrupted their employers, from having to take a pay cut?
Why indeed? Someone should ask that question of Bob Gibbs. It would be amusing to watch the logical somersaults, to the limited degree that he’s capable of logic at all.
Shouldn’t you also ask?
Why should workers making $18/hr be taxed to support MBA’s in corporations that have led their companies into the ditch?
Top managers across american make 7 figure salaries, some make 9 figures and aren’t they ultimately responsible for the bad business decisions that got them there?
Why should workers making $18/hr be taxed to support MBA’s in corporations that have led their companies into the ditch?
I didn’t say they should, you moron. Another non-sequitur from “jack lee.”
Go ask your precious president.
You should read up on the strike against Caterpillar a couple of decades back. Caterpillar broke the union that way, only they used management instead of replacements. Turned out that by building up inventory before the expected strike, management could run the physical plant well enough to outlast the union. One notes that Caterpillar is still a profitable concern, and GM is not.
No Rand, ol’ Jack is right. Management should have said at the start of that first strike, “Go ahead, we’ll fold and start over with non-union workers.” So it really is their fault.
/sarc off
I seem to recall you raging that AIG executives weren’t getting their bonuses.
Something about “Sanctity of Contract” and that sort of stuff.
Is a union contract less meaningful then a management contract?
Great site! As a spacey who used to live just 10 mins from KSC, I love the transterrestial focus. And all the rest, too. 🙂
Take a look and tell me what you think:
http://samizdatrep.blogspot.com/
Best,
M.C.
I seem to recall you raging that AIG executives weren’t getting their bonuses.
Then as usual, you recall insanely. I didn’t give a damn about AIG executive bonuses. What I cared and care about is the rule of law.
Is a union contract less meaningful then a management contract?
They all should have gone bankrupt, but once the government stepped in, things became insane. Like you. Or perhaps you’re sane, but just a moron. It’s hard to tell from your comments. Obviously, you could be both nuts and stupid.
Fresh air, please! Taxes are the same as in the rest of the state. Also, wicked winters.
“you could be both nuts and stupid.”
Ah nothing like reasoned debate. You must be very popular at the Local GOP club meetings.
You must be very popular at the Local GOP club meetings.
Not having ever attended one, I wouldn’t know.
It’s pretty hard to imagine a place that you’d be popular, other than a loony bin. The notion that you’re interested in a “reasoned debate” is hilarious.
Why should workers making $18/hr be taxed to support MBA’s in corporations that have led their companies into the ditch?
If that were to happen, that would be unfair too.
Also, I see bankruptcy as the sole legitimate exception to fulfilling a contract. Bankruptcy almost by definition means one cannot fulfill all of one’s contractual obligations. It’s one thing for a company to be unable to continue to pay all its obligations including locked in employee salaries and benefits. It’s another (as in the AIG case) to weasel out of a contract because the provisions of the contract are unpopular. Unpopularity should never be a legitimate excuse for getting out of a contract.
The press wants to compare Obama to Lincoln — they are right. He is just like Mary Todd Lincoln. When Abraham Lincoln was elected, the first lady was given a budget of 25,000 dollars to renovate the White House. It was after all in disrepair and needed new services. She wildly overspent the budget and order opulent furnishings that fulfilled her lifelong fantasy of being the presidential first order. When, Lincoln heard of this, instead of ordering another, Congressional budget committee, to cover the expenses he paid for the over expenditures out of his own presidential salary for that year. In fact, Lincoln, was such a fiscally responsible individual that he wouldn’t even sleep with a prostitute if that so much as meant he would have to needlessly go in debt. Despite folklore, Lincoln was a real man, warts and all.
Wow, my comma use, hits, tha, tank, when, drinking…..SPOck!!
Lots of noise, no signal.
“Bankruptcy almost by definition means one cannot fulfill all of one’s contractual obligations. It’s one thing for a company to be unable to continue to pay all its obligations including locked in employee salaries and benefits. It’s another (as in the AIG case) to weasel out of a contract because the provisions of the contract are unpopular. Unpopularity should never be a legitimate excuse for getting out of a contract.”
Um you take the kings coin, you do the kings bidding.
The entire financial industry is on the Federal Tit. TARP, TALF, MMALSDF, Credit guarantees, Bernanke and Paulsen put the F.I.R.E. sector in for 8 trillion.
Paulsen and Bush weren’t men enough to tell Citibank and BofA to file bankruptcy, and these guys were glad to take treasury dollars, they shouldn’t bitch about the Feds telling them what they cana nd can’t do.
I’ve worked at DoD contractors, half the BS is due to DoD cost regulations.
Here’s another crazy tale from the Netherlands, which after a couple of years of moving towards more market forces has stagnated again:
By law employers are forced to give employees a permanent contract after two consecutive years of employment. To prevent complete insanity, there is an escape clause: if the employers can show there’s an economic need, to the satisfaction of a semi-government bureaucrat, subject to judicial review, they can let the employee go. They can’t choose who to sack however, in particular they can’t just fire the most expensive or least productive employees. Formerly, they had follow the LIFO principle. Now, they have to make sure they observe a “balanced distribution” over age groups. One injustice, forced permanent contracts, is counterbalanced by another, an escape clause for employers. To keep people from starving, there is mandatory “unemployment insurance” as if unemployment were some random natural phenomenon. Case law entitles sacked employees to one month’s salary in severance pay for each year of service. No wonder labour lawyers make a fortune negotiating settlements.
It is customary to give 2 weeks for every year of service in most US Firms.
I’ve known of a lot of firms that give 30 days per year of service when making buyout offers.
Any discussion where you take part is “nothing like a reasoned debate,” Jack.
Rand,
Way to ruin your own thread by responding to Jack Lee. Don’t feed trolls for the site’s sake.
Regardless of the skill v. unskilled – although as I recall when I studied Just In Time, the Japanese car manufacturers had no illusions that the work was skilled – the crux of the problem for GM is building cars that nobody actually wants to buy.
Interestingly, Ford and Vauxhaul (UK GM variant) pretty much hold the top 5 slots in Britain for car sales and have done for years keeping the Japanese manufacturers out and holding out against the Germans and French.
However, the cars sold under Ford and “GM” badges in Europe bear no resemblence to the, frankly, embarassing wrecks I’ve driven here with the same badges on. Superficially the Ford Mondeo looked like a Taurus – the difference was the Mondeo was actually nice to drive.
Even Jeremy Clarkson has nice things to say about the Mondeo.
Ford stand a chance of surviving this because they seem to be bringing their European designed inventory over the US – if they can do that quickly I think they’ll be fine. I just don’t see what products GM has in the US market that compete with anything.
Isn’t the market king and all that?
Ford Europe has some nice products, the Euro Escort was always good.
GM Opel and Vauxhall had some neat products.
GM Holden was amazing, such a great little car aimed at asia.
The North American division was selling junk.
Mr. Lee – Let’s just say that cars designed and built in the USA are junk, and leave it at that.
Sports cars that can’t turn corners, family cars with a bigger turning circle than a London bus are just examples. The only thing, and that of dubious benefit, that American car companies have given the world in the last 50 years is “muscle cars”; i.e. cars with utterly rotten fuel economy and cornering performance even worse than that – but they have huge engines, make a nice noise and can accelerate like the Shuttle in a straight line.
And up to a few years ago, American car companies got away with it. Says something about Americans.
Hey I thought the Detroit guys were meatheads and losers. I thought most of the people working at GM were second rate workers who couldn’t find real jobs I drive a Camry, and before that a Civic.
the early 80’s chevy cavaliers weren’t bad but were overpriced.
The Pontiac fiero was a cool car but GM dumped it.
The Buick Grand National was pretty amazing, so was the Pontiac GTO, but,
by the middle 80’s the japanese were pulling way ahead.
Reagan lifting CAFE was only making it harder for GM to compete globally.