Big 3 Bailout related stuff

by hillbilly 7 Replies latest jw friends

• 

  hillbilly

  I got this in an e-mail, and it is pretty much spot on!
  
  Letter from Troy Clarke, President of General Motors - followed by a response from Gregory Knox of Knox Machinery:
  
  Dear Employees & suppliers,
  
  Next week, Congress and the current Administration will determine whether to provide immediate support to the domestic auto industry to help it through one of the most difficult economic times in our nation's history. Your elected officials must hear from all of us now on why this support is critical to our continuing the progress we began prior to the global financial crisis......................As an employee or supplier, you have a lot at stake and continue to be one of our most effective and passionate voices. I know GM can count on you to have your voice heard.
  
  Thank you for your urgent action and ongoing support.
  
  Troy Clarke President General Motors North America
  
  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
  
  From Gregory Knox,
  
  In response to your request to call legislators and ask for a bailout for the United States automakers please consider the following, and please also pass this onto Troy Clark, the president of General Motors North America for me.
  
  You are both infected with the same entitlement mentality that has bred like cancerous germs in UAW halls for the last countless decades, and whose plague is now sweeping the nation, awaiting our new "messiah" to wave his magical wand and make all our problems go away, while at the same time allowing our once great nation to keep "living the dream"…
  The dream is over!
  
  The dream that we can ignore the consumer for years while management myopically focuses on its personal rewards packages at the same time that our factories have been filled with the worlds most overpaid, arrogant, ignorant and laziest entitlement minded "laborers" without paying the price for these atrocities…and that still the masses will line up to buy our products
  
  Don't tell me I'm wrong. Don't accuse me of not knowing of what I speak. I have called on Ford, GM, Chrysler, TRW, Delphi, Kelsey Hayes, American Axle and countless other automotive OEM's and Tier ones for 3 decades now throughout the Midwest and what I've seen over the years in these union shops can only be described as disgusting.
  
  Mr. Clark, the president of General Motors, states:
  
  There is widespread sentiment in this country, our government and especially in the media that the current crisis is completely the result of bad management. It is not…
  
  You're right – it's not JUST management…how about the electricians who walk around the plants like lords in feudal times, making people wait on them for countless hours while they drag butt…so they can come in on the weekend and make double and triple time…for a job they easily could have done within their normal 40 hour week.
  
  How about the line workers who threaten newbies with all kinds of scare tactics…for putting out too many parts on a shift…and for being too productive (mustn't expose the lazy bums who have been getting overpaid for decades for their horrific underproduction, must we?!?) Do you really not know about this stuff?!?
  
  How about this great sentiment abridged from Mr. Clarke's sad plea:
  over the last few years …we have closed the quality and efficiency gaps with our competitors.
  
  What the hell has Detroit been doing for the last 40 years?!?
  
  Did we really JUST wake up to the gaps in quality and efficiency between us and them?
  
  The K car vs. the Accord?
  The Pinto vs. the Civic?!?
  
  Do I need to go on?
  
  We are living through the inevitable outcome of the actions of the United States auto industry for decades.
  
  Time to pay for your sins, Detroit.
  
  I attended an economic summit last week where a brilliant economist, Alan Beaulieu surprised the crowd when he said he would not have given the banks a penny of "bailout money". Yes, he said, this would cause short term problems, but despite what people like George Bush and Troy Clark would have us believe, the sun would in fact rise the next day… and something else would happen…where there had been greedy and sloppy banks new efficient ones would pop up…that is how a free market system works…it does work…if we would let it work…
  
  But for some reason we are now deciding that the rest of the world is right and that capitalism doesn't work – that we need the government to step in and "save us"…save us, hell – we're nationalizing…and unfortunately too many of this once fine nations citizens don't even have a clue that this is what's really happening…but they sure can tell you the stats on their favorite sports teams…yeah – THAT'S important…
  
  Does it occur to ANYONE that the "competition" has been producing vehicles, EXTREMELY PROFITABLY, for decades now in this country?...
  
  How can that be???
  
  Let's see…
  Fuel efficient…
  Listening to customers…
  Investing in the proper tooling and automation for the long haul…
  
  Not being too complacent or arrogant to listen to Dr W Edwards Deming 4 decades ago.
  
  Ever increased productivity through quality, lean and six sigma plans…
  Treating vendors like strategic partners, rather than like "the enemy"…
  Efficient front and back offices…
  Non union environment…
  
  Again, I could go on and on, but I really wouldn't be telling anyone anything they really don't already know in their hearts.
  
  I have six children, so I am not unfamiliar with the concept of wanting someone to bail you out of a mess that you have gotten yourself into – my children do this on a weekly, if not daily basis, as I did at their age. I do for them what my parents did for me (one of their greatest gifts, by the way) – I make them stand on their own two feet and accept the consequences of their actions and work them through.
  
  Radical concept, huh…
  
  Am I there for them in the wings? Of course – but only until such time as they need to be fully on their own as adults.
  
  I don't want to oversimplify a complex situation, but there certainly are unmistakable parallels here between the proper role of parenting and government.
  
  Detroit and the United States need to pay for their sins.
  
  Bad news people – it's coming whether we like it or not
  
  The newly elected Messiah really doesn't have a magic wand big enough to "make it all go away" I laughed as I heard Obama "reeling it back in" almost immediately after the vote count was tallied…"we might not do it in a year…or in four…" where was that kind of talk when he was RUNNING for the office
  
  Stop trying to put off the inevitable …
  
  That house in Florida really isn't worth $750,000…
  
  People who jump across a border really don't deserve free health care benefits…
  
  That job driving that forklift for the big 3 really isn't worth $85,000 a year…
  
  We really shouldn't allow Wal-Mart to stock their shelves with products acquired from a country that unfairly manipulates their currency and has the most atrocious human rights infractions on the face of the globe…
  
  That couple whose combined income is less than $50,000 really shouldn't be living in that $485,000 home…
  
  Let the market correct itself people – it will. Yes it will be painful, but it's gonna be painful either way, and the bright side of my proposal is that on the other side of it is a nation that appreciates what is has…and doesn't live beyond its means…and gets back to basics…and redevelops the work ethic that made it the greatest nation in the history of the world…and probably turns back to God.
  
  Sorry – don't cut my head off, I'm just the messenger sharing with you the "bad news"
  
  Gregory J. Knox
  President
  Knox Machinery, Inc.
  Franklin, Ohio 45005
• 

  Brother Apostate

  Indeed.

  Sums it up quite well.

  As does this:

  
• 

  BurnTheShips

  Looks like you shouldn't shit where you eat.

  BTS
• 

  BurnTheShips

  Not being too complacent or arrogant to listen to Dr W Edwards Deming 4 decades ago.

  You know, this is very true. Post WWII Japanese industry adopted Deming's production ideas with the fervor of a religious conversion.

  BTS
• 

  hillbilly

  Heck...even FPL won a Deming Award in the mid 80's... they took a big stab into 'changing culture" and reworking processes. Look at the value of everything and what it does or doesnt do for the organization. IBEW got behind the idea and we saw some pretty good mutal gains (AFL-CIO was into this too back then) and stock prices went up...service was good and rates stable.

  A true Union bustin, SOB named Jim Broadhead came in ... set the whole place back about 40 years and ran off a ton of good help... labor and supervision both. This guy could have been Charles Dikens' worst night mare.

  I have said before so I will say it again... the UAW and Auto deserve each other... if there is a bailout I hope someone stops the madness.

  Jeff
• 

  Homerovah the Almighty

  My personal belief is that the big 3 auto makers were just taking too much out the pot to sustain themselves , right down to the unionized workers and up to executive

  management and they got caught in an economic recession with their pants down.

  Some of blame should be placed on strong arm tactics by the UAW for demanding too much and expecting too much.

  For example the insistence that assembly line workers should get $ 40.00 + an hour and a huge benefit package for a job that you

  do not need collage degree to perform, seems out of practicality and unrealistic.

  There are a few manufacturing plants that have already shut down this year in Ontario that the UAW didn't want to be flexible on wages so the management looked

  at the books and saw they couldn't make a profit to sustain the plant and so they shut it down, taking hundreds and perhaps a thousand jobs with it, way to go UAW.

  Another thing that the big 3 haven't properly addressed is the lack of making good quality economy cars, something that Honda, Toyota and VW have been doing for decades.

  In countries like Canada where gas as this summer went as high as $6.00 a gal. people went looking for economical to drive vehicles and they didn't buy domestic because they could see

  they weren't the same quality as the foreign cars, hence in Canada 80 to 90% of the cars on the road in that segment of the market are foreign.

  Likewise in so many other countries like England, Mexico etc.

  Companies make their profits by selling their products, if the company doesn't sell enough of their products guess where the company is heading.

  The big 3 really are going to have to reorganize themselves in the coming years, even with the temporary help from the government in hand which

  is only going to last for a short time. As an overall viewpoint of their situation you can place the blame on short sighted incompetent management and too

  strong armed of a self concerning unionized labor force, both working in unison in 3 very large companies.
• 

  jaguarbass

  It's too bad they got themselves where they are.

  If you dont have a union the workers get screwed.

  It seems the unions killed the goose that laid the golden egg.

  It's just like life and the bible.

  A no win situation.

  Man cant not govern himself.

  Individually people can do ok. But in groups they are pretty unmanageable.
• 

  nomoreguilt

  Personal expierence speaking here. I live in the heart of GM country. Between Detroit and Flint, Mich. I worked for 2 years in a GM plant. Just about vereything spoken about by Mr. Knox is true. There have been militant factions of the UAW that have always pushed the envelope with the Big 3. Demand after demand. The unions served their purpose decades ago and for that many workers can be greatful. However, what with equal opportunity laws and the like, they have long out lived themselves. They are now reaping the rewards of too much over paid overtime. The cabin up north, the home in Florida, the boats, snowmobiles, etc. Need I go on?

  Don't get me wrong. I make my living servicing the automotive aftermarket and believe me, what is happening in the industry is killing me and hundreds of thousand more JUST LIKE ME!! I don't like the UAW and I didn't appreciate the ignorance with which Gettlefinger opened his mouth before congress. He is uneducated as regards the inner workings of the Corp end of the Big 3 and is only out for HIMSELF!! His membership numbers have been in decline for years and it's only a matter of time before the unions are busted by the gov't. I have been saying this for 25 years. It all began when they quit making Pontiacs in Pontiac, Mich. They had a militant faction of UAW there and GM closed down the plants. It's not going to stop, believe me. I was there. I still am here. I only hope that the industry survives in some form to save the many folks like myself that invested their lives in the after market.

  NMG