Unions Aren't To Blame For Automakers' Woes
If the centralized, organized mouthpiece for labor is destroyed, then so is the only advocacy vehicle available to the nonunion worker.
HuffPost's QuickRead
Los Angeles Auto Show - It's a wrap!
How anxious are the Detroit Three carmakers to make sales? My wife and I were at the Los Angeles Auto Show last night, "Black Friday," at the Los Ang...
Deepak Chopra on Mumbai: Too Controversial for CNN?
Deepak Chopra went on CNN Wednesday night to give his take on the Mumbai attacks and how to prevent similar attacks in the future, but producers cut Chopra off when he started to get too controversial.
On Bailouts and Sports Cars
I own the number 16 production car of the Tesla, and I've been driving it for two weeks now. Anyone who owns the car can tell you that a) it is not "woefully immature" and b) that it is not a "concept car."
Eleven Other Countries with Big Auto Industry Problems
Here's some of what's happening, mostly with GM, in Europe and Asia, two markets outside the U.S. hit hardest by the slowing automobile business.
Los Angeles Auto Show -- Clean Diesels Clean Up
At this year's Los Angeles Auto Show, the 205-mile per hour, $100,000, 2009 Corvette ZR1 is relegated to the very rear of the Chevrolet exhibit, like the "adults only" section in video stores.
Congress Bails out Those Who Shower Before Work, but not Those who Shower After Work
Detroit is a place where workers are unionized; Wall Street is not. And right-wing Republicans and conservative pundits have made it clear they want the union workers to suffer.
Chinese Want To Buy the Big 3 Automakers
All the Shock Doctrine fanatics cheering to drive the the Big 3 into bankruptcy "restructuring," like Mitt Romney, might want to think about the implications of this.
The Media Myth: Detroit's $70-an-hour Autoworker
Make no mistake: The $70-an-hour claim represents a classic case of conservative misinformation. It's also a very dangerous one.
Get Your Head Out of Your Detroit
President-elect Obama risks making the first big mistake of his administration if he condones a $25 billion bailout with these corporate yahoos still at the wheel.
What Detroit Needs
We all make jokes about how lazy and lobby-driven Congress is, and as sad as the truths behind those jokes are, when times are good, we can afford to have government operate like that.
How To Save A Major Automobile Company
The Big 3 are looking for a bailout. They should only get it if they agree to stop building autos that contribute to global warming now.
Time to Change the Rules Rather Than Throw More Money at the Banks
The current lesson for the commercial banks is that if they want to survive, they should not do any of the things -- such as increase lending -- that the Treasury is trying to get them to do.
Changing the Whole Auto Industry, Seriously?
Entrenched power and mindset within Detroit leadership make it really tough for the auto industry, as a whole, to innovate.
So You Want A Big Electric Car?
As people discover the many advantages of electric vehicles, their momentum will build. Not only are these cars green and responsible, they also enhance National Security.
Too Much Green in Being Green
I would love to drive a Mini, or a Prius or a Smart Car, but I have a big family. Unless Ringling Bros. teaches me how to pile them all in and out of a four passenger car, it is not an option.
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Automakers' Future:
The Smaller 3 Or The Big 1?
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Anyone who looks at the consolidation on Wall Street in the banking industry and thinks that is a good thing, would love there to be only one auto company in America. But look at what happens every time we allow monopolies to exist. When competition no longer provides an incentive for Any business to provide the very best product or service; when those business grow so large that they threaten the very political system that allowed them to flourish; and when the money is so great and concentrated that the people are no longer free, but rather slaves to the Corporate System, then we see a degradation all down the line in those products and services, just as in the old Soviet Union, and the death of Democracy and our rights.
Uh, One US Automaker does not a Monopoly make. They would have plenty of competition from Asian and European automakers.
I suggest you learn what a Monopoly is...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monopoly
Well, lessee (counts on fingers):
Multiplying stupid, slow and arrogant times three, equals one.......?
Hmmm. Must get more fingers.....
I had to laugh at their first trip to Congress. I thought to myself if I, as a business owner, had approached a bank for a loan for my business without any kind of plan as to how the loan would be used and whether and when I would be able to pay the bank back, I'd be laughed out of the bank. I mean, if this is any indication of these CEOs business acumen, we should all be very afraid of lending them our money.
I understand that this time around there will be no dramatic flying in on corporate jets. Reportedly, the CEO of Ford has decided to forgo the corporate jet this time around and drive to Washington in a Ford Hybrid. No word on how the other two CEOs will travel to Washington, but I can guarantee you it won't be via corporate jet.
I've head stories of union concessions, paring down of product lines, CEO pay being reduced to $1 per year, yada, yada, yada.
However, the Big Three are burning through cash at a rate of almost $5 billion per month. If they are asking for loans in the neighborhood of $25 billion, you can do the math to figure out when they will be back to Congress again with hat in hand. At that rate, I'm afraid that any changes they are willing to make will not show the financial results quickly enough to allow this loan to do them much good.