sonorakitch
Overseas hunter
Cutlass said:None, not one, of the problems with the automakers was caused by a decision made by unions.
Has to rank amongst some of the most ill-informed statements in the history of CFC.
~Chris
Cutlass said:None, not one, of the problems with the automakers was caused by a decision made by unions.
I'd like to hear it.
As Michigan native myself, I can say that the UAW IS A MAJOR reason for the death of the Auto Industry.
It's just been impacted more lately due to the increased cost of oil and less demand for SUV's.
Has to rank amongst some of the most ill-informed statements in the history of CFC.
~Chris
Actually, I have read quite a bit about the american auto industry. It is a textbook case of unions gone mad.
Anyway, it is pretty hard to argue against the basic fact that UAW made a Michigan auto-worker immensely more expensive than one in, say, Japan. Can you possibly deny this basic truth?
No you are being naive. Because you simply refuse to pay attention to one overriding issue: The decisions to create the entire mess were made by management.
The unions may take advantage, but the management made the decisions to cause the opportunities. All that you are doing is to apologize for the incompetence of the management by calling their screw ups as someone else's fault.
Yes. Because it is false. The cost of a unit of labor is a factor of both what it costs and what it produces. If I pay labor $1 an hour and in that hour it makes something worth $1.10, or I pay labor $50 an hour and in that hour it produces something worth $100, then clearly I am better off paying $50. Again, read "A Farewell to Alms".
A company that can't properly handle its labor issues deserves to get b-slapped by the invisble hand.
A company that can't properly handle its labor issues deserves to get b-slapped by the invisble hand.
They got the price the employer was willing to pay - it's not their fault that the employer was willing to overpay. If they didn't gain skills necessary to adapt once the management started making ******** product mix decisions, well yes, they deserve what they get.It sure does, and the workers that failed to realize that their overpayement was destroying the company deserve to be jobless and just as broke as their former company.
I haven't see a real strike lately. New management caves too easily and then blames the people they didn't even stand up to.You're right about that. Agree 100%. Problem is, new management is trying to fix the cave-ins of the old management, and the damn workers STRIKE!
How's that for fixing an industry?
~Chris
I haven't see a real strike lately. New management caves too easily and then blames the people they didn't even stand up to.
They got the price the employer was willing to pay - it's not their fault that the employer was willing to overpay. If they didn't gain skills necessary to adapt once the management started making ******** product mix decisions, well yes, they deserve what they get.
American oil traders don't seem to think like this. When the announcement was made the more drilling may happen, the price of oil dropped significantly. When Russia went into Georgia, it went up significantly (although there was some slack here). Anti ANWR people can prattle on all they want about how it'll only lower the cost of a barrel of oil 1 dollar nominally due to global supply. But I gaurantee you that if on Tuesday, Bush said "We've reached a deal to drill in ANWR, and expand domestic oil production" that the price of oil here will plummet.
If Hormuz is closed, then we don't have any oil period. None. Nadda. Zilch. 25% of our oil just...goes away. Prices may go up if we drill in ANRW in the global market, however, we'll still have access to that supply instead of having nothing at all.
And this is why oil prices shoot up $5 a day when there is unrest in Nigeria. And $7 a day when Hugo makes vague threats. And $4 a day when Mahmoud feels like being frisky when he talks about Iran.
Anyway, organized labor was greedy and wildly irresponsible; ultimately they destroyed their own jobs (or the jobs of their children), and are reduced to voting for populist politicians that promiss them welfare and protectionism.