I'm hoping Mullaly really turns things around at Ford.

The right management philosophy can work wonders. Just look at Toyota and Honda.

Harry

Not just right management philosophy .. but I would like to see the American company make the right cars .. I would like more competition in the small car market and hybrid cars ... so that there is a healthy hyper-miling competition among the auto-makers ....

I'm hoping we'll see something from Ford soon . . . perhaps an expanded hybrid product line.

Bob Wilson

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Too late for Ford, Bob ... I am really disappointed with the American auto-companies ... Japanese, Korean and European companies are doing much better in taking the oil consumption of automobiles seriously ..

I too am disappointed in the US auto co's. Toyota in particular has eaten their lunch.

In the 80's the Japanese auto co's were admired. Their workers, although I don't think were unionized still had benefits which, at that time equal the US unions.

Jumping ahead, we find now that Toyota plants in the US us non-union labor, and call them temporary. As these workers come up to the point where the automaker has to start paying medical benefits - TOYOTA lays them off. Nice.

The problem I think with the US automakers is their short-sightedness. For example, once they have a successful design, they tend to sit back.

On the other hand, for the life of me I cannot understand the UAW's stand against changing the CAFE standards.

Oh, yeah Age4ever. Come closer. I want to whisper something in your ear: ENRON, 401K company pension plans

Got any proof to back up that up?


And what is that from? I know several people that lost the shirt off their back during that deal. Most of them (not all) were living way beyond their means and fit right in with the Enron mentality (live off someone else's dollar). I also know some people that worked there and saw how the house was built so they refused to put their money in it, and they are doing great today.

BTW, it is ag4ever (as in Texas A&M Aggies) not age4ever.

Sorry. I read the article in either the LA Times or The Washington Post quite a while ago.

However, it seems employees at Toyota lose jobs for, I think stupid reasons. Something which would not happen if they were union.

daptalk.com/News1_fired_toyota_workers_we_didn't_leak_memo.htm

Speaking of unions, anyone feel that unions have served their purpose and are now almost obsolete? Sure, it's agreed that unions have done a lot for the labor market. But now, are they just a financial burden on the company/union members? Or do you feel that they still are worth their cost?

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I think unions are important else workers are at the mercy of their employer. I know many people think that that's the employer's right to deal with employees as he sees fit. However, given that assumption what is the right of the worker?

Until the '70's, unions acted as one of the checks on business. They were able to go up against business in the political arena and push back against business. They've lost that ability even tho some say unions have too much clout. Nothing like they had, and certainly nothing like business.

I think many look at the union-U.S. auto industry relationship and blame the unions for the cost of products as the reason we're loosing to foreign competition.

On the other hand, European auto makers have much stronger unions than the UAW and their cars are selling well in this country.

So, here's my suggestions. Get other countries (who knows how you do that - treaty?) to allow their workers to unionize, thus leveling the playing field. Do it the other way (deunionize our workforce) and it's a race to the bottom.

Medical benefits are absolutely necessary. Don't believe that crock that if the guy doesn't have to pay for it, he'll just run amoke and run to the doctor for every little pain. Besides, it's absolutely imperative that with the likelihood epidemics and pandemics you want people to seek medical care as quickly as possible.

It's too bad that the U.S. auto companies have that obligation, as do other employers. But somebody has got to do it. If you guys are happy shoveling dough into private companies who can kick people off their insurance because of a sneezing attack 15 years ago, well what can I say.

You don't want bureaucrats making a decision for you? Guess who's doing it in the insurance industry. Some NONUNION 10.00/hr bloke.

Well, I do run on. In a word. UNION! UNION! UNION!

Very true about the free medical thing. I see this in the military a lot. Just because we have access to free healthcare doesn't mean we'll go down to the clinic every time we stub our toe. However, having free healthcare helps to get a person into the clinic and get them well a lot sooner without contaminating a lot of other people. Also, if workers are healthy, there isn't that lost productivity from having a bunch of sick days. And also, if you keep people generally healthy when they're young, they cost a lot less to take care of when they're older.

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