Posted on 11/21/2005 5:34:36 AM PST by 12B
Breaking on Bloomberg and Reuters. GM will cut 30,000 jobs in massive restructuring. More....
In this case it's those who have already retired that are the lead anchor drooped around the corporate neck.
There's no such thing as price-gouging, except as marxist propaganda. Hooray for all price gougers!
Sloth and envy and vanity.
Too often used by shills and whores. I'd gladly run GM into the ground just as much as these clowns for a mere "pennies on the dollar" of what they're getting paid. And Carly Fiorina destroyed tens of billions of shareholder value at Lucent and HP, but still walked away with a seven-figure severance package...
Get used to it, FRiend. There are a LOT of elitists here. There are a lot in the house & senate, too (RHINOS) that call themselves republicans.
My wife works as a dental hygienist, for 25 years I've seen the effect. People who never went to dentists started going once they became insured. Still, today after a couple generations of somebody else paying, I would not go to a dental practise that relies on insured patients, and greatly prefer those that do not take insurance or that prefer cash. There is a remarkable difference in the quality of care, in the caring.
Health is a necessity, and good health is a force multiplier in a work-force. In the early years (maybe twenty-thirty years) of health insurance in a region health improves, because public expectations regrading health improve.
Wait for retail results after the Holidays are over.
Bottom line: the product line sucks.
Unfortunately, that's not unusual for any car salesman regardless of brand.
Yes, and the union is responsible for the shoddy production (though the designers are responsible for the unattractive designs).
My dad was a union man who worked for an auto manufacturer years ago, though not on the line. He was an "old timer" who actually took pride in his work. The union made sure that slackers and sloppy workers kept their jobs. My dad and the other "old timers" spent much of their time fixing the mistakes and shoddy work of the "young'ins". Dad said many of the guys would just sleep on the night shift - never got disciplined - you couldn't touch them because the union would bail them out. Once the "old timers" like Dad retired, the careful, accurate work went with them.
While I'm sure there are still workers who try to do an honest job, the union "can't touch me" mentality has invaded the workplace, and the guys who sweep the floor make nearly as much as the engineers. There is no fear of reprisal for a poor job. He feels the unions brought this on themselves.
Your mistake is thinking a company is a joint venture (like a family) between management and employees. It is not; the employees and management both work for the company, and it is entirely reasonable to pay them what they are worth to the company (or fire them if they aren't worth paying). This could at times mean laying off low-level workers and paying valuable executives high bonuses. Of course, it can also mean firing a bad executive even while hiring new workers.
4. Cutting employees but requiring the "left-behinds" to pick up the slack and do the work of two or more people and not compensating them fairly. This has personally happened to me on two occasions. It is happening to a lady I work with right now.
Again, that is not wrong; it is just the way the marketplace works. In a tight labor market, workers can make demands on companies (higher pay, etc.), but in a looser labor market, companies can make demands on workers (such as doing more work for the same pay). If you think the company is making unfair demands, you are always free to quit. If your work really is worth more than what the company is paying you, you should have no problem finding a better job elsewhere, or even better, starting your own business.
Totally irrelevant.
Very true, and it is unfortunate when it happens. At times it may be the result of nepotism and favoritism leading to bad hiring decisions, but at times I suspect it is just a bad gamble. There's a reason someone like Fiorina got to where she was--she obviously has some significant talent. In retrospect, through, she was very ill-suited to a company like HP, and probably not worth what they paid her. On the other hand, a company that never took management risks and always hired "bargain" executives would probably do even worse in the long run.
Actually, people *are* slamming the Element and Scion. The difference is that Honda and Toyota can sell semi-ugly vehicles because people know they will be reliable.
You can't give an Aztek away, because people know it's a pile of crap. I mean, it's a GM minivan that's been rebodied, it's undertired and undersuspended for its weight, and the one I test drove a few years ago with 10 miles on it was already showing signs of wear, drove like crap, and THEN had a total electrical system failure that cut the test drive short.
Good sentiment, if only it were true. Our impotence at sustaining (when we should be expanding) our oil infrastructure is nothing but a win for the greens and is costing us hundreds of thousands of jobs. Drilling in ANWR would drive our unemployment rate into the 2's.
My Suburban runs on ethanol, but that's just a drop in the bucket. Drilling in ANWR, the gulf of Mexico, Florida, California + ethanol and bio diesel is the best option TODAY for sustained American strength and prosperity.
I know they are (retailers)expecting a 6% increase this year. Call me crazy, but I don't think all those laid-off folks will be spending what they planned on spending for gifts. There may be some returns going back from GM homes as we speak.
While I'm sure there are still workers who try to do an honest job, the union "can't touch me" mentality has invaded the workplace, and the guys who sweep the floor make nearly as much as the engineers. There is no fear of reprisal for a poor job. He feels the unions brought this on themselves.
But it is as broad a brush stroke as saying all "Conservatives are Republicans." There are MANY hard workers who put up with the nonsense...it is BOTH the union's & GM's fault for not leaving an opening for the disciplining of slackers.
Now they're realizing they shouldn't have. But it's too late.
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