[pabianice]

1. HillaryCare

2. Retraining the Rust Belt (you and I pay for it)

3. Save the rust belt's 40 years of Dem mismanagement with your taxes

[Semper Paratus]

Another industry run into the ground by unionism.

[frankiep]

But the rust belt is entirely within the "United States of Canada". Why the hell should the people of "Jesusland" have to pay for the task of rebuilding a huge, extremely mismanaged portion of another nation?

[tgusa]

What an absolute crock of sh*t. The unions bought and paid for the state governments of the rust belt - now they're paying the price. Why are foreign automobile manufacturers building plants in South Carolina, Tennessee, etc? It's because of 'right to work' laws. The sooner the rust belt wakes up to this fact the better off they will be.

[Emile]

Waaaaaaah. We've priced ourselves out of the world auto market. We've nearly bankrupted our companies with our excessive union demands. Now, we expect the federal welfare system, er, government to bail us out. We're entitled. Waaaaaaaah. Capitalism failed us. Now we want socialism, paid for by everyone else. Waaaaaaaaaaaah.

[The Great RJ]

The unions and auto industry have only themselves to blame. After more than 30 years of buying American cars I bought a Hyundai Santa Fe. What sold me was the 10 year/100,000 warranty and the obvious quality for an affordable price. I looked at American models and found poor fit and finish, obvious poor quality and design and a mediocre warranty. I seriously doubt I will buy another American car unless the industry seriously shapes up.

[Lurker]

GM is no longer an auto company.

They are a pension fund manager that happens to also make cars.

L

[Lekker 1]

...life in the Rust Belt has been a steady process of downward mobility

One word for ya...MOVE

[Citizen Tom Paine]

It is with deep regret that I see GM in the straits it finds itself in. However, I believe that the chickens are finally coming home to roost. In my opinion, the last good year for "American" cars was 1968 when you could walk into a showroom and buy a 300 hp V-8 which would give you a true 20 mpg at an interstate speed. (I drive one today.) Recall at that time one could also buy 110 octane gasoline for those engines (Sunoco and in the west Chevron Supreme). The fatal blow was struck in 1973 when the pollution controls were installed and the engines were essentially choked to death by various means.

Today Detroit has finally learned how to build the same performance V-8s on poorer quality gasoline and a tremendous number of pollution requirements. As an aside do you realize that the tailpipe emissions from a new automobile is cleaner that the air that it ingests to operate. This means that SUV drivers are doing a service to their country by cleaning the air! Park them in the center of a large city and let them idle and they will clean the air. You don't read that in very many places do you?

Back to the main idea however. Now Detroit, and "American" cars built where only the Lord knows, face formidable competition from "foreign" cars built in the South. GM cars, like the dinosaurs, changed too slowly and offered a lower level of performance and reliability that the "foreign" manufactures. ( I realize that there are some exceptions to that statement.)

What should we do? Let the market place reward and punish. It is the American way.

[layman]

But for my generation, born at the end of America's Golden Age

The author is thirty years old so I'm going to cut him some slack. He is five or ten years away from figuring out that socialism simply doesn't work.

[joeclarke]

If Dem socialists and unions really try hard enough they can advance to the communionism that China has. Just one of China's steel companies employs 400,000 people, and they are paid a whopping $10,000 per year (benefits supplied by the State.)

In Cuba Doctors,Architects and other professionals may only make between $60 and $100 per month. However, Fidel does allow them to work as prostitutes to supplement their income. They can make $300 in one night alone. (Fidel does not officially permit prostitution, but those American tourist bucks are hard to resist)

[yarddog]

It is as simple as this.

Extremely high cost of labor. I don't blame the employees for getting all they can but I do blame management for not having the backbone to stand up to the unions.

Back in the 80's I met a guy who worked at the Ford Truck Assumbly Plant, in Norflk, Va. I was astonished at his salary. It was around twice what they would have had to pay to get plenty of workers in the area.

[Mr. Jeeves]

Immigrants with no formal education, their union wages allowed them to provide their family with a nice home, two cars and, for my mother, a college education, paid for in cash.

That was a brief moment in history, made possible by a confluence of events not likely to recur in our lifetimes. I'm sick of the Left trying to make it sound like the norm.

[joeclarke]

Posted On Freerepublic
GM Prez blames Republicans for downfall
The following was heard on a Youngstown, Ohio (Big GM Lordstown Plant location) radio station 570 WKBN, Monday, when GM announced the closing of 9 plants and the firing of 30,000 workers.

The statement that Republicans should be blamed for GM's troubles was made by no less than Rick Wagoner, President of General Motors, North American Division. Fax was sent in CAPS.

DEAR RICK WAGONER, PRESIDENT OF GENERAL MOTORS NORTH AMERICA;

I HEARD YOU THIS MORNING ON A TALK RADIO PROGRAM BLAMING REPUBLICANS FOR THE MASSIVE FIRINGS AND PLANT SHUTDOWNS THAT GM IS PLANNING.

YOU SAID, "THE REPUBLICANS WANT TO LOWER UNITED STATES ECONOMIC STANDARDS SO THAT THE REST OF THE WORLD MAY IMPROVE ITS ECONOMY."

I BEG YOUR PARDON, MR WAGONER, I BELIEVE IT HAS BEEN THE DEMOCRATS POSITION TO: DESTROY PUBLIC EDUCATION; PROHIBIT ALTERNATIVE OIL AND GAS EXPLORATION; RESTRICT ENVIROMENTAL POLLUTION BEYOND WHAT IS NECESSARY, THUS MAKING IT HARDER FOR AMERICAN COMPANIES TO COMPETE; DEPRIVE BUSINESS OF PROFITS BY FORCING THE HIRING OF UNQUALIFIED WORKERS VIA AFFIRMATIVE ACTION LAWS; SUPPORT THE HIGH COST OF LITIGATION FOR BUSINESSES; CONSTANTLY PUSH FOR HIGHER TAXATION, SPOIL UNIONS, ETC.

NO, MR WAGONER, THE REPUBLICANS HAVE WANTED THE U.S. TO EXCEL, WHILE DEMOCRATS HAVE BEEN HISTORICALLY ANTI-BUSINESS AND VERY PRO SOCIALISM.