Oh Pat you are such a dope.
Union contracts, poor quality products, crappy management and having fleets of giganto vehicles in their production lines when gas hit $4.00 a gallon killed the big 3.
I’m sure there are more.
The foreign brands have to deal with the same government garbage as the big 3 and they aren’t dying.
What kind of car was Pat driving when he started his first of many failed attempts to run for president??
“The foreign brands have to deal with the same government garbage”
You see, if the foreigners fail, it’s socialism. If they succeed, there is an imaginary construct of freedom.
You can’t win with these guys. They listen to Limbaugh rant against unions then charge people as class warriors who think executive bonuses should not be benefited by government bailouts. They see no conflict.
What the foreign auto makers have for huge advantage is the fact that most of their profits go back into their own country's economy, making it easier to produce good auto relatively cheaply. Not so with American autos makers, who have been dealing with massively unfair trade, tax, and expense/profit practices for decades. I drive a 2001 Buick LeSabre, smooth, strong, quiet, comfortable, and it gets over 30 mpg highway, and about 20 mpg overall. Good or better than any Toyota. Our stuff is just about as good as the imports now, and has been for awhile. BTW, the foreign brands do not have to deal with the same "government" garbage as the US auto makers, that's just plain wrong.
Pat is more right on these issues than for example Bush trade policies. Go back to the article. The imports of early years are not those of today. Basically they were bargain basement junk made at very low wages and imported. France never apologized for the Renault which was one of the worst.
In the mean time federal government was the unions best friend and along with state closed shop laws tied the Big 3's hands. When the foreign owners finally began setting up manufacturing in the USA some things had changed. First thing was they built in non closed shop states meaning the south and were non union. The people in these states unlike the UAW workers in the north welcomed and worked with the companies by not demanding unrealistic wages. It was a win win for both company and worker. It was only then though with the cars made in USA that they had to come up to US safety standards and EPA. EPA and government have not helped the BIG 3. BTW there is still a big demand for larger vehicles as in some cases that is what the buyer needs. The smaller foreign owned can not meet that demand or rather won't.
PJB is right on many trade issues and it was a dumb move on Bush's part to exclude Conservatives like him from at least having advisory positions. But Bush never has been interested in that. He is simply serving corporate masters who's interest lie outside that of the USA.
The big 3 need to bust the unions. That would be a first. True labor unions should consist of actual workers from within a company. Many labor union leaders never worked in a plant a day in their lives. Union members need to come to terms with reality and realize that a livable and honest wage for their labor means more persons work and likely JOB SECURITY FOR ALL. Labor Unions in many places have become far worse than the abusive employers they were originally formed to deal with. For example no man who can not afford a strike and has to feed his family should get threatened or the crap beat out of him for crossing a picket line.