This shows a complete lack of understanding of the issue. Nissan sends profits home to Japan period. They were given huge tax breaks in the state. The state benefits from a few jobs but there is little benefit to the economy beyond the wages. Nissan is not an American company. If the big three go under just as the Japanese electronics plants in America disappeared so will the transplants.
First of all, I have never understood what Shelby ET AL are playing at...supply lines will affect thesetransplant companies as well. America benefits by having an auto industry as a country. Those of you who believe you are buying American cars by buying these foreign transplant cars are really selling out your country in the end. We need to support and rebuild our manufacturing base, or we will become a footnote in history.
Now, wait a minute. You keep mentioning the electronics industry, which I am in. The mass market CONSUMER electronics industry has indeed pretty well gone overseas: Bad for me - I am in one of the last vestiges & presently (still) job hunting! But, there is all kinds of high tech electronics industry still here - a good part of which is supplying modern weapons and components for such to the U.S. military.
At least in the consumer electronics areas I work(ed) in, there never was particularly significant Japanese production in the U.S. The U.S. companies simply shifted production to overseas plants or vendors, or were displaced by vendors who were foreign all the way. Well, maybe not always 100% “all the way”. Last time I checked, Pioneer Electronics, for example, was still doing some of their product development, engineering, and testing in the U.S., but not the production, of course. In fact, I was just over at their website and they are hiring engineers for locations in CA and OH - unfortunately not in my specialty. :-(
Whether or not the “transplant” auto companies stay here is not dependent on whether the “big three” declare bankruptcy. It is dependent on whether or not it is cost effective for the transplants, or anybody else, for that matter, to manufacture here. The auto market may decline, but it is not going to disappear.
Why is it assumed most of the suppliers can’t adjust? Any company over 100 employees that can’t shrink by 20%, or even 50%, and survive / adjust, probably does not deserve to survive.
I’d also challenge something from another post: I’ll bet Toyota would LOVE to build or buy a plant to manufacture military vehicles for the U.S., in the U.S. True, there might be some “technology transfer” issues (in both directions), but such could be handled. And, true, we theoretically could get in a confrontation with Japan, again, someday, but THEN you nationalize ‘em (Toyota’s U.S. operations.) Not NOW (GM, Ford, etc.)
That said, I am not TOTALLY opposed to loans to the big 3, IF those loans are made under similar conditions to those which a conservative / cautious bank would require. At the very least, the execs and the union heads need to convincingly show how they will get to the point of competitive costs. Of course, then gov’t financing might not be needed: Maybe Warren Buffet would “do the patriotic thing” (at the urging of Joe Biden?)
Of course, I want manufacturing to stay in the U.S. That’s what I was doing (until recently!!!) But, having the gov’t run / control it even more than it does now will make the situation worse, not better.
As an aside, I recently saw that Circuit City declared bankruptcy, and is closing 120 stores, but, the company is not going to disappear, nor will most of their suppliers. In fact, they are still running ads nationally, though locally, they are advertising the store here closing.
The Other American Auto Industry
I'd also point out that Nissan doesn't just "send profits home to Japans." Nissan is a publicly-traded company right here in the U.S. (ticker symbol NSANY), and their profits go to wherever their shareholders happen to live.
How odd is it that a UAW employee working for a Big Three company is better off with Toyota or Honda stock in his pension fund than the stock of the Big Three company he works for?
Doesn't that say something?