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The Other American Auto Industry (Great Article)
Weekly Standard ^ | December 13, 2008 | Fred Barnes

Posted on 12/13/2008 6:26:05 AM PST by re_tail20

The Other American Auto Industry

Plenty of car makers make a go of it in this country--they're just non-union and not headquartered in Detroit.

West Point, Georgia

Drew Ferguson IV is a 42-year-old dentist whose family has lived in this town, population 3,300, "since God put us here." To be precise, the family arrived eight generations ago. Ferguson went off to the University of Georgia, then on to dental school, after which he came back to West Point. He and his wife, whom he met in college, have four kids. A year ago, Ferguson was elected mayor. "There's a reason I live in West Point," he says. "I love it. There's a sense of place here." No doubt, but West Point is located in what might also be considered the middle of nowhere. It's pinched between I-85 and the Alabama border. Atlanta is a good hour's drive away.

West Point today isn't the same town Ferguson grew up in. Textile company executives used to live here. But when the textile industry collapsed in the 1980s, the victim of foreign competition, they moved away. Thousands of jobs were lost. A few small technology firms took up some of the slack. But the high-tech bust of the late 1990s proved to be another job killer. "We survived without a federal bailout," Ferguson says sarcastically. Now, while much of America wallows in the gloom of a recession, there's great joy in West Point. "West Point will have more economic growth in the next 24 months than anywhere else in the country," Ferguson boasts. And he may be right.

(Excerpt) Read more at weeklystandard.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Foreign Affairs; Front Page News; US: Georgia
KEYWORDS: auto; automakers; bailout; bribery; bushbailout; bushsellout; fredbarnes; graft; socialism; textiles; uaw; unions
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1 posted on 12/13/2008 6:26:06 AM PST by re_tail20
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To: Toddsterpatriot; Mase; expat_panama; LowCountryJoe
"A subsidy pays to keep jobs. An incentive pays to bring them. If you're paying to keep them, it means somebody wants to leave."

I wish more people would understand.
2 posted on 12/13/2008 6:38:04 AM PST by 1rudeboy
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To: 1rudeboy
"A subsidy pays to keep jobs. An incentive pays to bring them. If you're paying to keep them, it means somebody wants to leave." quoted for truth.
3 posted on 12/13/2008 6:41:39 AM PST by Ancient Drive (will)
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To: re_tail20
Thank you for posting this. I wouldn't have seen it, since I don't have a subscription to the Weekly Standard.

This is about real people making logical decisions to guarantee their own employment and success. And, leading decent lives in a good place, to boot. This should be required reading for all the out-of-touch politicians in Washington.

Congressman Billybob

Latest article, "Doncha Love Chicago Deep-Bleep Politics"

The Declaration, the Constitution, parts of the Federalist, and America's Owner's Manual, here.

4 posted on 12/13/2008 6:45:54 AM PST by Congressman Billybob (Larest book: www.AmericasOwnersManual.com)
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To: re_tail20

I was looking at a GM car, but now definitely not. That company is already a quasi-Gov’t agency with the UAW in control. I feel now it’s like buying a car from the HUD or the Dept. of the Interior


5 posted on 12/13/2008 6:46:52 AM PST by PGR88
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To: re_tail20
Great article and goes a long way to explain why the UAW is slitting its own throat. There is no need for a bailout of the auto industry. The Tiny Three have let their management abdicate its responsibilities to the unions over the years. The very idea of paying 97% of wages when they don't work is absurd as are many of the other elements that lead to a $73/hr wage bill. A bailout simply allows the auto firms to avoid the hard decisions it must make to become competitive with other auto makers. Politicians want it simply because of the union votes...they could care less about the people. And the "one-in-ten-workers" crap is fear mongering that is fraught with lies.

Let them declare bankruptcy, reorganize, renegotiate their contracts, and start over with an eye to being competitive. Oh, and Washington: IT'S MY FRIGGIN' MONEY, NOT YOURS. NO BAILOUTS!

6 posted on 12/13/2008 6:47:03 AM PST by econjack (Some people are as dumb as soup.)
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To: 1rudeboy

Toyota is building a new plant in the Tupelo, Ms area. It will produce vehicles in 2010. A $1.3 Billion investment and 2000 jobs.


7 posted on 12/13/2008 6:48:04 AM PST by Red_Devil 232 (VietVet - USMC All Ready On The Right? All Ready On The Left? All Ready On The Firing Line!)
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To: re_tail20
It's a good article. Still, here's the part I don't understand. Michigan automakers can't be so myopic that they could't see this coming, AT LEAST 15 years ago. Why weren't they doing what these other companies doing?

I wonder this while wondering for yet another year how long our fearless leaders, who couldn't sell spring water to a man dying of thirs, will continue telling dying auto makers how to do their jobs.

8 posted on 12/13/2008 6:50:25 AM PST by stevem
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To: re_tail20
"Nissan moved its American headquarters from southern California to Cool Springs, Tennessee, just south of Nashville... The auto production numbers in the South are staggering..."

Paging Arnie "RINO" Schwarzenegger! Does your steroid laden brain register anything with the above? Hint: the south is mostly red states!

9 posted on 12/13/2008 6:57:08 AM PST by avacado
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To: re_tail20

Jobs are not automatic today. They are a commodity that an area needs to purchase. People are finally realizing you need to pay someone to supply jobs for your people.

And then there’s this:

“We don’t have a culture that values union organizing,” says Haley Barbour, the Republican governor of Mississippi who persuaded Toyota to locate a Prius plant in Blue Springs in northern Mississippi. “Our workers like overtime and pay for performance. They feel like they get a better deal without the union.”


10 posted on 12/13/2008 6:59:15 AM PST by Right Wing Assault (What's Obama's Secret?)
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To: stevem
Not to take away from poor management decisions (e.g., over-emphasizing high-margin vehicles such as trucks to the detriment of smaller platforms), but even when management tried to make operations more efficent the UAW refused.

There was an article in the WSJ a couple of weeks ago that described how Ford sent a bunch of consultants to a plant in order to streamline the painting process, and the UAW wouldn't even let them in the door.

11 posted on 12/13/2008 6:59:18 AM PST by 1rudeboy
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To: stevem
re: Why weren't they doing what these other companies doing?

It was easier to give in to the unions and buy labor harmony than it would be to take them on and try to overcome what decades of bargaining had given them. Those who were doing the negotiating had cushy upper-level management jobs and weren't about to risk them by taking on the unions. As long as they could pass the escalating costs on to the consumer they were content to live their lives of luxury. As for the unions, they quickly learned management was in no mood for a fight and they could get just about anything they wanted, especially if they took some of it now and rest over a period of years. It was simply a win-win situation for all those involved. But it was nothing more than a Ponzi scheme, and like all such schemes, destined to collapse under its own weight.

The chickens are coming home to roost.

12 posted on 12/13/2008 7:01:56 AM PST by jwparkerjr (God Bless America!)
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To: stevem
Why weren't they doing what these other companies doing?

How do the Big Three manage to de-unionize their plants?

13 posted on 12/13/2008 7:02:23 AM PST by Right Wing Assault (What's Obama's Secret?)
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To: Squantos

UAW Death Ping! Good article!


14 posted on 12/13/2008 7:06:10 AM PST by hiredhand (Understand the CRA and why we're facing economic collapse - see my about page.)
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i seriously think this article & those agreeing with it are being overly optimistic. Both foreign & domestic car manufacturers are presently cutting back now.
Come back in a yr or 2 & I’m sure you’ll see that even car plants in the south have closed up shop.

That $577 million incentive will be for naught when they decide now is not the time to expand

hasn’t Honda already annouced cut backs in the south?


15 posted on 12/13/2008 7:07:42 AM PST by She hits a grand slam tonight
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To: re_tail20
The last line is my only problem with it.

"Now we have a remarkable opportunity to turn this old textile town into the largest economic development in Georgia's history."

It's true that jobs were lost when several textile mills closed, but there are still plenty of manufacturing jobs in this area. Several years ago, I moved to Pennsylvania to a relatively rural area. By the time I left, it was hard to find green anywhere. I moved back to the town where I grew up, which is in the same county as the KIA plant. I don't want to see this area go the way of the area in PA that I lived in.
16 posted on 12/13/2008 7:08:20 AM PST by Phoenix11
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To: re_tail20

Doc Hollywood!


17 posted on 12/13/2008 7:10:39 AM PST by NonValueAdded (once you get to really know people, there are always better reasons than [race] for despising them.)
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To: 1rudeboy
Not to take away from poor management decisions (e.g., over-emphasizing high-margin vehicles such as trucks to the detriment of smaller platforms), but even when management tried to make operations more efficent the UAW refused.

It's been thus as long as I have been alive. This should make opening in some "right to work" state even more attractive.

Isn't it the responsibility of the board of directors to insure, first, company survival, then profit maximization? It's been the fate of so many unions to "require" their members into unemployment. It seems the UAW has had a longer run than most, but its time has come.

18 posted on 12/13/2008 7:10:47 AM PST by stevem
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To: stevem
Michigan automakers can't be so myopic that they could't see this coming, AT LEAST 15 years ago.

It's the UAW that's blind now they killed the goose so no more golden eggs unless they can squeeze a few more out of us taxpayers.

19 posted on 12/13/2008 7:11:16 AM PST by johnny reb (When in the course of human events.......)
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To: stevem
Michigan automakers can't be so myopic that they couldn't see this coming, AT LEAST 15 years ago. Why weren't they doing what these other companies doing?

In a word, "arrogance". GM and Ford were still powerhouses at that point in time. While Toyota and Honda were hustling to win US market share, GM and Ford were in denial.

What goes around comes around: Companies like Kia and Hyundai are nipping at Toyota's heels.

I work for a very large US firm that struggled in the early 1990's. My company showed the same traits of arrogance and denial. It took a major restructuring and painful changes to rebound.

GM and Ford are like alcoholics. They have to hit rock bottom before they can recover. The Federal government is like the wife that tries to help the alcoholic, but thereby actually prolongs the disease.

For what it is worth, I think Ford will recover. I think GM is already dead.

20 posted on 12/13/2008 7:14:42 AM PST by Senator_Blutarski (No good deed goes unpunished.)
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