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Rubbish!

If GM and the others don't represent the state of the art manufacturing then tell me who does? What company manufacturers here in the US anymore. Apple? They build everything offshore. Most of the Silicon Valley companies are doing most of their manufacturing offshore.

Who manufacturers in US anymore with the "state of the art manufacturing technology". Give me some examples. And please don't give me software companies or drug companies.

As far as product lines GM and Ford have excellent products. The problem they have is making (or losing)money. The problem is COST STRUCTURE. The Ford Fusion and Chevy Malibu are great mid sized cars. They are every bit as good as the Accord or Camry. I know because I've driven all four. The Corvette is the best production sports car in the world. The Cadillac CTS is the best Sedan in the world under $40,000. We still make the best full sized trucks and the Chevy Volt will revolutionize the auto industry if GM can get the financial house in order. Japan for the most part is still a copy cat. Yes they are great in quality control. But no new ideas come out of Japan.

If the US Manufacturers could get rid of the UAW and get a competitive cost structure they could easily beat the imports.

Finally many people keep talking about incompetent management. But it would have been impossible for all 3 car companies to have had bad management for such a long time. At least one of the car companies would have stumbled onto the right management team at some point. And please give me some examples of the poor management. Cite some cases. Do more than just parrot what you've heard others say. Give me concrete examples.

When the Ford family decided to completely overhaul their operations, they hired the CEO of Boeing Commercial.

That is a blazing indictment of the entire auto industry, and it tells you where the Ford family thinks the state of the art of U.S. industry is located.

Every UAW contract approved after Flint Hill represented a bad management decision. Shoddy work, self-indulgent design—GM itself admitted that it had “betrayed” its customers.

I don’t have time to cite every bad call by Detroit, but anyone who thinks the manufacturers who gave us the Pontiac Aztek will all pull it together if we just give them another $15 billion to burn through is beyond rational persuasion.

“But it would have been impossible for all 3 car companies to have had bad management for such a long time. At least one of the car companies would have stumbled onto the right management team at some point.....”

BINGO!!!The only thing common in all 3 is the UAW...