Posted on 09/27/2011 10:58:33 AM PDT by Nachum
Your Chicago Way read of the day comes from the Detroit News, where columnist Daniel Howes brings news that a few calls from the White House have led to Ford Motor Company yanking ads that spotlighted its refusal to take government auto bailout money.
The ad is no longer on the company’s YouTube page.
Nice car company ya got there, fellas. Would be a shame if anything happened to it… (h/t Is This Blog On, Cold Fury):
For the only Detroit automaker that “didn’t take the money” of the federal auto bailouts, Ford Motor Co. keeps paying a price for its comparative success and self-reliant turnaround.
(Excerpt) Read more at michellemalkin.com ...
My wife normally drives the Expedition; when everything is on her settings, I can’t even get into the seat! All I have to do is push the #2 button and the pedals drop, the seat goes back and down, and the mirrors swing into position. Very cool.
Obama’s developing the personality of a third world autocrat.
I do. This is a strawman argument trying to re-frame the real issue. Companies borrow billions every day. Companies will borrow the cheapest money they can. Ford borrowed money from the FedGov BEACUSE IT WAS THE CHEAPEST SOURCE OF CAPITAL WITH NO STRINGS ATTACHED. Oh, and guess what, they paid it back.
Compare that to my friend’s grandmother (a widower) who was wiped out by Obama because the bulk of her savings were in GM bonds. She was robbed - paid literally cents on the dollar. Her legally obtained ownership was handed to the unions.
Now she is on welfare. Put there by Obama and Geitner.
No comparison whatsoever.
My Tundra does all of that except the pedals.... Now you folks have me wanting to complain to my dealer. ;>)
Yes.......And in fact, depending on the size of the supplier, the UAW demands that Ford only accept parts from suppliers who are staffed with UAW employees......
Here's a little insight on how Ford and their UAW works. My company was a tier I supplier of body parts to Ford for well over 75 years. Back in about February of 2006, our Shelbyville KY stamping plant went out on strike, which had the potential of shutting down Ford's Ky truck plant due to lack of parts.
After a weekend and two days of strike and negotiations, Ford stepped in and told our corporate sales department that if the strike was not settled IMMEDIATELY, they would pull their body dies out of the plant and give our multi-million $$$ contract to a competitor. That ended the strike, the local union got every single demand they asked for and our parent company, who were German based, said screw it, they had no desire to deal with the unions here so they sold off our company...........
Here's another example: Our Detroit stamping plant was offered for sale back in about 2005 and an investment group consisting of ex mayor Dennis Archer and Dave Bing, CEO of Motor City Stamping, were considering buying the plant, taking advantage of the black "Empowerment Zone" tax breaks being offered by the city of Detroit. Ford again stepped in and told our company as well as the potential buyers that since the new group could not guarantee the continued production agreement between my company and Ford, that they were going to pull the work out of the plant and do it in house until their other suppliers could tool up to meet their parts requirements.
The sale fell thru and our plant was ultimately closed down............
Unless the supplier is foreign?
On one hand you are forced to have a unionized plant, but when Ford demands that they want a 7% reduction in parts costs, where do you think it's going to come from? It's certainly not going to be the UAW employees under a three year contract giving up wage concessions...........
That might stick.
My next car will be a Ford...
And they threatened to strike in the last three weeks.
I'm looking at the Honda Fit, but there is a massive derth of them, due to the sunomi and earthquake. My dealer says I have to be patient. (sigh)
With the exception of electronics, all parts are made here in the U.S.......The auto companies demands for "on time" parts delivery designed to eliminate storage costs makes it impossible to manufacture parts overseas then ship them to the U.S. so they arrive in their respective plants for same day assembly.
As I said, my company supplied body parts to Ford, the Thunderbird doors being a prime example. We made approximately 60,000 of them before Ford stopped production of that model. There is no way those could have been produced overseas then shipped back to the United States then put on trains and delivered to their plant. It just doesn't happen.
The biggest complaint by the UAW and one that has never been fully revealed by the MSM, is their claim that THEIR work is being outsourced to foreign countries. That's a bogus claim and I will use Canada as an example.
The current trade agreement our auto companies have with Canada is that for every automobile sold there, it must be made there.......Yet the UAW considers that "outsourcing". Without that trade agreement, there would be no American cars sold in Canada.........period. But then again, that's the demand by the CAW, Canadian Auto Workers......
The claims by the UAW that their cars are being manufactured overseas is true but what they don't tell you and the MSM fails to tell you is that those foreign made US cars are being sold overseas, not here.
How many Fords or Chryslers on the road today have you seen that were made in Europe or Mexico or wherever?
!
If you want a 4 door with some speed/handling, I recommend my Sport Fusion to anyone. Good car.
But I'll stick with Toyota for my next purchase. That's what knuckling under to Chicago gets a car company, in my book!
May God damn the UAW!
Before I took my current model home, I test drove a few of the long versions. They certainly can be VERY nice.
I really love this one though. She's low-maintenance, reliable, super hot and an all-around tight ride.
Regardless... I wish you a good day.
Thank you very much and you have a good day as well. Try to stay cool down in Texas.
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