Posted on 06/11/2005 6:46:30 AM PDT by voletti
Korean cars gave Detroit fits in the late '90s by undercutting domestic small cars on price and outdoing them on quality -- then moving up into other segments. Autos from China could provide more lower-cost competition for the Big Three at a time when GM and Ford Motor Co. (F ) are already reeling. That could cost them, along with Chrysler (DCX ), more market share and prod them to move more of their own production offshore.
How fast can the Chinese gear up? The way things are going, it won't take 20 years to match Toyota Motor Corp. (TM ) quality levels, as it did for the Koreans. And with Chinese auto assembly workers earning $2 an hour -- vs. $22 in Korea and nearly $60 in the U.S. for wages and benefits -- it may not be long before China has the wherewithal to start selling competitively priced cars overseas. "The Chinese are probably five or six years away from being able to sell a competent low-end car," says auto analyst Maryann N. Keller.
The Chinese government is putting its heft behind the export push -- subsidizing the export drive of such local players as Chery and giving the likes of Honda big incentives. Beijing also is nudging foreign auto makers to divert investment into export production so local partners can become familiar with managing foreign-exchange risk and global supply chains. It's also pushing domestic companies such as Chery, Geely Auto, Brilliance China Automotive (CBA ), and Shanghai Automotive Industry to develop their own brands overseas.
(Excerpt) Read more at businessweek.com ...
No, it is the Descartes view that animals are soulless machines who do not feel the pain which is a superstition.
Anyone who owns a dog and is not a psychopath, knows that animals have psyche/soul. One knows it through the direct perception and empathy. Descartes was a learned fool!
The cruelty toward animals is a criminal offence in USA.
Welcome to Ohio.
Even out here in the Peoples Republic of California, surely the most business unfriendly state in the nation, you see very little of that. I think in your case you are just seeing the reduction in manufacturing business in a state that is basically industrial, or once was. It isn't like that out here and I don't think it is like that in the South, Southeast and Southwest. Florida is booming that's for sure.
And as to the makeup of the GDP. You are right but people buy what people want not what you and I would want for them. That's life. The alternative has been tried many times and it fails miserably. Humans aren't perfect but they're all we've got.
Free trade bump! People who work in the US auto industry, what is left of it with just 2 companies remaining, are worse than buggy whip employees. There is no way any american auto worker can be competitive with the communist chinese.
Actually, Bill Buckley DID kick her out--specifically, at a NYC cocktail (or dinner) party. Ms. Rand's personality may have been a motivator--but hardly sufficient for the 'cleansing' he executed.
You picked it up correctly, though: Rand and Buckley disagreed over the nature of God. Bill had the right one.
Frankly, you should look at the FoMoCo Taurus, assuming that the size, etc., are in your scope.
This will be the last year they produce it--and that means that it's damn near bug-free--lotsa practice, you know.
I'm not shilling for FoMoCo, except I have one of them and am VERY pleased with it. Far more than I expected, to be honest.
I agree, and St. Francis of Assisi is even the patron saint of animals. While we have dominion over them (and all of nature), we should still be good stewards. Waste and needless suffering should be avoided.
Whoa, whoa, whoa... hold on, now...
Don't hang that on me...
That's YOUR construct, not mine...
I am not opposed to capitalism or capitalists at all.
As a matter of fact, as a true conservative, I am myself a stockholding capitalist.
However, I DO have objections to transnational corporatism and the free traitor corporatists who wield undue influence over government policies for their own gain and to the detriment of the American People.
"Merchants have no country. The mere spot they stand on does not constitute so strong an attachment as that from which they draw their gains."
--Thomas Jefferson to Horatio G. Spafford, 1814. ME 14:119
You're asking a corporate welfare lobbyist to understand real capitalism. I respect your efforts, but there's too much money to be made selling out America to get them to change.
That said, I would by a US made car for a couple of grand more, IF it were equal in quality AND service.
Before anyone gets all upset, I have owned my 72 Demon since purchased new in October of 71. And it has been driven to work every day since that time.
Unions haven't come through except for the prison industry. Unions are there to protect the old babyboomers in the organization. They could give a damn about workers with less than 6 years.
Cars made in USA by foreign companies employ some Americans, but their headquarters and most of their employees are in their own counry. This is where the money goes ultimately. Hey, if you want to buy a foreign car, it's your decision but you need not worry about where it is assembled.
No, that's escape from life (willful avoidance of reality).
A nation cannot defend itself without a heavy industry and technical base. We have gone a long way toward pissing ours away.
Playing loud rap or Christina Aguilara music will not drive invaders from our shores.
You are right...and working conditions ( I know people who work in prisons) and pay are terrible. I am sorry. You do a dangerous often thankless but necessary job.
This is so true. I think free traders are completely clueless about what will happen to this country in a post manufacturing economy...socialism, national healthcare (so many people will needit). China as an economic powerhouse will soon become a militry powerhouse...then look out.
In some ways the 'debt economy' we have today resembles the economy of the 1920's....especially in the use of margin. The economy can not stay afloat via debt for long.
Yeah, well... I don't really have any expectations of changing his/her paid opinion...
But it IS gratifying when others, such as yourself, are observent of the hypocrisy that I point out. Thank-you!!!
Nor will praying to Allah 5 times a day. Consider the opposition and the pathetic life they lead.
I just don't accept the premise that I have some sort of moral obligation to get ripped off by American car companies and their lazy overpaid workers.
That's way too much of a mouthful to address all at once. First of all, you (and Mr. Pole), not I, insisted on using the terms "capitalists" and "laborers". I referred to them only as a citation. I personally think they are meaningless as functional descriptions. That is why I point to the fact that laborers/workers/whatever you wish to call them - are, in fact, capital owners and corporate stakeholders, and in very large numbers today.
That said, you are accusing (by choice of epithet) some persons who manage corporations of disloyalty. It is demonstrably true that some people value their personal monetary gains over the security of the country that protects their right to seek those rewards. George Soros comes to mind.
If the behavior of such persons can reasonably be shown to result in harm to their country, I will wholeheartedly support their prosecution under law. Why? Because the necessary precondition for economic freedom is physical safety- and that is the first priority of any government - to secure its citizens' rights against the threat or use of force.
However, just because many corporations are "transnational" in nature does not convict them or their employees of such behavior. Trade is desirable and necessary. Yet, if you choose to trade with pirates or thieves, you may soon find yourself adopting their methods and values. It's not a perfect system -and never will be. I do appreciate your concern for the loyalties held by some actors - and regardless of what you may have decided about me, I truly share your concern. What I am saying to you is that if you are serious, you need to limit your criticism to those who deserve it, as opposed to painting darkly with such a broad brush.
By the way, Thomas Jefferson, God love him, has more in common with modern liberals than modern conservatives. I think that time has proven that the Federalists (initially Hamilton and Madison) had better intellectual arguments than did the Democrat-Republicans. And the Know Nothings are dead - except of course, for Pat Buchanan.
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