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 ...
Quite a thread they got goin' here.
Thanks.
Tell that to the programmers who spent hours and hours laboring to write it.
But then again, perhaps their employer would prefer your version. "Gee, sorry boys... I was going to pay you for your labor, but, it turns out that since you're made in the image of God, I can't. A Socialist tells me that it would be immoral. But thanks for the work; the program's a killer!"
Name-calling and epithets are always easier than advancing logical arguments. Calling something "confusing" is easier than admitting that you don't understand it. Anyway, this is a Conservative forum and I'm a Conservative so unless ol' Jim Rob bans me, I'm not going anywhere. You, on the other hand, might consider DU - their members collectively have a room-temperature IQ, but that makes them easier to win arguments with.
Yeah. I guess I don't tolerate idiots very well. So what?
LOL! Where have I heard THAT before???
Same old lame troll tactic: spew a pile of incoherent nonsense. Then, when somebody calls you on it, claim to be a "conservative" capable of invoking the wrath of JimRob.
LOL! Been there, done that, loooooong before you ever registered on this forum, newbie. You can't hang that stuff on me, my bona-fides are too well established. If you want to know what a politically-incorrect, pitch-fork carrying, and meanspirited TRUE conservative is like, look no further. Here I am!
I had a Cavalier that had for 94k miles that only went into the shop once at 85k for an alternator replacement. My Chevrolet Camaro has 58k and never has been in the shop for repairs. If you take of them & drive right most cars will last without many problems.
I've been here since 2001 and I'll trade my "incoherent gibberish" (i.e. - that which exceeds your grasp) for your Buchananite Bullsh!% any day of the week. If you have a pitchfork, I suggest you sit on it - it might improve your mood.
All workers from the CEO to the janitor add value. The ratio of value added to wage is a key metric (but is very, very difficult to measure!). In a healthy cooperation, the focus should be on improving the value add of ALL employees. The CEO should come under the most scrutiny and the top 10% of wage earners should be managed on an "up or out" basis. Any CEO who views profit as good no matter how it was gotten (or, witnessing recent accounting scandals, how REAL it is!) and all labor / overhead as evil is essentially a simpleton and has no place being a CEO. Sadly, all too many corporations have apparently given up on these sorts of simple and effective standards. Ultimately, I say, shame on the boards of directors and shame on shareholders for not cracking the whip.
Oh come on now, andy.
I was pretty quick to grasp the fact that you're no conservative.
Then again, you made that glaringly apparent when, back in reply #177, you summarily dismissed Pope John Paul's Laborem Exercens (On Human Work) as "mysticism and superstition" having nothing to do with human rights.
You've "outed" yourself, andy.
You might as well 'fess up to it.
As for Il Papa, I kind of like the guy, but he (and the Church) ought to stick to saving Souls rather than attempting economic commentary. Spiritual men often make great leaders, but tend to be less accomplished at science - and philosophy. Just ask Galileo. Or Copernicus. Or Socrates.
If you still think I'm an idiot, I can't really help you. I'm educated. I have loved learning and knowledge since I was a small child. I spent many years disagreeing (thoughtfully) with my insanely left-wing Ivy League college professors, my even more insane Law School professors, and have taken on Socialists and Communists and Fabian fabulist nutcakes of every stripe and variety for as long as I can remember. We on the Right have disagreements- as thinking people should. Let's try to keep it civil, okay? I apologize for my suggestion regarding your "pitchfork". I hope you'll reciprocate.
No. Ontario is unionized; all Honda plants in US are not.
http://www.aiada.org/article.asp?id=10283&cat=Politics
I think that average programmer is able to distinguish his labor from the software his labor created.
Really? Pray tell: What's that software made of?
You are confusing the causes of the entity (like software) with the entity itself.
The classic theory of casuality as put by Aristotle distinguishes the four causes:
1 material (here it would be electronic media, concepts/algorithms,
2 formal the intended outcome as compiled, software ready to be installed, distributed and to function,
3 efficient design, and actual writting by the programmer, testing correcting and saving it in final form
4 final the objectives of the software undertaking
The programmer's labor is involved in mostly in 3, with 2 and 4 as guiding images, and using 1.
The software which you are dealing with is the result of the creative process, but not its cause. It persists in its existence beacuse the electronic media in which it is stored persists. It functions because the electronic equipment enables it to do it. No programmer's labor is involved actively at this moment.
Interesting point but not pertinent to the main topic.
It is quite pertinent to the topic at hand; however, if you're going to run off and hide, I'll understand completely. You needn't worry about hurting my feelings.
Second protecting domestic producers from unfair foreign competition was American policy for most of our history and it was that policy which enabled us to become the strongest economy in the world able to out produce (by far) any other nation on Earth and build a wealthy middle class to boot.
Since embracing "free trade" which is not free trade at all, we have seen wages stay flat, huge jobs loses as entire industries are wiped out, we are no longer able to even produce the arms our military needs, and we are deep in debt. I would say the "free trade" experiment has been a miserable failure and unfortunately America will be forced in a generation or two of real poverty before we can recover and regrow a middle class, that is of course if foreign enemies let us.
Yall "free traders" have really put the screws to the good old USA. Oh and thanks for all the illegals too.
I used to like driving Chinese cars, but an hour later, you feel like travelling again.
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