Posted on 12/06/2008 5:58:34 AM PST by From The Deer Stand
While Toyota, Honda and Nissan operate non-union plants without the hassles of the "Big 3" the Ford Motor Company builds an ultra-modern and highly efficient plant in Brazil. Check out the link and watch the short video. You'll be left with the question: why can't they do that here? The answer: unions.
Trouble is, there are all sorts of other very costly regulations, aside from Unions, we have saddled manufacturing with...not to mention the taxes.
One word answers: Lawyers.
US is so laden with regulations, lawsuits, bureaucratic red tape, etc. A company has to worry about the legal costs to build, hire, fire, speak, write, repair, and so on. All for our “protection”. Granted, some regs are necessary. But enough is enough and too much is too much.
Basically, government has figured out how to get it’s piece of the pie, and keeps wanting more.
Democrats (and some Republicans, let's be honest here) saddle businesses with unsustainable regulations that force them to either go out of business or move to more business friendly locales, then want to punish them for moving their businesses off shore, and get votes for it.
God, the American people are stupid. Sometimes I wonder if the concept of democracy is really tenable after all.
Don't throw the baby out with the bathwater. Some of those regulation are needed. You don't recall the time when GM sold cars that they did not treat the metal to prevent rust do you.
My parents, both born in the 1920s drove us around as kids in them in the 50s, in vehicvles made in the 40s.
Fact is, this nation (both libs and RINOs) have gone far, faroverboard with regulations for special interest groups that have driven manufacturers out of this country, not to mention the taxes.
I have never said that ALL regulations were bad...I did say that there were many, many bad ones that drive our manufacturers away.
Agreed. There are plenty of RINOs who have joined in the special interest feeding frenzy that has hurt us all.
While some regulations should be re-evaluated, the fact remains that despite all these impediments, foreign car companies seem to have no problem at all building cars in the USA. What I don't get is that the Big 3 do have plants in right-to-work states but they still are unionized.
This is an excellent example of why the nanny-state rules are the problem.
Cars rusted in the north due to the salt used on the highways in the winter. If you lived in such a place, you could pay extra and add some rust-proofing to your car. If you don't live in a such a place, you can skip it and save money.
Then, the gummint steps in with the most terrifying words in the english language: "I'm from the government and I'm here to help you!"
Now, we all pay for rust-proofing to make the sheet metal last for 10+ years, when all the electrical systems are designed to last for about 4 years.
The same goes for a lot of the government-mandated "features" that all car have, and YOU pay for. Why do I need child safety seat anchors in my car if I don't have a child? A glow-in-the-dark trunk exit handle? Mandatory remote tire pressure sensing systems?
“Some of those regulation are needed.”
I doubt it.
“You don’t recall the time when GM sold cars that they did not treat the metal to prevent rust do you.”
Actually, I don’t recall the time when the MARKET AS A WHOLE purposely took actions over an extended period of time to hurt itself. Markets don’t do that.
Therefore, markets don’t need regulation.
Ford and GM are both making money overseas where they’ve got to compete more directly with the foreign makers. The foreign makers are losing money in the US, just like the American makers. The primary difference is that the foreign makers don’t have as big a stake in the US relative to their overall operations, and so they still make a profit while the US makers do not.
So how can this be? Because the US makers must pay the union scale here in the US, while they don’t have that disadvantage overseas.
Like I’ve said from the beginning, all of this is the fault of Congress. Congress wrote the labor laws. Blaming it on the automakers just diverts attention from the real problem.
Do we really need a new government regulation every time we have any complaint about some product?
No, really they can't. Not even in RTW states.
The master agreement that all the big three must sign, and never expires, states that any big three plant built in America will be covered by the UAW from day one, without need for a vote.
So why can’t Ford build a plant in the U.S. just like the one in Brazil, even in a state that is “right-to-work”?
The fact is the UAW years ago made it clear to the U.S. based Big Three that if there was any attempt to open a non-union plant in the U.S. they would strike and shut down their most critical sites.
And over the years the it worked to the advantage of the UAW.
They quickly learned that they didn’t have to strike the entire operation (in many states if you go out on strike you can’t claim unemployment). But, if a manufacturer is forced to close an assembly plant because it can’t get critical parts (ie axles) from a smaller plant on strike, those layed-off works often are able to get unemployment.
Just a couple of years ago a company called American Axle was hit with a UAW strike. They are a supplier to GM and other, mostly truck/SUV axles. That strike shut down GM, then GM puts pressure on the supplier to come to terms, etc., etc.
As a footnote, American Axle at one time was part of GM (Gear & Axle, Saginaw Gear). GM spun off that piece of the business 15+ years ago, as they have been doing with many on their other groups (Delphi, etc.)
None of this is working out as they had planned.
Pretty much like the unions.
Then you must have been asleep for the past six years. Rip Van Winkle !!!!
Fine, that still doesn’t explain why the government must mandate it.
What does that even mean? We need government regulations to require features that make cars last longer for the same reason we need jails?
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