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And Bernanke Didn't Think Unemployment Would Reach 10%

It is a difficult battle to convince brainwashed twenty-something economic illiterates.Why do they have such a difficult time understanding that wealth must first be created before it can be divvied up? Why do these great minds in the current adminstration think that the "rich" will allow the fruits of their labor to be confiscated year in and year out? You can do that once, but then why will they bother after that? Yet, the "geniuses" really believe that the top 1% will bother to keep earning and support their socialist utopian dreams. Atlas will shrug.


On Nov 08 09:46 AM long_on_oil wrote:

> Sunnsea you are apparently a young man and the product of your liberal
> education. You need to study what really happened during the 80's
> and early 90's instead of following your liberal professors like
> the lemmings to the sea. Reagan made it possible for small companies
> to create jobs by giving tax incentives to encourage capital spending
> and hiring. Enterprise zones were created, taxes were cut and inflation
> was tamed. The Berlin wall came down and the United States was respected
> around the world. We weren't loved but we were respected.
> The government Reagan hated eventually became what we have today
> thanks to our liberal educational institutions.

And Bernanke Didn't Think Unemployment Would Reach 10%

It is a difficult battle to convince brainwashed twenty-something economic illiterates.Why do they have such a difficult time understanding that wealth must first be created before it can be divvied up? Why do these great minds in the current adminstration think that the "rich" will allow the fruits of their labor to be confiscated year in and year out? You can do that once, but then why will they bother after that? Yet, the "geniuses" really believe that the top 1% will bother to keep earning and support their socialist utopian dreams. Atlas will shrug.

Why I'd Avoid Toyota, The #1 Automaker in the U.S.

I live in Greenville, SC near the BMW plant, and I worked for one of the plant's supliers before I retired, so I know your figures are totally off. My company also supplied several Toyota plants in the USA. BMW pays $26 plus a bonus. Contract workers are always less than 10% of production workers. To avoid layoffs in this downturn, ALL contract workers were let go and their jobs assumed by the regulars. With bonuses, Toyota in Kentucky paid hourly wages near $30 an hour. Medical benefits are excellent. Kia in Georgia will pay $20 an hour after 2 years service. One big difference is that retirement is generally at age 60 or 65, like most of us, not as early as 50. The UAW albatross will be American companies undoing. This schem is just a stopgap on their eventual journey to demise.

On Jun 23 09:33 AM 303820 wrote:

> First : my facts come from the most anti-union paper in USA the wall
> street journal.
> second: Detroit car quality is as good if not better then the Asian
> rust boxes...read up on their bogus quality and gas mileage!
> third: wages of foreign transplants in the USA are as fallow...Toyota
> and Honda pay 30% of their workers $10/12hr and no benefits...they
> are contract workers...the pay for the rest is $25hr little health
> care and no pension.
> KIA, HYUNDAI, BMW AND VW PAY $14/16HR little health care and no pension.
>
> Forth: government cheese? hahah I'll enjoy my union pension in sunny
> Florida while you and the rest of the non union slaves will work
> till you're 90!!!!
>
> BITE THE HAND THAT FEEDS YOU...KEEP BUYING THOSE FOREIGN RUST BOXES!!!
>

Auto Sales Continue to Slide Downhill

303820, Your analysis of the auto transplant compensation is a charicature perpetuated by union sympathizers. I have worked for 2 of the Detroit 3, and for the past 24 years, several auto suppliers. The transplants as well as the Detroit companies have been our customers. Their cash wage is on a par with the UAW. Indirect labor such as material handling, janitorial work and the like is handled by sub-contractors. Unlike UAW shops, there are no $28 an hour janitors that retire after 30 years regardless of age. Here in SC, BMW workers averaged W-2 wages of almost 70K last year. They put in a day of real work, there are no endless disputes over which classification can turn which screw, and retirement is at age 62.

Auto Sales Continue to Slide Downhill

Well-run companies prosper while poorly run ones perish--its part of the dynamic nature of capitalism. Companies that once revolutionized and dominated new industries – for example, Xerox in copiers or Polaroid in instant photography – have seen their profits fall and their dominance vanish as rivals launched improved designs or cut manufacturing costs. Schumpeter called it "creative destruction"
Toyota, et. al. will survive because of their flexible cost structure. Chapter 11 would solve the Detroit 3 union problem and other cost issues, including the bloated dealer network. The objection to Chapter 11 has been the loss of customer confidence. It couldn't get any worse, so it is time to bite the bullet.

Auto Sales Continue to Slide Downhill

303820, you obviously are well trained in your talking points, however inaccurate they may be. Lets set the record straight. The temp workers are more like 10 to 15 percent of the workforce in most of these plants, and wages are more like $14 an hour for them. Do you have any evidence that they were rounded up at gunpoint and forced into these jobs? Wages and conditions must be suitable to them it appears. Wages after 2 years are indeed on a par with UAW, as are medical benefits. If you retire befor 65, most of your medical premiums are paid until you are eligible for medicare.Retirement is taken care of by 401K matching, and at 70K a year, one should be able to save additional money, especially in a low cost areas where most tranplants are. As far as paying 20% of medical bills, if you are on medicare you can purchase a supplement or take an Advantage plan at modest cost, and very little is not taken care of. Anyway, what is the crime in paying for a service you receive? Most customers of the dying Detroit 3 don't have the benefits you talk about, so why should customers be forced to support them through their purchases? The transplants are simply adjusting their cost structure to what most customers are willing to pay.

Auto Sales Continue to Slide Downhill

Sorry for the mis-spelled "caricature"

Detroit: Please Bring Back the Stripped Car

Other than AC, the savings on amenities such as power windows vs. crank would be minimal, ditto for power mirrors and many of he formerly luxury options. Standard shift is also a source of cost reduction. The fly in this ointment is resale. Try selling a stick shift AC-less car on the used car market. The savings on initial purchase is more than eradicated at resale. Also, as a previous poster stated, UAW represented plants cannot make a small low-value car profitably.

Should We Really Bail Out the Big Three Automakers with $73.20 Per Hour Labor?

I worked as an engineer for several of those stamping companies in the south. Wages were competetive for the region, $14-$15 an hour, plus good medical benefits for non-skille, $20-$27 for skilled. One of the three plants I worked in was unionized. We had to tell the union that the rate they negotiated for tool&die makers was too LOW! Nobody well-trained was attracted by the wage they set. We never had a problem attracting the non-skilled. There were always 5 or 10 applicants for each of those jobs.


On Nov 12 05:22 AM James Wilson wrote:

>
> Well this is bull. Metal stampingt is out sourced by the auto industry
> to mostly non union factorys in the south. Those working poor with
> no helath insurance you hear about !
>

Why I'd Avoid Toyota, The #1 Automaker in the U.S.

No new plants are opening in the Carolinas


On Jun 23 12:09 PM 303820 wrote:

> LET ME ADD TO MY FACTS...THE NEW TOYOTA PLANT IN SOUTH/NORTH? CAROLINA
> HAS ALL READY INFORMED ITS NEW HIRES THAT THEY WON'T PAY THE NORMAL
> $25HR...IN ORDER TO COMPETE WITH UAW'S NEW WAGES OF $14HR!!!
> www.nlcnet.org/article...
>
>

Stage Being Set for Hyperinflation

Lets call inflation what it really is, theft by the government from savers. It is not as blatant as the Argentine president who recently siezed the assets of all private pension funds and rolled them into the county's social security system.
Obama plans a less blatant theft, but theft it is still. By diluting the value of the currency, savings, the product of thrift and sacrafice, become less valuable. It reminds me of my teenage son and his friends shennanigans. They sneaked into my liquor cabinet, poured out a few servings of my best vodka, and filled it to the previous level with water. Much more clever than swiping the bottle outright. Obama is watering the vodka and giving pure stuff to his favored constituencies.

Should We Really Bail Out the Big Three Automakers with $73.20 Per Hour Labor?

On Nov 10 09:41 AM Jeff from PA wrote:

> Given the fact that the CEO's and higher management makes millions
> to tens of millions per year, I am more concerned about their pay
> then those making even 70 dollars an hour (which by the way is not
> even near what the regular worker makes).
>
> Considering the CEO makes the equivalent of 100-1000 workers, that
> is the salary I would cut first. Then the upper management that makes
> 50 times or more what the average worker makes.
>
> I am glad that the guys that get their hands dirty, end up with physical
> problems from their jobs and sweat each day are making good pay -
> it is those guys that have the soft hands at the top that should
> be getting a pay cut.
>
> I find it amazing when people blame the workers and unions for the
> downfall of the auto industry. When if the CEO's and upper management
> merely made double or triple the average workers salary over the
> last 20 years, they would have saved billions.
>
> The problem is the greedy CEO's and upper management, not the workers
> and unions..

As a 40 year veteran of the auto industry (Chrysler tool&die maker, then engineer at various suppliers) rest assured it IS the union that is the problem. Just one example. A friend I apprenticed with retired years ago at age 49 after 30 years service. With just average luck, he will spend more time retired (with full benefits for he and his wife) than on the active roll. Clearly, this is unsustainable.CEO pay excessive? Yes considering that they kow-towed to union demands and took the path of least resistance for so many years. The old business model allowed them to cave in to excessive demands and then raise prices to compensate. Toyota, Nissan, and other transplants have done an immesurable service to the American consumer by fostering competition. The overpaid executives just aren't that numerous and could have worked for nothing and the math would still be the same. Ultimately It is the CUSTOMER that pays wages, not the company. More and more, these customers are saying "no thanks" when asked to pay these wages and benefits.

Bargain Buys For Patient Investors - Barron's

What about solid utilities yielding 6 and 7 percent? Any thoughts?

Greed As National Policy: How We Got Here

Had there been no Fannie or Freddie, the free market would have handled this. Their implicit (and now explicit) guarantee allowed greed to run wild. In a free market, greed is self-correcting. Not so in this situation.

Was Friday's Rally Just a Hedge Fund Short Squeeze?

Even high yield stocs have tanked. Is this posssibly an Obama factor? Special treatment of dividends would expire under him.