xmichaelx

Wall Street Breakfast: Must-Know News

Right in SF says: "The only commonality between the three in 2008 is the UAW."

No - the other commonality is piss poor marketing of the class of cars that still (somewhat) sell. Cheap, smaller cars haven't seen the level of drop-offs that SUVs have, so companies with smaller cars (which are all foreign companies) aren't doing as poorly.

The American companies didn't bother marketing the few low-end smaller cars they do have, and so are doing poorly. Simple supply and demand.

The UAW is a broken organization that needs massive restructuring -- if not DE-structuring -- but scapegoating them while missing the obvious supply-and-demand issues shows a dangerous myopia. The problem now belongs to the taxpayers, and just fixing the UAW problem isn't going to accomplish anything.

Wall Street Breakfast: Must-Know News

It only costs $1000 more to build an American car than a Korean/Japanese one. That's $16 per month over the average loan span of a car.

Those who believe the talk radio hosts and "conservative" politicians -- that the current disaster is a result of the UAW driving up costs -- really should try looking at the numbers involved. You don't even have to read the balance sheet, just go to www.edmunds.com/)

Yes, the UAW is a very small part of the problem, but to believe that Americans buy foreign cars over American because of price is ridiculous.

American cars are less reliable in the size/price class dominated by Honda, et al. Saturn could have turned that around, but the marketing wasn't there. And if you didn't hear all the head-scratching when Ford canceled the Taurus, then you just weren't listening.

It's only partially shocking that this site is so full of people with complete lack of business understanding. Then again, it's possible (and I hope it's the case) that most of you are high school kids who don't even invest.