AndyInGA

Japan Says NO to American Cars in Its Subsidy Program

Japanese automakets set up factories in US after 15 years of jump start. Even today, at best, they make roughly half of the autos sold in this market locally. The funny part is Detroit may fall in the same category. Ford assembles its compact and subcompact in Mexico. Many are assembled in Canada too.


On Dec 11 08:48 AM William L. Florida, CFA wrote:

> If the US makers wanted a truly "level playing field," then they
> would set up factories in Japan, as the Japanese have done in the
> US. I think the US Congress is much happier subsidizing the transplants
> when they are creating jobs in the US. That is probably just as true
> for Japanese politicians.

GM-Magna Fallout: What Business As Usual Is in Russia

I actually applaud GM board's guts to decide to pull out of selling its European subsidiary (Opel/Vauxhall). The deal did not make sense to me from day one for GM to give up sizeable European presence and still be a global player.

Now GM's Opel/Chevrolet strategy is still flowed. They still need to simplify their business model is one brand across Europe, be it Opel or Chevrolet. To cover luxury/performance end, they need to push Cadillac globally. Just look at Ford, they are moving in the direction of consolidating to one Ford brand globally.

Testing Plug-In Hybrids: What the Results Mean

Now any improvement in mileage good. If one can get 70 miles a gallon from plug-in hybrid Prius versus 45 miles for regular hybrid, it is still a significant improvement. Now the improvements in mileage has to be balanced against incremental costs. There will be lot more takers of plug-in if it comes with around $5k premium over the gasoline only models without including government subsidies. Any thing above it will make it less appealing for the mass market.

One may not get Tata Nano in US for $2,500. With US safety regulation and market needs, it will be more like $6-7k range.

Cars: What It Means to 'Buy American'

Why our government is not adopting equitable trade policies? What is mean by that is trade needs to be a two-way street and nearly equitable. Once a country riches certain threshold of trade surplus, we need to kick in equitable trade management with heavy import duties. If they want to stay out of duties, they need to keep trade in balance that means buy more US goods.

Let the imported stuff be taxed rather than our incomes.

Cars: What It Means to 'Buy American'

There is something called fair/equitable trade policies that we need to implement. As soon as a country runs certain amount of surplus, we need to switch to equitable trade mode. This mean they need to start buying more of our goods or restrict exporting to us. Most of the Asian countries have adopted purely export-driven economies without any regards to harm it is causing in the countries where they run huge trade surplus. There is nothing like free trade for them. They keep their market shut while they continue to enjoy easy access to others market.


On Apr 10 12:54 AM slowdown wrote:

> Really....employees of the american pottery companies were???They
> left in the 50's. Which unions did the textile employees belong to?
> They were all in the "non union" south...also gone in the 70's. And
> the electronics industry that built our TV's and Radio's?? also in
> the "non union" south. If the folks that worked in those industries
> were willing to work for half of what minimum wage was at the time...it
> wouldn't have mattered. In a global economy...we American workers
> will have to be willing to work for just slightly more than Chinese
> wages in order to keep the work here. In my (purchasing/procurement)
> world - if it's smaller than a bread box and labor intensive (meaning
> someone not a machine makes it) it should be sourced to a low labor
> cost country...not the US.
> Until we start reading the labels and buying items that are manufactured
> in America - our wages will continue to drop.
>

US Economy: Straddling Depression and Recession

Even with infrastructure spending, the economic recovery will not be sustained. It will create government-funded construction bubble for few years and burst badly. We need to fundamentally address our consumption habits that are driving huge trade imbalances. We need to become producing nation to balance our trade. Until this is not addressed, no amount of spending will fix the economy on a sustainable basis.

Morici: Depression or Recession

For those who favor free global trade, answer one question. How long can our economy sustain $800B a year trade deficit? Free trade is fine as long as other markets are as open as ours. Most of our trading partners who run large trade deficitis with us manage their own markets instead of keeping them open and free. The countries managing their markets and currencies are China, Korea, and Japan. The oil trade is controlled by cartel instead of free trade. We also need to fundamentally shift from consumption-based economy to production based. We are consuming at an alarming rate only on borrowed money.

GM's Letter to Car Owners Reeks of Desperation

I agree with posters here. GM is still a grossly mismanaged company. Their brands and distribution strategies are completely out of line with their market share. The company is fully or over leveraged. Taking on additional $25 in loans is only going to make it worse. Their management has been slow to address the cost strucuture. Bankruptcy will be a better option to address most of their structural issues faster than the loan. It only needs to be government backed bankruptcy to keep them viable in the bankruptcy. Management and Unions have wasted interest in resisting bankruptcy.