As the Big Three go to Congress, this time hat in hand…they are looking for not $25 Billion bucks but now $34 Billion in loans to get them through the 2008 fiscal year! Who are these guys? They now say, they are on the Cutting Edge of Technology…..diversifying their products to include hybrids-flex fuel-electric vehicles that will stop our dependence of foreign oil. “What bullcon!”, as Granpop used to say.
Let’s take the most efficient of the three auto producers: Ford Motor Company. They have manufacturing plants all around the globe. Let’s not take the UK or Germany or France…..no, let’s take a place like Thailand! Did you know that the popular Ford Ranger Pick-up is made in Thailand and sells with all the goodies for about $11.500 bucks…out the door? Yep, you even get paint, brakes and tires! The engine is made in Japan, the various mechanical parts are made in China or Korea and even the tires are made in Southeast Asia. Ford should have to reveal how much of any vehicle they produce is made in the U.S.A. What? 2%? If you bought a Ford Ranger Pick-up in the last five years…it was probably made completely in Thailand or mainland China!
Whatever deal the Congress puts together for these automakers….better include “The percentage of this vehicle manufacturered and produced in the United States.” What jobs are we saving Domestically really? What jobs that AFL-CIO Auto Workers are going to be saved? What supplier jobs in the United States are going to be saved? If Ford Motor is any poster boy…..not many!
Ford is also ready now to sell back to the country of Sweden their two brands: SAAB and Volvo! Hey, it wasn’t look ago that those jobs in Sweden were removed to manufacture their products from the Executive Offices in Irvine, California to all the product made in Mexico, the UK and South East Asia. Now Ford wants to sell it back….sans the Swedish manufacturing jobs.
These are truly sweet people and anyone that votes for this Bailout has not asked the right questions. They have not said how many United States workers will lose their jobs in the next five years! They have not said how much more they will want when they come back after June of 2009! These companies need to MERGE into one United States Auto Maker! The new USAM brand will be totally produced and manufactured in the United States. This brand will only be created for developing a new – “Oil efficient” power plant with plenty of horsepower, smaller in size and with great mileage. This brand would not be allowed to produce SUV’s, Big Pick-up Trucks or Super Luxury Vehicles! Any Limited Edition Vehicles would have to pass muster by an overall responsible Executive Board….no Godlike powers by CEO’s with Magic Parachutes, Pension, Retirement or Bonus plans!
We are calling for a 300 Horsepower, Nano-Turbine Engine…developed within and produced in mass by 2011. This engine would push a 3000 lb. vehicle from Zero to 60 in 4.5 seconds – while still getting over 100 miles to the gallon! We are calling for Unilateral Legislation that requires that all vehicles sold in the United meet a 40 MPG standard. We need to require all manufacturers of automobiles in this country to disclose the percentage of product produced or manufactured in the U.S. You may wonder if we can do that? YES WE CAN! Otherwise, Toyota can become a new Ford, GM, Chrysler – or all of them!
Ron,
I have heard that one or more of our domestic automakers may end up purchased by a foreign automaker. That is what should happen instead of having taxpayers foot the bill for yet another bailout.
I bet the CEO’s of these companies all have maids, chauffeurs, butlers, gardeners, in house chefs, pool cleaners, I bet they even have someone who goes to their house’s to pick up their dog poop. Oh yes, they need billions to bail them out alright. F that.
And all the “Japanese” cars are mostly made in the US, in the South. Similar with the German cars sold here. Mercedes and BMW have plants in the South.
Saab and Volvo actually have been public companies in Sweden, the Swedish government didn’t have anything to do with them for a long time. Ford and GM were just trying to get money from the Swedish government to save jobs there.
GM’s subsidiary in Germany, Opel, is also in danger. Not because Opel did bad, no, it in fact has been profitable the last couple of years. No, Opel manages a car research lab, and GM owes a lot of money to the research lab…
With a bail-out, we would actually reward the business failures made in Detroit. These idiots at the helm there should be summarily fired. Everybody except these idiots knew that fuel-efficient cars are the future. Only these idiots in Detroit were betting the companies they run on monster SUVs. They bet, and they lost. We don’t bail out gamblers in Las Vegas, either.
*Art,
Is there a TATA in our future? Maybe they can
make it look like a ’57 Chevy Bel Air hardtop!
….this time with ABS brakes and an 300 HP aircooled nano turbine engine – that gets 100
miles to the gallon of lard or plastic bag trash!
There is a monster inport taraff on light trucks.
Also, if wikipedia is to be believed, Ron and Anna don’t know what the hell they are talking about.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_Ranger
“The Ranger and related Mazda B-Series are manufactured at Ford’s Twin Cities Assembly Plant in Saint Paul, Minnesota, which is now scheduled to close in 2008. They were also assembled in Edison, New Jersey until the plant’s closing in 2004. It was reported in 2005 that an all-new Ranger, codenamed P273, was in the works to be introduced by 2010.[1] The P273 was slated to be world pickup, presumably to be merged with the Mazda world pickups. A 2007 Ranger for the Thai market based on the Asian 4Trac concept was unveiled, but it is not scheduled to replace the North American truck. According to a recent article in the Car and Driver, there are three alternatives for Ford: 1) to redesign and continue to build the next generation in North America; 2) to import a smaller version from the plant in Thailand; and 3) to discontinue the Ranger line and exit the compact pickup market in North America.[2] There are rumors that Ford’s future product plans in the compact pickup market segment will be announced closer to the end of Ford Ranger production at the Highland Park, Minnesota plant in 2008-2009. There are reports that the plant will be sold and redeveloped once the production is ceased.[3][4]”
Never let the facts get in the way of a good story. It’s the Orange Juice Blog way!
Or, we could blame chickens:
“Along with North American production, the global Ranger will continue to be produced as planned. The T6 will be built in Thailand, but the “chicken tax” will keep Ford from importing them from that country. Instead, they could be imported from South Africa (a right-hand-drive market), which has special trade agreements with the U.S., other possible locations include Brazil or Mexico. The T6 could even be built in Australia, which is exempt from the chicken tax.” The 25% tax on imported pickup trucks originated in the 1960s when West Germany placed a tariff on U.S. frozen chicken. The United States retaliated with a tariff on four items that included trucks, as Volkswagen was exporting the Volkswagen Type 2 in pickup form.[“
Come on Ron!
Not even a ‘whoops’?
Your lack of research on this topic wouldn’t have passed muster in my seventh grade history class.
*No whoops….boots on the ground in Thailand sir.
You can listen to the resonance of the Big 3
boyz today. Hey, their “news cycle” is about 10
to 15 years behind the times! They all just looked at each other and nodded like the three monkey’s that hear, speak and see no evil…when asked about a Consortium of the three on Technology!
Thailand builds these Rangers….where they go..
nobody knows. How many were built in Thailand and Mainland China last year? (Proprietory info..
we are sure!) How many got shipped back to the good old USA in 2007-2008? Those numbers would be interesting to see. You know why Detroit is
a “ghost town”? They have shut down or greatly
reduced the domestic production….kept the plants up….(for show!)…and continue to pay laid off workers 95% of their wages for 10 years.
You think the Union is going to say beep? Not
likely!