Nixon's Tangerines

[rain_gryphon]

And thus did I write to my representatives:

I'm writing to express my opposition to the proposed bailout of the Detroit automakers. I simply don't believe that the industry is capable of any meaningful reforms, or even of learning from past mistakes. The present situation didn't develop overnight - it came about slowly, over a period of some 35 years or more. It was very plain what was happening to the car market, but Detroit chose not to change. They wanted to wring out every last cent in profit, rather than reinvesting in facilities and tooling. Now they'd like the taxpayer to pick up their capital costs, so they can get back to skimming off profits for another couple of decades, until they need another bailout. I don't want my money used for that, and I'd have a remarkably hard time voting for anyone who did use my money for that. Please let them sleep in the bed they've made.

*****

I'm pissed about this, and don't want any of my money used for a bailout. The banking industry we probably have to save, as badly as I dislike the thought. That's a critical industry. Ford, GM and Chrysler can all three go down in flaming ruin, and it'll be sad, but make only a temporary ripple. There are all kinds of car companies willing to do a better job than Detroit.

Comments

[cathouse-blues.livejournal.com]

While on some emotional - and slightly intellectual - level I agree that the big three deserve a taste of their own medicine, I would like to plead two special cases:

1. When Chrysler sold itself to Daimler it was raped, stripped of anything decent it had to offer, and forced to pay for its own violation before being thrown back to the wolves.

2. As a resident of Indiana, home of far too many mom-and-pop auto parts manufacturers, machine shops, you name it (and as a freight forwarder with one client who will needlessly suffer a devastating blow blow with the collapse of one of those big three), I have to plead the case for the little guys, for the trickle-down. While it's nice to think of the suits eating crow, and the UAW bloodletting contracts finally running dry (I think that damn contract contributed significantly to GM's problems), I see the machine shops and the tool-and-dyes and the tranmsission makers and the engine makers and the guy with a shop of 50 or 100 who made the electronics for the power windows and doors. I see just how big of a chunk of the economy those contract shops actually are, both through my job and by reading the newspaper every day as I see report after report of layoff and banruptcy at these shops. And I just think the final ripple effect would just cost too much devastation to our economy. This is a lot worse than Bethlehem Steel going down in the 1980s.

[oliver-otter.livejournal.com]

I have to say, I agree with the unnumbered point, and the second numbered point. However, while Daimler did take quite a lot from Chrysler, I do think it was a good-faith merger at first, and they were sort of stuck in the (IMO predictable, but what can you do) situation of Chrysler significantly damaging them and needing to recoup something from the deal. Mercedes never did make back what the merger cost them, either.

But my main point is, there's a huge middle ground between a bail-out and total collapse. I agree we can't allow the auto industry to just outright fail. From a national security standpoint even aside from the peripheral support jobs lost. But bankruptcy would allow the Big Three to reorganize and get out of the destructive contracts they incompetently got themselves stuck in. I dare say, the quality of America's cars would go up significantly (and pretty much instantly if they're not complete morons) if the workers knew their jobs, pensions, healthcare, etc. actually depended on quality being stellar. And that's what they need, is better cars. (Admittedly, Ford has already realized that and made significant strides. They have a history of screwing up but fixing things before it's too late. Remember the original Taurus and how it revolutionized everyone's car designs?)

Remember when Saturn was new? How the point of it was to have GM build a radical new car a radical new way? Now what division is first on GM's proposed chopping block? (Not that it matters so directly any more. The Saturn of yore was crushed and brought into line with the rest of GM's and UAW's incompetent management years ago.) Their proposed reorganization today reads like "business as usual, plus we get a bunch of money from the taxpayers." They really need a Chapter 11 judge to kick them in the ass and tell them that no, the Saturn that once mattered will actually be the model of what all their divisions are going to be soon.

And Chrysler I don't think even can be saved. Their cars have been faulty crap since I was a small child, and it probably should've gone under when Iacocca was in charge.