Posted on 03/02/2007 7:01:35 AM PST by Paved Paradise
With the 2007 Cleveland Auto Show in town, it is worth considering just how much impact our purchases have on the future of the auto industry here in Ohio and around the country.
In a global economy, defining "made in America" is complicated. But where a car is manufactured, and how many U.S. parts are used, still matters. It matters for America's economic competitiveness, and it matters for jobs and economic growth in Ohio.
The bottom line: Domestic automakers sell about as many cars and trucks in Ohio as foreign automakers do. But they employ nearly three times more people in the state.
The Big Three - GM,Ford, Daimler-Chrysler - together operate 24 facilities and employ more than 41,000 workers statewise. Foreign automakers, by comparison, operate 15 facilities and employ only about 15,000 workers. Together, the Big Three buy 80 percent of the auto parts made in America, much of them from Ohio's 670 suppliers.
(Excerpt) Read more at cleveland.com ...
Perhaps.
But, I also think that Honda and Toyota's business models, balance sheets, and engineering diagrams should be shoved under the windshield wipers of the executives of Ford and GM.
I don't think an op-ed that says "American firms use three times as many people to build cars as foreigners do - look for the Union Label!!" is a very good selling point.
I know I will never buy a Chery.
You make an excellent point, one that has been noted by Ford and other American automaker execs. Nobody is saying they don't have problems, but this editorial made some excellent points that seem to be lost on many Americans.
Looks like the foreigners need to open more facilities then. That is about all this article is saying.
And almost all of those people in the UAW vote Democrat (or at least fund the Democrats), so to heck with them.
Considering the "quality" of the UAW-built parts I've seen lately, they all need to be out of a job.
Here in Maryland, Subaru employs more people than GM and as far as I know there are no Ford or Chrysler workers in the state. So, should everyone in Maryland rush out and buy a Subaru?
If keeping Americans employed isn't a good selling point, I don't know what is! Sheesh. If you lived in Ohio, maybe you'd have a minimal understanding of the economic downfall losing all these jobs could, and very well may, bring.
Why? Because the owners of those "foreign" automobiles exercised their free choice to buy cars that provided better quality, design and value?
Um, we have GM plants here in Texas. We also have a Toyota plant that's employing thousands of people.
FYI, the author is deliberately understating the number of people working at foreign owned plants here.
Keeping Americans employed who vote Democrat, fund Democrat, and build shoddy cars is a good idea.... how?
If the UAW is unemployed, they can't fund the Dems. If they can't fund the Dems, they can't influence them.
Smart ass.
Quick question - do you know who the most well paid auto workers in the US are?
I am sure the majority of them do; there is a lot of pressure and propaganda put out by the union, but a lot of auto workers are good, midwestern-values, conservative, Americans. Many are Christians as well. Your statement that "almost all" vote Dem is, I think, simply not true.
I hate it when people lie.
I do live in Ohio, but I think that until domestic automakers change the way THEY do things, you can't force people to buy their cars...even if I agree with you in principle.
Please keep in mind that this op-ed was not referencing Texas.
What do you think?
By the results of their actions, they're *all* voting Dem or close to it. And the UAW certainly doesn't spend money on Republican candidates.
And why should we continue to fund an institution, the UAW, which pressures its members to screw America? And the same union that encourages workplace sabotage and thuggery?
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