Deadly combination killed Detroit
1.) Corporate greed
Can you think of any reason why anyone should be paid tens of millions per year in salary. In addition to the salary you have all the other perks (bonuses, private chef, private plane).
2.) UAW
Despite union members making above average pay and benefits, the union wants more. I know a GM employee who makes almost $50,000 a year for sweeping floors. In the mid-west, that’s a great income for someone who never went to college, yet alone finished high school. And the union wants more money for less work. Where are the work ethics this Country was built on?
3.) Quality
Obscene costs for management, labor and retirees, government fees and taxes etc. have driven manufacturing costs up. The auto companies can either raise the price of their product or cut corners. Guess which one they chose.
Don’t forget government regulations. It’s why Ford can’t bring a lot of high-mileage diesels to the US — environmental regs. Now that Waxman kicked Dingell to the curb, we’ll be forced to teeny weeny compacts and higher insurance bills.
In the 70s - 80s the damage caused by cocaine and reefer use on the line was so rampant that when GM opened Saturn away from Detroit they made zero tolerance and mandatory random testing a condition of employment.