thanks, This was also posted on AM700WLW's Mike McConnell Web site....Great letter / radio host
“Liberalism is just Communism sold by the drink." P.J.O’Rourke
Posted on 12/22/2008 12:10:45 PM PST by econjack
This is one of the greatest responses to the requests for bailout money I have seen thus far. As a supplier for the Big 3 this man received a letter from the President of GM North America requesting support for the bail out program. His response is well written, and has to make you proud of a local guy who tells it like it is.
Dear Employees & Suppliers,
Congress and the current Administration will soon determine whether to provide immediate support to the domestic auto industry to help it through one of the most difficult economic times in our nation's history. Your elected officials must hear from all of us now on why this support is critical to our continuing the progress we began prior to the global financial crisis. As an employee or supplier, you have a lot at stake and continue to be one of our most effective and passionate voices. I know GM can count on you to have your voice heard.
Thank you for your urgent action and ongoing support.
Troy Clarke
President General Motors North America
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Response from:
Gregory Knox, Pres. Knox Machinery Company Franklin, Ohio
Gentlemen:
In response to your request to contact legislators and ask for a bailout for the Big Three automakers please consider the following, and please pass my thoughts on to Troy Clark, President of General Motors North America.
Politicians and Management of the Big 3 are both infected with the same entitlement mentality that has spread like cancerous germs in UAW halls for the last countless decades, and whose plague is now sweeping this nation, awaiting our new "messiah", Pres-elect Obama, to wave his magic wand and make all our problems go away, while at the same time allowing our once great nation to keep "living the dream". Believe me folks, the dream is over!
This dream where we can ignore the consumer for years while management myopically focuses on its personal rewards packages at the same time that our factories have been filled with the worlds most overpaid, arrogant, ignorant and laziest entitlement minded "laborers" without paying the price for these atrocities. This dream, where you still think the masses will line up to buy our products for ever and ever.
Don't even think about telling me I'm wrong. Don't accuse me of not knowing of what I speak. I have called on Ford, GM, Chrysler, TRW, Delphi, Kelsey Hayes, American Axle and countless other automotive OEM's throughout the Midwest during the past 30 years and what I've seen over those years in these union shops can only be described as disgusting.
Troy Clarke, President of General Motors North America, states: "There is widespread sentiment throughout this country, and our government, and especially via the news media, that the current crisis is completely the result of bad management which it certainly is not."
You're right Mr. Clarke, it's not JUST management. How about the electricians who walk around the plants like lords in feudal times, making people wait on them for countless hours while they drag ass so they can come in on the weekend and make double and triple time for a job they easily could have done within their normal 40 hour work week. How about the line workers who threaten newbies with all kinds of scare tactics for putting out too many parts on a shift and for being too productive
(We certainly must not expose those lazy bums who have been getting overpaid for decades for their horrific underproduction, must we?!?)
Do you folks really not know about this stuff?!? How about this great sentiment abridged from Mr. Clarke's sad plea: "over the last few years we have closed the quality and efficiency gaps with our competitors." What the hell has Detroit been doing for the last 40 years?!? Did we really JUST wake up to the gaps in quality and efficiency between us and them? The K car vs. the Accord? The Pinto vs. the Civic?!? Do I need to go on? What a joke!
We are living through the inevitable outcome of the actions of the United States auto industry for decades. It's time to pay for your sins, Detroit.
I attended an economic summit last week where brilliant economist, Alan Beaulieu, from the Institute of Trend Research, surprised the crowd when he said he would not have given the banks a penny of "bailout money". "Yes, he said, this would cause short term problems," but despite what people like politicians and corporate magnates would have us believe, the sun would in fact rise the next day and the following very important thing would happen. Where there had been greedy and sloppy banks, new efficient ones would pop up. That is how a free market system works. It does work if we would only let it work."
But for some nondescript reason we are now deciding that the rest of the world is right and that capitalism doesn't work - that we need the government to step in and "save us". Save us my ass, Hell - we're nationalizing and unfortunately too many of our once fine nation's citizens don't even have a clue that this is what is really happening. But, they sure can tell you the stats on their favorite sports teams, yeah - THAT'S really important, isn't it.
Does it ever occur to ANYONE that the "competition" has been producing vehicles, EXTREMELY PROFITABLY, for decades in this country? How can that be??? Let's see. Fuel efficient, listening to customers, investing in the proper tooling and automation for the long haul.
Not being too complacent or arrogant to listen to Dr. W. Edwards Deming four decades ago when he taught that by adopting appropriate principles of management, organizations could increase quality and simultaneously reduce costs. Ever increased productivity through quality and intelligent planning. Treating vendors like strategic partners, rather than like "the enemy". Efficient front and back offices. Non-union environment.
Again, I could go on and on, but I really wouldn't be telling anyone anything they really don't already know down deep in their hearts.
I have six children, so I am not unfamiliar with the concept of wanting someone to bail you out of a mess that you have gotten yourself into – my children do this on a weekly, if not daily basis, as I did when I was their age. I do for them what my parents did for me (one of their greatest gifts, by the way) - I make them stand on their own two feet and accept the consequences of their actions and work through it. Radical concept, huh. Am I there for them in the wings? Of course - but only until such time as they need to be fully on their own as adults.
I don't want to oversimplify a complex situation, but there certainly are unmistakable parallels here between the proper role of parenting and government. Detroit and the United States need to pay for their sins. Bad news people - it's coming whether we like it or not. The newly elected Messiah really doesn't have a magic wand big enough to "make it all go away." I laughed as I heard Obama "reeling it back in" almost immediately after the final vote count was tallied, "We really might not do it in a year or in four." Where the Hell was that kind of talk when he was RUNNING for office.
Stop trying to put off the inevitable folks . That house in Florida really isn't worth $750,000. People who jump across a border really don't deserve free health care benefits. That job driving that forklift for the Big 3 really isn't worth $85,000 a year. We really shouldn't allow Wal-Mart to stock their shelves with products acquired from a country that unfairly manipulates their currency and has the most atrocious human rights infractions on the face of the globe.
That couple whose combined income is less than $50,000 really shouldn't be living in that $485,000 home. Let the market correct itself folks - it will. Yes it will be painful, but it's gonna' be painful either way, and the bright side of my proposal is that on the other side of it all, is a nation that appreciates what it has and doesn't live beyond its means and gets back to basics and redevelops the patriotic work ethic that made it the greatest nation in the history of the world and probably turns back to God. Sorry - don't cut my head off, I'm just the messenger sharing with you the "bad news". I hope you take it to heart.
Gregory J. Knox, President Knox Machinery, Inc. Franklin, Ohio 45005
I don’t know.. This letter seems more like a rant than a professional business response to a customer. While I might believe this is real.. It just doesn’t seem like it came from the president of a company.. Where did you get the email?
It shows you more than that. It shows you there are still Americans who understand why this became a great country and why we are so rapidly loosing that accolade. It shows you that there are still adults in a world filled with spoiled children. God bless this guy!
Mr Knox has hit it on the head.
I used to work for a major grocery chain in So Calif. It has since been absorbed into another chain.
In Nov 1966, not long after the Watt’s riots, I was fired from my job.
For what? The chain had 77 stores at that time. There were 21 women in the DSD accounting department. DSD means Direct Store Delivery...such as bread and soft drinks, etc.
We processed every ticket of inventory delivered to these stores on a daily basis- 7 days a week.
I processed the 7 or 8 largest stores with the greatest volume of items. The 20 others processed the other 69 or 70 stores.
I was warned by the union steward that I was working too hard and was TOO PRODUCTIVE. I was only 26 and didn’t get what they were complaining about.
The union finally went to management and threatened a strike unless they fired me. I was let go on Friday Nov 11, 1966. Ironic- it was Veteran’s day/Armistice Day.
I never forgot that treatment from my “union” and from the management.
It was the 2nd to the last job I had that was union (out of 5 in a lifetime), and became self-employed by the time I was 37 years. old. Still am.
"As Mr. Knox (or, at least, someone responding from his e-mail address) stated of the attention his missive garnered:
"I'm real.......
"I came into my office 2 weeks ago and the first email I opened was a pathetic plea from Detroit...and my fingers just started flying across the keyboard
"The letter was a "spleen vent" which just quickly flowed out of me, and when I was finished I copied my mom and hit the send button...and she asked me if she could share it with her friends...and the rest is history
"As for the "3 decades" in the letter not jiving with my bio on our company website, I was referring to the 80's, the 90's and the current decade
"Keep in mind, if I knew this was going to be my "15 minutes of fame" I certainly would have done a better job on the letter
"It amazes me the attention it has gotten — I have been deluged with calls and emails from across the country — from TV crews to congressmen, and really it is a very simple letter that states very basic facts...facts which I believe everyone really knows in their hearts...
"I guess there are more folks out there that think like this than the media would have us believe... "
Agree, I would like to see some confirmation that this is real.
Good letter, but the bailout still happens and the so called conditions on it are a sham. Obama will arrange financing according to UAW specifications after he takes office.
Snopes says it’s for real...take that however you like...
http://www.snopes.com/politics/soapbox/knox.asp
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Mr. Knox appears to be the owner of a regional machine tool dealership serving the upper midwest. He is a prototypical entreprenuer and I understand his sentiments completely. His is a sales & service business and you can bet that neither the Big 3 nor their tier-1 suppliers would accept the same type of excuses from him that they are foisting on the general public.
You think?
It was forwarded to me from a friend who is in the auto business. Truth be told, I have no clue whether it’s true or not. However, that’s almost moot for me, since it’s the content of the message rather than the writer that is important to me.
Yes, sir; you are absolutely correct. The pitiful reality is that the majority of the people that feel this way are too self-absorbed to become politically determined not to let any more half-wits get elected to public office. When did we conclude that political office should be a lifetime pursuit? These people need to serve time in office, give their best, then go back to work. Political office is a place to show what you’ve learned, not verify your ineptitude.
Yes thank you.
I run a similar company. We’re also pretty small, but we do similar work. Mr. Knox’s firm might indeed be ‘punished’ in the short term. But you can bet the project managers that he works with everyday are going to find a way to get him back in the door. A good salesman can make a middle-manager look really good, or really bad. The fact that he’s been around this long suggests that he has a pretty good batting average.
I’d like to know how much money Knox Machinery is owed by the Big 3 right now, and how far they are overdue. I bet they have him stretched pretty far under the present circumstances.
I fear you are right...
Totally agree with your observation, BTW. My general rule is: if it sounds too pat, it probably is a fake -- until proven otherwise.
You may be correct. See my post #15.
Good point with the money owed. I’m sure that if the big three are hurting as bad as they say they are.. then their suppliers have an incredibly back logged AR from them. That could make or break a small supplier company...Especially if that customer is their primary source of revenue...
That wouldn’t make the owners of the supplier too happy.. Hence, some good kindling for the rant..
My company is a GM Supplier partner and I got the same exact email from the President of GM as is posted here.
Sad, but it is true.
33 years ago I used to fly regularly between Germany and the US. On one of those flights I sat beside a GM executive and vented like Mr. Knox about the facts, as I saw them, afflicting the US auto industry. He agreed basically with my rant but said there was nothing GM could do because of the rules they had to live by. That was BS then and it is now.
The rant: I drove an Opel 1600 in Germany made by GM. It held 5 passengers and their luggage (my family). It got 30 MPG and ran all day at 100 mph. Never gave me any trouble in a year of constant driving. Back home GM was trying to sell the Chevette, which I test drove and would never have bought or even taken as a gift. So I asked him how could GM build such a simply great car in Germany and not in the US. His answer was a totally lame, “we have different rules and standards”. Bad product but rules ruled.
Germans got and still get good product from GM. The German workers aren’t cheaper than the US workers. GM says they make money in Germany. So the German and Japanese car makers took the market from the Americans. GM has no excuse for the loss of market share and they will have to pay the penalty.
Freepers have spent too much time playing detective. What the heck does it matter if the guy is “real”, or unprofessional. What was said in the letter makes a lot of sense. I have noticed more an more people here completely miss the point of something that’s posted because they are so paranoid about “Christian rumors” or “right wingers”. I think the liberals are having some success with their anti-Christian crap, and constantly accusing anyone who disagrees with them of being a conspiracy nut, a Christofascist, or some other such childish name. It’s even made freepers slink around worrying that they might have an opinion, or agree with something that the left or the media will make fun of. OH NO!! We can’t be made fun of. Someone please tell us what we’re supposed to think and what opinion we are supposed to have. It’s just weird. Either you agree with the ideas in this letter or not. It’s okay to agree with it without doing a full scale investigation to make sure the guy isn’t a “Christian rumor spreader”, or doesn’t own a business that is small enough for the media to dismiss him as another idiot Joe the Plumber.
I worked at a GM dealership for many years and we were also treated like the enemy by the factory.
Instead of congratulating us; I was dressed down and humiliated in public in the entry hall for all to see and told flat out our budget would be cut the following year if we did not spend every penny.
I despise United Way.
This guy appears to sell machinery oriented toward tool rooms. I can almost guarantee you that they have him stretched out like a rubberband at the breaking point. The auto companies first priorities are loan payments, payroll & raw materials. If you sell anything else, you are at the back of the line.
It’s my understanding that the steel suppliers have at least one of the car companies on COD. If I see that then I either “no quote” or get really creative on my sales terms. I think that I detect that frustration in this letter.
Talk about the dem idiot sop of “talking truth to power.” Mr Knox was writing to someone who helps pay the bills at Mr Knox’s company.
Personally, I want to base my opinion on well reasoned arguments, critical thinking, and fact, with a little emotion thrown in for good measure. As a conservative, this gives me a good solid basis for my opinions.. Which do very much align with this gentlemen’s email.
I just don’t like building opinions or arguments on any form of falsity in which the left can easily discredit. Emotions can be driven with the wind.. We just need to make sure that the foundation from which those emotions are driven is solid at all times. Otherwise, we are just as bad as the liberals who drive everything on wishy washy emotions with no solid foundation.
Thanks!
An important thing to keep in mind is that German manufacturing companies are run by engineers while American manufacturing companies are run by financiers & salesman. This is a salesman talking. You can immediately tell when you are visiting a company that is owned by an engineer. It just permeates the place.
Unless they are not paying, which is probably the case.
Oh gee, I don't know. How about the George W. Bush/Texas Air National Guard fiasco foisted by one "fake, but accurate" Dan Rather. Facts matter.
GM and the rest of the auto execs abdicated their management responsibilities over the years and worked themselves into their current position. I have absolutely no sorrow for them or the UAW and I sure as hell don't want my tax dollars helping either one of them. The proposed bailout does nothing to force them to mend their ways...either one of them.
Agreed! Way past..
“Trust but verify”, Ronald Reagan.
It should be our jobs to vet things that bubble up.. Who else will do it? It was the bloggers who exposed the fake national guard documents..
While this particular email isn’t terribly important, in regards to the making or breaking of political positions.. It is more of a base rallying cry which could encourage others in they’re fight for conservatism.
Either way we should ALWAYS, “Trust but Verify”
Otherwise we will run the risk of looking like idiots for running after red herrings, some of which could be thrown out their by the opposition as a distraction... API tapes..
LOL. I don’t think a full scale investigation is needed of the history of this e-mail before one can see the valid points made in the post. Good grief.
What exactly is the hoax supposed to be here?
a. The guy who wrote it doesn’t really exist and his website, business, and e-mail must be some kind of wacked out consipiracy because he seems too unprofessional.
b. A Christian is really spreading a rumor by forging this e-mail and freepers must get to the bottom of it or Dan Rather will return to 60 minutes and expose us all as frauds.
c. The freeper who posted this is lying about the e-mail he was forwarded, he’s successfully fooled snopes, and freepers will be no better than Dan Rather if they agree with the content of the e-mail.
d. It doesn’t really matter, and it’s silly to turn everything into a full scale investigation on par with fake national guard documents used against the President of the United States.
Sometimes paranoia becomes too much of a distraction, and looks ridiculous. Just my opinion.
Ya. I guess the point has moved on beyond this email and into just a reminder to verify things that come across our paths.. That’s all..
Thanks!
Man. I’ve got all my their, they’re, and there’s all screwed up.. :)
You know the only true way to verify anything is wearing the proper foil headgear. This will ensure that the signals will be captured providing you with optimimum translation of the truth. :)
LOL!! That was good. I needed a good laugh. Thanks.
I’m about a certain as I can be that this letter is legit. That said, I’ve been taken-in before and am very wary of anything I read on the ‘Net.
I don’t see any grand conspiracies behind this. Smaller ones, perhaps.
BTW, I apologize for the tone of my earlier post. I probably read too much into what you were saying.
My guess is that the Big Three aren’t paying the bills he sent them.... and that he’s in the process of moving on (or already has moved on) to supplying the foreign marques in the US - who DO pay their bills.
No apology needed. I’ve been taken in before too, and I know it’s difficult in this information age to know what to believe sometimes. I do worry we’ll all become so pessimistic that we’ll dismiss things we ought not dismiss. That’s what the media and left want, hence the “conspiracy theory” label that is in such wide use today. Sometimes the unbelievable really happens, and people like Obama get away with it by picking apart those who dare say anything about it. I hope conservatives can maintain a balance between tinfoil hat and being bullied into silence by the left. The Birth Cert. issue comes to mind. It’s tough to balance when surrounded by an increasing number of liars. :)
thanks, This was also posted on AM700WLW's Mike McConnell Web site....Great letter / radio host
I just called the company and they are getting hundreds of calls and he DID write this letter.
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