As such, I’d note that the “transplants” (Toyota, Honda, Nissan, BMW etc) provide Health Care to their American employees and are not suffering as the Big 3 are.

Sure, all employers would love to have Universal Coverage. Seemingly, it unburdens them of this onerous cost of providing Health Care. But, the “gains” would be short lived. As the noted humorist, P.J. O’Rourke has opined, “If you think your medical costs are high now, wait til they are ‘free” “!

So, from my observation, the difference is the Big 3 “gave away the store” in the past (before the “transplants” came to our shore) to the UAW in the form of high wages (not justified by productivity) and benefits and are now a paying the price for their lack of courage in keeping costs in line.

In the past, they assumed they could pass on the higher costs to the consumer – and they DID until the transplants appeared and gave Americans better cars at lower prices (competition).

Providing for Universal Health to the Big 3 would simply be another “bailout” to poor/incompetent management. and would entail the tax payers picking up the costs when, as demonstrated by the “transplants”, this is NOT necessary!

Your thoughts?

The wealthiest nations have mostly been able to curtail their growth…in some cases they have been too successful and have actually exhibited negative growth. Unfortunately, the message gets out only/mostly to the countries that have a well-educated public and an open government. Nevertheless, the wealthy countries simply cannot police the world but simply educate and hope that some of it sticks. Thanks for the comments.

I totally agree that the foreign transplants (Toyota, Honda, BMW etc) are “eating the lunch” of Detroit.

Previously, I have written an editorial to the HS concerning my beliefs of what is wrong and what needs to be done.

Quickly, what’s been wrong:
a) Poor/incompetent management
b) Rapacious labor contracts
c) Brain-dead Boards of Directors

The “transplants” have been making money making cars in the USA. so there is a “model” for the Big 3 to compare with. This is known as “benchmarking”.

Key among the differences between the transplants and the Big 3 is the absence of Labor Unions at the transplants. The transplants pay great wages and pay great benefits. Just look at the lines that form when they are hiring!

The Union Contracts call for “full costs” of over $70.00/hr versus over $40.00/hr at the transplants. Admittedly, the recent crisis in Detroit has brought the UAW back to the table to reduce this gap; but, a gap still exists.

Additionally, the UAW Labor Contracts call for working rulesthat limit the flexibility of management to get the work done on the factory floor. Rather than bucking management, the workers at the transplants actually assist the company in finding new ways to be more profitable!

Big 3 Management has proven to be incompetent at managing business in the States. Interestingly, GM and Ford actually are profitable outside the US. Hmm, what are the differences?

Lastly, board members should be sued in Class Action Suits for dereliction of their fiduciary duties in letting Management get into the dire straits in which they find themselves.

My Solution? – Bankruptcy!! By declaring bankruptcy, the Big 3 can wipe out the onerous union contracts.
Management and the Unions fight this action for all the wrong reasons. A pox on their houses! The Government can provide Debtor in Possession (DIP) financing while the companies get “cleaned up”. The DIP financing will provide liquidity to the suppliers and not cause the oft-mentioned “domino effect” of bankruptcies for the supplier base. Further, purchasers of new cars would know their warranties would be upheld.

Once the “cleanup” has occured, investors would flock to the businesses with this fresh capital paying back to the Government whatever DIP funds that have been used while restructuring

Further, a total house cleaning of the top management. After all, when results are good these people are well paid/rewarded. The opposite has to occur when they have gone so consistently WRONG!

Lastly, the Boards need to be swept clean. Replacements would be business people that have actually shown expertise in turning around troubled businesses. The new stockholders would relish these “new brooms”.

What do you think of my recipe?

But when I got to the alcohol part, well, that’s quite a dissertation -5000 words on the history of alcohol. But what really put this over the top of useless information was the caloric content of ejaculate(?).

C’mon Doc, remember -clean, clear, concise. Stick to the subject and you’ll have more readers.