Comments on: Emanuel urges aid for auto industry

By: Nadnerbus

Nadnerbus — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 05:48:27 +0000

Also, anecdotal experiences don’t really count. Surely there are people that have bought a Toyota or Honda lemon, that never ran right and cost them too much money. And surely Ford and Chevy have turned out plenty of vehicles that have run hundreds of thousands of miles with no problems. Its the statistical averages that count in a debate like this. That difference might not be much these days, but that bad taste lingers, and even there, the big 3 have done little to advertise and campaign against that impression. The coal industry realizes they have to advertise to keep their image from going too far south, as dose the petroleum industry. But Ford doesn’t seem to mind too much that a lot of Americans still think their product is junk.

By: Nadnerbus

Nadnerbus — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 05:40:02 +0000

U.S. cars of today or even the last fifteen years compared to their counterparts of a quarter century ago or more is no comparison. The quality is vastly higher, and they trend so close with Japanese overall quality that its not that big of a difference. But I still remember seeing a graph in Consumer Reports years ago that showed, on an overall aggregated basis, U.S. cars were more likely to have problems than their Japanese counterparts. The difference was huge in the late eighties to early nineties, IIRC, and diminished greatly to today. But much of that was due to the competition of the Japanese, and the introduction of robotics that the unions fought tooth and nail. If we lived in a close economy like some of the Ron Pauls of the world seem to think would be great, we’d be stuck with what the U.S. auto makers deemed “good enough.” And before they started getting stiff competition, that really sucked.

By: RAA

RAA — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 03:29:35 +0000

we should give GM drugs instead of money next tome they ask for tax cuts or tax money they barely even pay, then the drug industry will fail and collapse in on itself, freeing up prisons and tax money from criminal instutions, but what we didn’t give them and the taxes spent on the war on drugs,ROFL

By: RAA

RAA — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 02:50:19 +0000

poor quality in american automtives is a thing of the 50’s 60’s and late 70’s, foreign quality, except of course german cars other than VW, raised itself up during the late 80’s, there isnt a shitty mass market car past ‘85 anywhere in the world besides Ford Contour that doesn’t at least get a life of 150k accident free

By: RAA

RAA — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 02:42:55 +0000

Like I ALREADY STATED 3 EFFING COMMENTS AGO, quality control is just equal,except for VW and not previously said SAAB(bad transmissions), the statement of japanese quality being better than american quality on economy cars has been false ever since the 90’s with stuff like Ford Escorts and Tempos, idoitic preassumtoions and false claims are brainwashing everyone into marketed ideas on each car manufacturers problem like I ALREADY SAID

By: Heartless Libertarian

Heartless Libertarian — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 18:28:31 +0000

Of course, the Obamanoids want to bail out the Big 3, while at the same time talking about using an Executive Order to block offshore drilling again. Which will help push the price of oil back up again, thus putting the screws to them.

Oh, and Rep. Waxman is trying to oust Detroit’s guardian angel, John Dingell, from the chair of the Energy & Commerce committee. Increased CAFE standards are high on Waxman’s To Do list, and I’m sure carbon taxes are on there, as well. Both of which will hit the Big 3 hard.

That’s some serious cross purposes, right there.

By: Flanker

Flanker — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 13:48:26 +0000

On FOX News as I write……..AIG busted again for Execs partying at some luxury hotel, after just receiving another 40 billion in bail out funds. Hotel staff instructed to NOT post any visible signs (welcome AIG etc) of the shindig, and AIG exec releases BS statement about them just trying to keep a low profile (leaving out the “during inappropriate cynical activity” part) because some of their staff have been harrassed!

Not enough apparently! Damn! Sure wish I could figure out how to get my hand in the till! How about all you guys sending Flanker some cash cause I’m really on rocks, sniff, sniff, wheeze! :(

By: Flanker

Flanker — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 13:17:26 +0000

While quality was certainly an issue through the 70s and much of the 80s, my last two American rides (’94 Firebird & ‘98 Camaro) were really good cars. I had no trouble to speak of with them, they were tight and didn’t rattle, and were terrific performance bargains (not much of a selling poitn nowadays!). The single problem I had with each were promptly dealt with by my local dealers via warranty. BTW: I got 26 highway mpg @ 70 mph with the LT1 V8 in the Firebird and 27 mpg @ 70 mph with the LS1 in the Camaro (wished I’d held onto the Camaro!).

While I agree completely with Naderbus on SUV/truck issue; a large part of that goes back to US consumers who voluntarily bought those by the bucket loads until early this year.

Bailout? Sucks @$$………just like all the others that were enacted earlier this year to no apparent avail so far. While I expect this type of socialist/nationalisation crap from the Dems, the large number of Repubs who went along with these extravagant wastes of taxpayer resources have cause me to lose all respect for their party (I’ve voted Repub in every election since ‘72).

Between mopping up the floor with the Repubs in the election (thanks George!), and getting so many to sign onto the long deferred Demo agenda for the US……..Comrades Pelosi and crew much be laughing themselves to sleep every night while listening to Papa Roach’s “Getting Away With Murder”. :(

By: Bram

Bram — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 12:46:47 +0000

Let the market decide their fate.

By: Nadnerbus

Nadnerbus — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 07:16:54 +0000

after nearly going bankrupt back in the eighties because of the exact same thing (almost) that is happening now, I can’t have any sympathy for the corporations that have consistently turned out cars that are inferior in quality to often cheaper cars of foreign origin, and never took the inevitable future into account.

I still remember the SNL skit where they introduced the Chameleon, a sh** rod rustbucket on the outside, luxury on the inside. They did the old marble running down the body panel seam, and it falls into a rust hole. That image of domestic car quality is probably pretty untrue today, or at least a lot less true. But years and years of reputation for poor quality will catch up to you sooner or later. And when for a similar or even less amount of money I can go buy a Toyota that has so far run seventy thousand miles with nothing but scheduled maintenance, why would I buy the American car? My boss has a brand new fifty thousand dollar Ford Big MoFo Truck, and he has taken it to the dealer for some little problem or another at least five times in the last year. His driver’s side door mat wore out, and they want him to buy all three new floor mats, can’t sell him just the left side front one.

The big US auto manufacturers are victims of nothing more than their own ineptitude. Everyone in the world saw the writing on the wall before this most recent gas crunch. Someday, sooner or later, petrol was going to become expensive. And when that day came, the company with the best fall back lineup of cars was going to come out on top. But they instead concentrated on the SUV/truck market, where they could cater to American’s love of everything big, again. But that is overspecialization, and its just as risky in that industry as it is in investing or anything else.

So in short, like they say at Wu Tang financial: You got to diversify your bonds, nigah.