The Observation Deck

For what it is worth.

Deb was talking to a friend who worked at Ford asking abut the strike. He told her they were not on strike. The Ford Plants in the area are less than a month from being purchased from Chevy.

Chevy is leveraging to buy the Ford brand, and move the factories to Mexico and South America, where they will now be built.

She asked why Chevy would do that he said, well they are moving all of their factories there too! The only thing left will be minor assembly plants where wipers, bumper covers, and seat belts are installed.

While it might sound bad every car plant in the county closing. The good news is some of us did not see South America coming on line so early. We thought 20 years from now. This means that America will become a manufacturing giant again in 2050! Not bad, pretty good.

Of course many major calendars put the end of the world between 2012 and 2025. If that does not happen, nothing but smooth sailing from 2049 on!

Keep smiling!

The Japanese Automakers are still building assembly and parts plants in the US.

Stephen Eisel wrote:The Japanese Automakers are still building assembly and parts plants in the US.

And, that is better than having GM and Ford here?

Don't get me wrong, our real cars are Hondas from Maysville, and Subaru Assembled here.

This is a trick used by most imports used for decades. Assmebled genrally means, wipers, seat belts, pollution equip maybe, and bumper covers maybe.

Now there are some real plants, tokens. But they suffer from the same problem as casinos. The money does not stay here.

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Jim O'Bryan wrote:

Stephen Eisel wrote:The Japanese Automakers are still building assembly and parts plants in the US.

And, that is better than having GM and Ford here?

Don't get me wrong, our real cars are Hondas from Maysville, and Subaru Assembled here.

This is a trick used by most imports used for decades. Assmebled genrally means, wipers, seat belts, pollution equip maybe, and bumper covers maybe.

Now there are some real plants, tokens. But they suffer from the same problem as casinos. The money does not stay here.

.

http://www.gulfcoastnews.com/News%20Sto ... nOpens.htm


http://www.autoblog.com/2007/02/27/toyo ... ssissippi/

http://www.jama.org/commentary/latest_commentary.html

The Japanese Automakers have invested over $28 billion in building 12 assembly plants and 13 parts plants in the U.S. Including dealerships and distributors Japanese vehicle manufacturers employ a total of 439,470 Americans

Jim wrote:But they suffer from the same problem as casinos. The money does not stay here.

I would say that the majority of the money stays here in the US because a company like Honda is publicly traded on the NYSE.. Also, these companies are paying sales tax, payroll tax, property tax, and have a significant investment in their communities.

Jim,

You are quite the optimist! To see the good in the industry we have created moving to Mexico and South America!!! We will be back by 2050? How old will you be? I know how old I'll be. Actually my children won't be spring chickens by then either.

We have given up so many industries - I spend my days (in the computer businesses) dealing with people in Costa Rica (HP) the Phillipines, India and other countries on the Pacific Rim. I counsel children to not major in computers because the business is no longer here.

We have made some of the worst trade agreements as a country that I can imagine. Yes it may have helped Wall Street and the people that can afford to invest there - but how about the average worker who is getting downsized from Ford to McDonalds or Walmart? How much Wall Street stock can he/she buy? The rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer. That is a recipe for disaster. History does repeat itself. The strongest nations have a strong middle class.

I guess I'm not quite the optimist that you are Jim, your good news depresses me.

Honestly, the Ford Strike would not have caught my attention as much as it did were it not for the fact that the day before I was standing in line with a gentleman who delivers parts for them and was anxiously awaiting to see if he too would be out of a job. I say gentleman because he helped me empty my cart! Not too many of those left! I found myself praying for him and his family and the others affected.

To play devil's advocate (and since Stephen thinks I am the devil ) if automakers are paid roughly $70 an hour with their benefits, will car makers be able to compete with the ones that are not in America now and what is the solution to that?

I am thoroughly depressed though at the outsourcing of all of our jobs leaving the country and wish something could have been done to prevent that. My neighbor has worked for National City for over 20 years and just found out they will probably be outsourcing her area to India!!! What will she and the others do now??? What will be made in America??? We have sold our soul to other countries and in turn are poisoning our children with their ill-manufactured goods and leaving people without jobs or alternatives here!!!!

AT least the field I am entering can't be outsourced-education! Oh wait! Didn't Cleveland ship in several teachers from India only to let go several from this country months later! We are all replaceable!

Stephen -

Oh yeah, great. Toyota is building plans in Mississippi.

Right to work state - kill the unions, kill the workers.

And if you can't kill the unions that way, move to Mexico. Outsource to other countries that do not have worker protections (kindly brought to you by unions).

NYSE up - goody, goody for you.

For the average American - not so much!

To play devil's advocate (and since Stephen thinks I am the devil )

No, I think that you are an Angel from hell !

Isn't that the problem overall... we changed from a strong manufacturing country to a economically divided service-oriented country. All other developed countries will and are slowly surpassing the US...

Not to anger Sharon but while I do get the need for Unions, I also see some of the other side for various reasons. One, we know of friends who have worked for Delphi and heard all the stories about people going into work drunk, sleeping on the job, etc. and making $20 an hour while we struggled with our college loans! I also have an uncle that worked for GM for over 20 years who worked hard and never abused it so please don't think I am accusing all workers of this. My question is did the Union of the 70's do more harm than good? They wanted more and more and more and now look, the plants couldn't afford the workers here!

Also, having seen the other side as my dad was an executive at BP, but had come up from the streets of Pittsburgh from all blue collar union workers in the family, he was sent to plants to deal with Unions and find a middle ground. He was able to mediate with them because he knew where they were coming from and was the first to do so in the Philadelphia areas. However, he and my mom received death threats and messages too ugly to post from that union before they mediated. So Sharon, you can correct my misconceptions, but I wonder about the side of Unions that have hurt American workers as much as the companies. Maybe you can enlighten me.

Justin -

In our society money is power. Unions are a way for the average person to band with others to stand up for themselves.

Without unions we would not have sick days, vacations days, child labor laws, workers comp., overtime, FMLA, minimum wage and any and all other benefits that workers have now that they didn't have at the beginning of the industrial age!

You've heard of slave labor in China, less than poverty wages and horrible working and living conditions in the Mariposa island and South America. The chicken factories in the south, farm workers - those abuses are allowed to occur because there are no unions.

If the haves get their way we have nothing and they have everything.

Read about Mother Jones, the coal miners, the triangle shirtwaist factory fire. Did you know that the suffragists worked with the women of the garment factories to start the International Ladies Garment Workers Union?

In order to understand the history and the need for unions, it is necessary to also understand what has happened since the beginning of the 20th century when people left the farms for factories.

Lynn Farris wrote:
I guess I'm not quite the optimist that you are Jim, your good news depresses me.

Laughing will always beat crying.

The bad news, we are going third world...

The good news we are all going together.

Stephen

I am sure as you post here, that the NYSE has served you well along with you conceal carry. OK little test, what is the connection between your stock portfolio, cnceal carry and the shooting the other night?

.

sharon kinsella wrote:Justin -

In our society money is power. Unions are a way for the average person to band with others to stand up for themselves.

Without unions we would not have sick days, vacations days, child labor laws, workers comp., overtime, FMLA, minimum wage and any and all other benefits that workers have now that they didn't have at the beginning of the industrial age!

You've heard of slave labor in China, less than poverty wages and horrible working and living conditions in the Mariposa island and South America. The chicken factories in the south, farm workers - those abuses are allowed to occur because there are no unions.

If the haves get their way we have nothing and they have everything.

Read about Mother Jones, the coal miners, the triangle shirtwaist factory fire. Did you know that the suffragists worked with the women of the garment factories to start the International Ladies Garment Workers Union?

In order to understand the history and the need for unions, it is necessary to also understand what has happened since the beginning of the 20th century when people left the farms for factories.

Sharon I do understand the need for Unions, don't get me wrong. I have been in one in social work and hope to be with teaching. But some of the auto workers union, in my opinion, have hurt workers in the past more than helping by demanding so much that the companies could not benefit. Don't get me wrong, I understood this current strike, but is it too late now? My father in law worked for the steel mills for years and six months before he was able to retire, some young guys came in, bought it, and let him go. He died a few years later from lung cancer. Asbestos was found everywhere where he worked. Because he also smoked cigarettes, it becomes harder to prove the asbestos, even though we all know the damage of it now. So my mother in law has to live out her days without the pension she should have been entitled to, and gets small little amounts for the asbestos here and there. Yes I do know why Unions exist, but sometimes they can do more harm, in my opinion, as they seem to in the past. That is just my uneducated opinion.-and certainly not all unions!

Jim O'Bryan wrote:

Lynn Farris wrote:
I guess I'm not quite the optimist that you are Jim, your good news depresses me.

Laughing will always beat crying.

The bad news, we are going third world...

The good news we are all going together.

Stephen

I am sure as you post here, that the NYSE has served you well along with you conceal carry. OK little test, what is the connection between your stock portfolio, cnceal carry and the shooting the other night?

.

Jim, could you please tell me where my stock portfolio is? Next months daycare bill is a bit steep and I could use the extra money ( I will need to cash in now).

Your opinion on the state of the economy does not match the facts. I am sorry. Painting an untrue picture of me will not change the truth.