| The elections are over, the economy continues to slide, and more companies are looking for handouts. After Congress agreed to spend 700 billion of taxpayer’s money and then had no real plan on how to dish out the money or conceivably monitor the results, another industry giant needs billions to keep from going bankrupt. A few thoughts on the 'Big Three' and their woes.
First and foremost, even though the likes of Honda, Mercedes, BMW and many other foreign-based automakers building cars in Amercia seem to have disovered the formula for how not to go bankrupt, I think one of two things should happen with the loan request. For one, I think at least one of the 'BT' needs to shut down. Not all of them, just one. Let that be the lesson learned to the UAW and to poor Executive Management. More on that in a bit. Or two, give them the money they need. It’s a loan. The current interest rate by Uncle Sam is a ridiculous 0 - .25%. We aren’t talking make or break margins anymore. As Jon Steward said recently on Comedy Central’s Daily Show, Congress authorized 700B to companies that trade paper, and don’t manufacture anything. At least with the 'Big Three', at the end of the process is a car. Every politician including the guy I voted for is spouting off about the reversal of our consumption of Middle East oil, going green, and cleaning up the planet. All excellent ideas, and completely necessary to our safety and overall survival as a human race. A NASA type commitment is needed in order to really jump-start that new era. Why won’t this work? Whichever of the 'Big Three' can’t survive, offer them the contract to build solar panels and wind turbines on a massive scale. That’s right, design a plan that will require an established organization that has a skilled workforce already in place and supply lines to boot established. Write the terms of that proposal that only an auto giant can fulfill in a short period of time. Keep the workforce, hire managerial experts in said products to turn the facilities over to the new product. Have Uncle Sam throw the money at the turnover, not the operating losses. That’s a commitment One of the biggest roadblocks to this is the current falling price of gas, again. With gas cheaper then it has been in years, dumb American’s with short memories will gleefully fuel up their rolling sheds. The 'BT' will continue making products with the highest profit margins. We will lose our sense of urgency. Tax gas That’s right, a 10-20 cent tax per gallon on gas to keep this problem on the forefront. With the additional revenue generated, earmark 50% on R&D AND production of solar and wind power, and also towards a massive power grid update. The other 50% of this new tax to go directly toward the offset the additional cost of hybrid automobiles. Advance the scope of hydrogen cell technology. The more affordable hybrids are, the more that will be purchased. The more that are purchased, the cheaper they become to manufacture. It’s a nice problem to have. While we’re on a roll here solving American’s problems, here’s another one we’d like to take a shot at. Loss of Jobs Companies farm labor out to foreign countries. You want to live in a global economy in a capitalistic society, that is the truth of the matter. If I owned a company and could reduce my labor cost from 25% to 5%, you bet your damn ass I’d do it and so would you. When you couple that with our government's Lasi Fair approach, all the better. So here’s what you do. Massive tax breaks to companies that use America labor, or a huge percentage of America labor. Impose massive tariffs on companies importing goods where American Labor isn’t used. If tht reeks of isolationism so be it. While were at it, let’s ask this of our manufacturers as well. Let’s use the 'Big Three' as our example. While you are building good cars these days, you are failing miserably at selling Americans on them. Sure, there are still many from the Greatest Generation that drive around in Oldsmobiles, Fords, Chevys, and Buicks, but that market is quickly diminishing. PROVE to us that your products are good or better than Honda, Toyota, and Nissan for example. Make them affordable, and make us want them. Until then, it is senseless to lend any American company a dime. Again, we are in a global economny and we pride ourselves on democracy and capitalism. Until we drastically change the rules of the game we invented, we should expect more of the same in the future. |
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| Pub Editorial |
| "Why Won't This Work?" |
