TW> What is wrong with Detroit? Here is the Problem plainly
 TW> put!!:

 Nah, there's more nonsense badly put.

 TW> A Friends Wife wrote this preamble:

 Funny, a "friend", always  "friend".

 Where did you get this old piece of trash?

 TW> Having lived in and near 'auto' towns for 34 years, Flint,
 TW> Saginaw and Bay City, these things in the second letter are
 TW> what I have observed by listening to the union workers brag
 TW> about drinking, playing cards on the job and padding their
 TW> hours.

 Now, that sounds like BS to begin with, the next part is just
 evidence it is BS.

 TW> They also liked to work Sundays for triple time/no
 TW> bosses. Third shift was double time/no bosses.

 Uh... sorry to tell you. Third shift is not only not double
 time, but auto companies typically don't run a third shift.

 Typical is 10% for second shift, 15-20% for third. Oh, and there
 are bosses, just a lot fewer. One of the things I like about
 night shift.

 TW> Also saw for
 TW> years, workers 'ballooning' a loan for a car, then selling
 TW> it in a year for more than they paid for it and getting
 TW> another new one.

 Now just how do they do that? Esp when you can buy a year old
 used car for a lot less than even an auto-worker can buy a new
 one for.

 TW> I'm talking Caddy's and Corvettes. This
 TW> sudden cancer that is eating the auto industry alive is
 TW> anything but sudden. I said then and I'll say it now, they
 TW> were raping their company!! Please take the time to read
 TW> this, it's well worth it. Kat

 If they could rape the company, blame the management. No union
 is that strong.

 TW> ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

 TW> There are two letters below. One from General Motors
 TW> President to all employees and all of their suppliers..

 TW> The other is from the President of a supplier to the auto
 TW> industry. His letter is an awesome letter that tells it
 TW> like it is.

 Actually, not only is he a minor dealer in machining equipment,
 but I doubt he's sold anything to the auto industry in many a
 year.

 TW> Every manager in Detroit and ALL politicians should read
 TW> this along with the union members.

 TW> This is one of the greatest responses to the requests for
 TW> bailout money I have seen thus far. As a supplier for the
 TW> Big 3 this man received a letter from the President of GM
 TW> North America requesting support for the bail out program.
 TW> His response is classic, and has to make you proud of a
 TW> local guy who tells it like it is.

 TW> ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
 TW> +++++++++++

 TW> Dear Employees & Suppliers,
 TW> Congress and the current Administration will soon determine
 ...
 TW> Troy Clarke
 TW> President General Motors North America

 TW> ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
 TW> ++++++++++++++

 TW> Response from:
 TW> Gregory Knox, Pres.
 TW> Knox Machinery Company
 TW> Franklin , Ohio

 TW> Gentlemen:

 ...

 TW> awaiting our new "messiah", Pres-elect Obama, to wave his

 Note that everything he talks about including his letter, were
 before Obama took office.

 TW> magic wand and make all our problems go away, while at the
 TW> same time allowing our once great nation to keep "living
 TW> the dream" Believe me folks, The dream is over! This dream

 IOW, America is finished?

 TW> where we can ignore the consumer for years while management
 TW> myopically focuses on its personal rewards packages at the
 TW> same time that our factories have been filled with the
 TW> worlds most overpaid, arrogant, ignorant and laziest
 TW> entitlement minded "laborers" without paying the price for

 Before Bush took office we had a discussion of the differences
 in productivity. I found that the Statistical Abstract of the US
 had a copy of an international business org's comparison of
 various nation's productivity. I found, and posted in Fidonet,
 that the US had the most productive industry in the world. Yes,
 even well ahead of Japan. That's value per hour worked.

 The *ONLY* industry Japan led us in was automotive production.
 In all others we were head and shoulders ahead of them.

 IOW, that fool doesn't know what he is talking about.

 TW> these atrocities this dream where you still think the
 TW> masses will line up to buy our products for ever and ever..
 TW> Don't even think about telling me I'm wrong. Don't accuse
 TW> me of not knowing of what I speak. I have called on Ford,
 TW> GM, Chrysler, TRW, Delphi, Kelsey Hayes, American Axle and
 TW> countless other automotive OEM's throughout the Midwest
 TW> during the past 30 years and what I've seen over those

 Actually, he hasn't even been working 30 years. That 30 years is
 actually part of three decades. IOW, 1989-2009 counts as 30
 years by his reckoning. It does cross three decades. He never
 did say what years he is talking about. Oh, his bio is on his
 company's website.

 ...

 TW> You're right Mr. Clarke, it's not JUST management ....how
 TW> about the electricians who walk around the plants like
 TW> lords in feudal times, making people wait on them for
 TW> countless hours while they drag ass, so they can come in on

 Now you can tell he doesn't know what he is talking about. No
 one gets to make people wait just because they want to. Not even
 in auto plants. If you think they tolerate a line down because
 someone wants to let the work wait till the weekend you need to
 think again.

 TW> the weekend and make double and triple time for a job they
 TW> easily could have done within their normal 40 hour work
 TW> week.

 If the job is that easy, they won't get past a couple hours of
 time and a half. If it isn't, then it's cheaper to pay them
 triple time than shut down the line.

 Just today my boss told me one of our machines had a safety
 issue. He asked me to see if I could fix it. I talked to the
 production supervisor, and advised him the line would have to
 shut down for me to work on it. I also advised him, if it's not
 an actual hazard it would be better to wait until the line is
 down anyway. I had seen it was all in place, but I didn't know
 they had jury rigged it to keep it running. So it had to be
 done.

 I had estimated it to be 15-30 minutes. It took me about 15
 minutes. Simple job. Now, do you think that is better than
 holding it till I can do it on overtime, with the line down?

 Ok, I don't know what that line costs to shut down, it's
 different than the other lines. But I do know the other two
 lines cost $8,000/hr each to shut down.

 So, you do the math, how does 15 minutes at $8K/hr compare to
 even 8 hours at triple time? Even for an autoworker, triple time
 is around $100/hr. And I only get triple time on holidays. I
 doubt autoworkers get it much more often. More likely it would
 be time and a half. Or about $50/hr. That's for the highest paid
 autoworkers.

 IOW, waiting for the weekend would, at it's very worst, pay off
 for the company at a rate of 10 to 1.

 TW> How about the line workers who threaten newbies with all
 TW> kinds of scare tacticsfor putting out too many parts on a
 TW> shift and for being too productive (We certainly must not

 Have you ever worked on a production line? A production line
 runs at a fixed rate. You can't put out too much or too little.
 Not even if you want to.

 TW> expose those lazy bums who have been getting overpaid for
 TW> decades for their horrific underproduction, must we?). Do

 Which is... ready for it... NOBODY!

 Ok, maybe the boss's son.

 TW> you folks really not know about this stuff? How about this
 TW> great sentiment abridged from Mr. Clarke's sad plea: "over
 TW> the last few years we have closed the quality and
 TW> efficiency gaps with our competitors."

 TW> What the hell has Detroit been doing for the last 40
 TW> years?! Did we really JUST wake up to the gaps in quality
 TW> and efficiency between us and them? The K car vs.the

 As I pointed out above, the US was the most efficient producer
 in the world.

 TW> Accord? The Pinto vs. the Civic?!? Do I need to go on? What
 TW> a joke! We are living through the inevitable outcome of the
 TW> actions of the United States auto industry for decades.
 TW> It's time to pay for your sins, Detroit .

 Note that he only goes on about the Auto industry. He doesn't
 seem to know anything else. Or else he never does business with
 the Auto industry, so he will slam a business he doesn't deal
 with, but not his customers.

 TW> I attended an economic summit last week where brilliant
 TW> economist, Alan Beaulieu, from the Institute of Trend
 TW> Research , surprised the crowd when

 I looked for info about him, there is damn little to be found.
 Apparently he is not only "from the institute, but the
 president. It is the only thing on his speaker's bureau bio. It
 appears to be the only thing he has ever done. He doesn't even
 had anything about his education in the bio.

 IOW, he sounds like a snake oil salesman.

 OTOH, he does say a lot that is directly counter to what Knox
 said, so he can't be all bad.

 ...

 TW> Does it ever occur to ANYONE that the "competition" has been
 TW> producing vehicles, EXTREMELY PROFITABLY, for decades in
 TW> this country? How can that be??? Let's see... Fuel

 How about government support all the way. Incentives, don't you
 know?

 ...

 TW> back offices..... Non union environment! Again, I could go

 Yet they are even more heavily unionized in their home
 countries.

 ...

 TW> Bad news people - it's coming whether we like it or not.
 TW> The newly elected Messiah really doesn't have a magic wand
 TW> big enough to "make it all go away." I laughed as I heard

 He's got a hard enough time keeping it from turning into a full
 blown depression.

 ...

 TW> driving that forklift for the Big 3 really isn't worth
 TW> $85,000 a year....

 IF he's working 10 to 12 hours a day 6 or 7 days a week to do
 it, it just might be.

 TW> We really shouldn't allow Wal-Mart to
 TW> stock their shelves with products acquired from a country
 TW> that unfairly manipulates their currency and has the most

 True, but conservatives love it.

 ...

 TW> Yes it will be painful, but it's gonna' be painful either
 TW> way, and the bright side of my proposal is that on the
 TW> other side of it all, is a nation that appreciates what it
 TW> has and doesn't live beyond its means and gets back to
 TW> basics and redevelops the patriotic work ethic that made it
 TW> the greatest nation in the history of the world and
 TW> probably turns back to God.

 And if Knox has his way, a third world nation.

 TW> Sorry - don't cut my head off, I'm just the messenger
 TW> sharing with you the "bad news". I hope you take it to
 TW> heart.

 Arrogant, isn't he.



BOB KLAHN bob.klahn{at}sev.org   http://home.toltbbs.com/bobklahn

... I'm not CREATING a disturbance; I'm improving one already in progress.
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