...
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ron61
What he is really worried about is if the auto makers have to go out of business then his million dollar salary will be gone. No union dues, no pay. The dam unions are as much to blame for a lot of the problems as anyone else. They only care about how much they can collect and how much their national officers can stick in their pockets. Just like Congress on a smaller scale. Why does some person putting a nut on a bolt all day long have to be paid $25 dollars an hour or whatever ridiculous amount it is now?
I don't want to see the auto companies go out of business but would not care at all if the unions were to vanish.
Ron
|
...
Hi Ron,
I haven't been here for a while. Hope you and all the others on here have been healthy. I know many aren't happy over the election. I really did think McCain would win this time. I think maybe he got too Demonized the first time around.
I think you are right about Gettelfinger being it largely for himself. Human greed may be our downfall yet. Nobody wants to own any responsibility to his fellows anymore. I read most of the posts on this thread and some good points are made.
One early sentence that really struck me in Gettelfinger's announcement was his first sentence, "The focus has to be on the economy as a whole as opposed to a UAW contract," Gettelfinger told reporters on a conference call, noting the labor costs now make up
8 percent to 10 percent of the cost of a vehicle."
Eight to 10 percent? I wonder if thats true.
Here's the thing. You mentioned that the worker may make $25/hour. Later, Perry suggested $50+ an hour ($55?). Then JoeG suggested $144 an hour with benefits. This is a bit awkward if the worker costs only 10%.
Worker@10% vs Somebody else@90%
$25 vs
$250 per hour or
$55 vs
$550 per hour or
$144 vs $1440...
I'd kinda like to know why somebody is apparently tacking on 90% and who is pocketing this money. Do you think it is mostly all raw materials and facility costs? That much per hour per car? Geez.
Why does it cost millions to develop a normal new vehicle ...when it's usually almost like the one they built last year? And, in GM's case, they built the excellent EV-1 electric car, back in the '80's, and they can't catch up with Toyota and a good hybrid for years and years. Whats going on here?
And shortly after Stanford R. Ovshinsky revolutionized the Nickel Metal Hydride battery, back in the mid EV-1 days, Texaco ended up owning controlling interest, casually buying it from GM. Shame on you for trusting corporate GM, Stanford.
Then Lithium batteries became available, to save the day.
And suddenly there was dramatic mysterious film footage of a gentlemans laptop bursting into flame at a conference.
So now we can't use this "dangerous" technology? It's in my laptop right now as I type ...and in my cellphone. Works great ...charge the tiny little bugger up once a week.
But talk about a phone call maybe burning your ear.
I don't have anything against unions in general. Actually corporations are unions, little business owners joined together to exert their muscle like labor does with theirs. Of course the nefarious Labor Unions have been Demonized as of late, like their greed is somehow different. Now who would promote this idea?
Darn 90 percenters.
Unfortunately, the guy left holding the bag is the consumer. But we have our consumer union too. It's called congress. And, sure enough human greed rears it's ugly head here too. And you are right about "congress on a smaller scale". Modern corporate wealth far exceeds that of our governmental budget and seems to tell our elected government "grievers" where and what color.
Unions are a pretty old idea, ingrained into us all. Way back when life on earth began in the sea, with single celled organisms, it didn't take too long before there was corral reefs. Little guys banded together sometimes sink big ships. Unions, Corporations, Congress ...the country floating on them.
Considering the economy, maybe unrestrained corporations have out-lived their usefulness. Wish we could just vote some of them out ...fire them like senators.
I just read Freds last post, "There are far far fewer people that can run a major corp. than can put a wheel on a car."
Heck, everybody knows the lowly paid secretaries run the offices anyway.
...