Telling it like it is - Auto Industry Bailout

SON240sx Automotive
1

Its a long read but well worth it if you are interested in this stuff.

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

GM PRESIDENT:
Dear Employees & Suppliers,

Congress and the current Administration will soon determine whether to provide immediate support to the domestic auto industry to help it through one of the most difficult economic times in our nation’s history. Your elected officials must hear from all of us now on why this support is critical to our continuing the progress we began prior to the global financial crisis…As an employee or supplier, you have a lot at stake and continue to be one of our most effective and passionate voices. I know GM can count on you to have your voice heard.

Thank you for your urgent action and ongoing support.

Troy Clarke

President General Motors North America

Response from:

Gregory Knox, Pres.

Knox Machinery Company

Franklin, Ohio

Gentlemen:

In response to your request to contact legislators and ask for a bailout for the Big Three automakers please consider the following, and please pass my thoughts on to Troy Clark, President of General Motors North America.

Politicians and Management of the Big 3 are both infected with the same entitlement mentality that has spread like cancerous germs in UAW halls for the last countless decades, and whose plague is now sweeping this nation, awaiting our new “messiah”, Pres-elect Obama, to wave his magic wand and make all our problems go away, while at the same time allowing our once great nation to keep “living the dream”… Believe me folks, The dream is over!

This dream where we can ignore the consumer for years while management myopically focuses on its personal rewards packages at the same time that our factories have been filled with the worlds most overpaid, arrogant, ignorant and laziest entitlement minded “laborers” without paying the price for these atrocities…this dream where you still think the masses will line up to buy our products for ever and ever.

Don’t even think about telling me I’m wrong. Don’t accuse me of not knowing of what I speak. I have called on Ford, GM, Chrysler, TRW, Delphi, Kelsey Hayes, American Axle and countless other automotive OEM’s throughout the Midwest during the past 30 years and what I’ve seen over those years in these union shops can only be described as disgusting.

Troy Clarke, President of General Motors North America, states: “There is widespread sentiment throughout this country, and our government, and especially via the news media, that the current crisis is completely the result of bad management which it certainly is not.”

You’re right Mr. Clarke, it’s not JUST management…how about the electricians who walk around the plants like lords in feudal times, making people wait on them for countless hours while they drag ass…so they can come in on the weekend and make double and triple time…for a job they easily could have done within their normal 40 hour work week. How about the line workers who threaten newbies with all kinds of scare tactics…for putting out too many parts on a shift…and for being too productive. (We certainly must not expose those lazy bums who have been getting overpaid for decades for their horrific underproduction, must we?!?)

Do you folks really not know about this stuff?!? How about this great sentiment abridged from Mr. Clarke’s sad plea: "over the last few

years …we have closed the quality and efficiency gaps with our competitors." What the hell has Detroit been doing for the last 40 years?!? Did we really JUST wake up to the gaps in quality and efficiency between us and them? The K car vs. the Accord? The Pinto vs. the Civic?!? Do I need to go on? What a joke!

We are living through the inevitable outcome of the actions of the United States auto industry for decades. It’s time to pay for your sins, Detroit.

I attended an economic summit last week where brilliant economist, Alan Beaulieu, from the Institute of Trend Research, surprised the crowd when he said he would not have given the banks a penny of “bailout money”. “Yes, he said, this would cause short term problems,” but despite what people like politicians and corporate magnates would have us believe, the sun would in fact rise the next day… and the following very important thing would happen…where there had been greedy and sloppy banks, new efficient ones would pop up…that is how a free market system works…it does work…if we would only let it work…"

But for some nondescript reason we are now deciding that the rest of the world is right and that capitalism doesn’t work - that we need the government to step in and “save us”…Save us my ass, Hell - we’re nationalizing…and unfortunately too many of our once fine nation’s citizens don’t even have a clue that this is what is really happening…But, they sure can tell you the stats on their favorite sports teams…yeah - THAT’S really important, isn’t it…

Does it ever occur to ANYONE that the “competition” has been producing vehicles, EXTREMELY PROFITABLY, for decades in this country?.. How can that be??? Let’s see… Fuel efficient… Listening to customers… Investing in the proper tooling and automation for the long haul…

Not being too complacent or arrogant to listen to Dr. W. Edwards Deming four decades ago when he taught that by adopting appropriate principles of management, organizations could increase quality and simultaneously reduce costs. Ever increased productivity through quality and intelligent planning… Treating vendors like strategic partners, rather than like “the enemy”… Efficient front and back offices… Non union environment…

Again, I could go on and on, but I really wouldn’t be telling anyone anything they really don’t already know down deep in their hearts.

I have six children, so I am not unfamiliar with the concept of wanting someone to bail you out of a mess that you have gotten yourself into - my children do this on a weekly, if not daily basis, as I did when I was their age. I do for them what my parents did for me (one of their greatest gifts, by the way) - I make them stand on their own two feet and accept the consequences of their actions and work through it. Radical concept, huh… Am I there for them in the wings? Of course - but only until such time as they need to be fully on their own as adults.

I don’t want to oversimplify a complex situation, but there certainly are unmistakable parallels here between the proper role of parenting and government.

Stop trying to put off the inevitable folks … That house in Florida really isn’t worth $750,000… People who jump across a border really don’t deserve free health care benefits… That job driving that forklift for the Big 3 really isn’t worth $85,000 a year… We really shouldn’t allow Wal-Mart to stock their shelves with products acquired from a country that unfairly manipulates their currency and has the most atrocious human rights infractions on the face of the globe…

That couple whose combined income is less than $50,000 really shouldn’t be living in that $485,000 home… Let the market correct itself folks - it will. Yes it will be painful, but it’s gonna’ be painful either way, and the bright side of my proposal is that on the other side of it all, is a nation that appreciates what it has…and doesn’t live beyond its means…and gets back to basics…and redevelops the patriotic work ethic that made it the greatest nation in the history of the world…and probably turns back to God.

Sorry - don’t cut my head off, I’m just the messenger sharing with you the “bad news”. I hope you take it to heart.

Gregory J. Knox, President

Knox Machinery, Inc.

Franklin, Ohio 45005

2

good read

and very true

tough love

3

Amen…

“our factories have been filled with the worlds most overpaid, arrogant, ignorant and laziest entitlement minded “laborers” without paying the price for these atrocities”

That is the BIGGEST difference between a Domestic auto plant and an “import” auto plant.

IE Toyota in Cambridge has NO UNION and I’ve never seen more content employee’s.

4

That’s pretty much the difference there.

Time gives way to that bullshit - drag your ass with no fear of losing your job- attitude. Eventually people just get that mentality of “I’ve been here for years, they won’t get rid of me” and for some reason, they’re right. I worked in a factory in St. Thomas making Jeep Front ends, and GM Truck frames, and for some reason, the most incompetent fuck ups somehow were allowed to keep their jobs, even after starting shit with people who were actually getting some work done.

Real competitive companies shouldn’t protect these people, they should send them out the door on their asses.

5

^^^+1

6

Wow. Finally someone that knows what the fuck they are talkin about!

7

I agree 100% with what that man said.

He couldn’t be more honest, he’s exposed the weak morals in society today and everything else relating to the downfall of the domestic automotive industry and our economy. It was great to hear it from a corporate guy who’s actually honest.

I’ve seen a documentary where those bastards GM and the other greedy pigs of the domestic car makers deny installing child safety mechanisms for power windows to prevent the injuries and fatalities with kids.

They didn’t want to install them cuz it would cost them $7-8 each(to prevent and save lives) after all these parents, supporters, and victims showed up and pleaded with them.

Instead here they are in their own fuck up, asking for a “bail out” they need to learn their lesson on their own…it pisses me off just thinking that they’re not gonna change their ways anyhow.

8

I think the problem starts right from the bottom up. it isn’t just the CEOs fucking everything up, it’s the workers too.

9

Bailouts simply make the economy worst.
Companies who receive a subsidy or a bailout will just eventually end up in the same situation they were in prior to receiving the help from the government and public.
Ultimately, bailouts and subsidies come from us, the public.
I really hope they don’t receive this huge amount of financial assistance because it is just not right.

10

Ya, I hear you, it’s all of them as a whole.

11

The problem is that letting the bottom fall out of these companies in THEORY is a good idea, but in reality it would cause massive job loss across the board, not just at the big 3. Even Toyota has stated that any of the big 3 dying would be bad for their business as well.

All of the people working in those companies equals a ton of buying power. Subtract that buying power, even temporarily while they find new jobs (not all of them will, especially because so many other people are out of jobs right now) and you have more people losing jobs because nobody is there to buy their products. That will continue for quite a while.

That’s the issue the US government has run into. In principle these companies should be forced to close up or completely restructure themselves, but the pain in the meantime would be (in my opinion) too great.

Like I said too, this is a bottom up issue, and not just the top management being stupid. Too many lazy people on the lines, too lax line team leaders, area leaders who just want to make friends, maintenance workers taking too long, factory managers not putting enough pressure on the workers, GM managers not putting enough pressure on the factory managers to put pressure on their area leaders…you can see where this is going.

That’s the problem GM and others are in as well. They push the UAW, and the UAW pushes back. Nothing gets done.

12

Wow could not agree more…

13

DOWN WITH THE DAM UAW!

every union I know has fucked up things…

Big 3, Long Ass York Strike, Fucked Up Schools in America…etc.

Unions reduce the need to compete, and with competition comes better products, services, workers, etc.

14

Good read

15

The unions do hurt. I remember overhearing a CAW rep talking about talks with automakers, and they’d be “going head to head with lawyers” to try and make deals. It’s the way he said it that gave me the impression that the mentality was that…they want to get the most possible out of the automakers possible, not doing whats best for both parties.

I dunno, whenever I’ve worked for a company I have tried to do whats best for both of us, not just myself. Whats good for them is typically good for me in the long run.

16

th

17

great read… i have a friend whos parents had a great business which went under once they let the unions in… unions used to be about protecting the worker and safety… now its a joke putting businesses out of business. Wait till GM claims bankruptcy, which cancels all their contracts… gets rid of unions, their employees and all these pensions. Then they will start up union free like Toyota or Honda and start to get respect again

18

bravo im glad to see there is some real intelligence on this board. i thought i was the only one who felt this way. yes ppl are going to louse their jobs and i feel for them but as a first world nation we should concentrate on tech ie jobs that take a brain to do, and allow the smaller less developed nations do our bs jobs.
this is the only way we can progress.
part of the reason the us is in this situation is because they try to shut their doors to importing “make it in the USA” IMO this is wrong approach it creates a stagnant economy

19

I have experience in a GM unionized auto plant and the non-union Toyota plant.
Worker mentality is exactly the same. They are ‘entitled’ to sunday doubletime and benefits and free lunches. this and that. There are lazy people who take advantage of the system everywhere, not just in these ‘horrible’ union shops.

The difference with Toyota is the contract employees. People tend to work their asses off if they know they can be fired one day because their boss doesn’t like the way they cut their hair.

20

Just found an interesting read to tag on… about “domestic” production & where the parts actually come from…