Bailout Fill'up

"I better go now, I'm almost at the wall"

Bailout the automakers. The Big Three crash test dummies are sitting in front of Congress, answering questions, and know they will get the money. What a sham, scam and complete boondoggle.

Why?

Because if these guys are smart enough to run an efficient company, how is it they are begging for money in the first place? Why did not one of them see this coming? What kind of cars have been the best sellers in the world, not just the US, and why don't we make those here. Why do Hondas and Toyotas last 200,000 miles and more with minimal maintenance, and American cars have trouble getting to 100,000 miles of use without thousands of dollars in repair?

Who chose these guys as the CEO's? I guess the same people that decided it was a good thing to ramp up production of gas guzzling super-sized SUV's that use much more gas, which we buy from Saudi Arabia. SUV production and sales more than doubled between 2002 and 2005. Am I the only one that realized it was Saudi Arabians that flew those planes into the WTC Towers?

When did we cede making the best cars in the world? And more importantly, why? The answer to that question is not a riddle to many. History will show Honda and Toyota got a foothold in this country when American automobiles began to show wear and suffer repairs around three years after they were made. Funny, that is the average length of an auto loan.

This is not a coincidence (my wife says there are no such things as coincidences).

And, please, do not tell me US auto workers are compensated at $72 per hour and foreign workers make $42 per hour. That is a big lie. Those that wish to see all unions die use a funny method when devising that number. They take all the money that is paid to retirees through pensions, and take all the medical benefit money paid to retirees, and take all monies used for retraining and unemployment, and every penny of benefit given to anyone who has ever received money from the US auto companies, add that to to the money paid current workers and divide by the number of currently employed auto workers.

They don't use that method when calculating for Honda, or Toyota, or BMW or..... When calculating how other auto companies pay their employees, they use only the current wages paid to current employed workers.

That is not only disgusting, it is immoral. Why? Because Japanese autoworkers are actually paid more per hour than US auto workers, and they have as good if not better benefits. Ever hear one of these guys who use these numbers point that out? No. It would alert the listeners or readers to the fact that they are a liar.

Such is the circumstance of what we hear for news everyday.