tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3244123422713926575.post7172664888452808730..comments2024-03-28T23:02:24.234-07:00Comments on Flint Expatriates: A Rational Approach to G.M. ProfitsFlint Expatriateshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08352270564340149006noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3244123422713926575.post-75863824860169593572010-11-13T19:14:47.398-08:002010-11-13T19:14:47.398-08:00> "I think it is worth pointing out that F...> "I think it is worth pointing out that Ford is also making big profits. Ford didn't go into bankruptcy. And Ford has all of the same dreaded "legacy costs" as GM and Chrysler."<br /><br />Yes, Mr. Mullaly gets mucho kudos for being prescient, pessimistic and/or back-channel-informed regarding the big-bank-real-estate-exposure economic flameout, and for mortgaging practically everything Ford owns just ahead of the credit market freezing up. Thus when sales went off the cliff and Ford was losing money at (proportionally) the same rapid rate as GM and Chrysler due to their mutually high cost structures, Ford had the cash to ride it through until cars started selling again. GM and Chrysler of course didn't.<br /><br />But now Ford's cost stance is much higher than GM's and Toyota's. My guess is that eventualy Mullaly will go from hero status to behind the eight ball again, and will have to do something about that cost structure. Either Ford, the UAW, Ford's white collar workers up to the top, and maybe the executive branch and the Congress will have to reach some kind of agreement to make Ford cost competitive, or Ford will have to move more manufacturing to lower-cost countries. Otherwise eventually either GM or Toyota will start deep-discounting again to gain market share, and Ford won't be able to follow suit without taking losses.<br /><br />The point of discussing cost structures isn't the ideology of worker and management compensation. It certainly isn't my personal social preference, which would be for a return to the late 20th century and the socioeconomic good things that came from Flint manufacturing workers making excellent money. It isn't even my own personal annual income, which I'd like to be comfortable, thank you very much. It's that we won't have manufacturing jobs at all unless US manufacturing companies are total-cost-competitive with their global market opponents, because (obviously) the old days of only the US knowing how to make stuff and of customers being willing to pay a premium to Buy American are gone.JWillyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03243354011523248499noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3244123422713926575.post-22688847146571490612010-11-12T08:54:21.812-08:002010-11-12T08:54:21.812-08:00Umm. I think it is worth pointing out that Ford is...Umm. I think it is worth pointing out that Ford is also making big profits. Ford didn't go into bankruptcy. And Ford has all of the same dreaded "legacy costs" as GM and Chrysler. So you might think about looking somewhere other than workers' pockets and earned benefits for all the blame.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3244123422713926575.post-66984709693838441982010-11-12T08:36:59.551-08:002010-11-12T08:36:59.551-08:00It *is* a good thing for the US to be a leader in ...It *is* a good thing for the US to be a leader in manufacturing, but that doesn't mean I'm going to buy stock in it... again. <br /><br />I still have my old certificate... if they want to honor that, I'd consider it then.grumkinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13834121792263687217noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3244123422713926575.post-14890602229463371312010-11-12T08:16:33.250-08:002010-11-12T08:16:33.250-08:00I find it amusing and terrifying that both the rig...I find it amusing and terrifying that both the right and the left are idiotic enough to think that jumping through a few simple hoops to preserve one of the world's most important companies, a preeminent US manufacturer, one of the last of the twenty or so globally leading companies that defined the United States as the world leader in manufactured products and thereby economic power...that such hoop-jumping, necessary only because the company's otherwise-brilliantly-effective managers weren't pessimistic enough to anticipate the extraordinary extent to which the US national leadership would trash the world's economy and scare auto buyers into cancelling their purchase plans, is a bad idea because it doesn't conform to the right's and left's respective standards of ideological purity.<br /><br />> "we would have helped eliminate some of the overcapacity in the global auto industry"<br /><br />Oh, yeah. What a good idea...let's shut down *all* US manufacturing as a favor to the other countries who like having good jobs for their populace. <br /><br />Gotta stay away from Ms. McArdle, that bozo-ness might be contagious.<br /><br />> "and sent a clear signal to CEOs that they should not emulate Rick Wagoner's pigheaded refusal to prepare for a possible reorganization." <br /><br />Heh. Mr. Wagoner told the truth to the Obama administration spinmeisters and bean counters, that GM was on a provable trajectory to overcome all of its past issues until the global economy was wrecked. The spinmeisters had been blamestorming for whose fault this all might said to be, and the fact that Mr. Wagoner's dramatic turnaround of the company was not yet visible to the public, even though well known in the industry, made him the obvious selection as the Bad Guy. <br /><br />Unfortunately for the country, ideologues like Mr. Kaus and Ms. McArdle tend to be grossly ignorant about business management, so they bought the cover story.<br /><br />(Pardon me for a second, I need to vent: YOU IDIOTS!!!!!!!!)<br /><br />Yes, I feel much better now.<br /><br />I'm not sure who to direct this to, but: Can we please trade in our right-wingers and left-wingers for some non-idiot centrists that understand it's a Good Thing for the US to be a leader in manufacturing?JWillyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03243354011523248499noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3244123422713926575.post-75130567025249596772010-11-11T17:51:44.495-08:002010-11-11T17:51:44.495-08:00If GM turns back into the market leader for the ne...If GM turns back into the market leader for the next 100 years, they'll still be scorned by the right because it's not about money at all. It's about a deep-seated and deeply-emotional feeling that the people who were working in those shops <i>weren't worth it</i>, that they were stealing. I'm not entirely sure how McArdle feels about TARP, but I will say that I know a lot of conservative pundits will damn the auto bailouts up and down but equivocate on TARP. Because it probably prevented a depression. But the complete collapse of the domestic auto industry and its supply chain (which is also a huge deal, because auto suppliers supply other industries too) would have been fine, deserved in fact, because Old Jimbo on the Line was making $28 an hour with benes, and Old Jimbo ain't worth that.<br /><br />So no matter what you could never "back it up" to the satisfaction of those that oppose the bailout, because the bailout will forever be a giveaway to the bloodsuckers in shiny jackets. Policy bedamned.Willhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08262370810620613691noreply@blogger.com