Jalopnik 
Enter your username and password.
Detroit, 2:29 AM
Sat Nov 21
31 posts in the last 24 hours
Tip your editors:
tips@jalopnik.com
Editor-in-Chief:
Ray Wert | Email | AIM
Road Test Editor:
Wes Siler | Email
Weekend Editor:
Murilee Martin | Email
Associate Editor - Houston:
Matt Hardigree
Associate Editor - Detroit:
Ben Wojdyla
Editor-at-Large:
Mike Spinelli
Contributors:
Mark Arnold
John Krewson | Email
Andy Didorosi
Original material is licensed under a Creative Commons License permitting non-commercial sharing with attribution.
11/19/09
11/19/09
11/19/09
11/19/09
11/19/09
Kind of like when you couldn't make rent right after you finished college, and scared your parents into lending you $1,500. But you didn't tell them that you spent $400 of this on concert tickets and beer, and when you paid them back $200 early it was just so that they'd forget about the remainder.
11/20/09
#tips
11/19/09
11/19/09
Let's assume that the profit on the materials can outpace the facility overhead cost, and break it down to where all losses are associated with personnel, both labor and administration.
Let us furthermore assume that the taxpayer funded loan was a gift, and that none of it will come back.
Then, let us assume that the funds remained within North America.
With approximately 112,000 employees in North America, 8.6 billion dollars works out to $76,785 per worker that the taxpayers have spent.
Fire them all, and give me back my money. All $30 of it ($8.6 billion divided by the current US population of 300 million is only $28.67; The $1.33 is interest)
11/19/09
11/19/09
11/19/09
Also, faring, not fairing.
/grammarian
11/19/09
11/19/09
11/19/09
Hopefully, GM will learn the lesson and not stagnate. Next time, the taxpayers won't be so willing to hand over billions on a silver platter.
But then again, this isn't exactly the first time, either. Do we, as a species, ever learn?
11/19/09
11/19/09
11/19/09
11/19/09
11/19/09
I quit building when it became more expensive to build one than to just buy a workstation off eBay.
11/19/09
Thomas D. Hopkins is Professor of Economics at Rochester Institute of Technology. He served as Dean of the College of Business 1998-2005 and as President, U.S. Business School in Prague, Czech Republic, an RIT MBA program where he taught 1992-98. He was the Arthur J. Gosnell Professor of Economics in RIT's College of Liberal Arts, 1988-98. Hopkins held senior management positions in two White House agencies during the Ford, Carter and Reagan Administrations; in 1979 President Carter appointed him a charter member of the federal government's Senior Executive Service. In the early 1980s, he served as Deputy Administrator, Office of Information & Regulatory Affairs, in the Office of Management & Budget. His research on business burdens of government regulation has been sponsored by the Organization for Economic Cooperation & Development (OECD) in Paris and the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) in Washington. He has testified on regulatory policy issues before committees of the U.S. Senate and House, and Canada's House of Commons. He co-authored a 2001 SBA report, "The Impact of Regulatory Costs on Small Firms," as well as National Research Council reports on marine transportation, the Exxon Valdez oil spill, and trucking/rail/barge transportation. He previously was on the faculty of American University, University of Maryland, and Bowdoin College.
Yeah, sounds like a total moron.
11/19/09
11/17/09
Where's Unregular? #gm
11/17/09
11/17/09
11/17/09
11/17/09
a person disposed to preserve existing conditions, institutions, etc., or to restore traditional ones, and to limit change.
Conservatives have been instrumental in trying to stop progression, or to try and "turn back the clock" to anything even remotely progressive.
It is this particular cornerstone that limits a free thinking society, stymies inventiveness, and limits expression.
We no longer are at the forefront of new inventions, new ideas, or new product. You can lay all that on Conservatism. #gm
11/17/09
11/17/09
11/17/09
OK: Lets take Passenger Airliners, just as an example. I can't deny that Boeing is a formidable competitor, but every Airbus model is far superior than the Boeing competing model. Yes the 787 is modern, but it has taken forever to get out of the gate.
The Brazilian Firm Embraer developed a line of E-Jets that really have no rival. We used to own the Aircraft Industry, and now we are merely a player.
Lets talk Large Trucks: We have two Truck Manufacturers left in the US, PACCAR (Peterbilt, Kenworth) and NAVISTAR (International). The Number one and Number two truck producers in North America is Freightliner (owned by Daimler), and Volvo (Still Swedish Owned, and not connected with the car division owned by Ford) and look at this, they own Mack Truck now! The European Trucks are far more modern and up-to-date than the American ones.
Lets talk Cell Phones for a minute. Motorola used to own the segment, but have been eclpised by Research in Motion (Blackberry), Apple, Nokia, Erickson, Samsung, Sony, with a host of smaller brands following close behind. It really is too little too late with the Droid.
We are no longer dominate in the PC world, what with the sale of IBM's PC business to Lenovo, and almost every other machine built in China. Semiconductor technology has been off loaded to the far east, Software Service has been offloaded to India, and we never did own the flat screen market.
From what I understand,
the Russian mathematicians are superior to almost anyone, The German and Swedish optics are superior to everyone, and the Swiss still make the best chocolate.
We were suppose to be the smartest as far as investment, but that theory got blown out of the water. We were suppose to have the best Insurance Companies (Ha!), and the best Banks (Pffft!). What have we got now? A whole lot of Nothing Special. #gm
11/17/09
We know it does, because you looked up the word "conservative" in the dictionary...
What limits free thinking and inventiveness is artificially rewarding failure and punishing success.
As to your later post about industries, most have some degree of labor issues. Truck and airplane manufacturing are both hammered in the US by unions. For cell phones, Motorola and Apple are US companies. RIM is Canadian. Nice job dismissing the Droid, though.
Same story with PC's and software "service". Intel and AMD are US companies. Their manufacturing is no longer done here. This is because it's too expensive. Same thing with call centers. Are you suggesting it's because conservatives have inflated the cost of labor in the US?? #gm
11/17/09
11/17/09
11/17/09
11/17/09
These men only respected other property owners, but made no mention of women, or slaves as equal. Don't try an tell me that all of these men were for equal rights among the indigenous tribes that populated this land before we did. They also felt that the Women were somewhat second class citizens, and did nothing to stop the importation of slaves to work for nothing, while being the property of these same property owners.
My argument about free trade is that it has been free trade on a one way street. Japan, Korea, and to some extent most of the rest of the world do not practice our form of free trade, in which we invite anyone to take advantage of our policies, without any consequence to their own trade policies.
And do not bring up the tired argument about our Founding Fathers. If you wanted a government fashioned by the founding fathers, Women still wouldn't be able to vote, we would still have slaves, 1/2% of the population would control 99% of the wealth, and almost no one (besides the descendants of the wealthy white men) would own property.
The argument of out founding fathers holds abut as much water as an almighty god who created earth in seven days. It's time to evolve. #gm
11/17/09
Britain no longer produces things because they believe in free trade? That's your response to my claiming labor is a problem? You might look into the history of labor in the UK. It's labor problems and gov't intervention/bailouts in the US times a thousand.
And who is it that has chosen "not to fight" for the US worker the way, apparently, Korea has?
Your arguments all seem to be my arguments. I.e. Look at industry in Britain. Look at industry here in any unionized sector: autos, trucks, planes, etc. Yet you draw from them completely different, and somewhat baffling, conclusions. #gm
11/17/09
The slavery issue came up many times in the first decades of the new Republic, and was put off for nearly a century to disastrous results. Some of the founding fathers, however, had strong anti-slavery sentiments. From the Revolution to the Civil War, public opinion on the slavery issue did not so much change as become entrenched, on both sides. As for women, they were enfranchised for a time in New Jersey, but very few took the opportunity, nor was there any opposition to speak of when it was taken away with a subsequent state constitution. As for the Natives, simply look at Franklin's Narrative of the Late Massacres.
I'm inclined to agree with you on the fair trade issue. We have ourselves at a disadvantage. We ought have trade restrictions simply to negate support and subsidization of foreign industry by the same foreign governments.
The principles behind the founding of this nation were quite absolute: inalienable God-given rights, sovereignty from the consent of the governed, &t. The government set up by the founding fathers was a compromise. As society has improved and gotten more used to the radical concept of liberty, the compromise has been reduced.
As for God creating the Earth, I suggest you start learning Hebrew. I cringe every time I hear "seven days". (Besides, in the very poor translation that you Christians have, it's SIX days. The seventh is the sabbath, God's gift to us, which we were kind enough to share with you. And don't you forget it!) #gm
11/17/09
11/17/09
Nanny state policies, handouts, entitlements, strict regulations and spreading the wealth around lead to a passive society.
You have to understand that traditional values aren't all Jeebus, most are building the American Dream, not handing it out. #gm
11/18/09
@Nitrous Oxide: You bet we're pretentious. Our leaders once outvoted God in a debate over cooking apparata!
11/17/09
11/17/09
we just need to move imaginary money around in markets and tweet stuff. then, buy stuff that OTHER countries make with our fake money and call it Capitalism.
do that, and America will be great again! #gm
11/17/09
11/17/09
good for them!
in Capitalism, only a few get all the money and then we take that money and redistribute it to the rest of the people. indeed, it is Capitalism defined. #gm
11/17/09
While I am all for restoring classics in general, this is one particular vehicle that should be left to moulder slowly in neglect.
Thank goodness that most people here are sophisticated enough to laugh at such facile xenophobia. Nevertheless, there appear to be substantial numbers of commentators who are enjoying a chance to roll in such excrement and get it all over them. Which is more evidence that the dogs inhabit Jalopnik, and the cats reside at Jezebel.
Well done, Matt! This has to help your hit count! Go Go Gadget Advert Revenue! #gm
11/17/09
11/17/09
Insult. Insult. Facts would go here if there were any. Insult."
Summarized for you. #gm
11/17/09
11/17/09
@Matt Hardigree: @Matt Hardigree: "..Also, it's not xenophobia it's extreme nationalism, there's a difference..."
Umm... wait.. you're an 'extreme nationalist'?
Doesn't it give you pause, even just a little, to consider that such was exactly the platform of Hitler's National Socialist Party? Hmm?
Doesn't matter to me in the slightest, really. I am just totally grooving on VW taking over the world. As i said it would. Much to the derision of the assembled masses here. Remember 2 years ago when I told you to buy VW stock?
Did you do it? Heh.... #gm
11/17/09
@Shuke: "..You tell him, Matt..." #gm
11/18/09
11/18/09
"..You tell 'im Matthew!!"
11/17/09
Please, don't do it again. #gm