My family had outgrown the old Ranger we used to go camping in, and going camping in a minivan just ain’t right. We took the Tundra camping up in the mountains last week, and it hauled all our gear while handling the roughest 4 wheel drive trails. It also serves as a vehicle the whole family can go to church in without a fight breaking out because somebody touched somebody (those with kids will understand.)
A smartass liberal at work chided me, since I’ve always been a Buy American guy, but I countered that buying a Toyota is buying American. My truck was made in Texas by American workers, and Toyota took not one dime of bailout money. Toyota did clean up on the cash for clunkers debacle, through no fault of their own, but by the free choice exercised by American consumers.
Your federal government…
…gave Chrysler’s secured creditors, who would have had priority in a normal bankruptcy, 29 cents on the dollar. Chrysler’s unions, on the other hand, got more than 40 cents, even though they are equivalent to low-priority lenders. This made a mockery of longstanding bankruptcy law, something that will make credit markets wary of lending to political sacred cows in the future. (Shikha Dalmia – Driving to Delusionville)Obama also favored unionized workers over non-unionized ones:
All United Auto Workers retirees at Delphi, GM’s auto supplier, got 100 percent of their pension and retirement benefits. But 21,000 nonunion, salaried employees lost up to 70 percent of their pensions, and all of their life and health insurance.Shikha Dalmia goes on to say that GM and Chrysler shirked the opportunity to lower labor costs. At $58/hour, they are still higher than relatively high Toyota, but can’t touch Toyota’s quality and reliability standards. Worse, they come nowhere close to $40/hour Hyunai and Kia. She concludes,
“The bailout prepared GM and Chrysler to compete with the industry leaders of yesterday, not tomorrow.”Finally, the bailout of GM and Chrysler rewarded failure and punished prudence and fiscal discipline:
By bailing out GM, the administration rewarded its recklessness and penalized Ford’s prudence. Every company that feels it is too big to fail, or is a national icon or major regional employer, will wonder whether it makes more business sense to save for a rainy day or simply hold out for taxpayer assistance.And contrary to the propagandistic Obamablather, GM still owes you and me over $13 billion, twice that if you figure in generous tax breaks. Buy a vehicle from a car company that shamelessly put such a permanent dent in the US Treasury? That would be downright un-American. I’ll stick to my Fords and Toyotas.
Source for all quotes:
Shikha Dalmia – Driving to Delusionville
25 comments:
I tried to buy an American-made car in 2009, but none of the American-made car dealers I went to would negotiate the price. Thus, I ended up with a Hyundai Elantra.
I admit that I participated in Cash for Clunkers. And, boy, did I HAVE a clunker! That vehicle deserved to be put out of its long, long misery!
There had been trouble with my fathers' Dodge Ram pickup truck from day one (1985). I would have been lucky to get $500 for the truck had I sold it outright -- and, frankly, I felt guilty even trying to see that lemon to a private party. Only 50,000 original miles, and the damn thing wouldn't start consistently. Furthermore, it was lucky to get 10 mpg -- never mind that the engine was a 6 cylinder and that the vehicle had no AC.
As I look back on my purchasing a new vehicle (For the first time in my life!) using Cash for Clunkers, I'm glad that I did so. I got a new Hyundai Elantra for $10,000 cash, out the door. Less than two months later, Mr. AOW, who used to be the resident mechanic here, had that horrible brain hemorrhage; and I had a vehicle to drive to the hospital some 25 miles away. Otherwise, I'd have had to rent a car as all our other cars went down: the SUV, the Mustang, and even my usually reliable Crown Vic.
So, I did put aside my conservative principles that one time. No regrets, either.
I’ll stick to my Fords and Toyotas.
And let's not forget the GM warranty loophole.
And one more thing about that old pickup truck of mine....The local government was on me to get rid of (or fix) all derelict vehicles here on this property. There was no way to get that truck licensed again without spending thousands of dollars -- dollars that would bring about only a temporary fix. Ugh.
Truth be told, there is no "buy America" anymore. Sad but true. What will happen if another war similar to WWII happens, is something not to contemplate. Our "re-tooling" of our manufacturing will not happen.
I just wanted to say, Thanks a lot... Hero.
When it comes to buying American vehicles I will stick with Chevy or Ford.
I have and still drive a '96 Jimmy, granted it is requiring some work, but all in all a good vehicle.
I have no brand loyalty and no loyalty to American made products. I use the Consumer Reports, and buy whatever they say is the cheapest, most efficient and most durable in any given year.
RIght now I'm driving a Honda Civic, because the 2006 Toyota Scion, which I loved, was destroyed in a collision two years ago.
I've leased the Civic, because I didn't want to plunk down close to thirty-thousand to buy another new car. It was the cheapest alternative under the circumstances, because Honda required no down payment.
At any rate, I hate the Civic. It has the worst visibility of any car I've ever driven in 53 years on the road, and it's all-but-impossible to park without a struggle. Good mpg, however, and all right for doing errands, but I'd never let myself get saddled with another like it again.
~ FreeThinke
Proud owner of 2 Hondas, built in Ohio by hard-working Americans. Like Toyota, Honda neither needed nor took any bailout money.
(My wife's previous ride was a VW, built in Mexico, so I'm supporting people who'll likely end up mooching off of my Texas tax dollars anyway, so that still sorta works out.)
GM only now has bothered try to be innovative because their decades of snookering the public have finally (sorta) come back to (slightly) haunt them.
American automakers haven't needed to be concerned with fuel efficiency or catering to the small car market because they've had most of us securely under their spell for so long. They've successfully conned us into believing that you're a cheap-ass, weenie, momma's boy if you choose to drive a small car. If you drive a small car with a fuel-efficient 4-cylinder engine, you must either be destitute (because affluent people drive big cars with big, beefy engines) or maybe you're just a rice-eating commie.
U.S. automakers (and their marketing gurus) have shucked & jived us all into believing that bigger & more horsepower is better. We've been snookered into believing that we need the horsepower to do zero-to-60 in 6.5 seconds or else we're pansies - and probably roadkill in the making.
So by golly, if you're not driving a big-ass, rubber-burnin', God Bless America, gas-guzzling GM truck, well, Bob Seger & John Mellencamp might just come over to your house, beat ya up, drink your beer, and prolly take your girlfriend!
Um yeah, I'm a little bitter about having to involuntarily pay for a shiny new Chevy that I don't even get to park in front of my house, much less drive.
I have always been a believer in competition. I have never felt that I should subsidize any high cost producer just because it was American made.
I have yet to see a Toyota Repair SHop anywhere in L.A...who can blame people for buying them?
I had to laugh when my 92 yr old friend told me her son asked her "They're taking Dad to the mortuary in a TOYOTA?" when they came for him after he died Friday night ..."no limo!?"
Is it FORD which took no bailouts and is doing fine?
I'm getting old. I think I'll make the next one an Aston Martin.
Always wanted one.
Well well well! Posts ARE disappearing.
It used to happen all the time over at Z's place. Drove everyone nuts.
We KNOW it can't be "censorship" -- certainly not a Western Hero, anyway.
It's gotta be BLOGGERSHIT, right?
Funny when it appears, and you know positively it's been published, then it's gone without a trace next time you look.
Not important, but it sure makes you wonder.
The instability of this medium is frightening.
Let's see how long this stays. Hmmmmmmmm!
~ FreeThinke
Man, how the right would have been complaining if Obama let GM sink. Guess hypocrites always need to have something to bitch about.
And by the way, Bush and Cheney knew GM was in trouble. Cheney said "Let the next guy deal with it." The point is they could have intervened and helped out. But no, they had to further destroy our economy.
@BdMan, how the right would have been complaining if Obama let GM sink
What is your basis for this ridiculous claim?
The point is, Bd, that the government has no business handing taxpayer money to corporations.
The point is, Beady, that GM and the unions (unindicted co-conspirators) could have saved themselves, but preferred instead to call in the favors they bought with all that bribe money they've been sending to DC over the years.
Corporate pay for play is aok when it goes the democrats' way, huh Beady?
When i was in America last i saw one of those things up close, holy moly that is a big-ass truck. So you went to the mountain, with the Tundra could always just pull the mountain to you if you're feeling lazy that is. ;)
MK: Man that truck is awesome.
And it is big. I'm not a real tall guy, my chin just barely makes the top of the tailgate.
Hey I'm a Ford fan. They didn't take a dime either. I still own a 1994 Ranger. And two newer Ford vehicles.
By the way. Did you hear that GM is try to weasel out of pre bankruptcy
warranty problems?
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/08/19/gm-impala-lawsuit-idUSN1E77I0Z820110819
"Beady"... I like that.
Now, read my lips: NO MORE BAILOUTS
What was it Big O said? Eat your peas?
So you have to eat your peas, I have to eat my peas... but them good ole boys down at GM certainly don't have to eat their peas... we're buying them sirloin steak!
I have said it before and I will say it again... I will never buy another Chrysler or GM product.
Vote with you wallet
I worked in the auto industry.
Any given car is made from thousands of parts from thousands of manufacturers ALL OVER THE WORLD. It's been that way for a couple generations now - and I don't mean model generations.
In the early eighties, when the Buy America movement gained steam, they had some good points. Now, in all likelihood, whatever car an American buys, it's probably just as "American" as what the next guy buys. Brand doesn't matter.
Where cars are assembled is not as consquential as it once was.
When the thousands of people who worked for an auto plant were making big money, the economy around them, around the nation, grew for most of the people.
Once the pay and benefits were reduced, then the economy around them, around the nation, declined for most of the people.
The foreign auto plants, here in America, pay and treat there people the same as union shops. That's how they keep the unions out. Foreign makers know that it is better to treat your people right than to fight with them over whether to do so.
We could learn a lot from them. I worked for foreign companies most of my adult life and found them far more fair than American employers.
JMJ
Ducky, my aunt and uncle have Aston Martins..both of them. WHAT a very beautiful car.
OD..yes, thanks for confirming my comment; Ford took no $$ and survived quite well. And yes, GM is acting as if they're not owned by themselves anymore (ARE THEY?) and disclaiming any warranty problems before the government bought them out as if they're two companies now, the GM before and the GM after. Makes me wonder if we're not hearing the truth and America DOES own them now, 100%? Or Soros? Or is that one and the same thing?
Jersey: Thanks for the personal insight. I think it comes down to running a company efficiently. GM and Chrysler have forgotten how.
I've read where my Toyota Sienna is 85% American, parts and labor. And # 5 on the list for most American.
Makes you wonder where American cars rank.
And money going out of the country? Where does the money go when parts come in from other countries to assemble 'American' cars.
I won't buy one.
Also, Listen to your local car show guy on talk radio. Note how many people are calling in with problems with GM, Chrysler, and Ford product problems versus the entirety of all other foreign cars.
I'd like to see American companies do well. They can do that by making a better product. Let's convince them
And don't forget we had to bail that piece of Dodge company out before, in 1979. Jeeze it took ten years to filter thousands of rattle trap M880 pickups and those butt fugly K cars out of the military.
The bizarre process that the government used was to create a new GM (GM Newco), take all of the positive assets of the old GM (now the Motors Liquidation Corporation) and sell them to the new GM while the debt and obligations were left in the old GM.
If it was done without the aiding and abetting by the government, people would have wound up in jail.
As far as I'm concerned GM got all the money they are ever going to get out of me courtesy of the Obama administration picking my pockets of tax dollars that never should have gone into a corporation or its unions.
Welcome to socialism, there was nothing capitalistic about this political obscenity.
Hey! Thanks for the laugh OD... I remember those fugly K cars... dark blue, yellow stenciling on the doors, AM radio.
Silver:
I just bought a 2008 Toyota Tundra double cab 4x4 myself last month, after owning three successive Ford F150's for the last two decades.
I, too, was an American truck kinda guy, but after my second rear end blew up in my 1999 F150, I decided to go with this 5.7L V8 Tundra, boy what a difference from the 4.6L Ford Triton V8! This truck has about twice the power.
I love it. Buy American. Buy Toyota.
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