Dave Reynolds
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Mon Jan-23-06 06:58 PM
Original message |
An argument I hear regarding US and non-US autos |
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is the old "those foreign cars may be made in the US, but the profit goes (insert the nation of your choice)."
What the hell does that mean? To me, it is the same as the 70s "Hungry? Eat your foreign car!" bullshit.
If the plants are in the US, is the profit not, at least partially, put back into the US plants? Does the profit not pay the American workers who work at the US plants?
Could someone explain this to me?
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gizmo1979
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Mon Jan-23-06 07:16 PM
Response to Original message |
1. doesn't help 30,000 ford |
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workers.Not even alittle bit.
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Dave Reynolds
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Mon Jan-23-06 07:20 PM
Response to Reply #1 |
2. Great, thanks for explaining. |
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:eyes:
But on that note, if Ford had a little more diversity in it's lineup, we may not have gotten that news today.
It's not the worker's fault, but the management's.
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awoke_in_2003
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Mon Jan-23-06 07:36 PM
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3. I have wondered about that attitude |
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myself. The way I see it, Chevy makes cars here, employing americans, with the profits going to the rich American fat-cat. Nissan makes a car here, employing americans, with the profits going to rich japanese fat-cats. All you are doing is substituting rich guys, both companies still employing americans.
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sendero
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Mon Jan-23-06 07:42 PM
Response to Reply #3 |
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.... make cars here that people want. The Americans do not. Because American business practices are short-term and stupid.
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awoke_in_2003
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Mon Jan-23-06 08:54 PM
Response to Reply #4 |
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better mileage, better quality.
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wuushew
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Mon Jan-23-06 07:54 PM
Response to Reply #3 |
6. Plus it is quite easy to buy foreign stocks |
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the argument is creating a false barrier where none exists.
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Dave Reynolds
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Mon Jan-23-06 09:31 PM
Response to Reply #3 |
10. That is my thinking, as well. |
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Back in the 70s that may have been a different story, but in these giddy days of globalization there really is no such thing as an truly "American" car.
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lindisfarne
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Mon Jan-23-06 07:47 PM
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5. Beyond the fact that only fatcats are really benefitting from the profit, |
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there's also the matter of Ford, GM putting lots of components in their cars which are produced outside the US. Their cars might be assembled in the US, but they're importing lots of the parts that go into those cars (including, I think, the steel, at least in part).
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awoke_in_2003
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Mon Jan-23-06 08:56 PM
Response to Reply #5 |
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some Nissans have more american made part in them then some fords and chevys.
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alarimer
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Mon Jan-23-06 09:26 PM
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9. It isn't clear always where your money goes |
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GM owns Volvo or Saab; I can't remember which. Maybe it is both. Chrysler was owned by Daimler; I am not sur if they still are. But the point is, these are a multinational conglomerates regardless of where they might be headquartered. So I buy based on things taht are important to me: value, economy, style, whatever. And it is true, Toyota and Nissam both have plants in the US. I don't knoe if they are unionized but still the wages put something into the local economy that is a damn sight better than Walmart.
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Dave Reynolds
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Mon Jan-23-06 09:34 PM
Response to Reply #9 |
11. Nissan in (I believe) Tennessee |
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pays a damn good wage, enough for the workers there to have a nice home with property.
I recall an article a while back about the union's attempt to gain entry to those plants, they were rebuffed.
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dusmcj
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Mon Jan-23-06 10:54 PM
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12. executive salaries 400 times those of workers |
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which ought to give some insight into where all that profit is going. American industrial workers have less buying power, and fewer benefits, and less job security, than they did 30 years ago.
These conditions support an economy in which a cycle of consumer production and consumption creates profit arrived at by squeezing cost (remember, (profit = revenue - cost)) and that profit goes to to top of the workforce, not to either R&D or the productive classes.
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