December 2, 2008

Fronting A Loan to Our Automakers

            It's going to be hard to fix some of America's problems without accurate information. "Garbage in, garbage out," as they say.

            We'll hunt down information and adjust this page as needed.

            A favored position today is to take pot shots at the automakers because it's so easy. Not so fast.

            All of you suspend your opinions for a moment. Come on. You can do it.

            There are factors we aren't hearing that have an effect on this.

            We need to figure out how we want to stand on labor. Yes, it seems to me that the autoworkers are paid pretty well, but I don't know what the going wage was for that work. That's not the point. That's a seperate issue. Don't confuse your opinion about unions with what we need to do right now.

(Added: Toyota pays about 25 dollars an hour. GM pays 26 to 28 dollars an hour.*)

            Imported car makers don't have a lot of the expenses our automakers have. Many of them don't pay as well, have no unions or the currency exchange gives them an unfair advantage when it comes to pricing.

            We need to find out just how much of an advantage foreign car makers are being and have been getting over our domestic manufacturers. More importantly, we need to find out WHY so many foreign companies have been favored. Who made it possible for our countrymen to be in matches where they couldn't win?

            What about the cars they make? How come they just keep turning out gas guzzlers?  Hm. That one's easy. Because we keep buying them. So do people in other countries. Go anywhere in the world and you'll find American cars there. Besides, here, Americans like big cars. Don't tell me you didn't notice that even Grandma drives an SUV now?

            The prohibitive gas costs? There's another part of this that you're being given a line on. The reason gas has been costing so much is that congress removed the restrictions that protected oil and other commodities from big investors from using them to make money as if they were just simple stocks. (If you need more info on this, it's all on this under gas prices.)

            Yes, it seems to me that some of the importers put more into their cars, even the economical ones. The question is, do we have all the information we need to help the situation and help keep it from happening again?

            Listening to our politicians and their questionable "outrage" makes me suspicious. How many of them voted to loosen the laws that kept competition fair? Who was funding them at the time?

            Use caution with the financial help on TV. In the situations where I was current and informed, I found that their advice often leaned toward helping the finance industry more than it was meant to help the common man.

            Now, considering the information I've just run past you, let me ask you:

            How are we supposed to make good decisions when we don't have good information?

            We can't.

            Someone needs to provide us with an accurate source of information that includes alerting us when changes are being made that will directly affect us.

            We used to call that a newspaper.

            If we should find another source, we need to give them our support. Let's keep our eyes peeled for it. Let me know if you find a potential or if you notice one of our regular media trying to turn over a new leaf, we'll start listing them.

            In the meantime, lets try and figure out what's really going on with our automakers. If I might interject a personal opinion on the subject: I'm beginning to get annoyed at the attitude of the people that think we should "let 'em fry". You mean we can send billions to help other countries, but when it comes to loaning the auto industry money and keeping a lot of people employed, we balk? That couldn't be right.

Until later,

The Political Stray

     We're on it and we'll let you know what we can figure out. Stay tuned.

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                                                                                     December 11, 2008

                  Okay. Here's some stuff you may find interesting. It's from the article listed in the box at the bottom of the page: Toyota's race to the bottom.

Toyota’s clout was driven by its increasing profitability and market share. In the first quarter of 2008, it passed General Motors to become the world’s largest auto company, selling 2.41 million vehicles compared to G.M.’s 2.25 million. In the U.S in the first six months of 2008, Toyota sold 300,000 more vehicles than G.M.

Toyota’s strategy has been simple: Build good cars; hold wages and benefits down, to the degree possible. And with U.S. car makers in a crisis of plummeting sales, plant closings and mass layoffs, holding down wages is becoming much more possible.

In the U.S., Toyota has set up non-union plants in the South – far from the unionized auto industry stronghold of the Midwest. Blunting support for unionization is Toyota’s practice of paying wages nearly on par with the U.S. auto companies (around $25 an hour in comparison with G.M.’s $26 to $28) – although with much lower benefits.

Meanwhile the Big Three’s falling sales and market share have forced the American companies to adopt, and their workers to accept, two-tier wage and temporary worker schemes eerily similar to those used for years by Toyota – just to compete. And the race to the bottom seems to be just warming up. In September 2008, an internal Toyota memo leaked from its Georgetown, Kentucky plant, laid out management’s plans to cut $300 million in labor costs in its U.S. operations.

In April 2008, the Wall Street Journal reported that Toyota plans to end its practice of pegging its hourly wages to UAW rates, and will now pay new hires only 50 percent above the local prevailing wage. In Kentucky, this would mean a savings of about 12 percent, or $3.00 per worker hour – which, of course, will put even more of a squeeze on the Big Three U.S. auto companies and their unionized workforce.

Barbara Briggs is assistant director of the National Labor Committee in Support of Worker and Human Rights. In June 2008, the New York-based NLC released a 60 page report, The Toyota You Don’t Know: The Race to the Bottom in the Auto Industry. The full report can be accessed via the NLC’s website: http://www.nlcnet.org/reports.php?id=562

  Note from PS:

    If you read about how Toyota treats people in other countries, including it's own - it may make you think twice about it setting an example of how people should be treated.

     Some senators are really pushing on the union aspect of this. Do you want Corporations putting people last?

     By the way, the Senators pushing hard for imported car manufacturers interests and against unions are:

                   Senator Tom Coburn Oklahoma     Senator David Vitter - Louisiana

                   Senator Jim DeMint - So. Carolina    Senator Shelby - Alabama

                   Senator John Ensign - Nevada         Senator Bob Corker - Tennessee

           There are Toyota plants in Texas, Alabama,  Kentucky, W. Virginia, California, Mississippi and Missouri- with a new plant in Texas.

             Hundai are (is?) in Alabama, California and Michigan

             BMW in South Carolina & New Jersey

             Subaru in Indiana

             Honda in Ohio

 This isn't a comprehensive list. Just a start. If you know of any other conflicts of interests between our Senate and their state's interests, please let us know.

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            Did you know that Toyota spent over three million dollars in 2007 to lobby Congress and the Senate?

             Check this out. This is where they lobbied against fixing the currency differences that give them an edge over our own car companies. They also lobby against health care for employees - the family leave act...

             Still think they and their lobbied politicians have the best interests of Americans at heart?

             I remind you that our politicians get paid, at the minimum, over $160,000.00 a year. Plus Health Care...plus retirement...etc.

So why are we so interested?

Oh, I don't know. Always wanted a pink Cadillac? To drive my Chevy to the levy?

Kidding aside. United means something here. There are a lot of Americans employed in the big three.

There's a lot of history in America and her cars.

   Let's protect all of them.

If you lost your virginity or were conceived in the back seat of an American car, then stand up for them.

That should give them about half of the population on their side.

You might want to check this out:

  It's an article on Corpwatch about Toyota's methods and influence in this country.

Well worth the trouble.

Toyota's Race to the Bottom