★Big Three needs a loan or 3 million lose their jobs★

IBM doesn't sell Selectric typewriters like it used to thanks to the stupid computer age. I think that's worth about 500 trillion bucks.

About 200 of us DPers should go to the Capitol to ask Congress for a mere two billion dollars so we can set up our own network service in case the Internet goes down.

We need a cool mill to kick start the failed malt shop industry.

How about Western Airlines. It used to be the only way to fly. What happened???

--Cliff, Sioux City, Iowa
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Secret key to happiness: Stay happy. Shhh!

"total compensation to $61.58 to $73.26 per hour. Source: September 26, 2007 UNITED AUTO WORKERS OFF THE JOB, Striking back at globalization. By Ted Evanoff"

http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article7576.html

The United Autoworkers Union has worked hard to create high paying jobs for their members. According to the Indianapolis Star, base wages average about $28 an hour. The average reaches $39.68 an hour, including base pay, cost-of-living adjustments, night-shift premiums, overtime, holiday and vacation pay. Health-care, pension and other benefits average another $33.58 an hour, bringing the total compensation to $61.58 to $73.26 per hour. Source: September 26, 2007 UNITED AUTO WORKERS OFF THE JOB, Striking back at globalization. By Ted Evanoff

As defined by the current United Auto Worker contract negotiated with the "Big Five" (GM, Ford, Chrysler, and top parts makers Delphi and Visteon), an auto "production worker" is a job description that covers anything from mowing grass to cleaning the toilets. In the real world, these jobs would be outsourced to $10 an hour, no-benefit wage earners. For the Big Five, these jobs get the same wages as any auto line-worker. The UAW contract also guarantees that 12,000 autoworkers get full wages for doing nothing. The Detroit News reported that "12,000 American autoworkers, instead of bending sheet metal, spend their days counting the hours in a jobs bank."

The chart below is from Professor Mark J. Perry's Blog for Economics and Finance . Dr. Mark J. Perry is a professor of economics and finance in the School of Management at the Flint campus of the University of Michigan . It compares the total compensation for workers at the Big 3, Toyota in the United States and other jobs. This clearly shows that the U.S. based auto companies are at a large cost disadvantage.

The steel industry changed dramatically when faced with this type of cost disadvantage. No longer are commodity steel products produced in the United States. In its place are specialty steel companies that provide higher value added to their customers, justifying their higher costs. The management of the auto industry needs to recognize this and make similar changes.

For example, Germany, a high labor cost economy produces more specialized autos, Mercedes, BMW, Audi, Porsche. Lower cost autos, i.e. VW are built in low cost countries.

There are many ongoing discussions why the U.S. auto industry is in such trouble. The answer lies in many places, from the decisions by management to the control over the workforce exercised by the unions and the inherent high cost structure of producing cars in the United States. The viable business model for the U.S. auto industry will see significant changes in all three of these factors.

The problem is how to get to the new environment when we are stuck in the old. Recessions are the dismal science's answer to this problem. Recessions reveal the weak business and destroy them, freeing up resources for new businesses. The transition is most difficult for everyone involved. Left to its own devices, the process will yield a harsh yet relatively quick result, leaving behind it the ashes of the old. In its place will be a new more efficient business that is able to compete in the global market. For many it will present new opportunities. Others will be left behind. The dot com bubble did its job of cleaning out the non-viable technology companies and let us with a powerful industry that is a global leader.

sorry for your loss, now get out there and make sumthin of yourself.

Watch freedomtofascism.com

"Only a virtuous people are capable of freedom. As nations become corrupt and vicious, they have more need of masters." Benjamin Franklin
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but not around here most have 5+ years in so it's significantly more than that.

http://washingtontimes.com/news/2008/dec/01/big-three-on-ene...

"As Washington Times reporter David M. Dickson recently reported: "Before contract negotiations between the UAW and General Motors commenced last year, UAW workers earned between $70 and $75 per hour in wages and benefits. International firms paid their nonunion workers about $45 per hour in wages and benefits. The hourly cost differential was between $25 and $30."

That disparity will be reduced over time as the new contract is implemented- [with wages leveling off to] an average of $40-45 an hour at GM. Quite clearly, union autoworkers have enjoyed salaries that are far beyond what their companies can afford, especially as sales have slowed by 10 percent during the economic downturn this year. It is important to note that foreign automakers have fared better by placing their plants in right-to-work states, as opposed to states with compulsory unionism like Michigan. "