Happy Thanksgiving!!

Last Tuesday, GM announced it was cutting 30,000 jobs and while this news has been widely anticipated, it sounds a lot worse once announced. In recent years, the Big Three (really the Big Two because Daimler-Chrysler is German owned) have had to deal with among other things, declining market share, massive recalls, high labor costs, and of course, soaring healthcare costs. I want to address three issues in particular, management, healthcare costs, and the jobs bank.

First let me qualify my statements and let readers know that I do market research for the automotive industry.

But the first issue is management because the classic showdown in labor negotiations boils down to management versus the Union. But in defense of the Union, it is management who is responsible for designing these vehicles that the market is not responding to. So why should the Union folk suffer for management’s lack of innovation? Just google the 2006 Ford Explorer’s door handles and read how many customers are disgusted by the lack of utility of such a poorly designed component of the car you use all the time. I remember listening to a podcast on NPR’s Motley Fool and hearing acclaimed management guru Peter Drucker (who recently passed away) talk about how corporations need to understand that they exist for the pleasure of their customers. But back in the day when the Big Three were pushing towards seventy percent market share, I am sure that advice was viewed in reverse. But Rick and Bill should heed that advice now and not focus on so much competing with Toyota but competing with themselves for producing quality vehicles. The rest will come easy.

But easy times have not befallen Unionized workers. Anyone reading anyone’s news know about Delphi’s offer to cut their workers pay by up to 65%. Cuts like that are drastic, especially during the holidays and I empathize with all the UAW members who are facing tough times right now. But here is where I place the blame at the foot of the UAW. My point is simply that these cuts could have been phased in over a number of years. And for the UAW to look up and act surprised that management would ask for such sacrifices I think is disingenuous. I think the ideal goals for the UAW should not be to only defend and fight for their members, but also collaborate with management so that the company as a whole can remain not only profitable, but also competitive. But if you want to keep it real, the Unions have been eating quite well. I am referring to salaries, overtime pay so crazy that overtime becomes a permanent part of you schedule, and a healthcare plan that you make yourself sick just to be sure that it is this good.

Speaking of healthcare, it is painfully obvious that the Big Three are bogged down in part by their healthcare costs, which makes me wonder why there is not a push for a national health care plan. For all the conservatives who are servants of corporations, a nationalized single payer healthcare would do wonders for the economy. Think of it as a tax cut. If a major chunk of insurance was guaranteed by the federal government, then domestic firms could work on this thing called innovation and quality so that our all-American firms (like GM) could regain some of their market share. The American public gets upset at seeing jobs go overseas but Wall Street puts immense pressure on our corporations to lower their costs. Therefore, the benefits of nationalized healthcare are not just limited to the 43 million people without healthcare so what is the problem? Special interests have taken our country’s political landscape by hostage. And the sad fact is that American firms are still ignorant enough to believe that we can grow revenues without cutting costs. We are facing a new “flat” economy (as put by New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman so it is best that American corporations take proactive steps to get lean and competitive before they die the death of a thousand cuts. Or end up like GM and end up having to make 30,000 cuts.

Stay up fam,

Categories:
economy
healthcare
jobs

November 24th, 2005 | Brandon, Health Care | 1 comment

Props to Rep. John Murtha (D-PA) for presenting a resolution on getting a timetable to get the troops out of Iraq. Unfortunately, the Republicans changed the spirit of the resolution to say that we should pull out the troop immediately. Of course, this was not Murtha’s intention and it was not passed. But as a decorated Veteran and noted hawkish Democrat, Murtha’s comments has caused an uproar in the political climate concerning this invasion (war is really a misnomer).

But here’s the catch. On Meet the Press, he went on to say that he made a mistake for voting for the war. Even John Edwards penned an article claiming that he regrets his vote to authorize war. But on Meet the Press, I was ashamed by Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid who distanced themselves from Murtha’s comments. This week, TIME and the mainstream establishment will make sure to paint Murtha as a flip-flopper (Murtha voted for the war) and at the same time, make the push that we should stay in Iraq. But in all honesty, what good will come from our staying in Iraq? Especially when the political will is rapidly declining and almost three years into this war, the public still questions if and how the President misled the country into this war. That is insane people! As Murtha put it, our presence in Iraq is only going to make the situation worse. Bush often says, “as Iraqi stand up we will stand down.” But as nice as this sounds, the future of Iraq and many American lives are in the hands of Iraqis. So if our success is based on what the Iraqis do or don’t do, how can we say whether we are successful or not? This war is out of our hands, literally and figuratively.

In a figurative sense, Bush is going to have to go to Iraq and drive around in an unarmored Humvee with guns blazing just to show that he believes we should stay in Iraq. But seriously, with the 2006 elections fast approaching, we have reached a breaking point in this war. When politicians are able and willing to say “I was wrong,” that is especially poignant. And it is only a matter of time before other Democrats and some Republicans start saying the same thing. And when they do, the Congress will wrest control of this war from this President and find a way out of Iraq so they can keep their seat. Shout out to John Murtha!

Stay up fam,

Categories:
iraq
waronterror
politics

November 20th, 2005 | Brandon, Politics, Iraq, Voting, Democrats, Republicans | No comments