Bailout the Big 3 or No?

[Jeff]

I LOL'd pretty hard this morning when I saw this article: What Makes an American Car Anyways?

Very ironic, and yet another reason to allow for the collapse of failed enterprises.

I think its important to consider the UAW's impact on this. If US-Based auto makers had the same labor costs as Import auto makers for their US operations there is a good possibility they too would do more in this country. Obviously the Japanese found an economic benefit to building cars here... the big three would do the same if they could see this same benefit. However, this is not the case. So to be competitive with the Imports on price they must lower their production costs by taking the jobs elsewhere. Its a cycle that could be prevented if the UAW would make greater concessions to allow the US automakers to lower costs and still keep the jobs here at home. Obviously design and quality are issues. Few Asian import cars in my opinion are much better looking then American makes. But the quality of materials and the layout of the interiors often amazes me. How can Americans get this stuff so wrong? I mean, I'm not going to go so far as most of you all and say they are total bullshit and not worth a dime...but I will say that for the most part the import stuff is better as long as you are comparing price points. I hope the American companies are given a chance to become competitive and make a product people want to buy. I know they can, there is no matter of fact reason why the Japanese have to be better. "They" have no magic that "we" don't.