Ford Hourly Workers to Receive $9,300 Bonus Checks

[Honky Tonk]

Maybe if they hadn't been "overcharging" imports wouldn't have gained a foothold and GM would still have 48% of the market and Ford 33%.

I'd just like to add "total unreliability" to your post. They've come a long way, baby.

[mikefmich]

Uh, no. Looks like the big 3 are still overcharging their customers and then giving that money to their workers. That bailout came from the American taxpayers, THEY should be getting the bonus! Actually, I'd rather they just lowered the prices of their new cars!

1. FoMoCo received no bailout from the govt.
2. If you think 'all' that money is filtering down to the "workers" I got a bridge to sell you.

[Vic01]

Originally Posted by .crash.
Uh, no. Looks like the big 3 are still overcharging their customers and then giving that money to their workers. That bailout came from the American taxpayers, THEY should be getting the bonus! Actually, I'd rather they just lowered the prices of their new cars!

It's hard to argue they're overcharging when people bought 17M cars last year.

There's a sucker born every few seconds it seems...

[313WX]

1. FoMoCo received no bailout from the govt.

That's false.

While the media was so focused on GM and Chrysler filing for bankruptcy, Ford snuck through the backdoor and received a $6 billion dollar loan under a separate government program.

http://www.chevyhardcore.com/news/ed...-yes-they-did/

[313WX]

Uh, no. Looks like the big 3 are still overcharging their customers and then giving that money to their workers. That bailout came from the American taxpayers, THEY should be getting the bonus! Actually, I'd rather they just lowered the prices of their new cars!

Would you have preferred the alternative?

That is, not only would 1/2 billion dollars NOT be getting interjected into Michigan's economy this year, but millions of good-paying jobs would have been lost, billions of more dollars [[that would make the bailout funds look like chump change in comparison), would have had to be set aside to support these people via. government assistance, and society in the State of Michigan would have literally collapsed on its ass practically overnight?

[Hermod]

GM employees at Hummer, Saturn, Pontiac, and some GM dealerships as well as bond holders were sacrificed and Chrysler's sale to a foreign company was subsidized with taxpayer dollars. Little was accomplished except there are still more UAW jobs than there otherwise would have been. It wasn't like US consumers were going to stop buying cars had the government not intervened. It's like saying the government made a big mistake not saving American Motors or Studabaker.

A lot of the employees of suppliers with little factories in Oakland and Macomb lost their jobs when their companies went out of business when the bankruptcy cancelled all of their receivables. Drive along the mile roads up there and look at the closed little factories.

[archfan]

Originally Posted by .crash.
Uh, no. Looks like the big 3 are still overcharging their customers and then giving that money to their workers. That bailout came from the American taxpayers, THEY should be getting the bonus! Actually, I'd rather they just lowered the prices of their new cars!

Originally Posted by archfan
It's hard to argue they're overcharging when people bought 17M cars last year.

Originally Posted by Vic01
There's a sucker born every few seconds it seems...

Where would their prices be if they weren't overcharging?

[mikefmich]

That's false.

While the media was so focused on GM and Chrysler filing for bankruptcy, Ford snuck through the backdoor and received a $6 billion dollar loan under a separate government program.

http://www.chevyhardcore.com/news/ed...-yes-they-did/

Yes, I'm sure a site named chevy hardcore would be a reliable source of information.

[313WX]

Yes, I'm sure a site named chevy hardcore would be a reliable source of information.

With that type of response, I also have to assume that you either work for Ford or benefit in some fashion from cheerleading for them.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/joannmul.../#4ff987331de5

But wait a minute. OK, Ford didn’t file bankruptcy or get bailed out by Uncle Sam, but didn’t it receive $5.9 billion in low-cost government loans in 2009 to overhaul its factories and bring out more fuel-efficient technology? What would have happened to Ford if Congress hadn’t authorized taxpayer money to fund that $25 billion Energy Department program during a moment of crisis for the industry?

[Ltdave]

Maybe if they hadn't been "overcharging" imports wouldn't have gained a foothold and GM would still have 48% of the market and Ford 33%.

And maybe if the Japanese hadn't been dumping product at below cost [[subsidized by the Japanese government) the Big 3 would still have a bigger percentage of the market...

[EastsideAl]

And maybe if the Japanese hadn't been dumping product at below cost [[subsidized by the Japanese government) the Big 3 would still have a bigger percentage of the market...

Or if they'd just built cars in those days that were at all globally competitive in terms of quality, instead of the big lumpy junk they did build.

[Honky Tonk]

And maybe if the Japanese hadn't been dumping product at below cost [[subsidized by the Japanese government) the Big 3 would still have a bigger percentage of the market...

Price was only a part of the equation. Reliability and service were HUGE factors for the import popularity. Domestic cars had become crap up to that point. Besides, if price was such a issue, why didn't our government impose the same tariffs on Japanese imports their government imposed on ours? There are multiple players to blame here.

[Ltdave]

Price was only a part of the equation. Reliability and service were HUGE factors for the import popularity. Domestic cars had become crap up to that point. Besides, if price was such a issue, why didn't our government impose the same tariffs on Japanese imports their government imposed on ours? There are multiple players to blame here.

They attempted to put the same tariffs on imports and the Japanese government cried foul, enlisted the rest of the world against the Big Bad Wolf and stopped all importation of US makes. It wasn't for long but enough that the domestics needed those restrictions lifted....

[Honky Tonk]

They attempted to put the same tariffs on imports and the Japanese government cried foul, enlisted the rest of the world against the Big Bad Wolf and stopped all importation of US makes. It wasn't for long but enough that the domestics needed those restrictions lifted....

Our politicians also demanded foreign manufacturers build their products here, using American workers. I also remember back in the 80's, when co-workers announced they had gotten 125K miles out of one of those little Honda Accord things, without much more then routine maintenance. @ that time, it was unbelievable! I also remember being told, after reoccurring issues with my "American" product, "that if I didn't like it, go buy someone else's car", which was sound advice that I took. You have to look @ the whole picture @ that time, and not just one part of it. I do agree with you we need to take a harder line with imported products. Seeing that NAFTA and the proposed Asian Trade Agreement have changed forever the way things are being built, not only here in the States, but globally, I don't think you're going to see tariff restricting imports anytime soon.