Foreign Cars.

[Buy American]

Buy American,
Porque tan es silencioso?

Sad times detrola.
Nothing much to say. Just watching my country go to hell, piece by piece.

[darwinism]

What Detroiters have to wake up to is the fact that many people in the other 49 states don't any more care whether people in Michigan have jobs. It may be an important issue to Detroiters, but other than that, people just want the best car value for the money. And if that means they wind up supporting a producer in a right to work state rather than a Detroit union shop, they've got no problem with it as long as they're getting a better product and better service for the money. And if their experience is anything like mine, they are!

Rather than cry and moan and accuse people of being unAmerican, maybe some people had better wake up and start producing better products and a more competitive price, and offering better customer service. That would be a lot more effective tactic for regaining market share than whining and moaning and wringing hands and gnashing teeth and sputtering about how the rest of America somehow owes more to southeast Michigan than any other region of the country "just because."

When it comes to selfish, myopic regionalism and once all local bias is removed from the picture, there's really no objective difference between Sen. Corker and his Michigan congressional counterparts. Everybody's fighting for local employment - and that is their right. But if they really want to win the fight, the people wanting to keep these jobs would be better to get off their duffs and start doing something about improving their competiveness - in both quality and price - than just continuing to get offended and sling insults at each other. The day Detroit consistently offers a better package than Toyota, Detroit will excel in sales and Toyota will be flirting with bankruptcy. Until then, expect more of the status quo.

Good post, EMG.

Bearinabox, truth be told ..... our region really, really needs to have a major attitude overhaul. This is a very serious flaw that causes every single person in Southeast Michigan lifelong dilemmas. Folks here have got to stop feeling that they deserve the world, and are entitled to everything under the sun, because they revolutionize the auto industry. It is time to let it go. The entire country has moved on. The entire world has moved on.

The sooner we change our attitude, the sooner we can begin to work hard again for a brighter future. Anything short of that, we are back to exactly where we have been for decades ..... the memory of us revolutionizing the auto industry, the memory of the riot and everything else that has stuck in our minds for generations. That is why folks like BuyAmerican needs to truly look deep and hard at the people he/she loves, and stop trying to get them to believe in the same mentality.

[Buy American]

Good post, EMG.

Bearinabox, truth be told ..... our region really, really needs to have a major attitude overhaul. This is a very serious flaw that causes every single person in Southeast Michigan lifelong dilemmas. Folks here have got to stop feeling that they deserve the world, and are entitled to everything under the sun, because they revolutionize the auto industry. It is time to let it go. The entire country has moved on. The entire world has moved on.

The sooner we change our attitude, the sooner we can begin to work hard again for a brighter future. Anything short of that, we are back to exactly where we have been for decades ..... the memory of us revolutionizing the auto industry, the memory of the riot and everything else that has stuck in our minds for generations. That is why folks like BuyAmerican needs to truly look deep and hard at the people he/she loves, and stop trying to get them to believe in the same mentality.

Tell me about now darwinism...tell me what Michigan can look forward to for, lets say, the next 5 years, without the auto industry. What is the unemployment rate today in Michigan? It was 15.2% in August. The attitude overhaul you're speaking about will be people leaving Michigan, not the rah rah spitit I think you are talking about. My neighbors, my friends, some in my family, can't just go out and put a wind farm in their backyards or dig for oil. They had jobs with the auto industry or jobs that were affiliated with the auto industry. Others had jobs that depended on the auto workers for their livelihoods.
To change your career midlife is very difficult for many, impossible for others. Go to school, learn something different, get that newly formed job at that newly formed company is a dream for a long time. It's not an overnight process. What happens in the interim? Does the bank wait for the house payment? Will the hospital put the bill aside until health benefits are reinstated? Will they be able to educate their kids? There are lots of questions and lots of displaced people with absolutely no where to go.
I don't think that folks in Michigan think they "deserve the world" darwinism. Anyone working for an American Auto Company worked hard and long to eek a living. You say the country has moved on, that the entire world has moved on... I say that those who don't support the country where their bread is buttered should move on and leave the U.S. to those who want to support it.

You say "The sooner we change our attitude, the sooner we can begin to work hard again for a brighter future. " Tell me, what is that brighter future you're talking about?

[darwinism]

Tell me about now darwinism...tell me what Michigan can look forward to for, lets say, the next 5 years, without the auto industry. What is the unemployment rate today in Michigan? It was 15.2% in August. The attitude overhaul you're speaking about will be people leaving Michigan, not the rah rah spitit I think you are talking about. My neighbors, my friends, some in my family, can't just go out and put a wind farm in their backyards or dig for oil. They had jobs with the auto industry or jobs that were affiliated with the auto industry. Others had jobs that depended on the auto workers for their livelihoods.
To change your career midlife is very difficult for many, impossible for others. Go to school, learn something different, get that newly formed job at that newly formed company is a dream for a long time. It's not an overnight process. What happens in the interim? Does the bank wait for the house payment? Will the hospital put the bill aside until health benefits are reinstated? Will they be able to educate their kids? There are lots of questions and lots of displaced people with absolutely no where to go.
I don't think that folks in Michigan think they "deserve the world" darwinism. Anyone working for an American Auto Company worked hard and long to eek a living. You say the country has moved on, that the entire world has moved on... I say that those who don't support the country where their bread is buttered should move on and leave the U.S. to those who want to support it.

You say "The sooner we change our attitude, the sooner we can begin to work hard again for a brighter future. " Tell me, what is that brighter future you're talking about?

Good questions, Buy American, good questions indeed.

I will give you straight answers, personally.

First and foremost, we do not need to look ahead in 5-years without a viable and healthy auto industry. The fact is, we haven't had a viable and healthy auto industry for the past 10-15 years, if not longer. Southeast Michigan has been bleeding money and people during that time, if not longer.

Don't get me wrong, I wholeheartedly support the hard-working men and women who truly work their ass off day-in and day-out to build the best product in the world. Props go out to the fine folks in Lake Orion who build my new 2009 Chevy Malibu.

Detrola made an excellent point concerning outsourcing manufacturing. Why would you support Ford for building the highly popular Ford Fusion and Mercury Milan in Mexico ? If you support them for doing that, chances are good they will do that even more, and eventually ALL Ford auto manufacturing will be done in Mexico. Why wouldn't you support Toyota and Honda who employ our hard-working Americans in Indiana, Ohio, Alabama and Kentucky ? Because the so-called "profits" go to Japan ? Do you think the Ford "profits" ever reach your children's pockets ? I didn't think so either, unless your children's last name is Ford. So, why are you defending their outsourcing of jobs ? You should in fact be outraged at companies like Ford for outsourcing manufacturing jobs. You should be outraged at companies like Chrysler for building bad products and being managed poorly, that they needed to be passed around like a rag-doll from the Germans to a private equity firm, and now to the Italians.

Yes, it is indeed difficult to make changes mid-career. No doubt about that. Lots of people outside of Michigan go through the exact same grueling experience every single day, Buy American. Do you think the steel workers in Pennsylvania had an easy time ? Do you think the construction workers in Florida, California and Las Vegas had an easy time when the real estate building boom came to a halt ? They have families too, they have house payments, medical bills, and all the obligations that Metro Detroit autoworkers have. Yet the steel workers, electricians, carpenters, and so on, moved on ..... made things happen ..... and charged forward into a brighter future doing something else that came with a stable paycheck.

Buy American, the brighter future I am talking about is a future of Metro Detroiters that are nimble, capable of diversity and change, problem-solvers instead of constant-bitchers, intelligent and open to lifelong-education, as well as the willingness to let history be history. It is wrong to wish the worst for good people in Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana, Georgia and Alabama who enjoy their jobs at Honda, Toyota and Kia. It is just downright wrong, because guess what ..... Michigan can just as well call it quits, if it ever, ever, ever thinks that it is so special that people in the other 49 states and the District of Columbia should bow to it for guidance. Get real ! If anything, Michigan needs more friends, not foes.