Foreign Cars.

[cch]

The bottom line I am speaking of is what happens to the workers in Michigan and the U.S., and the economy.

Why nitpick?

because i think you're being short [[or past)-sighted.

[CountrySquire]

We need to start by forcing our own so called "Domestic" auto makers to build their stuff here, Yesterday's Autobeat daily had back to back stories touting Ford's new plant in China that will build 150K Ford Focuses a year, and that Hyundai is opening a new plant in one of our Southern States to build an SUV. You know damn well most of those 150K Chineses Focuses are intended to be sold here.

[softailrider]

If it makes you feel better, Kia's have slightly more resale value then used Kleenex. [[ My neighbor really likes his Sorrento though )

[jtf1972]

I do not currently own a car.

At least no money of mine went into this vehicle. If I was in a position where I had to take a job in a factory here owned by a foreign company like Kia, I would proudly park a GM, Ford or Chrysler vehicle in the parking lot with a BUY AMERICAN sticker on it. I would also feel like I needed a shower.

Would it make me a better father if I praised her on her accomplishment of getting her mother to buy her the car of her dreams, lying the whole time?

[NoHeartAnthony]

I do not currently own a car.

At least no money of mine went into this vehicle. If I was in a position where I had to take a job in a factory here owned by a foreign company like Kia, I would proudly park a GM, Ford or Chrysler vehicle in the parking lot with a BUY AMERICAN sticker on it. I would also feel like I needed a shower.

Would it make me a better father if I praised her on her accomplishment of getting her mother to buy her the car of her dreams, lying the whole time?

It would make you a better father if you worried more about her grades and issues in her life than what car she buys.

[jtf1972]

It would make you a better father if you worried more about her grades and issues in her life than what car she buys.

Tried that. She just screams & shuts me out completely. Being a non-custodiial father who lives out of the area, I was negated to the point of telling here that I saw it makes no difference what I say & that one day she might realize that her decisions impact nobody greater than herself. I told her if she fails, life goes on for everyone else including me. I told her how I'd be disappointed, as I want the best for her & want her to succeed. Her grades actually picked up a bit since then.

If you look, my stipulation included grades. If her mother chooses to buy her a vehicle that increases her own odds of unemployment & teaches her practically no responsibility, there's not much I can do [[save for grin like a Cheshire cat if she has any problems, as I have heard Kia's tend to.) She could have even got a discount on a GM, but hey... it's all good since the Lions won a game.

I will continue to let my dog piss on foreign cars though..

[wash_man]

"It's not deceptive unless you don't actually read the label."

Really? Try reading this window sticker from a Fusion and tell me where it says "Mexico" on it.

http://services.forddirect.fordvehic...HP0HA7AR199342

[jtf1972]

Tahleel,

We appear to be on the polar opposite sides of an argument. I am anti-foreign products, you anti-american products.

In your opinion, is there any American industry worth supporting? Or should we all give up, buy everything foreign, sell out & sell off everything there is in this nation?

...Also, do you know anybody who has been affected by the auto industry at any point? My grandfather was a foreman at Ford. The other lost half of his hand working at a cannery. When he had trouble finding work due to this, he was hired as a parking lot attendant at Dodge Main. Dad worked for Ford, then TRW over on Van Dyke. See the above list also.

[tahleel]

Tahleel,

We appear to be on the polar opposite sides of an argument. I am anti-foreign products, you anti-american products.

In your opinion, is there any American industry worth supporting? Or should we all give up, buy everything foreign, sell out & sell off everything there is in this nation?

I am not anti-American. Infact, I've owned several American cars over the years, and currently do so now. I am pro-capitalism, and that is as American as baseball, and uhh.. french fries.

-Tahleel

[gnome]

This conversation isn't really about foreign or domestic autos. And Tahleel's strident tone is a tad off putting. It is about a young lady who has manipulated her mother, put the family in financial jeopardy and is using the mother to inflict a guilt trip on JFT1972.

This was her dream car? Short lived dream as the vehicle didn't hit these shores until spring of 2009. Anyone ever buy the first year of anything? 1.0 = loser anything.

what you have here is a father made his feeling known and the primary care-giver decided those points were not worth considering. Without too much guessing, I'll bet you this is not the first time.

JFT, stick by your guns. Don't cave for any reason... or you will regret it.

[tahleel]

This conversation isn't really about foreign or domestic autos.

Oh really? What is the thread titled? What are the last words of his first sentance? What does the last statement say? This thread is definitely about foreign cars and how the OP despises them.

It is about a young lady who has manipulated her mother, put the family in financial jeopardy and is using the mother to inflict a guilt trip on JFT1972.

Thankfully, Kia has Kia Assurance. If you lose your job within the first 12 months of owning the vehicle, you can bring the car back, and walk away from the loan. No financial ruin here!

-Tahleel

[Sludgedaddy]

One of the movies being shot currently in Michigan is a re-make of that right wing cult classic "Red Dawn". This time around, the invaders are not the Russians and the Cubans, but the Chinese.....heh....heh....heh.....

[crawford]

People should buy the car they want to buy. Yes, it would be nice if it were American-built or owned, but hardly a deal-breaker.

Some of you folks seriously hate everyone else in the world or something? People have families and need jobs in Mexico too.

Oh, and as others have pointed out, Chrysler is an Italian company, not an American one. It's HQ is no longer on U.S. soil, and the decisionmakers are thousands of miles away.

[lilpup]

Some of you folks seriously hate everyone else in the world or something? People have families and need jobs in Mexico too.

They can have yours. They already have enough of ours.

[gnome]

tahleel, your increasingly strident tone leads one to question your emotional maturity. But since you ask, I have on New Balance running shoes, a shirt from LLBean and a pair of carhart pants. I'm sitting in a Frances Knoll chair listening to Bose radio ... shhhh... quiet ... what's that I hear? Sounds like the hot air being let out of a self-important puptard.

[crawford]

tahleel, your increasingly strident tone leads one to question your emotional maturity. But since you ask, I have on New Balance running shoes, a shirt from LLBean and a pair of carhart pants. I'm sitting in a Frances Knoll chair listening to Bose radio ... shhhh... quiet ... what's that I hear? Sounds like the hot air being let out of a self-important puptard.

Wow, we're really impressed! Let me guess, you own the world's only American-made TV, grow your own American-made coffee, and walk around town in an Uncle Sam suit [[all costume parts made by union labor in the good ole U.S.A., of course!).

People need to wake up out of their 1950's time warp. Read Thomas Friedman's "The World is Flat". The world is totally interconnected nowadays, and it's completely impossible to live a lifesyle solely based on one nation's bounty.

The future is in embracing globalism, not rejecting it. Those that have embraced globalism [[NYC, Texas, Bay Area, Seattle) have thrived, and those that have rejected it have withered.

[tahleel]

Wow, we're really impressed! Let me guess, you own the world's only American-made TV, grow your own American-made coffee, and walk around town in an Uncle Sam suit [[all costume parts made by union labor in the good ole U.S.A., of course!).

People need to wake up out of their 1950's time warp. Read Thomas Friedman's "The World is Flat". The world is totally interconnected nowadays, and it's completely impossible to live a lifesyle solely based on one nation's bounty.

The future is in embracing globalism, not rejecting it. Those that have embraced globalism [[NYC, Texas, Bay Area, Seattle) have thrived, and those that have rejected it have withered.

Thank you Crawford. Couldn't have said it better myself.

-Tahleel

[lilpup]

The future is in embracing globalism, not rejecting it. Those that have embraced globalism [[NYC, Texas, Bay Area, Seattle) have thrived, and those that have rejected it have withered.

What a crock. None of those places are [[or ever were) manufacturing centers on the scale of SE Michigan and none measures up to the true globalism of the auto industry. [[And just wait until struggling Boeing leaves or again scales back in Washington. They've yet to deny a rumored China development.)

[crawford]

What a crock. None of those places are [[or ever were) manufacturing centers on the scale of SE Michigan and none measures up to the true globalism of the auto industry. [[And just wait until struggling Boeing leaves or again scales back in Washington. They've yet to deny a rumored China development.)

Germany and Japan are the only "rich" nations that are still primarily manufacturing-based, and they have both performed MUCH worse than the U.S. in recent years, so what does that tell you?

You want to be like Japan, where the economy has shrunk 10% this year? Even in economically battered metro Detroit, there is no economic decline remotely comparable to Japan.

Some things just aren't meant to be made in rich countries. Most of us are better off when things can be produced with maximum efficiency.

[lilpup]

Germany and Japan are the only "rich" nations that are still primarily manufacturing-based, and they have both performed MUCH worse than the U.S. in recent years, so what does that tell you?

You want to be like Japan, where the economy has shrunk 10% this year? Even in economically battered metro Detroit, there is no economic decline remotely comparable to Japan.

Some things just aren't meant to be made in rich countries. Most of us are better off when things can be produced with maximum efficiency.

Germany had the same finance driven meltdown the US did. Japan's economy shrunk because it was so dependent on the US market. That will not be the case anymore because they are now looking to China.

How, exactly, do you propose rectifying the trade deficit before all US assets are drained by others??

[tahleel]

[quote=gnome;73190]tahleel, your increasingly strident tone leads one to question your emotional maturity. quote]

When factual arguments don't work, bring on the personal attacks!

No who is the one that has questionable maturity.

-Tahleel

[Zacha341]

Back to the original comment: NO, I don't think a 16 yo should have a car, especially not a new one foreign or domestic. It often proves to be a distraction - the teen becomes the chauffeur of all their friends [[real and fake). And if the car is very nice beyond what most teens would be driving it sends a bad message that you don't earn or work for nicer things - they are just "given" to you. Teen in my household did not get a car until 19 and it was 12 year old Chevy, then later and decade old foreign car. Nothing new... that will be their first purchase for themselves, not from me.

I just found out my 16-year-old daughter's mother bought her the car of her dreams... a Kia Soul.

I feel sick to my stomach.

My kid has no job. She's been looking [[probably not enough in my opinion) and keeps hearing that they aren't hiring people less than 18 due to the unemployment problem among adults. Her mother's job is in jeopardy. Her grandmother is unemployed & her uncle is scared to death. Yet she had her heart set on a Korean car.

When her mother emailed me asking "Do you want to contribute to the car fund?" I had no clue they were on their way to buy... My reply was that I would contribute matching funds to whatever she saves toward purchasing an American car, if she kept her grades up.

Part of me hopes this POS spends a great deal of time in the shop.

[gnome]

sorry crawford, I just try to buy the best that I can. I try not to but foriegn made products because I like to keep my money here. Some times I don't have a choice and I will buy a product made overseas, I don't lose any sleep over it one way or the other.

I try to buy the best, I try to buy American, I don't think there is anything wrong with that and I feel sorry for you and your warped sense of self-rightousness. As though buying an American made shirt somehow puts me in league with Mamie Eisenhower...

Tahleel, same deal my friend. You're missing the point and being a little edged when it is not warranted. Once you move out of you mom's place, you'll understand.

Until then, have a snapple and chillax.

[Patrick]

Why is it so easy for a foreign manufacturer to set up shop here in the US? We give companies all sorts of tax “incentives� to build plants here. However, it is almost impossible for an American company to build in S. Korea or Japan without paying up the ass first. It needs to be a fair level of trade first.

[crawford]

Why is it so easy for a foreign manufacturer to set up shop here in the US? We give companies all sorts of tax “incentives� to build plants here. However, it is almost impossible for an American company to build in S. Korea or Japan without paying up the ass first. It needs to be a fair level of trade first.

Well you're right that Japan should loosen trade restrictions [[don't know enough about Korea to comment), but not for our sake, but for their sake! Protectionism hurts them much more than it hurts us.

The proper response to protectionism is defintiely not to do the same. They are hurting themselves and others, and we do not really "get back" at them by throwing up trade boundaries. Americans, not Japanese, will feel the brunt of such actions.