Boycott GM

[ghein]

http://www.detnews.com/article/20090...TO01/906090329

A conservative-led boycott of a major American industry is just what the republicans need to win back some voters.

[Islandman]

Good luck with that.

[MoparDan]

Great. A Republican boycott of GM plus Mitt Romney's "Let Detroit fail" will pretty much guarantee that the Republicans need not even campaign in Michigan for the next decade or so. Probably large parts of the Midwest as well.

Talk about misreading public opinion.

And they wonder why they've lost my wife & her relatives as party faithfuls.

[Papasito]

Great. A Republican boycott of GM plus Mitt Romney's "Let Detroit fail" will pretty much guarantee that the Republicans need not even campaign in Michigan for the next decade or so. Probably large parts of the Midwest as well.

But the Democrat move of making GM into a black hole for tax dollars in order to "buy" the votes of Union members is a "good" decision?
I don't think the Republicans should boycott GM, but I do think that the government should have washed their hands of GM when it filed bankruptcy, and took their losses. Now since the government won't back off, they will continue to spend countless taxpayer dollars in order to appease a limited group of Union workers.

It may make the Union workers happy, but the rest of the people won't be dancing in the street over it.

[Flanders]

http://www.detnews.com/article/20090...TO01/906090329

A conservative-led boycott of a major American industry is just what the republicans need to win back some voters.

Voters for whom?

Talk-show hosts?

LOL

"Nobody wants to support an Obama company," Rush Limbaugh told his audience Friday, citing a poll showing that 17 percent of Americans backed a boycott of GM

Nobody=17%

LOL x2

[ccbatson]

Buy the best quality product at the lowest price...this is THE BEST way to right the market. A completelyt different subject is to debate the wisdom [[lack of) having organized labor and the government run anything...most importantly when funded by tax dollars [[stolen money as this is not what government is charged to do constitutionally).

[Bearinabox]

The popular, controversial Limbaugh didn't outright call for a boycott, but said he understood why people would want to avoid GM vehicles. "They don't want to patronize Obama. They don't want to do anything to make Obama's policies work."

Isn't it a good thing when policies work? Don't we want to revive the economy and preserve jobs? If you oppose a given set of policies because you don't think they will work, that makes sense. If you take action to sabotage a given set of policies because you're afraid that they'll make the person who proposed them look good, you're a moron.

Basically, Rush is saying that Obama's policies are so sensible and well thought-out that they'll actually work unless someone stops them. If he thought Obama's policies were poorly-conceived and doomed to fail, he'd just sit back and watch the train wreck unfold while formulating an "I told you so" rant to be delivered a few months down the road.

[smogboy]

So lemme get this right.... boycott GM, watch it spiral down in flames, and take down a good chunk of our region along with it is somehow good for the US? Or is this more of a personal vendetta between Rush against the Democrats?

[Bearinabox]

So lemme get this right.... boycott GM, watch it spiral down in flames, and take down a good chunk of our region along with it is somehow good for the US? Or is this more of a personal vendetta between Rush against the Democrats?

Oh, I doubt it's personal. Rush has built a niche for himself by spewing a certain kind of bullshit, and the more of it he spews the richer he gets. It's still fun to poke holes in his logic, though [[if you can even call it that).

[Detroit Stylin]

Don't these idiots know that this will cost possibly even MORE US Jobs?!

And the Nominee for our next award is.....*drum roll*

Attachment 1666

[Detroitej72]

So lemme get this right.... boycott GM, watch it spiral down in flames, and take down a good chunk of our region along with it is somehow good for the US? Or is this more of a personal vendetta between Rush against the Democrats?

Aren't these the same folks, including the auto dealers, [[many who are Republican)who protested their dealership closings?

[lilpup]

Yeah, ya know, those morons with their entitlement attitudes who think they deserve automatic renewals of their franchise agreements. I'll bet they were all "at will" employers, too.

[oladub]

Screw Rush. Buy American.

Are there any Democrats here who do not intend to buy GM or Chrysler products in the future.? I cannot understand why so many liberals buy foreign label and manufactured cars. The Asian manufacturers allow fewer women into management than the big three and are less likely to hire U.S. minorities, and other Americans for that matter, in the manufacturing of their cars. Buying foreign cars has always been a regressive personal social action.

So much for the stick. President Obama's administration has now added a carrot for liberals to encourage their purchase of GM products - government ownership! No more evil profits. Revenue will go to Chrysler workers and 72% of GM revenues will now be defacto government revenue.

I have always purchased big three autos because I am acutely aware of the unemployment problems in Detroit when US auto sales go down. I will continue to try to purchase US autos and will even consider additional GM products in the future. My question was if liberals will break their socially destructive habit of purchasing foreign cars now that President Obama has purchased GM for the government and has become car maker in chief.

[lilpup]

This left-leaning independent "liberal" has always bought Ford products, thanks.

[Lorax]

Oh, I doubt it's personal. Rush has built a niche for himself by spewing a certain kind of bullshit, and the more of it he spews the richer he gets. It's still fun to poke holes in his logic, though [[if you can even call it that).

You can drive a bus through those holes.

[Detroitej72]

This moderate has one of each, Ford, GM, and Chrysler in his fleet.

[oldredfordette]

We only drive Ford's in the 'Dette house. My republican neighbors drive Range Rovers, Lexus, BMW's and Toyotas.

[Jimaz]

Between conservatives and GM, which has suffered the greater boycott?

The girl who can't dance claims the band can't play.

[oladub]

A March 2009 Gallop Poll came up with the following. This was taken before GM became the majority owner. I was surprised that the results show that moderate Democrats are more likely to buy US cars than Republicans. Also, higher income groups are less likely to buy Americans.:

There are only slight differences along partisan lines in car-buying preferences, with 39% of Democrats, 37% of Republicans, and 33% of independents favoring American cars. The distinctions are a bit stronger along ideological lines, with conservatives more inclined than liberals to buy American: 40% vs. 30%. Moderates fall squarely in between, at 35%.

Two Kinds of Democrats

These differences in car buying along political lines are magnified when looking at ideology within party. Most notably, Democrats are sharply divided along ideological lines in their car tastes.

• Moderate and conservative Democrats [[consisting of 65% of all Democrats) are among the most pro-buy-American auto consumers in the new survey: 46% say they would only consider cars from an American company while just 6% would only consider cars from foreign companies.
• By contrast, liberal Democrats are almost evenly divided among those who say they would only buy American and those who say they would only buy foreign cars: 27% and 22%, respectively. This makes liberal Democrats [[consisting of 35% of all Democrats) among the least pro-buy-American consumers in the survey.

http://www.gallup.com/poll/116356/Bu...-Struggle.aspx

The above are national statistics. In this same Gallop Poll, midwesterners are much more likely to buy big three vehicles than people in the rest of the country.

[smogboy]

You can drive a bus through those holes.

If that's the case, Limbaugh might be calling for a boycott against buses before long.

[ccbatson]

I still don't get the reason that the automakers have this level of power regarding dealerships. Why don't they simply allow the use of their name, without costs from the automaker to the dealers, and let the free market decide?

[Detroitej72]

I still don't get the reason that the automakers have this level of power regarding dealerships. Why don't they simply allow the use of their name, without costs from the automaker to the dealers, and let the free market decide?

I have been wondering the same thing, as long as the dealers don't tarnish the brand's name, what harm is it to let them continue operations outside of the company?

[ccbatson]

I am not being inflammatory on this one either. There must be a tangible reason that they are actively shutting down dealerships....anybody know why?

Even if there is a good explanation, wouldn't it be worthwhile to rework the system so that the automakers are not at financial risk by virtue of dealerships?

[lilpup]

As long as dealerships are using the automakers' brands the automakers could be at risk. Dealerships are the public presentation of the automaker even though the automaker has little control over the dealership management. Bad dealers can hurt an automaker more than some recalls.

The automakers aren't randomly shutting down dealerships. Performance stats are a big part of dictating who gets discontinued. If a dealership is not capturing market share in its area or has poor customer service scores it's not going to make the cut.

Picture this scenario as one example - a dealership wants to boost its bottom line but can't sell units. What to do? One option is to boost vehicle service revenue, perhaps through unnecessary repairs or fudging about what's covered under warranty and soaking the customer [[while the repair tech grumbles on about how Detroit makes shit product when, in reality, he's either a fraud or is grossly undertrained) - who gets the black eye? The automaker that's who, not the dealer who is a local face and supposed friend of the community. That's part of why Detroit can't shake its inferior reputation. {I'm not making this up out of the blue. An acquaintance from down south crabbed non-stop about her Escalade while she had it - how many times she had to take it in for service - she claimed continual problems. Escalades aren't a problem prone vehicle at all. I firmly believe her dealer was screwing her over and recommended she go to a different one. She traded in the Escalade and bought foreign instead.}

[ccbatson]

So issue standards of quality that must be complied with [[for free) in order to attain and maintain dealership status.