Could Japan's misfortune be Detroit's gain?

[English]

Personally, if things go poorly in Japan, I would opebly welcome investment and citizens from there to this area. Heck, Bing wants to pay cops to move into town, he ought to be buying plane tickets for anybody willing to fly over from across the Pacific.

Me too. I've long said that Detroit would recover within a decade if we had a way to get an influx of immigrants here.

[Det_ard]

Got a citation for your opinion stated as fact?

Also, are you sure that none of the Toyota facilities use UAW labor?

Do you disagree that the reason no foreign automaker has located a plant in Michigan is the unionization factor? Do you not see the pattern? I'd be interested in your interpretation of the fact pattern.

Toyota has assembly plants in Alabama, Indiana, Kentucky, Texas and West Virginia.
Toyota's only brush with unionization was the joint venture plant with GM in Fremont, CA. They wanted to learn about US auto manufacturing and GM wanted to learn the TPS so they created the JV. Guess which plant Toyota closed a couple years ago? The union one. Now their US plants are union-free, as are the assembly plants of every other Japanese, Korean and German manufacturer in the US. And none are in Michigan*.

* The Flat Rock Mazda/Ford JV is the only potential exception, and Mazda said last month that they're considering pulling out completely.

[DetroitDad]

I would not call Japan's misfortune a gain for Detroit. Many lives were lost, I would not want to profit from that...

In consumer capitalism, there are winners, and therefore there must be losers.

I'm not sure why this is better than socialism or communism....

[JBMcB]

In consumer capitalism, there are winners, and therefore there must be losers.

I'm not sure why this is better than socialism or communism....

In socialism and communism, there are also winners and losers. The difference is the government picks them instead of consumers. You can pick which one you prefer. I prefer consumer capitalism.

[JBMcB]

Do you disagree that the reason no foreign automaker has located a plant in Michigan is the unionization factor?

I'm pretty sure that there aren't any unionized German or Japanese factories in the US. NUMMI was the only one for a while, and as stated previously, it was closed by Toyota.

http://www.whtc.com/news/articles/20...an-automakers/

[jiminnm]

Looks like the Volt's transmission comes from Japan.
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Long-P...n&asset=&ccode=

That may not be a problem. The last sales figures I saw, only 280 Chevy Volts were sold in February and about 920 since it debuted. GM has also lowered sales projections for the Volt.

[Bham1982]

New York isn't cheap. Doesn't stop the financial crooks from working out of there. And for all the absolute BS spread about American labor, US labor is a petty theft compared to the death row killers on Wall Street.

The financial services industry can't be compared to the auto manufacturing.

Like it or not, financial services are considered an elite industry where luring top global talent is key. NYC and London are the leading financial centers, despite being extremely expensive places to do business.

In contrast, auto manufacturing does not require luring elite global talent. It requires hard work and reasonable costs. Here, local wages and cost-of-living considerations are absolutely critical.

[guito13]

A little birdie told me that one of the big 3 is cancelling all non-essential travel due to the lack of supplies and the resulting hit on the bottom line in the short run.

[Danny]

Most of car parts for Ford, Chrsyler and GM came from Japan. So if one of the factories fail, so does the big three factories. They would lay idle until the foreign manufactures pick up the parts. Japan to effect Detroit seriouly.

WORD FROM THE STREET PROPHET

While " Made in the USA" cars are actually " Made in Japan."

Neda, I miss you so.

[DetroitDad]

.....I prefer consumer capitalism.

I prefer a clear conscience.

[lilpup]

That may not be a problem. The last sales figures I saw, only 280 Chevy Volts were sold in February and about 920 since it debuted. GM has also lowered sales projections for the Volt.

GM hasn't lowered sales projections - they've increased them and are considering bumping manufacturing up again [[numbers have already been raised once). The Volt hasn't even had it's nationwide rollout yet - it's only been made available in a few select markets so far.