The political winds may be shifting in Detroit
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The political alliances in the Motor City have historically been rather black-and-white, with the UAW lining up alongside Democrats and management favoring the Republicans. Yes, one can find exception to these stereotypes, but the above comes as close as one can to describing 40-some years of voting behavior in one sentence. But the times are changing, and traditional alliances between the political parties and their supporters in the auto industry are increasingly stressed.
Most recently, the heads of the Big Three are said to be getting a bit miffed with the White House after receiving a third postponement of a scheduled meeting with President Bush. Additionally, we've heard recent requests from Ford's Mark Fields for "cooperation" between the automakers and government on health care, which can been seen as a position contrary to that of most conservatives. Bob Lutz has gone so far as to claim that he may vote for Hillary Clinton in 2008 as a means to protest the lack of support from Bush.
Keep in mind that the union isn't exactly getting a lot of support from those who have traditionally been in its corner, either. Dick Gephardt was said to be labor's favorite candidate in 2004, and we all know how far his campaign went.
It would seem as if the auto industry is no longer a priority for most politicians from both parties.
[Source: BusinessWeek]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
iQuack 1:17PM (6/23/2006)
"Bob Lutz has gone so far as to claim that he may vote for Hillary Clinton in 2008 as a means to protest the lack of support from Bush."
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If Lutz really said the above in public, he's a doofus!
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Chris 1:20PM (6/23/2006)
Wow, what an amazingly one sided article. Blaming Bush for telling Detroit to make relevant products?!? If the Big 3 had followed that advice 15 years ago, they wouldn't be in the predicament they are now. This is just another example of the Big 3 and the media finding a scape goat for pretty obvious problems. Because GM and Ford are losing money, Bush is supposed to nationalize healthcare and penalize every citizen for their mistakes? Give me a break. I'm getting so tired of the whining. Make better cars, repair your reputation, and deal with the unions. It's your problem, Big 3. Not the American taxpayer's.
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Richard Warren 1:48PM (6/23/2006)
All they have to do is make bigger contributions to the aholes in Washington (both sides), They'll get what they want, we have the best government money can buy and we keep electing the jerks, time after time after time. We call the politicians dumb? It's time to look in the mirror.
Sorry, the Pres is always too busy, bullshitting us about terror and creating a reason for us to be afraid, be very afraid, I have another important meeting, perhaps to create another phony reason we need to invade another country based on non existant threats and piss poor intel. American companies and workers? That can wait.
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Fazzster 1:59PM (6/23/2006)
I never understood why the people who actually work for a living (the blue collar guys) always voted for Democrats. They literally earn every penny and the Democrats have traditionally taxed most of the pennies they earned. The tide has turned only because the blue collar worker has become more educated to the FACT that Democrats have been taking all their money through years and spent it on failing social programs, saving the whales and socialist propaganda machines like PBS and CBS News. I know here in Massachusetts, the home of Dems, conservative talk radio is huge. People have had enough. The next generation finally realizes that it is no longer the party of JFK. It is an awakening. As our elected officials like John Kerry and Ted Kennedy become more and more "harvard" liberal, the more the common folk will start voting against them.
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loikll 2:02PM (6/23/2006)
Why are they wanting to waste W's time? The Big 3 execs are looking for nothing except corporate welfare and protectionism -- there's not much George Bush can or should do for them. What should we do, ban Accords and Camrys? This is all about their sense of entitlement and persistent incompetence.
Particularly galling is their insistence on socializing health care so that they don't have to live up to the absurdly generous benefits they stupidly gave to their unions. (Hey, there's already socilaized medicine for retired pensioners -- it's called medicare.) My boss doesn't seem to have much trouble paying the insurance premiums, but of course he's never sold away the future of his company trying to temporarily placate unions.
Screw them, health care is a competent, profitable industry. We should socialize the failing auto industry and replace the current crop of dishonest, incompetent executives with croneys. Will that make Bill Ford happy?
As a taxpayer I urge the president to continue to ignore these hapless morons -- whose only aim is to get their hands into my wallet while failing to provide me with a decent car -- and focus on the important work of the state, like killing terrorists.
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brother justin 2:06PM (6/23/2006)
I will never buy a GM, Ford or DCX vehicle ever from reading this shit. If you can't run a company flipping quit.
It is not up to the Goverment local, state or federal to give them money for as big as f ups are they are to stay in business.
This is their mess to clean up, if the Unions can't see this then they won't have a job soon because Ford or GM is going out of business.
And Ford and GM need to bring some FUCKING car to the states that will sell.
Just yesterday I saw the design for the Far East Escape, it looks MUCH BETTER than the one we have. ANd the new Mondeo for Europe, I really like the styling .
http://www.autoblog.com/2006/06/20/ford-adding-some-emotion-to-mondeo/
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nj 2:09PM (6/23/2006)
The dems abandoned organized labor LOOONNNGGG ago. The party that was once the party for the working man has been the party of the non-white single mother, abortion, and gay rights for over 20 years now. Thank Bill Clinton when he signed NAFTA into law, spitting on organized labor and everything the democratic party is SUPPOSED TO STAND FOR.
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Paul 2:18PM (6/23/2006)
number 4- the tide has turned you are right, people are sick of everyone. the dems lie about taxes, the republicans get us into unncessary wars, time to move away from both.
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All Alone 2:20PM (6/23/2006)
RE: "I never understood why the people who actually work for a living (the blue collar guys) always voted for Democrats."
Wow, where to start on that one...
Maybe a search on "What's the Matter with Kansas"? Yep, we all know how the Republican's are always looking out for the common man ;)
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Tom Design 2:28PM (6/23/2006)
Chris => you need to wake up. The US auto industry cannot make better cars while competing against industries whose countries fund their auto industry. Are you blind or can't you read. The Japanese are funding their auto industry. R&D is funded. Healthcare is funded. There are impediments to U.S. parts and dealers. The reason the Japanese are producing better cars is because their nation is funding their auto workers. Get it? How dense people are, and so quick to piss on their own plate at home.
Yeah, it's just even competition, Chris, and U.S. autoworkers are just sitting on their hands causing all this trouble, along with greedy owners. Right!
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Glenn A. 2:44PM (6/23/2006)
OK Richard (Warren), in case it did escape your attention, weapons of mass destruction were found in Iraq.
Actually, this "news" yesterday was old news - you just have to know where to look. Our GIs have been destroying these "non-existant" weapons of mass destruction since their arrival in Iraq (the latest batch of info I found about this a few months ago was out of Russian news sources).
Plus anyone with a tiny bit of curiousity about it all knows that the biggest and newest Iraqi WOMD were sent to Syria before we played whoop-ass with Iraq.
Not that I am even remotely a Bush supporter (or Dumocrat, for that matter) but at least have a sense of fairness and reality, buddy.
Otherwise we the people are no better than the jackasses we elect to Washington.
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Glenn A. 2:47PM (6/23/2006)
By the way, sorry for the repost gang, but I think the Prez is pretty aware that the big 2 1/2 are pretty much irrelevant and so why waste time with these losers?
Chris said it best (#2 above). Cut the whining, get to work, stop expecting the bailout and national health service and either fish or cut bait, Detroit.
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AAM 2:48PM (6/23/2006)
Gee who just passed a pay raise for themselves, but couldn't give the rest of us a break in taxes or a minimum wage boost?
The only way the Republicans are going to learn, is to leave them with the hateful hypocritical homophobic "Christians" & vote them out of office. Since they have abandoned Ronnie Reagan, the party has just flat been "Hijacked". Its time for an Independent America again.
And Yes, F & GM need some better designs & the 10/100K mile warranty! *let me know when this complaint gets borrrring!* lol
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WillDaThrill 3:06PM (6/23/2006)
That's because they already know what the big 3 are going to talk about.
"Why are politicians spouting their mouths off about us not doing more for fuel consumption when we have the answer right here?"
*Bush and Cheney gasp; Cheney dies from heart attack*
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Will Wheeler 3:07PM (6/23/2006)
I would like to have one discussion about Washington without someone injecting their opinions about the war.
Now, Japans auto industry is not succesful becuse it is subsidised by the government. They are succesful because they have a culture that places a great emphasis on education, and pride in ones work. They are intelligent enough to use government money wisely. Unlike the Big Two/Three. And if you think any bailout from the govenment will help them you are just wrong. They are a private industry that dug themselves a hole with the unions, and they need to learn how to compete.
Look at the Japenese manufactures that are BUILDING plants in the US. Did they receive a government bail out? No, they build cars that are reliable and that people want. Yes. Guess what? They do it with little to no Union labor. Amazing that when you create an enviorment that encourages efficiancy, you become more efficient. I have seen the way unions run things, and it's amazing that the Big Two/Three have survived this long.
So Lutz and the rest of them can keep playing their violins. Until they get rid of the unions, and the union mentality, they will keep needing bailout after bailout.
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Chris 4:14PM (6/23/2006)
Tom Design,
After reading your latest post and many other posts I can say with near certainly that you talk out of your ass in nearly everything you say and are probably a complete and utter moron. Japan is funding the automotive industry? That's a new one to me, last I heard they hadn't given preferential tax rates to their own automakers in 20 years. R&D is funded? Since when? If that was the case, Japanese companies wouldn't have bothered building a damn shed in North America.
I work as an engineer in a Tier 1 supplier to the Big 3 and I can tell you with 100% certainty that GM, Ford and DCX have noone to blame but themselves. They let the unions get out of control, they put out shitty products that destroyed their reputation, and they've squandered their money and resources. And most importantly, they've lost the confidence of the consumer with their massive layoffs.
Nissan almost went out of business 5 years ago...did they blame the government and whine and cry? No! After Renault bought them, they gathered up their resources and build cars that PEOPLE WANTED TO BUY. And now they're hugely profitable. All GM needs to do is stop underengineering, underdesigning and underdeveloping their cars. They've been doing a much better job recently but they need to make 100% of their cars great, not 20%.
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skaz 5:03PM (6/23/2006)
Tom has points. It's not necessarily the Japanese government backing the car manufacturers: If I walk down the street of Phoenix, AZ and randomly ask people what their preferred car company is for a new purchase the majority of them will tell me Toyota, or Nissan, or Mazda, or BMW. If I walk around in Cave Creek and ask them, they'll say Lexus, or Infiniti, or Porsche.
Why? "American cars suck" is the number one answer.
I want to know why American cars suck. Their interiors are bad? Come on. I've got a 2000 Ford Focus with a platicky interior, and really, it ain't so bad. A little utilitarian, but comfortable. And no one paid out the ass for it. And it's reliable and smooth and fair on gas.
It's not the governments. PEOPLE need to back their car companies. Take another look at an American car, since I'm sure the majority of you that DO buy new cars don't even wander onto a Ford or Chevrolet lot. You go directly to the nearest Nissan or Mazda dealer because you heard on the interweb that American cars suck SO bad that you shouldn't even look at them.
I'm not a super patriot or anything, but I am a fan of American cars. I'm a fan of German and Japanese cars, too. But there's too many of you on here that simply want to tear American businesses apart because of unfounded or weak biases.
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courtstone 5:53PM (6/23/2006)
Chris...very well put.
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skaz 7:23PM (6/23/2006)
"All GM needs to do is stop underengineering, underdesigning and underdeveloping their cars. They've been doing a much better job recently but they need to make 100% of their cars great, not 20%."
Again, I'm not here to defend American cars or bash Japanese cars, but do you seriously think that GM is purposely making 20% good cars and 80% bad cars?
And look at it from another perspective: I don't like any of the cars in the Toyota lineup. I loved the Supra. I like the Scion tC. But the vehicles they sell now do NOT represent their unscathed image of perfection and unimpeachable reliability. They've built themselves up to an image far greater than they can achieve, such as the American companies did in the 60s.
I just now checked the Chevrolet lineup and I don't see what there is to hate. The Aveo, in my opinion, is a heap of trash -- I loved the Geo Metro, but the rest of these cars are fine. Just as fine as Toyota's offerings. Same with the Ford lineup.
People don't want to buy American because of an IMAGE, not because of the cars. And if you would truly go out and compare yourself you'd know the difference. But you sit and read this blog and visit car forums and you consistently hear trash being said about GM, Ford, and Chrysler and absorb it all as fact.
I KNOW most of you bashing American cars have not stepped foot on a domestic car lot in a long time. And if you have, you went in with pre-set bias.
You know what, forget it. I await the day China breaks into the international market and dominates. Their government runs their car companies -- and China has much more money that GM or Toyota. Then I can speak of the days when Toyota and GM were king and all cars were at least mediocre quality, and we had choice. But fanboys are out to ruin that. Cry all you want, competition is a good thing and American can't compete because no one backs them up.
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Chris 10:46PM (6/23/2006)
Skaz, get your head out of the sand. I'm a HUGE American car supporter but I'm also a realist.
And yes, I know for a fact that GM has in the past underengineered at least half their lineup because they didn't think anyone would care or notice. Anyone who is open minded knows that a lot of GM's cars have AWFUL quality, while some have very decent quality.
And your Ford Focus has an awful interior, let's be realistic.
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