Filed under: Government/Legal, Chrysler, LLC., Ford, GM
Foreign autos vandalized to promote buying American
Tensions are high in the Motor City, with good reason. At this point, the only chance General Motors and Chrysler have of avoiding bankruptcy is for President Bush to tap the remaining $15 billion from the first half of the $700 billion TARP fund. Unfortunately, the stress of the situation has gotten the better of some folks in SE Michigan. Four vehicles with foreign nameplates were vandalized recently at a Woodhaven, Michigan strip mall, just a stone's throw away from a Ford stamping plant. Each of the vehicles had two slashed tires and the phrase "Buy American" written on them. Surveillance video caught one middle-aged gentleman as he got out of a red Ford Escape to slash one of the car's tires and write something on it. Police say, however, they have no evidence that links Ford employees from the stamping plant to these acts of vandalism. We hope that remains the case, as headlines of organized labor attacking innocent Hondas and Toyotas is the last thing the Detroit 3 needs as it awaits the cash-filled hands of our lame duck president. Thanks for the tip, Joe!
[Source: Click on Detroit]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 7)
Biff Baxter - All American 9:11AM (12/15/2008)
The knuckle-draggers at Solidarity House would n-e-v-e-r encourage something like this.
Proving once again that the UAW is the most skilled, technically adept and highly edu-macated work force in the world.
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JM 1:31PM (12/15/2008)
Keep this up, and you'll start seeing owners of Toyota and Honda vandalizing American autos out of retaliation.
And oh yeah, some of those cars from GM/Ford/Chrysler are made in Mexico, Canada and/or China btw.
Jake B 2:53PM (12/15/2008)
Yeah right. Japan is bitter about losing WWII. Toyota is their newest method of TORA!TORA!TORA!
happy_penguin 3:18PM (12/15/2008)
No, the UAW would never encourage this.
It's asinine to think that because a very few vehicles were vandalized, perhaps by the same one or two people, that this is somehow promoted by the union. Yeah, four damaged vehicles really sounds like an epidemic.
Anyone who believes that garbage is ignorant.
ronnie schreiber 3:35PM (12/15/2008)
Well, Adm. Yamamoto feared that Japan would not be able to withstand the industrial might of the United States. Detroit, the Arsenal of Democracy, built B-24 Liberators and M-4 Sherman tanks, that helped defeat both Japan and Germany. The South, too, was defeated with the help of the industrial and mercantile power of the United States.
There was clearly an attempt, after the import bashing in the 70's and 80s, by the Japanese companies to gain political leverage against the Big 3 and UAW by locating transplant facilities in the anti-union, anti-North, South.
One could say that the Confederacy helped Japan and German finally win WWII and that the imports have helped the Confederacy win the Civil War.
revaholic 9:13AM (12/15/2008)
Lol, American ignorance at a very fundamental level.
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cFoo 11:44AM (12/15/2008)
Sadly you've just referred to 75% of Americans.
Azael 11:58AM (12/15/2008)
Please, no one dare start the argument that some cars are Pro-America and that some are Anti-America...
Anyone who vandalizes another American's property like this is truly anti-American.
Keep in mind that the first amendment gives us the right to express ourselves, and if that means buying a Honda or Toyota, so be it.
And that the second amendment gives us a way to protect our cars....
Franz 1:55PM (12/15/2008)
I never did understand the obsession with making decisions on which car to buy based on geography... but then again I'm from a little island where every car is an import, so I never learned how to obsess over that stuff. lol. Even so, just like everything else I buy: computers, electronics, clothes, food, shoes, you name it... I buy whichever car is the best for the money, and every now and then I just buy whichever one I like and not care too much about the other guy's extra mpgs, G's on the skid pad or few tenths/mph quicker/faster in the quarter mile.
I know there are tons of people who'll disagree with me, but I don't care. I'm entitled to buy whatever the hell I want. Me & my family run our own business and we don't depend on other people's patriotism to keep the business afloat, you do that by offering competitive goods or services that people will actually want to spend money on... that's what business is all about. Look at GM: if we're being honest about it, the new Malibu is the only car they've produced that could seriously bring the fight to the Japanese (Accord, Camry) and the CTS was the only car that could hang with the Germans... look how well those have done. The trouble the Big Three are having now isn't simply because of foreign makes taking away sales, it's because for a very long time they sold inferior products and people's thought them inferior for a long time as a result. The have made a turnaround in quality in recent years, but now global economies are sh*t and they're being hit hard. Getting screwed by unions didn't help either.
All I know is if I see anyone vandalizing any one of may cars... cars I worked damn hard to buy, I'm f*cking 'em up on sight.
Franz 1:58PM (12/15/2008)
Pardon the typos and questionable grammar... I kinda rushed that post. lol
happy_penguin 3:35PM (12/15/2008)
Franz, effing someone up for vandalizing your car would not be wise. You could find yourself in jail as well, or worse. The right thing to do is get a description and a plate number if they have a vehicle and call the police. But I'm sure you're smart enough to know that. :)
Avinash machado 9:16AM (12/15/2008)
So many cars with foreign names are actually made in America. These include Camry,Accord,Sonata,Civic,Santa Fe,Tundra,Titan,Sequioa,Mazda6,Armada etc.
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sf 9:21AM (12/15/2008)
Yet most of the profits go back to Japan, or Germany. So you're kidding yourself if you think it's just as good for our economy as buying from the Detroit 3 (or even one of their foreign subsidiaries).
Shift-4-Yourself! 9:32AM (12/15/2008)
To add to the comment about how many "foreign" brands are manufactured here in the States by red-blooded Americans, how about the number of "US" brands that are manufactured in Mexico and Canada? Hello? Oh, there's NAFTA, but come on...the US is the US...either it's made in the USA or it's not.
And what about the components and materials contained in "US-built" cars? How much of that comes from China or other "cheap" sources of labor?
And among those "invading foreign" brand plants in the US that build some of the best-selling cars in the US...with outstanding quality...how many of those workers are losing their jobs due to the economic conditions?
Anyway, back to the vandalism, that's just wrong. I can understand feeling threatened and frustrated, and tempted to want to do vandalism, but we have the ability to resist and vent in more suitable ways.
GDUB 9:33AM (12/15/2008)
So the thousands of jobs that are created in our country, money spent in our country that is taxed and helps the economy is wrong. At what point will u get that the market will define who is profitable and who is not. Buying american means having the freedom to buy what ever the frack u want.
Adapt or fail.
ack154 9:31AM (12/15/2008)
@ sf:
So you're saying we should buy vehicles from American-based companies only? And not worry about those thousands of jobs that these foreign-based companies provide here in our country?
Profits, no, they don't all stay here. But jobs do. And that's pretty big in my book.
Should we all buy only American-made cars then? No. Should we buy only American-based cars? No. Buy the car that fits you best and you want to spend your money on. Just buying a car that has something to do with our country at this point is a good thing.
Shipey 10:14AM (12/15/2008)
Assembled in America != Made in America
sf 10:55AM (12/15/2008)
I'm not saying that anyone can't or shouldn't buy anything they want, and certainly, buying a foreign vehicle that is assembled in the US would be better for our economy than one that is not. I'm merely pointing out that buying something that is assembled in the US by a foreign company is not the same as buying something from one of the Detroit 3 in terms of the help to the economy. It's all about the degree of help. Buying a foreign nameplate that is made elsewhere helps the economy too, as there are dealers, etc. in the US that employ people. It's up to you to choose just how much you want to help.
blogged to death 10:58AM (12/15/2008)
SF - Did you know that just Wagoner's lone annual salary ($16M) equals the annual salaries of the top 14 Execs at Toyota COMBINED? The entire Exec office at GM makes as much money in one year as does its counterparts at Toyota's Exec office does in 7 years! That is unequivocally staggering the enrichment GM's execs make - and that is where "American" profits go!
The same old claim GM's made for the past 20 years - "Buy American" and "Be a Patriot" - but the real killer is how GM and the UAW have screwed all of us for so long - they themselves have orchestrated their own downfall and by failing to give us what they have so long promised. And now, the same old Motown business model (the one that is completely unsustainable and beyond injecting money) is asking us to buy their half hearted attempts to build cars and trucks (Chevy Aveo anyone?). All the while Honda and Toyota have proved that we can build great cars here in the US / North America with 90% parts content.
Here is what we learned from Motown - a HS Diploma Line worker should not earn a subsidized $70/hour wage and an CEO who has been in charge for 8 years and lost his company 33% of market share should not make $16M year and still be employed. That is why GM is failing and needs to properly reorganize and emerge as a real company again (not a decrepit old business model of entitlement for an internal culture that has refused to change for 40 years and is now begging for the first installment of billions of taxpayer dollars - they will be back in 5 months for another $37B).
big j 11:08AM (12/15/2008)
@ sf:
I don't get what it is that's so difficult for people like you to understand that in this day and age it's a global economy, and yes the profits go back to Japan, but you act as if that money never comes back and if it does a dime of it doesn't get spent here in the US.
Is it that hard to understand?