And their primary industrial rail system is fired on coal. I wonder if EMD is going to start building steamers? Worse yet, ALCO. Pat
He is usually all that and a very large bag of chips, but every once in a while he is on point. Such was the case with Roger and Me. GM has continued down the path of stabbing America in the back with a big global knife. DAVISON is listed as a suburb of Flint.
If they would build vehicles that people actually want to buy they wouldn't have to rely on selling to another country. They all but quit building cars. The only ones left aren't really what I would call affordable to the masses. I'm pretty sure this is how GM was built. By building and selling cars to everyone. Now it is only the high margin vehicles and the rest of the market has been dropped. Sad they had to be bailed out and I wouldn't have done it. They need to know how to manage the business or go under. Now they turn their back on the America that built them and kept them afloat.
No American company in Detroit can sustain itself only in the US. Any company worth its salt sells in China.
Before GM was bailed out, and GM was going bankrupt/was bankrupt, I was half hoping the Government would have let them founder, let 'em fend for themselves, would have been an interesting shake up, probably a good one GM being bailed out was the same as giving your "entitled" child what they want, short term satisfaction, but the problem is not solved. Trucks are all the rage, have been for awhile, GM makes a good truck, but the styling of the new ones, YUK, can they add another line, angle, swoosh, crevice, crease, divot to their sheet metal? How about making the grille taller, like an inch off the ground, to 2 feet above the hood, YEAH that looks tough Dodge and Ford are no better. Concentrate on QUALITY, stop it with the "safety" features/gadgets. I was backing a new Chrysler/Fiat whatever it was into my stall at work, the emergency brake applied 3 times 'cause the driver door wasn't clicked closed...…. WTF RAAAH, RAAAH, RAAAH
Nobody is suggesting that. When you see a decades long concerted effort to abandon Amercan factories and workers, and at the same time let excitement and quality largely fall by the wayside, one simply has to draw the conclusion they don't give a rats behind about this country and its market. Detroit could have chosen to expand into other markets without leaving this one.
Micheal Moore was right on atleast a couple things...... GM & the failed "six flags amusement park" AUTOWORLD in Flint. That was a joke from the beginning, but its taken quite a few years for GM to be destroyed from with-in.
Levi Strauss is another example -beginning about two decades ago they started moving production out of the US. Now that they make zero products here they market a lot of ‘USA’ , red white and blue and americana that rings hollow when you look at the label and see where it was made. That, combined with their recent political stances, means I’m less than enthusiastic about their product. Patrick
Almost funny... Ive got several pairs of Wrangler jeans and the chinaman hasnt quite figured out how westerners use a zipper. On several pairs the zippers are sewn in upside down so that they lock in the open position, and suck to zip "up". Maybe its time for chinajamas with toggle buttons, and sandals out of used tires. Who the friggin' dummy here??? Lest we forget the $500.00 ortho shoulder brace (ALL in black of course) with velcro all over the place on it. I couldnt get one to work, took it back and discovered that several velcro pieces were the male side only. You makee pow-pow long time! Sahbee??
I agree that GM should have been allowed to fail. They would have either come out leaner and better, or gone under. Let them go to China. Nothing they produce is really made in the US anyway. My (Mexican made) '18 Silverado is probably the last one I'll ever buy from them. It seems that they have even ruined their bread and butter trucks with stupid gimmicky features, bad interiors, shuddering transmissions, and endless brake recalls. When I worked for one of their equipment suppliers a few years back, there was so much red tape and bureaucracy to wade through that it seemed like you were dealing with the government. They had manuals for their manuals on how stuff was to be made... so much so that their "project managers" didn't even know the details of them, and would randomly decide how they wanted things done. It seems like very few companies can grow large and still maintain their efficiency and edge in the market place.
Actually for the most part China has phased out steam. They still have a few coal-fired steam locomotives that are used for hauling coal in Sichuan province. They feel that it makes sense to use steam for hauling the coal that is plentiful in that area. BTW: ALCO locomotives were actually pretty good except for some of their engines having thge rather nasty habit of snapping crankshafts. Some ALCO locomotives were banned from Spouthern California in the early '60s due to the four-stroke engine's horrendous turbo lag, I remember when the ALCO RS2 switchers replaced the 4-6-6T steam locomotives in commuter service on the Boston & Albany RR. The ALCOs were actually dirtier then the coal-fired steamers on initial acceleration. Some ALCOs were actually re-engined with EMD 2-strokers. The ALCO wheelsets were very well liked by engine crews. Many railfans (including yours truly) think that the ALCO PA-1 was the best looking diesel locomotive ever built bu anybody.
So when did people begin to feel corporations have a social responsibility? Sounds too warm and fuzzy for V8Buick.
Hardline Capitalist? I would say that Capitalism can only survive when the corporations do have a social responsibility. Otherwise, you start to see things like multi-million dollar CEOs, and work being moved to take advantage of impoverished countries... wait a minute... sounds familiar. I'm pretty right wing, but I think the system only works when the people who own the business understand their responsibility to those they employ and their communities.
