Failed MI Guv Candidate and Failed MI Guv Pan Successful MI Guv Son

[XLFD]

 A recent video, prompted by Presidential candidate Mitt Romney's recent boast about helping the auto industry get back on track.

 

 

The 'Angry Mayor' of Lansing refers to Mitt's Op-ed piece at the NY Times, where he came out against the bailouts, "Let Detroit Go Bankrupt!" in late 2008.  A piece which he lays out a free market case as to why bailouts would be counterproductive to the auto industry.  Summarizing by: 

"The American auto industry is vital to our national interest as an employer and as a hub for manufacturing. A managed bankruptcy may be the only path to the fundamental restructuring the industry needs. It would permit the companies to shed excess labor, pension and real estate costs. The federal government should provide guarantees for post-bankruptcy financing and assure car buyers that their warranties are not at risk.

In a managed bankruptcy, the federal government would propel newly competitive and viable automakers, rather than seal their fate with a bailout check."

 

Whose argument/actions do you think makes most sense:

1)  The MI Governor between 2003-2010 (Granholm) whose stance has been: to give glowing praise to President Obama's bailout of the auto industry, and saying "Mitt Romney came to Michigan, and while we were on our knees he stabbed us in the back."

2)  The MI Governor Democrat candidate for 2010 (Bernero) whose stance is fairly clear from the video.

3)  The MI Governor's son (Romney) whose stance is fairly clear on the link.

[Sweater Cows!]

WAs in a GM dealership recently. They were remodeleing and I asked why. Got told basically "corporate" is forcing them to do it so all the buildings look the same inside. Boy does GM know how to piss away money on stupid unnecessary things. How bought they figure out how to make a profit on selling cars  instead of thinking a new waiting room and fresh drywall will make them money. GM(corporate)=idiots

[XLFD]

But yet according to Obama's campaign ads, GM is a success story courtesy of his policies, as reported here by Dave.  GM is not only 'too big to fail', but 'too big to even look like a fail'  But it has failed compared to the other of the Big Three in any metric you use, other than their use and non-repayment of taxpayer dollars.

[Lisa O'Brien]

I don't know - I think it's part of their customer service approach. I just bought a Cruze a couple of months ago - and I have to say the customer service is really phenomenal, I get a monthly on star report regarding the car, when it was getting close to changing my oil - they called to remind me offered to set up the appointment when ever it was convenient for me. When I did  get it changed there was a tv and magazines in the waiting room so I wouldn't be bored senseless. They want everything to be a great experience so that you continue to buy GM. I haven't bought a Ford in years - that whole experience was horrific if made such a lasting impression I will buy foreign before I buy another Ford. 

[Sweater Cows!]

I think each dealership should be able to make their own decisions. The new wait room is a hole in the wall box, no windows. The old one is really cool with windows and access to what is happening. The new one looks like a good place to lock parents with screaming babies and toddlers but I sure would not want to forced to sit in there if somebody farted with no windows. And seriously , at what biz where ppl wait don't they have a tv and mags.

[Sweater Cows!]

I am sick of "big box" everything. if you go to Muskegon the dealership should have local flair and not be the same as a big city big bix dealer in sub/urban NYC.

[XLFD]

I totally agree, Shrugs.  Keep the products being sold uniform, but let the dealerships decide on the layout that they believe works best for their area.  That goes for chain stores and restaurants as well.

[Lisa O'Brien]

I have been to shops that don't have waiting room's (not dealerships), but you are right for the most part they do have tv and magazines. But I have been to some that are pretty disgusting -floors that look like they have never seen a mop and soapy water. I do agree that they should be able to customize it to their local flair - but the reality of things with a corporation it is easier to come up with 1 model and filter it down than to come up with many different models. They should of just came up with guidelines and have each dealership apply pertaining to their own metrics.

[Sweater Cows!]

LOL I bet you wouldn't like our office, of course it is not really meant for people to wait in as things take days not hours to repair. My big black Lab-mix Miles leaves a lot of hair in the office and his crate takes up most of the floor space(which my Dad-the owner-has learned to deal with or he knows I would not be at work with out my baby boy!) But I do sweep the unpainted concrete floor and have a couple folding chairs with seat cushions for the occasion people are in the office(usually we are outside going over their vehicle).  I have thought about remodeling my office to have a bit nicer 'curb appeal' but when it comes right down to it I can't bring myself to change things. It has a neat feel from the old days when my grandpa and grandma started things and I can't imagine putting up a 'generic' feel. I do need a new desk chair at the front desk, people probably think it is bad because it has a big tear from my dogs nails in it but my dog uses that chair  to sit on and look out the window (as I use the back desk) and it fits him quite well!

[Sweater Cows!]

The current lobby in this particular dealership is in the front of the building at one end of the showroom and has huge floor to ceiling windows, a nice seating area and a nice open relaxed feel. The new one is a box along a hallway where you could not see anything going on around you nor even have a window to the outside--a great room to have a panic attack in. It is like how at hotels you used to be able to open a window and now your trapped with 'controlled' access.

[snide]

While I don't care for Mayor Virge or Do Nothing Granholm they are probablt right. Face it Romney WAS TALKING SH*T ! Romney comes back to Michigan and THAT is how he wants to garner our votes....???? Wtf..?

[XLFD]

Snide,

Romney made his statements back in 2008, when Auto bailouts were being talked about.  But I love the fact he made them then, and is still sticking to them now.  I like his statements in his op-ed piece, because it defends free market capitalism.  Why put tax money into making crutches for private businesses?  Isn't that socialism or worse?

Long before GM, Ford and Chrysler became the Big Three, there were hundreds of automobile manufacturers that went out of business without ever asking for a government bailout.

More than a century ago nearly every major city in America had a company building automobiles. In 1895 the Chicago Motor Corporation built what it called a motocycle. The term didn't last and neither did the manufacturer. According to automotive historian Kit Foster, “car companies sometime failed simply because they were under-capitalized.”

Companies like Brush Auto ran into another problem. At a cost of $550 they couldn't compete with the Ford Model T, which, during its nearly two-decade assembly-line production run sold for as little as $300.

Other manufacturers were simply victims of the Depression. Many specialized in upscale and luxury automobiles. The 1929 stock market crash brought down St. Louis-based Moon Auto and Buffalo’s Pierce Arrow. Also unable to ride out hard times: DuPont, the car of choice for film star Douglas Fairbanks, boxer Jack Dempsey and other celebrities. The “playboy car” of the era, an eight-cylinder DuPont cost over $4,000. Reputation alone was not enough to keep the car in production and in 1932 the last DuPont rolled out of the Wilmington, Delaware factory.

Even cars offering some of the latest innovations couldn’t stay in business. Have you driven a Cord lately? No, not Ford—Cord. The company was one of the first to offer vehicles with front-wheel drive, but it closed its doors in 1937.

Automakers that survived the crash did so “by producing commercial vehicles and smaller economy vehicles” according to Jeff Bliemeister, curator of Hershey Pennsylvania’s Antique Automobile Club of America Museum. Bliemeister says the key to survival was producing cars within a budget that the average person could afford.

Following the Second World War, when auto factories were converted for military production, a few new car companies managed to open. But despite the booming economy and shortage of new vehicles, most didn't last long. While you probably never heard of a Kaiser automobile, the name Tucker lives on, thanks mostly to a Hollywood movie about the company's famous demise.

Despite joining forces, better-known auto makers Studebaker and Packard also couldn't survive. After ceasing U.S. operations in 1963, the combined company struggled to stay in the automotive business at a plant in Hamilton, Ontario before shutting its doors for good in 1966.

Wisconsin-based American Motors was formed thanks to the merger of Hudson and Nash Kelvinator in the 1950s. The company, with quirky designs and models named Rebel, Gremlin, and Pacer, focused on making small, fuel-efficient cars. But by the 1980s AMC lost its way and became part of Chrysler.

 

Success isn't guaranteed when you start any business, but bailing out one or two big companies is patently unfair to all the rest, and ridiculously unfair to all those auto companies living on only in history books.

[snide]

X,

 I find your automotive history impressive. It has been my privledge to be a guest of the Ford Motor Company and tour their collection in Dearborn many times and have viewed the brands mentioned in your post.

 what I meant by my comments was, that Romney taking ANY type of credit for the resurgence of the Auto Industry is akin to Al Gore inventing the internet. Now, when you talk about "putting money into crutches for private business" it happens all the time. When it's a GOP backed business it's called "stimulus" when a Dem interest is backed it somehow becomes socialism. For example, lets look at the Oil Industry. They have been reaping tremendous profits while getting massive subsidies. My favorite is that they get government money to maintain their own equipment.....hmmm. Other examples are Farm Subsidies and right here in Mason County , a windfarm and a county secured bond issue for the hospital's upcoming expantion......and if you really want to talk socialism, let's look at Lil' Georgie Bush's 1500 dollar checks to everyone in the failed "economic stimulus" attempt. What is mor socialist than free money.....?

 Back to the cars, you mentioned that AMC focused on small fuel sipping cars. My first ride was a AMC Matador....and it wasn't slow........take care.....