Delphi Bankruptcy

[Brian M.]

Re: What the hell is a "job bank"?

I think I can hear the party music from CHINA.

[don 42616]

Waste

While I don't condone union wasteful demands. The CEO who run their Companys in the ground walk with fortunes?? GM Roger Smith (remember him)? Tyco, Adelphia, Enron???? Blame is shared by all. Don

[Joe L.]

Re: What the hell is a "job bank"?

Brian------

Yes, DELPHI actually already has quite a few plants in Mexico. However, they announced or it was otherwise revealed some time ago that they were going to be looking to transfer more work from Mexico to China. It seems that they've found that the Mexican factories are more expensive to operate than ones they could build and operate in China. I mean, think of all the money they could save if, instead of paying people, say, $5 per day, they could get by with paying them, say, $1 per day! They could cut their labor cost by 80%. Now, when you consider the difference between their US labor cost of $216 per day (plus benefit cost), this becomes an "attractive option", to say the least.

So, the folks "south of the border" may soon be feeling the "China pinch". Imagine, folks willing to work for $5 per day and no benefits being priced out of the market by folks willing to work for FAR less!

[mike cobine]

Re: there are UAW workers that are now loosing

It is a check and balance system. As long as both sides stay balanced, all works well. But what has happened is that both sides have gotten so heavy (greedy), the seesaw is breaking.

Eliminate either side, and it doesn't work anymore.

[Duke W.]

Re: What the hell is a "job bank"?

Speaking of China, how about this deal. GM finally sold EMD to a private partnership that includes Gerry Grenwald - Chrysler's CFO under Iacocca. The deal closed this year and GM had been trying to off EMD for at least ten years.
They closed the LaGrange and Cleveland plants and consolodated all production at the Canadian Plant, which, I think is in Ontario - New London(?)

So a couple of weeks ago EMD - now Electromotive Diesel rather than Elecromotive Division, announced a deal with China for 300 locomotives. Particulars weren't disclosed other than it appears to involve EMD's premier technology which is AC traction motors and associated controls. It's so expensive that most American railroads are continuing to by DC traction motor locomotives.

Probably what will happen is that GM will export components like controllers and AC traction motors, but the locos will be built in China. Then China will build there own using EMD technology whether they pay for it or not, and I wonder if they will even really buy 300 sets of locomotive components.

I mean what are those guys doing. China doesn't honor copywrite or patent intellectual property, and they're giving away the store.

Duke

[Duke W.]

Re: Waste

Yeah, but remember that some Tyco and Alephia execs are now serving 10-20 year federal prison terms (no parole), and Ken Lay and some of his cronies are sure to follow. I think their trials are supposed to start before the end of the year.

Roger Smith didn't do anything illegal. He just made bad business decisions, but they didn't come home to roost until Stempel and Ruess were running the show, which put them in a no win situtation. They paid the price for Smith's mistakes.

Duke

[Joe L.]

Addendum

Also, I noticed that the government of Taiwan has started a full-blown advertising campaign, tag lined "Well Made in Taiwan". Maybe even the Taiwanese are beginning to "feel the heat" of their neighbor to the west. It may be that the Chinese communists have finally found a prescription (perscription?) for defeating their breakaway island's capitalism. The prescription? Capitalism in mainland China!

About 30 years ago I said that one of these days the US was going to say about its old "arch-enemy": "Chairman Mao, where are you when we need you?" Well, that has just about come to pass. If you think that Japan and Taiwan have ruined the US manufacturing base over the past 30 years, "you ain't seen nothin' yet".

I don't LIKE ANY OF THIS. But, you can't change the way it is just by not liking it. When ol' George Lambton pinned that "River City Joe" moniker on me about 38 years ago, a lot of responsibility for "telling it like it is" came with it.

[Clem Z.]

the govt is now going after the adelphia

owners for income tax evasion on top of what they have already got them convicted on

[Duke W.]

Re: What the hell is a "job bank"?

The other issue is currency valuation. There isn't an economist worth his salt in the world who doesn't think that the Yuan is undervalued, but the Chinese are using all their newly earned Greenbacks to buy Treasury and other US debt securities, which is financing both our public and private debt.

China's recent agreement to allow the Yuan to "float" within a three percent range rather than pegging it to an exact dollar amount is being "hailed" by US politicians as a major victory, but it's joke - barely even windowdressing.

We let them steal our intellectual property and are mortgaging our economy to them.

If you make a deal with the Devil, you're sooner or later going to pay the price.

Duke

P.S. I've never been inside a Walmart!

[Duke W.]

Re: Waste

You don't hear much about it in the press - it ain't the OJ trial, but most of the corporate crooks from the late nineties are being aggresively pursued by US attorneys. I may have confused Adephia with World Com. Bernie Evers got 20 years IIRC. Didn't the Tyco guys get a mistrial on the first round, but then got convicted on the second try? I recall that a couple of Tyco execs were sentenced about a month ago.

Duke

[Joe L.]

Re: What the hell is a "job bank"?

Duke-----

I rarely go to WalMart (for reasons other than the manufacturing source of their products, though). However, you don't need to go to WalMart to find foreign-manufactured product------you'll find it EVERYWHERE. Ever go to Circuit City or Best Buy? How about Macy's, Sears, or J.C. Penny's? What about Home Depot or Lowes? I could go on-and-on. If you exclude foreign product from your "list of acceptable consumer products", you'll be in for a LONG shopping trip and, subsequently, a "deprived condition".

Several months ago I purchased a Wahl Mustache Trimmer THAT WAS ACTUALLY MADE IN THE USA. Most of the Wahl products are no longer US-made and none of the competitive products were. This item was more expensive than the other products, but I bought it anyway. I mean, how often do you get to purchase a Made in USA electronic item? Or, ANY item?

[Duke W.]

Re: What the hell is a "job bank"?

A month ago I bought, mail order, three pairs of Sperry Topsiders from a regional chain in the Southeast that had a sale going on.

As you may know these are the original "deck shoes" whose design goes back to the thirties and are as "Amerinca as apple pie."

I was chagrined to find that they are marked "Made in China" along with the size on the inside of the tongue. I looked at my most recent pairs - probably late nineties vintage and they, too, were made in China.

Only after I looked at my oldest pair - the pair I save in case I ever enter a "most beat up boat shoe contest", which are probably about 15 years old did I at least NOT see "made in China" on the inside of the tongue, but the size lettering was still visible.

Duke

[mike mccagh]

Re: What the hell is a "job bank"?

its REFRESHING to contemplate the fact that when us old pfarts need it, the NURSING HOME will not be made in anywhere other than MADE IN USA.Sad, aint it. mike

[Michael H.]

Re: What the hell is a "job bank"?

At a 4th of July fireworks display here last year, small 4"X7" American flags were handed out to everyone that showed up. Proudly displayed in the upper corner of each flag were the printed words, "made in China". I thanked them and gave it back.

[Gary #41345]

Re: What the hell is a "job bank"?

And who was behind the push to remove the trade barriers from China even though their human rights were no better now than when we first put sanctions on them? did somebody say "GOOD OLD GEORGE AND COMPANY" Alot of you people put him back in office and now you pay the price as well as far into the future.....