this is hilarious. GO TERPS AND COLONIALS! (yes, im referring to the george washington colonials)

MAYBE Gary would be a good head of the UAW... he sure FIGHTS for his kids instead of laying down to the LIES told by the folks trying to break the unions for POLITCAL REASONS (they give money to the democrats)
and by the way kiddos the $78 per hour figuire you hear bieng thrown around by the right wing MORONS is derived from PURE ANAL EXTRACTION...... it's a PURE UNADULTERATED LIE..... the average UAW line worker makes a little over $28 per hour.... in fact the non union toyota worker make an averaage of $30 per hour... SO DON'T BUY THE BLAME THE WORKERS LINE DESIGNED TO BREAK UP THE UNION...... BE SMARTER THAN THAT!!!!!!
oh yeah and GO TERPS... gary LOVES underdog teams picked last in the ACC by the carolina writers... watch us SUPRISE the bejezzus out of them :)

Will you take a check? How about a money order?

Lauren,
You have been sold a bill of goods by your union brass. First of all, $28 per hour is a ridiculous wage to pay someone whose only skills are to turn a wrench , or run an impact wrench. You can hire people with colllege degrees for that kind of money. Furthermore, the American car companies have to compete globallly. $28 per hor doesn't cut it.
Lastly, you ignore the cost of the benefits paid to US workers plus over head costs. That could easliy take your $28 per hour direct labor straight time rate to the $78 you dispute (including OT premium, insurance, etc).
That is why the foreign car companies are putting you out of business.

Buy American cars, except you southern people who would rather help the Japanese economy. American cars are built just as good and cost almost the same.

My roommates Ford was made in Mexico and my Toyota was made - oh yeah - in the plant that hired me for an engineering internship. Idiot.

Lauren are you one of the unskilled laborers making only 28 an hour. My heart goes out to you.

We must find a way to sell american cars and trucks. The bailout is worthless unless american cars are sold. Maybe someone can explain how things will get better by March 31 of 2009. The UAW must reward their workers a 401k , Insure one worker with a family plan, compete with the foreign auto workers on salary to make the big three competitive. Autoworker have some of the best jobs in america but will lose their position if the UAW does not get it right this time.

Notice how all the guys blaming the workers for getting paid too much have no problem with American auto executives making millions of dollars in salaries & bonuses. Their Japanese counterparts make a fraction of this in compensation. The problem with the American auto industry is poor management from top to bottom. They engaged in shoddy production processes, instead relying on image making to cover for all the defective cars coming off the assembly line, while the Japanese focused on quality improvement. American autos have vastly improved the past few years but the bad image still has not been erased.
Can we do without an American auto industry. Not if we want to remain a super power. We won WWII, in large part, because we were able to convert auto assembly lines quickly from making cars to making tanks & airplanes. Without a domestic auto industry, we'd be at the mercy of foreign powers. Also, loss of the auto industry would cost the country 3-4 million jobs & produce an economic depression. I'd rather bail out the auto industry than the 100s of billions we've been giving without question to the crooked financial institutions on Wall Street.. Funny how with the 100s of billions they received from us the taxpayer because they were on the financial ropes, they just gave their top executives over $1.6 billion in bonuses this past week. Now, that's a neat trick if you can pull it off. Why didn't the auto workers think of something like that?

Let me respond....
First I am NOT a union auto worker so I have NOT been SOLD a "bill of goods" by ANYONE....
I LOOKED UP THE FACTS something YOU did not do... and how come no respnse to the
FACT that the TOYOTA workers MAKE MORE ON AVERAGE... It's TYPICAL "blame the victim
psychology" that right wingers ALWAYS use.. as the previous post mentioned how about blaming the guys that made the REAL MONEY WHILE MAKING THE BAD DECISIONS....
Also you HAVE to get this is a PURE POLITICAL PLOY that the republicans have USE FOR YEARS .... they want to break the unions BECAUSE THEY GIVE MONEY TO DEMOCRATS NOT THEM hence the "smoke screen" of lies and distortions re unions... do NOT be fooled ......"FOLLOW THE MONEY" in the USA that is the key to understanding the motivations involved!!!!
AND no I am i HIGHLY SKILLED embedded systems software engineer with 30 years experience and I make about $60 an hour
so lay off the typical PERSONAL ATTACKS and stich to the FACTS!!!!!

As a retired auto worker let me say a few things. First, the cost of benefits is high because the drug makers are ripping the American public off. The same prescription that costs hundreds here can be bought in Mexico or Canada for pennies on the dollar. Second, even when the auto companies had bad years 10-15 years ago the top brass still got millions in bonuses and stock options. The thinking behind that was to keep qualified people in management. If they were that qualified there wouldn't be losing years. I'm sure if yoy asked any of the workers making $30 an hour if they would give up some money for health benifits, they would all say yes,gladly.

To dear Lauren, I am just wondering where you are looking up the facts. The fact is that the cost of producing an American car is almost twice that of a foreign car (even when it is actually made in the USA), so when they sell a car at comparable price Detroit makes very little money. Why does it cost twice as much? As you have stated yourself, the salary is about the same. But it is all money company pays to the union. The big three has no more than 100,000 salaried workers, yet they insure more than a million and pays out pensions to hundreds of thousands more. More over, instead of letting the auto companies make cars people want to buy, our government continue to impose ridiculous fuel and environmental standards. That is the bottome line why under the current business model the big three will not survive. Has nothing to do with Republicans or Democrats. BTW, Larry, the drug makers have to sell drugs at a higher price in the US because of all the real and potential legal costs they have to figure into the final price. So if you prefer to live in Mexico or Canada where you have no recourse if you are hurt by an adverse drug reaction, suit yourself.

dontbe:
You pack a lot of deceptive corporate apologist arguments into a small space. Let's unpack one or two at a time.
Don't know where you are getting your idea that Canada has no product liability laws; I can't speak for Mexico.
Nice that you think that holding manufacturers responsible for product liability is important. Most corporate apologists espouse cross-border trade and free market principles when it benefits corporate profitability by sending jobs overseas; but not when it benefits consumers (though American insurance companies, health maintenance organizations and state governments also benefit). Product liability insurance is only a small part of the cost of drugs. Marketing, profits and executive compensation (and no doubt, the costs of lobbying) are much greater.

Donbe:
You've thrown together an incoherent set of assertions, all of which blame the auto workers. Lets run down a few:
1: the cost of producing an American car is almost twice that of a foreign car (even when it is actually made in the USA), so when they sell a car at comparable price Detroit makes very little money).
What is your data source for this & don't give me Rush Limbaugh or some other right wing gas bag (I know auto industry execs say this but they have no credibility as its self serving) . What I've seen independent auto industry analysts say is that the American auto costs are about 10-30% more, & you're partly right - worker health care & retirement are US bigger expenses . As you know, all the foreign competitors have national health care. So, when Obama's national health care passes, much of this differential will be closed. But, auto management compensation & stock holder returns (until recently) are so out of line, they make US auto firms uncompetitive. Here's what needs to be done - cut executive compensation by 90%, thus bringing them in line with their foreign competitors, & move down the line with a 30% cut for middle management. salaries.
2) our government continue to impose ridiculous fuel and environmental standards. That is the bottome line why under the current business model the big three will not survive.
This is just plain silly. All industrialized country have similar environmental standards & European & Japanese auto makers are renowned for their high fuel standards. Furthermore, the auto industry has been very successful in rolling back original fuel standards & not having SUVs have fuel standards.
3), the drug makers have to sell drugs at a higher price in the US because of all the real and potential legal costs they have to figure into the final price.
I'm a health care analyst & this is your sillest remark of all. Potential/real legal costs are a minor fraction of total costs. Drug companies mainly spend on marketing & advertising - $100s of billions in fact. In Europe/Canada, the governments negotiate drug prices with the American drug companies & in those countries, people pay a fraction for the same American drugs. European countries don't allow drug advertising (they consider it a technical area where professionals, ie. doctors, really understand the total effects of different drugs) so $100s of billions are saved.
You really need to read up on things.