... wouldn't be the disaster it has become IF American companies could compete in foreign markets. I'm not versed in all the reasons that doesn't seem to be happening (and no doubt SOME of it is foreign markets erecting obstacles to free market competition), but a major factor is the labor costs for the American automakers. No doubt environmental regulations play a part, but if it were a large one, then the foreign car companies couldn't compete here by building cars here. It is mostly the unions with the labor costs, but there's got to be something else involved.
Comparable American cars tend to sell for less than foreign cars to begin with, but not enough less to compensate for the difference in depreciation in value. That depreciation is due to quality. Why not spend the money to put out a higher quality product? Sure you would have to charge more, but why can't an American built American brand car compete with an Americna built Foreign brand? THAT is a problem of entrenched ideology -- the feeling that the big three would always be just that. The bailout of Chrysler only set the stage for subsidizing failing business models. One wonders how different things might be if Chrysler had been let to go bankrupt all those years ago.
and tossing 25-30,000 plant jobs and 4000 other jobs...thank you NAFTA and thank you UNIONS.
Don't blame Bush for this one.........
http://www.cnn.com/
TONI