Nor Ford. Nor Chrysler. Nor NUMMI or Toyota.
A conundrum on the left. Honestly I wouldn't mind if every Auto Worker was laid off today. Does that make me a bad person?
I don't think so. I don't want them to be unemployed. I just don't want them making automobiles.
OK, now breathe deep. I don't hate labor, I'm all for social justice and jobs and people. Thing is, it is deeply ingrained into my system that the number one enemy of all of those things is the motor vehicle, and the bloated industry that spawns them.
The hand-wringing in Detroit and calls of unfairness ignore one thing - we just don't need so many of these damn cars. The money for those salaries has to come from somewhere. The automakers - including Toyota et all were ripe for a collapse years ago. We managed to use credit cards and home equity lines to keep buying a new car every few years and have many households with more cars than drivers. The car industry built itself on productivity and volume. Margins grew thin but volume was high. Then the bubble burst and when margins are low and volume collapses there is nowhere to go but bankrupt.
Certainly improved efficiency, removal of several brands and models would help keep the carmakers in business. That of course means the removal of thousands of jobs from the line to the dealerships. This will hurt very badly in the short term, especially in areas that have become a one trick pony. Not just Michigan, this includes towns across America that were built as "AutoMall" towns and now have zero tax revenue and big lots of useless asphalt. With reduced brands and volumes will be reduced competition, and perhaps cars will soon be priced where they should be - substantially higher. Those who stay in the car industry will be fine, making profits from higher margins, it's just there have to be a lot less of people doing those jobs at that new volume level.
Let's take this opportunity to take that manufacturing capability and retool it for tomorrow. The whole country is talking about rail - High Speed Rail, commuter rail, etc... Are we making those trains? Colorado Railcar is kaput. We'll buy the cars from the Canadians instead I guess. How's that for stimulus? OK, there is only so much demand for railcars, but there sure as heck isn't the demand for automobiles to employ the number of people we do at this level of efficiency.
I sold my car years ago, and I don't consider it unpatriotic. Yeah, yeah, people need cars blah blah blah. I'm not saying you don't need a car. I am just saying this country cannot afford so damn many of them, and to get a new one every 3 years. OK, I'm also saying we shouldn't rely on them so much, but I find it hard very easy to conclude that we just have too much auto manufacturing capability - period - and the sooner we blow it out of the system the better.
Sure, sure it's easy for some snooty high tech guy to say that GM is a dinosaur - these are real people! I understand. Ironically the ineffictiveness of unionization in High Tech means we didn't have what contracts that we were relying on. If you ask me, the union leaders and CEO's who negotiated those contracts are no better than Bernie Madoff. The whole thing was a Ponzi Scheme from the start. Let's get out from under that falling pyramid.