Especially when you don't sell enough to cover factory efficiencies and utilization. Look, I am ready to concede that you may have run your own mom and pop business, but your posts suggest that you don't have any idea how big business cogs work. Let me tell you...without market intelligence and planning you are doomed to make good old boy, insider, know_the_answer_from_the_gut mistakes, just like these guys are....unions or not.
Perhaps. But if you cannot see that the unions are the most important single problem facing the Big 3 then I would argue -- correctly -- that it is YOU who doesn't understand how business operates.
It isn't complicated to see what the problem is. Fixing it, yes that is a complicated problem. That you cannot see what is fairly obvious to nearly everyone is suggestive that your vision is somewhat cloudy on the issue.
The big 3 have been sucking wind for decades now, starting with the junk they produced in the 70s and moving on to the mismatched, underwhelming, underpowered, underperforming (and ugly) product line they sell today.
You keep saying this, and I don't necessarily disagree with you about that. It has little, however, to do with their current debacle, which is that the unions have made them uncompetitive, and drained off so much of their money that they cannot weather a significant downturn in sales.
I keep saying this, but somehow, you just don't get it. ALL the OEMs are facing the same immediate crisis -- TM, Nissan, Hyundai, all of them. Yet, the others are not teetering on bankruptcy from it. Why? Because they have been more profitable over time. Why? Because they aren't dealing with the UAW.
I know you think it is a marketing problem. After all, when the only tool you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail. But those of us who understand the bigger picture don't have to blame marketing for all the industries' woes. The reality is that marketing IS a part of the problem long-term, but the immediate crisis is CAUSED by the labor unions.
It is funny that only the liberals don't see this rather obvious fact. |
