Ford lost 12.7 BILLION dollars in 2006... how will that affect me buying a Tacoma?

[mrplunkey]

It's probably just best to stay the course here. Unions will eventually drag the US firms under, then the Japanese companies can acquire them. At that point the Japanese can either break the unions, ship all the jobs they can outside the US, or simply increase the price of cars in the US and pass those costs on to consumers.

It's kinda academic, actually. I'm not sure if it's funny or sad to watch the unions deny that all this is happening as it unfolds right in front of us though.

 

[rnch]

yeh? think so?? we can all see how well we have done following President Bush's decision to "stay the course" in the sand dunes....

 

[mrplunkey]

yeh? think so?? we can all see how we have done following President Bush's decision to "stay the course" in the sand dunes....

Well there's no other option here. Unions aren't going to release their strangle-hold and US companies aren't going to survive otherwise. So all that's really left to do is to sit-back and watch the show. Its kinda like one of those movies where you realize what the ending will be 15 minutes into the show.

Really the only question left is whether the Japanese will rename the companies to things like "Fordubishi" and "Chevoyata" or if they'll just keep the old names and count on the fact that the average American will never realize they were acquired. I'd guess the latter, myself.

 

[PICK3]

I think the toyota lineup is kind of boring
the FJ cruiser is kind of cool
their trucks will be good

the pretty toyota's are lexus's

I heard the new Yaris liftback is pretty cool.

Oh, yeah ... AAP buy a Ford or you're a commie.

 

[Spartacus]

Re: Ford lost 12.7 BILLION dollars in 2006... how will that affect me buying a Tacoma

Hyundai is about to get nuked by Long Dong Fukk.

their new sonata plant is 30 mimutes away from me
apparently the history channel just had a special on the new hyundai plant
supposedly state of the art

 

[rnch]

yes, it's much easier for management to blame the union contracts that they helped to negociate and approved rather than to blame their own ineptness....why wasn't management pushing to design new, attractively styled fuel efficient designs instead of rewarding their "live for today/fuck tomorrow" policies with huge bonuses for themselves?

 

[PICK3]

The only thing I want from Korea is an 18 y.o. babe.

 

[rnch]

what's his name?

 

[mrplunkey]

yes, it's much easier for management to blame the union contracts that they helped to negociate and approved rather than to blame their own ineptness....why wasn't management pushing to design new, attractively styled fuel efficient designs instead of rewarding their "live for today/fuck tomorrow" policies with huge bonuses for themselves?

You've got a sustainable argument -- and you can sustain it all the way up to and through the sale of these US companies to Japanese automakers. I don't know if they'll then break the unions, disband the US jobs, and/or just jack the price of the cars -- and I don't care. I'll shrug a little when someone comes to a board like this and rants about the thousands of US jobs lost and/or how they can't afford a car anymore, but its not like we didn't see it coming.

 

[rnch]

and still U S auto executives will still rake in record salaries, bonuses and stock options....no matter how badly sales tank or how much money the companies hemorage.