Auto Industry Bailout

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Would you want to buy a car built by the booze-hounds in the afternoon?

"Hey Joe, where does this bit go?"
"Dunno, on there I think - just use a hammer, it'll go"

Salem

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And they get paid $28USD/hour for doing that! No wonder american cars are so expensive compared to cars from other countries. But hopefully, those guys are the exception.

Ancient Dragon

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Bail out the UAW for the bargain price of only $500 billion! The average American worker makes $25 an hour in wages and benefits or roughly $45K per year.

The average American worker employed by Honda, Nissan and Toyota makes $45 an hour in wages and benefits, which translates to $80K a year.

But each UAW worker earns $75 an hour in wages and benefits, or roughly $130K a year.

long time no c

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Bail out the UAW for the bargain price of only $500 billion!

Some blogger didn't do the required homework again. The $75 attributed to the UAW autoworker includes all the benefits and the retiree burden. The actual wage of a UAW worker is $28. I have many friends that work for the auto industry and none of them makes close to $75, that is just utter BS.

We are not talking bailouts, but loans.

Over time, all cars will be made in China or India were folks are willing to work for $1/hour. Of course that will be the fate of a lot of other US industries.

Nearly a Posting Maven

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I don't know who did the math, but $25/hour times 2080 hours in a work year is $52K, not 44K.

>>We are not talking bailouts, but loans.
Bailouts for the banks are loans too. "Bailouts" doesn't mean free money with no repayments.

Ancient Dragon

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I don't know who did the math, but $25/hour times 2080 hours in a work year is $52K, not 44K.

>>We are not talking bailouts, but loans. Bailouts for the banks are loans too. "Bailouts" doesn't mean free money with no repayments.

Don't forget that the average US worker has to work January through May every year just to pay the taxes.

Nearly a Posting Maven

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Some blogger didn't do the required homework again. The $75 attributed to the UAW autoworker includes all the benefits and the retiree burden. The actual wage of a UAW worker is $28. I have many friends that work for the auto industry and none of them makes close to $75, that is just utter BS.

I seem to see "wages and benefits" there. Perhaps one might find relevant information in the source article that is linked, or the source material in the linked source.

[edit]I don't suppose there is any clarity in this, though.Only 38 percent of the $75.81 an hour that Chrysler's UAW workers earned came as base wages. The rest came as benefits (though some of those benefits, such as overtime premiums and paid vacation days, are paid in cash). Health care costs are the most expensive benefit, accounting for over a quarter of total compensation.I don't know who did the math, but $25/hour times 2080 hours in a work year is $52K, not 44K.My guess would be someone using the 35.5-hour work week.Based on a 35.5 hour workweek, the average hourly hours worked at DaimlerChrysler in 2006.

long time no c

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Bail out the UAW for the bargain price of only $500 billion! The average American worker makes $25 an hour in wages and benefits or roughly $45K per year.

The average American worker employed by Honda, Nissan and Toyota makes $45 an hour in wages and benefits, which translates to $80K a year.

But each UAW worker earns $75 an hour in wages and benefits, or roughly $130K a year.

Man! You really can screw up statistics can't you. Sometimes, I can't tell when you are trolling and when you screw up. I gotta go with "you screwed up the statistics" on this one.

Firstly, if you want to translate hourly to yearly, multiply the hourly by 2000 and that will get you close to yearly.

Secondly, the $75 per house in wages and benefits is actually wages, benefits, and legacy. I hope I do not have to explain the difference between benefits and legacy benefits. If you are going to compare 'stuff' compare 'stuff' accurately.

Thirdly, labor costs are still under 11% of the cost of a car.

Posting Maven

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Any way you play the numbers, there's plenty of blame to go around.

Why are upper managers being paid hundreds of thousand, or even millions, when the companies are losing money? How is rewarding failure an incentive to improve?

The UAW has painted the industry into an untenable corner, with job security and benefits that drain the companies. (Look up "jobs bank"). Nothing changes without UAW stamp of approval, so real productivity and quality improvements don't happen as readily (if at all) as in the nonunion auto companies.

vmanes

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The "Auto Dealers Association" has legislated themself one heck of a deal too. You can't buy a new car in the US without going through them.

Nearly a Posting Maven

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The "Auto Dealers Association" started as a user-protection organization. There were a lot of scammers who were selling cars via Ponzi schemes - selling cars for $1100 that cost $1500 - and various other methods. Since the invention of the Internets, this has become more of a 'protective' association.

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Dear Auto Industry…

long time no c

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Sooner or later (should have been 20 years ago, now would be a really good time, but most likely will be a mountain of money to maintain the status quo), someone will realise that this whole pit of inequity which is the US auto industry will only be fixed by throwing a torch into it to burn it to the ground, then fill it in and start again.

Salem

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> The "Auto Dealers Association" has legislated themself one heck of a deal too.
And I thought Animal Farm was a satire of socialism, where everyone is equal, but some are "more equal than others".

Seems like a lot of "more equal" types have got their snouts well and truly wedged in the trough.

All this in the heartland of capitalist USA - go figure.

Salem

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Think Big 3 Bailout's A Good Idea? Jaguar's History Suggests It Isn't

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Think the Big 3 Bailout's a Good Idea? Chrysler's history suggests it is

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Microsoft vs. GM

At one of the more recent computer expos, Bill Gates reportedly compared the computer industry with the auto industry and stated, "If GM had kept up with technology like the computer industry has, we would all be driving twenty-five dollar cars that got 1000 mi/gal."

It took a while, but General Motors addressed this comment by releasing the statement, "Yes, but would you want your car to crash twice a day?"

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"An underpaid man is a customer reduced in purchasing power. He cannot buy. Business depression is caused by weakened purchasing power. Purchasing power is weakened by uncertainty or insufficiency of income. The cure of business depression is through purchasing power, and the source of puchasing power is wages." - Corporate Titan Henry Ford, 1926.