Delphi's Bankruptcy

[RedDog]

Re: Delphi\'s Bankruptcy

<font color="blue"> Anyhow, the larger companies in this country are in serious trouble because of the promises they have made over the years. </font>


Wasn't it the "bigwigs" who agreed to these promises???

RedDog

 

[HGM]

Re: Delphi\'s Bankruptcy

Seems that way, maybe they should pay for them out of thier pockets....... /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gifWhat do you think? I'd go for it......

 

[browns40]

Re: Delphi\'s Bankruptcy

Now here's a post to catch one's attention!

Maybe a better name would have been: "ramifications of leveraging our children's future for our own"

As individuals, employees, employers, government... the short-term future has always been first and foremost--and who can blame you for that? "Looking out for #1... taking care of MY future"

And it has not been poorly intentioned, not directed to create systems that are doomed to fail... but our society has changed,

Hallmark to this has been the rampant expansion and improvement in Health Care: bad heart--take this, high cholesterol--here you go, cancer--try this, broken wrist--skip the $200 xray, lets get the $2000 MRI, migraines--have a CAT scan. Peole are going to be living longer & longer, and having more & more options to increase the quality & duration of this longevity...

But now we are starting to see what is happening with Social Security, Medicare, Health Insurance, pensions, a lack of manufacturing competitiveness on a global market... companies & systems are Starting to buckle, restructure, collapse, disappear...

The truth is, our children as a whole will not look forward to the same degree of financial success and independence overall as we have had, despite our best intentions. The options for them will be more finite...

Scarier still for us, is the fact that we are overpaid, (yes overpaid, I'll say it twice!) as a society... honestly, how many people here (me included) have a tractor as a hobby? A boat? Camper? A car? Truck? 2? 3? Own a second home? How many countries afford that to so many as the US has? Our strengh of productivity has been what has made the US what it is, but...

We CANNOT make a $1.00 yo-yo in the US, but China, India, Pakistan, Malaysia, etc can make 10, charge a US company for 5 for $1.00, and the importer & exporter both are happy... so are the 500 workers at the yo-yo plant in Guangzhou looking forward to a hot meal thanks to those 10 cent yo-yo's!

It's cheaper to send scrap steel to China & have it melted, refined, & re-cast into our tractor parts than to get it in the US or Canada.

One of our largest industries here on the coast of Maine was fish-farming for the past decade--salmon in particular... local smokehouse bought salmon from Chile to make their product because the local company would have lost money on every fish to meet their quote...
We have perfect conditions, cheap labor ( by US standards)... now basically gone! The companies moved to Chile to avoid Health Insurance, Worker's Comp, Unemployment Insurance, Medicare, Social Security, OSHA, DEP, EPA, DOL, Liability Insurance, Commercial Insurance... all the things that make industry in America unpallatable in a global market.

Now this was without the burden of unionization bleeding the stone any further. Unions were created to ensure safety & fairness for workers, not to have "clout" enough to destroy a company's profitability. The government agencies aforementioned do all that unions were intended to when created... now their role is often as "financial muscle", to coerce businesses into making promises they just can't keep by threatening interruption to the cash flow...

Notice anything with pulp & paper mills in your areas? Textiles?

Times are changing folks, and not for the better. The US will remain an economic giant, but not THE giant. It's not a matter of not wanting to make due on less, it's a matter of you'd better plan ahead & learn to make due with less, because we aren't going to have "more" that much longer.

Better yet, teach your children... Start thinking about the generations to come--they will have the legacy we leave them as a society.

Happy tractoring!

/forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif

 

[jmc]

Re: Delphi\'s Bankruptcy

Frankly, both Labor AND Management of the US auto industry remind me of two children in the back seat squabbling and pointing fingers at each other.

Labor was able to extort extreme compensation from Management back when things were fat for the US companies. (May as well agree to the demands because a strike will bring an end to this posperity.) I don't think there can be too many employees, who don't think at some level, this compensation is too good to be true.

And Management. Four companies used to own this entire industry. How could anyone worth his salt squander such a lead? And had that lead not been squandered, these Labor issues would not be so critical. Back in the late 1960's, Ralph Nader, in his book, Unsafe at any Speed, suggested that US auto management was over rated. His point was that the big four was guaranteed the business and it was theirs to lose. Mediocre management could still be successful and become over confident. (this is my recollection after 30 some years) The amazing thing is, after all this time, why has no one stepped in and turned it around?

 

[strokerduster]

Re: Delphi\'s Bankruptcy

lets not forget another dirty word, LAWYER. how much do you think is added to the price of that new tractor you want to cover past, present and future liabilities caused from one incident of stupidity that some lawyer sees as an income opportunity instead of what it actually is, stupidity. what happened to people being responsible for their own actions. just my opinion ( and theyr'e like a**holes, everyone gets ONE)..........

 

[PBinWA]

Re: Delphi\'s Bankruptcy

Browns40 - the best comments I have seen yet.

Lots of greed and our "me-first" culture is to blame. I remember growing up in the early 70's that a 2 car family was pretty fancy. By the 80's teenagers would share an old beater in the 3 car family. By the 90's people were buying their teens new cars in the 3+ car family. Now it's cars, trucks, boats, campers, trailers, ATV's - you name it.

Look at the fancy new houses that are going up in the suburban sprawl. They are huge with hardwood floors and fancy appliances. The only way that people afford these is by using credit and/or wasting their hard earned money.

Does anyone really need all this extra stuff? It seems to me that we will need an "adjustment" (i.e. depression) in our economy to change people's attitudes. Who knows for sure the world has a wonderful way of levelling off it's peaks and filling in it's valley's.

I felt bad the other day because I threw away some 4-5 foot sections of 12 gauge fencing wire. My depression era grandparents would have carefully rolled it back up and saved it for some other project or need around the house. Not me - it's just too easy to be lazy and wasteful these days.

Maybe I need to go get that wire out of the garbage can.

/forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif

 

[sneaky_pete]

Re: Delphi\'s Bankruptcy

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( Four companies used to own this entire industry. How could anyone worth his salt squander such a lead? And had that lead not been squandered, these Labor issues would not be so critical. Back in the late 1960's, Ralph Nader, in his book, Unsafe at any Speed, suggested that US auto management was over rated. His point was that the big four was guaranteed the business and it was theirs to lose. Mediocre management could still be successful and become over confident. (this is my recollection after 30 some years) The amazing thing is, after all this time, why has no one stepped in and turned it around?)</font>

Someone did step in; Toyota, Nissan, etc.

 

[riptides]

Re: Delphi\'s Bankruptcy

Not directed at anyone in particular.

I have been following this, but well, here goes....

My pension was just discontinued.

How do you think I feel?

It WAS part of a contract I signed up for when I started working.

My assets are frozen now until I "retire", oh sure I get interest. Whoppie do!

So while the big boys get their due... I get squat. Don't even for a minute cast doubt on the workers or their benefits they earned and labored for.

-Mike Z. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[PBinWA]

Re: Delphi\'s Bankruptcy

Riptides - that sucks.

I know that I will never expect anyone (employer or government) to provide me with anything in my retirement. I saw the writing on the wall in my twenties and have been saving (on my own) since then.

Most pension plans and social security plans have been squandered by bad management and poor regulations. A lot of people that bargained in "good faith" will get burned in the future. Most of these plans have been plundered by bad management (and government) that allowed the investment capital to be used for other purposes.

It's a mess. We will all suffer for it in the end. The big decision will be "when" the suffering begins. I think in your case you are finding out sooner than others and you have my sympathies.

PB

 

[Jagmandave]

Re: Delphi\'s Bankruptcy

You can't blame the lawyers. They work for someone else, someone else filed the suit - they just do their job carrying it thru the system. The people who give the money away - juries - are to blame for these huge awards, not the lawyers.