Driving Down Profits

Well, yeah, Bigdaddy. I mean, I wouldn't disagree atall about outdated business models or marketing. Truth be told, I know little to nothing about that. But I do have some sympathy for American automakers.

Here's why:
First, it's become politically incorrect to drive a Chevy or Dodge or anything else that's not Japanese or German. Want to make a political statement? Buy a Volvo. I mean, let's face it: driving American marks you as a redneck. Might as well hang a rebel flag from your antenna.

Second, Europeon socialists have been the trendsetters for decades offering leftists this side of the pond goosebumps they haven't felt since Ed Sullivan debuted the Beatles. And, gosh, if it's American, it HAS to be somehow marred by imperialism, right?

Third, I've been involved in the cattle business for most of my life and have felt the brunt of foreign markets. Today, US producers are battling markets established and built by the Carter administration and fostered by NAFTA, GATT and now CAFTA. We're still producing the better product though our government continues to ship them genetics we've spent three and four generations perfecting. But we're doing it under a huge tax burden with significant restrictions from the EPA, OSHA, the FDA. Meanwhile, Brazil is producing beef with cheap labor, cheap land, virtually no tax, and no government restrictions. They don't even have PETA to put up with. And they're doing it with the genetics we, their competitors, developed, and it's being provided for them by OUR government.

One need look no further than the steel or textile industry to see how this will likely play out. And the recent lines at gas stations will be a fond memory when spoiled consumers aren't able to buy meat, bread or organic lattes. Central American producers are already organizing, forming a sort of H&P OPEC, waiting to gain enough sway on US markets to shut off supplies and make us squeal.

All of this was to say that I do have some sympathy for US producers and manufacturers who find themselves not only dealing with fickle consumers but having to deal with a tightly set course of twenty foot legislative hurdles just to stay in business.

So am I suggesting that subsidies are healthy? Absolutely not. What I am suggesting is that we begin to use some foresight in this globalist ballgame and let the home team shed their lead shoes. American producers and manufacturers simply cannot compete on the incredibly sloped playing field they're being asked to play on now. Cannot. With horrendous tax burdens, restrictions on business and labor that's priced itself out of the market, we'll soon be retiring all but those in service industries, and I haven't seen a workable plan yet that would allow the rest of us to be gainfully employed as professional consumers.

Doveranchwriter

PS I left Ford out of the first paragraph. As the current corporate leader in social engineering, they deserve all the bad luck they're getting.

I couldn't agree more Doveranch. In fact a farmer/rancher friend of mine expressed nearly your exact sentiments to me this morning.
You'll not find many others more against government dabbling in the free market than I. Our leaders have given away more than we know to not only foreign competitors but to foreign enemies as well. Witness today's declaration by Congress that there'll be no more sales of old jet parts until it can be verified that we're no longer selling them to Iran. Okay, and why were we selling them to Iran in the first place?
And while they're giving out with one hand, they're robbing with the other as taxes and regulatory compliance increase.
The more burdens we place upon American producers, the closer we get to the socialist promised land the left so covets.

As for automakers, I understand the constraints they're operating under, but find it hard to gin up sympathy for other burdens they've failed to seriously address for years, but now want tax payers to shield them from. I don't want any US company to fail, but I don't want to bail it out with our money either. Certainly congress wouldn't rescue either of us if we were in bankruptcy court.