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Originally Posted by DkknightX
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Hey Number 3, you can't save the world man. Have to crack eggs to make an omelette. With all of the buzz surrounding GM going down the crapper for the better part of 40 years, I'm sure all of the executives saw all the rats jumping ship but failed to plan accordingly. Instead of having a "wait and see" attitude, they should have been actively looking for other jobs feverishly in the meantime. That's what my wife did working in Pharmaceuticals. 1 year stint, blurbs of the company being merged/bought out and she wasted NO time looking for another job. Found one before the ship sank with her on board. Yeah, it sucks those people lost their jobs, but if you don't have a contingency plan, that is your problem and you can complain/whine about firing people all day. If they didn't have a back-up plan? Please don't make it our problem.
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40 years? Maybe not that long. That, at least for me is dabatable. I look at the real slide as 82 when there were 4 A-bodies, 5 J-bodies and 2 F-bodies all sharing exact or similar sheetmetal. Then in 85, you had the downsizing of the Toronado, Eldorado and Riviera to nearly N-body size and shape. Yes, there were some precursors to that, but that was the begining of the product slide. Keep in mind in the late 70's, GM still had a very credible mid-size car portfolio. IMO
It's tough to understand unless you've lived in Michigan. Having a job at GM, Ford or Chrysler is looked at the top tier. It would be like playing for a Major league team and then they may be at risk so you decide you'll just jump down to AAA ball. You don't just go look for another job because things look risky and tenuous. Even with the hack to our pensions, elimination of health care post 65 there isn't really a better place to work in our state. Going to a supplier has always looked at as a subserviant job. You would now have two bosses basically, your company and one of the OEMs. Yes there is a little bit of movement BETWEEN OEMs, but it doesn't happen often. So looking out for yourself just doesn't apply. You still have some pension so jumping to a company with little or no pension is a choice for the kids that hired in after 2001. They have no defined pension or benefits. So for them to move is likely. Just haven't hired too many that age lately.
Your point is well taken, it just doesn't apply when you can't slide over to an equal job. You wouldn't go take less pay and benefits just in case you could lose your job. And in Michigan, the job market has been much worse than the rest of the country for many years now, so any real opportunities required relocation.
Quote:
Originally Posted by DkknightX
Home run after home run, eh? Shall I break out the quotes from Jeremy Clarkson after he reviewed a Caddy CTS? Car was a toy with many craftsmanship issues and cheap, disposable parts for a country that embraces a "throw-away" economy. Hardly a home-run. Hopefully the attention to quality and detail can improve once we put all this behind us. I still say the composite metal on the Gen4 Camaro was far superior to the crap sheet metal we're getting on the Gen5.
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That would be the same Clarkson that couldn't say enough good things about the CTS-V when they came over and drove the CTS-V, ZR-1 and the Challenger. And oh, in case you havn't noticed, he is always bashing anything American. I find him amusing most of the time, but need to keep a grain of salt handy. LOL
And I am really curious as to what you base the Gen 5 sheetmetal not being up to snuff. The gap and flushness of the panels is so far superior to a Gen 4 it just isn't even close.