Quote:
Originally Posted by The_Blur
You're correct to point out the globalized product development of all manufacturers. You're missing the more important facts. There are more workers than factory workers at manufacturers, and you need to follow the paper trail to see where your money is really going.
Follow the money. If YOUR biggest paychecks go to executives in Japan, then their money is going to the Japanese economy. Buying a Japanese product, even when built by North American workers, supports a chain of command that is overseas. Those thousands of dollars you spent gets distributed. Don't fool yourself by saying that the workers who made it are here so the money must stay here. The big money is going to offices and employees overseas. You're paying a lot of overseas workers with the same money that could have paid a lot of domestic workers.
Keep following the money trail. The office workers you paid in Japan by buying a Toyota are now paying rent with that money in Japan. The renters are investing that money in Japanese banks. This affects the exchange rate because you're sending American dollars to Japan, depleting our money supply and inflating the value of the Japanese banking system.
To complicate things further, a chunk of your investment goes to taxes. Of course, the US bills you on your purchase, but the buck doesn't stop there. Japan bills Toyota for its profits. Each car is a big wad of cash to the Japanese government. Japan isn't paying the welfare of your neighbor who lost a job in this economy. Japan feeds the Japanese. Based on your posts, I imagine you do, too.
Now, I'm not faulting anyone for making the [foolish] decision that a Toyota is a better car than a domestic product. They could be Tatas. People make incredibly ignorant, reckless, and downright stupid buying decisions every single day. We can't blame idiots for being themselves. What we can do is try to educate people. If we have any sense of product knowledge, we should all know that most domestic products—keep Chrysler jokes to yourselves please—have superior quality and workmanship these days. We should appreciate that and demonstrate that appreciation with more than a remark on the highway that the car we just passed has good reviews. We should buy better products, and they are made right here by better designers, better engineers, and local workers, even if the actual factory worker who made it is somewhere else.
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I blame the big 3 for being too ignorant for too long. They did not give the American consumer what they wanted: a reliable and economical car. This allowed them to build up their brand image to what it is today, and it gives them the loyalty of MANY American consumers. While they may have turned around their quality today, the brand images of the big 3 are tarnished.
I must say though... If anything, quality of the Toyotas have gone down since they switched production from Japan to America. I drive a 99 4-Runner. It was the last year that it was built in Japan, and I can say that after 216,000 miles on it, I have had no problems.
Toyota is a better run company than American car makers. Their profits prove that. Their company balance sheet proves that. And I'm saying this as a stockholder of Ford Motor Company.