[stratman]

Originally Posted by SilverTurtle

...taxing the import companies and making it almost impossible for them to sell cars here...

That is not protectionist policy that is a monopoly. And to be honest, if you have owned two Hondas that you loved I do not understand where you are coming from. And did you seriously bring up the Axis Powers? Wow

Originally Posted by BowtieGuy

So because Toyota has plants in America that makes it domestic? It doesn't matter where they are assembled, it matters where they are born.

No. It matters where the people being employed by the manufacturing plant are born. The point being that the factory is not on US soil and I'm guessing Chevy isn't shipping American workers there to build it. As I'm sure Japan isn't shipping Japanese workers here to fill the Toyota plants. Just because the net profit returns to the American brand doesn't mean it's helping the American worker.

Originally Posted by Dragoneye

There's nothing wrong with wanting supporting your country. NOTHING. It was the lack of pride and support that led us down this path in the first place[/I]

I agree completely and not at all. While there is nothing wrong with wanting to support your country and that factoring into your decision making process it should not be the end all. If in your informed opinion the foreign car is a better buy for you and you still don't buy it I say you are a selfless f'ing idiot who will be consoled on unhappy commutes simply by a feeling of self-righteousness. Enjoy.

Blind support is a terrible thing and it does not lead to progress. I will give an example I hope will remain an example and not start a controversy. I am a black male in my late 20s and have all but washed my hands of what is considered "Black Entertainment". In the black community there is immense pressure to support black owned, produced and created anything to help the community. What this has led to is an undeserved acceptance and sense of pride in substandard products from ironically stereotypical movies and TV shows to the outright demise of Hip-Hop,Rap and R&B. My point being, if you'll take anything with a smile at some point they will start giving you anything with a bigger smile. If you don't want it don't buy it. Period. Just because we think GM is great doesn't mean that Joe Blow from Jersey has to. As an American it is his right not to.

Originally Posted by SilverTurtle

you seriously dont comprehend the situation, do you? you really dont know how companies like Toyota get HUGE discounts on taxes to build factories here in the USA and then, when they come in under budget, they take these discounts and savings and put them into the company's budget in JAPAN, do you.

And? This is big business in a free market society any advantage you can be given you take. Why haven't the Big three worked out a similar deal to stop opening plants outside the states. You know why they get breaks to open plants here? Because they replace Jobs we are shipping elsewhere.

Originally Posted by Dragoneye

Here's the biggest flaw with our consumer-base -- we're cheap bas*ards to the core:

Product 'A' costs $12. Competing product 'B' costs $10. Both are the same quality, both do the exact same thing, and for all intents and purposes, both look exactly the same. How many consumers do you think will take into account product 'A' was made here in NA, and product 'B' was made in China? I'd guess none, simply because 'A' is 2 bucks cheaper. It's ridiculous, but companies making good business decisions cater to this buying philosophy, and send operations to areas with lower standards of living and thus cheaper labor (see: China/India). Frankly, it disgusts me. That's what I was trying to get at with my original comment.

I mean are you serious or is this a joke? If you hand me two basically identical products that do the same task with equal success and tell me one costs 20% more but it's made in America you expect that to sway me to take the extra 20% of the money I get up at 6:00AM 5 days a week and bust me a$$ for and spend it on the American product? During a recession? Are you out of your mind? I mean honestly, stop for a second, remove the emotional aspect, look at what you just proposed logically and tell me that equation balances out. And remember your are actually talking in thousands not singles.

Look I have no desire to see the Big Three fold. But the way to correct it is not to attack your competitors it is to beat your competitors. In my opinion , with the possible exception of aesthetics, they have made up any ground they lagged in their automobiles behind the imports. Their war is to be on the cutting edge and win the war of public perception about their products. Make people see American Made means something again in the auto industry. Cause for a time it didn't and people really remember that. You don't attack a competitors ability to compete you out compete him. Or is the new "American Way" really just to have things handed to you on a silver platter? :flag2: