Agreed. Ford went what.....2 or 3 months before they followed suit with gm. Gm had to do that because quite frankly for years they have been selling inferior products. Ford and (god only knows why) chrysler corp were much more profitable companies. Yes Gm is the largest automaker in the country at the moment but for how long. I also read a while back that GM has not made a profit with any of its vehicle divisions in like 20 years and that the profit that GM makes is all GMAC. You can't blame ford or chrysler for doing the employee pricing...........they were forced into it by GM. It says alot about GM when ford and chrysler both made out better from their employee pricing programs than GM did. And GM ran it at least twice as long as either Ford or Chrysler. Quite frankly it bit GM in the butt. The sad thing is Ford is heading down the same road as GM in losing sales while Chrysler keeps gaining. I don't know why anybody would buy a Chrysler product........I've seen more garbage come from them than either of the other 2......... when i was towing for a living I had to 2 at least 5 chrysler products a week with grenaded trannies and thats not all i seen wrong with them believe me. At least half the vehicles i had to tow each week were chrylser products.

 

[QUOTE=mountaineer02v8]All of the employees that build those products still spend their salary money locally so the economy still gets helped. They aren't forced to shop in Japan and have it shipped.

 

[QUOTE=mountaineer02v8]


that is VERY hard to do.....there is next to nothing as far as "goods" go that does not have some of its "profits" shipped to a mothership other than the US one.....you need to realize that the US economy is very much a global one......

 

[QUOTE=wstahlm80]I have a pride of enjoying driving an American made product with an american brand name on it. I wouldn't enjoy driving around in a honda or subaru as much as I would American cars and trucks.

 

[QUOTE=mountaineer02v8]
No wonder the French hate us.......

 

[QUOTE=mountaineer02v8]Uh...what do you think Ford makes on a loaded Expedition or F150?! Same same G.I.

 

I dont see it as a good thing. I dont feel anything good can come from it. I dont think the wages and benefits are dragging the company down. I dont feel it is right to cut bottom line workers benefits when profits are not where you want them to be. When things were extremely profitable I doubt those people shared in all the wealth. You have CEOs making millions but those are not the ones who pay for a loss of profitability and that is their job to get or keep the company that way. They always go to the bottom line employee. CEOs can even do a jacked up job and still get a more than lucrative severance package for a job poorly done. I think people need to take heed of this and be concerned. This is a disturbingly growing trend. It is happening to a lot of people and you could be next. Luckily I work in a field that is relatively secure but my employer has tried to cut retiree benefits. If you are hired on with the benefits and retire then you should get them. It is cut throat biting the hand that feeds you.

 

Actually, they couldnt do much worse of a job than they already do. Ford quality my *** lol. With screwups on the assembly line, quality goes down the tubes.

I for think that laying off greedy unskilled workers will help Ford alot, because they will have more money to designate to R&D and quality assurance.

Also, for the liberal idiot in Northern Va that is bashing family pricing, actually Ford was following suit with GM and Dodge, two of the big three cannot offer incentives while one doesnt give a crap. And the family pricing is great for those looking for a vehicle they plan to keep, but for those that buy/sell vehicles as much as they change panties, no it hurts them. Maybe this will teach some to take care of what they have and keep it?? But thats neither here nor there.

If you do buy foreign, why waste your time on a Ford site anyway, is the liberal bitter?? No Ive never met one of those.

 

thats not my problem, they built me big chunk of a lemon, I had them buy that POS back. Me having a lemon wasn't my fault, it was Fords fault.

I learned though to never buy new again though, its so much cheeper to buy a 2 year old car or truck and you can save so much more money.

 

...and the rattles cost less too right?

 

I read the article on MSN and it sounds to me as if the "displaced" workers will be making the same they were making before (minus any overtime) at the idled plants. What the hell does idling mean anyways? Are they firing them or are they just giving them a nice long paid vacation?

 

It is the “political correct” thing to say until the dust settles. Once the dust settles the “displaced” workers will be laid off workers filling out Burger King applications as that is about what their skill level equates to.

When you downsize a company, like Ford is doing, it’s always a good thing. It accomplishes a few things. First and foremost you have some room to scrap out things that are not needed, including substandard workers.

Second, it shakes up the workforce and lets them know EVERYBODY is replaceable regardless of what their job description may be. Third it gives a bit of notice that other jobs will soon be headed out of country or that outsourcing is coming.

Finally, it helps a company to become more competitive again by getting a lot of dead weight off their back…

 

World wide, Ford is quite profitable. They just reported 4Q 05 earnings and they turned quite a profit everywhere else but in America.

Why?

One very big problem in the United States:

A very lazy, overpaid and generally worthless union called the UAW.

Ford is in the process of getting rid of all of them now. If you look at their restructuring their trimming everything down to coincide with the expiration of the UAW contracts.

Then a new plant is going to be built in North America. I guarantee you they won't have to worry about the UAW in that plant.

This is the first time I've felt pretty good about buying Ford stock in a LONG time. I'm not the only one. Their stock was up over 5% after they announced the firings and as of 2 minutes ago it's up in after hours trading as well.


-Fatz

 

Ford and other American companies have ugly cars. They need better engineers and designers. Chrysler has improved the looks of their cars but still has plenty of room for improvement.

Buying American and don't buy imports doesn't cut it anymore. A vast majority of imports are built in this country and by Union workers and last forever. My old Chevy 1500 pickup was made in a foreign country, Canada. Most parts are made in Mexico. So does that mean don't buy GM?

For those anti-union wackos do you believe illegal imigrants can build a better car for $5 per hour?

Like I have said before you can find someone to do a $50 per hour job for $5 per hour.

How many pro-American buyers shop at WalMart where most everything is an import?

Those non-union workers wish they got the wages of union workers and blame the unions because they themselves are too lazy to get ahead.

 

You hit that one right on the head!