The Big Three’s New Ad (Hilarious)
Nothing we’ve seen sums up the debate over bailing out America’s “Big Three” automakers any better than this ad.
We were thinking perhaps a tombstone with “American Ingenuity” inscribed on it, or maybe an ad where that lonely GM Robot actually does commit suicide, but this is way better.
The truth is hard – our car companies couldn’t compete, and now they deserve to go under.
That sucks, but that’s life …
Comments
By Judy Benedict on December 9th, 2008 at 2:39 pm
America helped some other countries build up their economies, including technology for their auto industries, and it just goes to show you, as my neighbor always says, “No good deed goes unpunished!” However, big 3 cars are not ’shitty’ but management/unions may be classified under that category.
By Recovering Lobbyist on December 9th, 2008 at 10:56 pm
The issue is not quality. The worst car I ever owned was a Honda.
The issue is production cost and worker productivity. BMW pays their line workers $25 and hour with a reasonable benefits package, and their only worker limitations are governed by OSHA. GM pays their line works $50 an hour and a gold-plated benefit package, and it takes five GM employees to screw in a light bulb. It was only a matter of time before the UAW drove the big three into bankruptcy.
Memo to the UAW membership: enjoy your early retirement.
By Greedy GOP (redundent) on December 10th, 2008 at 10:05 am
Slight disagreement w other posters, the fact is American cars are far less in quality and lets face it..down right ugly in most cases. My last us car was a jeep..worked on teh pig almost weekly..ive had toyotas and BMWs since and the diff in quality is night and day. The figures above are also incorrect..the cost per hour of a gm worker w benefits is $78 avg toyota worker $52. No way should we bail out the us auto industry until they 1. produce a car someone wants 2. produce a car that is at least equal in quality to Japan, germany or hell even Korea. As long as they make shit cars, and they do, they should be allowed to fail, isnt that true capitalism?
By Gary Grabenstein on December 14th, 2008 at 3:32 am
The comparison in wages of UAW members to BMW workers is entirely not true. You should do your home work before making such erroneous claims. When wages for the big three are depicted by the media those wages are greatly inflated. This is because included in those numbers is the coat the big three pay their retired employees. Transplants (companies building cars here from overseas) have been building cars here a much shorter period of time than the big three. As such the retirement costs are much less. And in their home countries medical care is provided by the govt. The idea that everything is fair and balanced between home based American industry and foreign industry is a joke. Americans have been stabbing Americans in the back for years. As for Toyota. California has three Toyota plants represented by the UAW. There pay is the same as at UAW big three plants. The figures you show for pay differences between Toyota and GM are again not correct. Please go to the website Dollars and Sense. Look for: ‘More on the myth of the 73/per hour auto worker’
The foreign auto companies are also hurting in light of the present economic environment. But if it was not for the slick kids on Wall Street destroying the credit market we would not be in this mess. They got a bailout.
If you choose to buy a foreign car do me one favor. Please do not place an American flag decal on it in an effort to appear patriotic. GM and Ford quality is on a par with the Japanese and surpasses German and Korean cars.
Thanks for reading this….Retired 38 year General Motors employee.