MY GM PREDICTIONS:

[exilous]

it is very depressing reading all this crap andwatching it all happen right before my eyes but we did it to ourselves. And it will be a few years before we get things straightened out. And to comment about unions, I am aan operating engineer i operate heavy equipment everyday and the stuff i see going on between big bosses ceos and superintendants on a day to day basis is to try and beat their way around the union ways to screw the workers, i see it everyday on my way to work. the Q Bridge in new haven is being build 90% non-union. a CT based union contractor had the winning bid for a long time and jodi rell our governor didnt like the idea of a union company doin gthe job she made them hold the bid for extended amount of monthsand they couldnt due to rising costs of steel. the project went back out to bid and 2 huge non-union companies won the bid for millions more. I don't get it and i see a crane operator running a crane one minute then getting out and doing something else another minute. meanwhile earning a very low wage at that. and some of the skills that these so called crane operators that are working non-union possess skills that shouldnt be used in running a piece of equipment like that. not to mention its a job that will last years long and te companies are from maine and massachusetts taking the jobs of connecticut people...just yesterday there was an article where people finally realized that we have out of state workers working in our state. nothign will be done about it.

as for american vehicles, I will always buy a "big 3" vehicle no matter what the cost. a small handful o fmy friends are the same way. and to me that is the only way we will keep this economy going. but with so many people unemployed at the moment peopel wont be buying that many cars anyway.

[Russ130]

I'm not going to lie I wish I was in a union getting paid ridiculous amounts of money to do hardly anything. Unions had their place in our society many years ago. Those days are long gone for now. If you are a union member you will be biased towards the unions. But seriously think about how much cheaper American made products would be in cost without unions driving the price up. As far as out of state workers go that is what a free country is all about. Oh and just to set the record straight there are plenty of CT residents working here in MA and have been all along. If unions where eliminated things would be better off overall for the whole country not just the few who happen to belong to a union. Imagine someone chipping in and doing more than his title calls for, oops sorry that's not the union way. The union is just another beauracracy that serves only itself and nothing else. The union brought us weekends, holidays and vacations in a time when men worked in excess of 60 hr weeks every week. Funny to survive a non union member has to work 60 hr weeks to afford all the union related products. So no I'm sorry unions have to go and union members need to come back down to reality.

Personally I have not bought a new car or truck for one reason. They are crap! They are built to be disposable like a bic lighter. When I smoked, I used a Zippo lighter. I'll stick with the older chevy trucks, thank you.

[exilous]

I do understand where your coming from me only a few years into the union i grew up helping everyone out on a jobsite doing a little bit of everything. it took me a good solid 2 years of work to get used to do the whole "doing my own job" The company i had been working with the last 6 months was out of boston mass. Great guys to work with. But if unions werent there to fight for those holidays and vacations and stuff like that believe me not every business owner is a nice one. A lot that i've dealt with so far in my short life would and have pushed for worker longer days less weekends less holidays to get the jobs done because it comes right back down to the dollar. But there is a limit to where the unions should stop and what the unions do to GM is ridiculous. Most of those guys making the $27 an hour are making more than me i don't make big money for being a union guy but when it comes right down to it paying the pension health and welfare and all that other stuff my hourly pay is something to the sum of like $65 an hour. So realisticly I do get your point and I don't understand how jobs still get done union and stuff but it works.

[Russ130]

We have labor laws that take care of a lot of things the unions used to do. I wonder how much better our schools would be if we weren't paying so much to get our roads fixed. I wonder how much better the roads would be too. How much would a Corvette cost if where made by non union people making normal everyday wages? How much would any American made car cost if every employee was not in the union and making average money? I'm going to guess 16.5% less. I'm basing that on the old 3 equal parts 1)labor 2)parts and 3)profit. Since the average union member makes double the average non union member.

[exilous]

well lets see not all roads are all fixed by union companies. it usually goes out to bid and whomever has the lowest bid usually gets the contract. and most of the time the union company wins the bid because they have a lower price...i know in CT its like that tons of work goes to O&G and they are a very large union company. so why if they cost so much more to employ do they win bids over non-union companies? And I also know that a lot of schools being built in our state usually gets awarded to union companies again because they are the lowest bidder. So not all union stuff is bad.

[1HI4x4]

Well, Exilous it's not quite like you are seeing it. Most states Ct included have a law on the books concerning "prevailing wage" the way it works is this, if you are doing construction work for the state then you must pay your employees at the "prevailing wage" (Union Scale) So if Bob owns an electrical company and pays his guys $20 per hour, if they get on a government job then he might have to pay them $40, so all of the guys on government work are getting paid top wages from your taxes. Here's the link to CT's law, but most states are very similar or equally dumb.
http://www.ctdol.state.ct.us/wgwkstnd/prevailing-rates/3153smry.htm

Please hurry up with some more government in my life.

[smitty77]

Well, Exilous it's not quite like you are seeing it. Most states Ct included have a law on the books concerning "prevailing wage"...

To piggy-back on this argument, this is why it costs so much to build and maintain roads and infrastructure.  It makes no sense when you consider the scenario for what it really is:  My company can find workers that do excellent work for $20/hr, but because some strong-arm union somewhere makes my competitor pay their people $40/hr, my guys get to earn $40/hr while working on a state project.  This makes no difference to my financial situation, as I already bid the contract at the $40/hr labor rate because I knew the job was prevailing wage.

So who loses?  You and me, and our kids.

[smitty77]

A vehicle that we would call an el camino is already in produstion in Australia as a Holden Model. So its not new, its just new here.

And GM has learned nothing despite being on the brink of collapse.  The last import from the Australia Holden line was the GTO (badged in AU as the Monaro), and it was a flop.  This is why GM is failing, repeating the same mistakes over and over.  They already had the el-camino back in production, it was called the SSR.  And it was a heavy, underpowered, non-practical, and insanely overpriced niche vehicle.  Who makes these decisions?

And don't get me going on ugly.  Chevy started that ball rolling 20+ years ago with the Lumina APV (think Dustbuster!) and Pontiac kept the same ball rolling almost 10 years ago with the Aztec.

[Russ130]

Well 1HI4X4 I wasn't going to get into all that because I figured it was common knowledge. Exilous it is true about prevailing wage and in fact it is also a federal law which means all federal jobs must pay prevailing wage. Prevailing wage means the highest wage known in that area for that job. The last thing any of us need is a 21 yr old kid telling us how the unions are the best way to go. If I was in a union I'd be all for them too but I wouldn't preach about how it sucks to see non union people getting work. I have seen more than one company go bankrupt over the years because of the union's unreasonable demands. You weren't alive when the teamsters went on strike and were shooting at any independant trucker that was working. You also weren't alive to see virtually every mob boss, a leader of one union or the other. No matter how you look at it today unions are bad for business and our ecomony. Not that someday in the future they won't be needed again but until they are they really should be done away with. Exilous, I'm not trying to be condecending towards you so please don't take it that way. I just think your statements are wrong and have explained how and why. Nothing personal for real.

[81Cheyenne]

...I'll stick with the older chevy trucks, thank you.

older Chevy trucks= Union Made

[Russ130]

Don't all Chevy trucks?

[Stewart G Griffin]

Choptop:

My optimism?

We are living in a world where KIA still exists, yet pontiac is gone.  There is something seriously wrong with this world.

i mean KIA for freaksake!

Much more on this later;  i am very disturbed, disillusioned, and angry over this whole recent turn of events.

[78 Chevyrado]

...I'll stick with the older chevy trucks, thank you.

older Chevy trucks= Union Made

Mines not union made anymore.....   Now it's a privately constucted vehicle.

[choptop]

Choptop:

My optimism?

We are living in a world where KIA still exists, yet pontiac is gone.  There is something seriously wrong with this world.

I was being somewhat sarcastic. I. too, and disturbed on what they are doing with the governemt, I do vote on items when I have the oppurtunity. My comment was made regaurding the auto industry. I fail to see how the disappearence of Pontiac while Kia exists effects me. They government is messing enough things up, the auto industry is the least of my concerns. If they cant pull themselves out, then they can sink. No one is here helping the oil industry out. We have drilling rigs stacked everywhere, people losing their homes, cars, working at places at a fraction of the pay they used to get. This isnt because the oil companies spent too much money on private jets, and 1/2 million dollar homes, this is because the Obama idiots are sucking up to foreign counties who hate us, and wont allow us to go to work because saving trees and killing babies is the way to go now. How can I give a crap about automakers failing, when there isnt many people who can buy them in the first place. From what I see, the auto industry's problems are self inflicted. So what, you made your bed, you lay in it. The oilfeild industry is being destroyed, and no one is even pointing it out. How does this effect the rest of the country? Lets put it this way, I paid over $20000 in taxes last year. At this point on the books this year, I doubt I'll be anywhere near 1/4 of that. I am a small company, the drilling companies probably pay that weekly. If the drilling companies arent working, how does the government expect to get the money to payback this loan the government got. By raising your taxes.
My point about being sarcasticsally optimistic, is worrying isnt going to fix the issue. It is going to make you miserable . DO your part and vote when you have the oppurtunity, write your stat representative with concerns, but I dont see where the auto industry woes, Pontiac leaving while Kia stays is worth a second of time from someone like yourself. I mean that respectfully, as I have vast respect for you.They are the ones that messed it up, let them sink. If you couldnt make your house payment, do you think they would be concerned about you. No way. With the problems you have had with your truck, did any of the big three come help you any?? NO .I just hate to see someone waste their time and get sick over a bunch of idiots that need to pay the price for their stupidity. Your a good man, and they dont deserve your time.

[1HI4x4]

Great post Choptop, As bad as I hate to admit it, if I needed a new car/truck today Ford would get my business. They are the only one out there that is not locked onto the government, and the profits stay here in the USA.