Are there any People That care in this country anymore??

[dumbucket1]

I buy new cars for several reasons but #1 is I know that the car has never been smoked in. Other reasons include I know it was not abused and I know how it's maintained.

[VileZambonie]

I will certainly agree about unions. Just like minimum wage going up and up and our salaries staying the same. If I have to pay a cashier $8.25 an hour to ring up a $.75 pack of gum I'm going to have to charge $1.50 for the pack of gum. then gas prices go up and people stop buying gum. Then I have to lay off my cashier and pay their unemployment and then my business folds. Americans mad about not buying American would have to go back in a time machine to really be upset about it today.

[cracker0169]

The Big 3 did it to themselves. Instead of designing and marketing vehicles that fit were "normal" (lack of better words), they focused their attention on selling vehicles that were way overloaded, ie Denalis, Escalades, Navigators, etc. These vehicles retail for $55K and no wonder they cant sell them! What happened to the vehicles that were not loaded? The ones that dont have navigation systems, XM radio, back up cameras, and all that other jazz? Why is it that you cant go buy a basic work truck anymore? A truck with a manual transmission for Pete's sake!!! Maybe I dont want to spend the extra $4k on the Allison transmission, maybe I want a 6 speed!

Atleast the General had enough sense to build the 73-87s!!!

[78 Chevyrado]

One thing I noticed about new pickups, and this was at the chevy, gmc, ford and dodge dealers, is that you cannot get a top-of-the-line regular cab pickup.  You must get at least an extended cab to get anything above next to bottom of the line.  And ford doesn't even have a regular cab truck anymore, but only a mini extended cab that looks like crap.  I can't buy an extended cab truck because it won't fit in the garage, but even beside that point, I don't want an extended cab, I haven't had one yet.  The other thing that drives me crazy, is the on-star and satellite radio antennas.  Have you seen where GM stuck them on trucks?  Behind the windshield on the left side, with no reason to why it's there in that spot.  And on a ford ranger, the antenna is right next to the rear of the passenger side front door.  Why aren't they centered up like on cars?  I thought the first onstart antenna I saw on a truck was stuck there by the dealer for like inventory control or something.  It looked to half-done I just knew gm couldn't have done it.  Guess i was wrong

[joesgarage71]

Americans mad about not buying American would have to go back in a time machine to really be upset about it today.

  I've been upset about this stuff for years! Yup your darn right I pay twice as much for and American product than buy a foreign products.  I'm not selfish I don't think of just myself, I love this country, I pay my taxes and don't wine about it because I'm doing my part as an American. I support US businesses. Heck people support US troops why not US businesses too. There to worried about saving two dollars. It's a real joke to see a foreign car going down the road with a support our troops sticker on the back or worse yet a US flag, Yea support our troops but the Heck with the country right!
  A great American Sam Walton is turning over in his grave right now. but we won't talk about that.
 Flame on!
 
 

[dumbucket1]

sorry but sam walton pumped more money into the chinese economy than he does here. Most products at walmart are made in china.

[joesgarage71]

Sam Walton started walmart if you can remember his stores carried ONLY PRODUCTS MADE IN USA Was a big lie since the early 80's most all the clothing is made in CHINA that is sold in Walmart!
 You are right dumpbucket!
 I was wrong Sam Walton wasn't all that great
http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&id=haF1pOaAxNwC&dq=Sam+Walton&printsec=frontcover&source=web&ots=lRAVNFx0vO&sig=UmkRihX04jg4lVtHbD5Y1B879Ts&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=1&ct=result#PPP1,M1

[the dan]

The Big 3 did it to themselves. Instead of designing and marketing vehicles that fit were "normal" (lack of better words), they focused their attention on selling vehicles that were way overloaded, ie Denalis, Escalades, Navigators, etc. These vehicles retail for $55K and no wonder they cant sell them! What happened to the vehicles that were not loaded? The ones that dont have navigation systems, XM radio, back up cameras, and all that other jazz? Why is it that you cant go buy a basic work truck anymore? A truck with a manual transmission for Pete's sake!!! Maybe I dont want to spend the extra $4k on the Allison transmission, maybe I want a 6 speed!

Atleast the General had enough sense to build the 73-87s!!!

yeah exactly how i look at it
all we wanted was a chevy tahoe bare bones and you cant even get that!, thought about getting my mom a restored k5 blazer

[VileZambonie]

Sam Walton started walmart if you can remember his stores carried ONLY PRODUCTS MADE IN USA Was a big lie since the early 80's most all the clothing is made in CHINA that is sold in Walmart!
 You are right dumpbucket!
 I was wrong Sam Walton wasn't all that great
http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&id=haF1pOaAxNwC&dq=Sam+Walton&printsec=frontcover&source=web&ots=lRAVNFx0vO&sig=UmkRihX04jg4lVtHbD5Y1B879Ts&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=1&ct=result#PPP1,M1

I was gonna say.... lol

WalMart should be an island and people that like it should live on that island and stay there!

[78 Chevyrado]

people still don't care dude.  of coarse they don't care about simple stuff like economics, look at who runs the country, I mean all politicians in general, down to the sheriff level.  Ted kennedy keeps getting elected so that in itself shows how retarded the general public is, of course they'll buy imports.

[CruzinHigh]

I think the UAW should be shut down, They served their purpose in the beginning, but they've outlived they're productiveness.  They've switched places with the old companies they were formed to fight. 
Check this out where the UAW is screwing FORD over real good.  Here's your cheaper cars, but they're not coming thanks to the UAW.  This is a ford video, but before too long gm and chrysler would have a version too.
http://info.detnews.com/video/index.cfm?id=1189
The UAW WON'T allow it here in the US.  Whats wrong with that?  Employees telling the company what to do?  I'd bankrupt my own company to get rid of them and start again.  Someone is full of crap to think that under any circumstances, ANY forklift driver is worth 110k a year.  The info is out there, but i know this is fact for some of their forklift drivers.

I think they should tax heavily any companies farming labor out to any other country, and also they should tariff all imports to the point of making american stuff competitive, if need be.  Remember WWII?  We were the industrial envy of the WORLD.  and guess what, we didn't import cars, computers, toys, FOOD, etc. We made everything and exported crazy amounts of stuff to the alies.   It can get back to that, But people are too lazy and miserly to help the cause of themselves.  A phrase comes to mind, not to crap where you eat....  I think it's already over though.  All politics and religion aside, Look around at things dude, were screwed.

I am not directing any of this at any one person, but the general public in general.

Priceless....

And I am afraid I will have to take this in a political direction for the sake of the topic...  Unions??  How on earth are the ridiculous pensions, pay for doing nothing and the "check card bill" that our leftist government has promised to pass with all the campaign bribes going to help this country??

Since when has a capitalist, free-market society begun to accept that socialism and government intervention in every aspect of our lives is acceptable??   Well, I tell ya... NOW.   Here we sit folks, giving more and more of our liberty away to the government and accepting that they "know what's best".

Do you think the government makes better decisions about what's best for you and your family or do YOU make those decisions more appropriately?!!

Honestly, I WANT our new President, Congress and Senate to succeed.  I am behind my country and its best interests.  But never forget the sacrifices our forefathers have made in the interest of LIBERTY.

Less government = personal choice and accountability.  Amen...

[Terry73]

I have five Chevrolet's and each one is a very good. I own a body shop and i see the Honda's and Toyota's come in.When I take these apart you can see that they are built cheaper than American.I tell all the ones that come in my shop that tales about how great there Honda or Toyota's is that I have a 1973 Chevrolet truck that still as the starter and headlights that came with the truck.Do you think you will be able to say that about your foreign car at that age?BUY American

[Bitzer!]

my 2pence worth (cos I don't use $ lol)

The UK is just the same i'm afraid. I try and steer clear of politics 'cos the top brass (people) look after themselves. I can't think of anything great about Great Britain anymore, we have more immigrants than ever before and now we're having stike action as jobs are being given to european workers rather than a home grown Englishman. They have put a Honda production line on a 4month "holiday" as the economy is so poor and there are hundreds of people each day being made redundant.

Our government is allegedly trying to help our economy with tax cuts etc but the banks won't pass them on to the general public. Food, clothes gas & electric are all rising rapidly but the wages we earn are frozen and we're all worrying about the job situation.

Where is it all going?

rant over

[hilton850]

I don't even know where to start....I have all what should all be american autos...I can't keep track of where they were built at the time....two relatively new pontiac cars (probably built in canada), a ford f-150 (probably built in mexico) and my trusty 84 GMC (assembled in the USA with parts from all over) are currently in my driveway.  I love my country and sincerely feel bad for all the auto workers who are out of work right now, I don't believe this whole mess is in any way their fault weather they are part of the UAW or not.  I'm sure most don't give a rats ass about union executives and what they do, the vast majority of the workers are there to work, not play politics.  The guys and gals on the production lines are the people who make it happen every day.  The union however, has shot it's members in the foot with the "labor pool" which is a bunch of people who were displaced by machines...I've heard as many as 30,000 people...who get paid for doing nothing simply because they are part of the union and their job is now done by a robot (evidently part of the union contract).  I'm sure this is very expensive for the big 3.  I feel that the American auto companies have been grossly mismanaged....who can afford a 50K + hummer or denali or the latest non practical sports car, like cracker said.  That's what they were putting their resources into up until about a year ago when nobody would buy that stuff anymore.  If I could afford to buy one of these lavish rides, I wouldn't be able to afford gas for it (or insurance for that matter), either way it doesn't matter because I'm not at all interested in any of those types of vehicles and evidently many other Americans feel the same way.  I also think our government is partly to blame for sticking their nose where it doesn't belong but that's for another rant.  Right now I'm supporting the american auto makers against my will....part of my paycheck goes to them every week in the form of a taxpayer bailout and what do I get for my money?  Nothing as far as I can tell besides a bigger tax bill (like we don't already pay enough)....I certainly won't get a new car out of the deal, that's for sure.  I guess I really can't imagine the country without GM or ford or dodge.  Maybe china or japan will buy them up and maybe then they can make some resonably priced, reliable vehicles (I'm being sarcastic, I really hope this doesn't happen).  There was a time when those three companies represented cutting edge technology and they really were the BEST automobiles available.  GM still makes the corvette....and according to many automotive experts it's an american supercar....will keep up with ferraris and porches and lots of other high end cars for much less money.  Why can't they do that with every vehicle that they build?  My opinion is the American autos are mediocre and over priced these days - again no fault of the workers...they just build what they are told to build.  None of them have kept up with the times until they had to react to an economy where people aren't willing to spend as much on a car or truck and expect them to be fuel efficient and reliable.  A couple guys at work have new tundras....380 horsepower and with a light foot they can get 20 real world mpg out of a 4 wheel drive extended cab full size truck....the big 3 don't have anything that really compares and that's why they are where they are.  I won't even get into the differences in cars.

I'm really disappointed that american greed and corporate jets and golden parachutes took the place of american work ethic and ingenuity.  It's a sad time here in the good ol' USA. - end of rant

[DnStClr]

I agree with a lot of what you guys say, and I know a lot of you guys don't like the UAW, and our wages/benefit packages, but you should realize what the foreign auto companies pay their workers isn't much different. Take a minute to read the link I added at the end of this post. Also,since 2000 the GM employee stats are as follows-
Yr.2000   U.S.salaried employees-@44,000.    U.S.hourly employees-@133,000 
Yr.2008   U.S.salaried employees-@29,500     U.S. hourly employees-@63,700
As you can see, GM has cut it's entire U.S. work force drastically in order to restructure and contain costs. I hope your company hasn't had to eliminate over 50% of its employees. The wages of U.S. GM workers are @ 9% of the total cost of the vehicle, which is not out of line with the cost of any other industry and it's product. We will soon ( next few weeks )take another pay cut to  help reduce costs even further.
 One thing, maybe the most important aspect of our wage- is that we have negotiated a cost of living allowance as part of our auto worker contract. As the cost of living increases, our hourly rate keeps in step with it. Without a cost of living increase your wage will buy less next year just because the cost of living goes up. It's not a raise for doing nothing. It's just keeping in step with the rise in the cost of everything else. I hope you have a cost of living allowance in your wage.
http://www.aftermarketnews.com/Item/28594/uaw_losing_pay_edge_foreign_automakers_bonuses_boost_wages_in_us_plants_as_detroit_car_companies_struggle.aspx