Comments on: The Heartbeat of America Falters

By: Britt

Britt — Fri, 09 Nov 2007 00:14:59 +0000

@Caleb You’ve hit the right combination—controlling costs and focusing on innovation. And it’s been interesting to watch how the U.S. dollar has dropped. However, it does make American products more attractive because they cost less in countries like Canada, increasing demand (in theory).

@Shannon Unions have a role to play in equalizing the roles between companies and their employees, but they’ve become entities unto themselves. In many ways, they’ve lost the independence that made them so valuable to members.

By: Shannon Ehlers

Shannon Ehlers — Thu, 08 Nov 2007 23:22:52 +0000

Life wouldn’t be the same without Ford or Chevy – I absolutely love my classic Mustang and I salivate for one of the new ones – but a dose of reality in both pricing and wages is overdue. As you suggest, live in the NOW, automakers!

Having said that, I think labor unions are like strong medicine – they can sometimes cure what’s wrong if used correctly, but if overused, they just might be worse than the disease.

Case in point: Writer’s strike in Hollywood. I guess I sort of get their point about digital distribution, but this would make more sense if we faced a shortage of good writing and they had a stronger competitive position (not to mention the fact that this hardly constitutes “labor”).

By: Caleb

Caleb — Thu, 08 Nov 2007 19:10:19 +0000

It’s the message of tough love, “These cuts and roll backs are necessary for us to survive in a global economy. This is going to hurt now, but you’ll probably thank me later”. I would say that the US automakers had to take on the labour movement.

Today’s labour unions are living in a fool’s paradise. Current labour rates & benefits in North America are making it extremely difficult for corporations to stay competitive. Unless the labour unions are willing to allow concessions, corporations will have to continue to outsource.

I am a Canadian and I have grown accustomed to a lower dollar compared to its’ US counterpart. This is because we’ve had a lower dollar for over 30 years. This made exports of Canadian manufactured goods attractive. Our former government seemed seemed to purposely lower our dollar to cover the fact they didn’t want to challenge the labour unions. Well the cover is blown. As you are probably aware, our Canadian dollar has reached and surpassed parity with the US dollar. I am pointing this out, not to gloat (gloating is so un-Canadian – but to show that it has really hurt our Canadian export market. Hey, we’ve had over 30 years to fix that problem, so who can we blame?

Bottom line. I think there needs to be a dual focus. Control costs and focus of innovation – it keeps companies relevant.

By: Britt

Britt — Thu, 08 Nov 2007 01:10:53 +0000

Sometimes the issue with an alcoholic lies in acknowledging the real issue, not something that big companies excel at. One would hope that utter destruction isn’t required for recovery to begin.

By: Ed Illig

Ed Illig — Thu, 08 Nov 2007 01:05:04 +0000

I believe their fling was flung some time ago I’m afraid. Perhaps their hope now lies in a nimbleness borne of their destruction—not unlike an alcoholic bottoming out. If only those Big Three fallen behemoths represented but one man—disconcerting on so many levels.