Walmart subsidizes the U.S. government's welfare program to a tune of. $15,080 per employee a year

[Wyatt earp]

terrible use of logic, OP

Not really, its to make people think

 

[Dragonlady]

Who Is at Fault for the Decline of the Big Three?

The US News & World Report??? It's best known for it's ranking of US colleges and universities. It's owned and operated by the same company that gave us that esteemed publication "New York Daily News".

Hardly a creditable source.

 

[Brain357]

How Germany Builds Twice As Many Cars As The U.S. While Paying Its Workers Twice As Much

In 2010, Germany produced more than 5.5 million automobiles; the U.S produced 2.7 million. At the same time, the average auto worker in Germany made $67.14 per hour in salary in benefits; the average one in the U.S. made $33.77 per hour. Yet Germany’s big three car companies—BMW, Daimler DDAIY +% (Mercedes-Benz ), and Volkswagen—are very profitable.

 

[G.T.]

terrible use of logic, OP

Not really, its to make people think

No, it really is.

It assumed number one, that Walmart is just giving the people the money the same way welfare works.

No, Walmart and its employees have a contract with one another. Employee and employer, maybe you've heard of it. Ots not a charity, Walmart needs employees or there's no Walmart. Its not just giving a handout ala welfare, and where folks stop working at Walmart? It doesnt necessarily follow they go straight to Welfare.....ffffffucking obviously, because theyre people who have shown they do this weird thing called finding work .....so theyd likely work elsewhere

 

[Dragonlady]

My brother-in-law works for Toyota. He makes $70,000 per year as a supervisor in the manufacturing plant. Plus he has 4 weeks vacation, top level medical plan, and a pension. And yet Toyota is profitable.

 

[Wyatt earp]

terrible use of logic, OP

Not really, its to make people think

No, it really is.

It assumed number one, that Walmart is just giving the people the money the same way welfare works.

No, Walmart and its employees have a contract with one another. Employee and employer, maybe you've heard of it. Ots not a charity, Walmart needs employees or there's no Walmart. Its not just giving a handout ala welfare, and where folks stop working at Walmart? It doesnt necessarily follow they go straight to Welfare.....ffffffucking obviously, because theyre people who have shown they do this weird thing called finding work .....so theyd likely work elsewhere

Your assuming there is another place to work, if that was the case why are they working at walmart?

If the government didn't give them an extra 5 grand wouldn't walmart have no choice but to raise wages or go out of business?

Now I am thinking it not subsidizing but enabling walmart and the people that work there

 

[JoeB131]

It's the unions that ran GM into the ground. That's why starting pay there is so low today and you don't get benefits for quite a while.

Toyota put their money into quality parts and engineering. That's something a CEO couldn't have done with GM because they were putting all their money into union pay and benefits. American cars are now getting better, but I wouldn't know for sure because I haven't owned an American car in ten years.

Uh, guy, Japanese Autoworkers are paid better than ours. Japanese unions have a say in who the CEO of the company is.

The reality is, most of GM's problems weren't on the assembly line. they were in the board room. Where theymade the decision to keep making gas-guzzlers and SUV's when the market demanded fuel efficiency.

 

[JoeB131]

The American unions had a couple of decades to adjust, but unions always hold on until it's too late. The unions are not about to save anything while lowering their membership contribution.

I've seen this so often at work. We would deliver crates to companies moving out of the state or country. In most cases, it was union shops. Talk to the workers about it, and they refused to back down from the company in spite of the company promising they would close up shop. Union workers were duped into believing that their unions would find other union jobs for them. What they didn't realize is that it was not the 70's anymore.

Then that's when you get leaders who stop letting them move their shops out of the country.

Tide's turning on that one. Free Trade is no longer popular oneither side of the fence.

 

[Wyatt earp]

How Germany Builds Twice As Many Cars As The U.S. While Paying Its Workers Twice As Much

In 2010, Germany produced more than 5.5 million automobiles; the U.S produced 2.7 million. At the same time, the average auto worker in Germany made $67.14 per hour in salary in benefits; the average one in the U.S. made $33.77 per hour. Yet Germany’s big three car companies—BMW, Daimler DDAIY +% (Mercedes-Benz ), and Volkswagen—are very profitable.

After taxes that $67 bucks an hour was more like $20 bucks an hour fool

 

[Brain357]

How Germany Builds Twice As Many Cars As The U.S. While Paying Its Workers Twice As Much

In 2010, Germany produced more than 5.5 million automobiles; the U.S produced 2.7 million. At the same time, the average auto worker in Germany made $67.14 per hour in salary in benefits; the average one in the U.S. made $33.77 per hour. Yet Germany’s big three car companies—BMW, Daimler DDAIY +% (Mercedes-Benz ), and Volkswagen—are very profitable.

After taxes that $67 bucks an hour was more like $20 bucks an hour fool

Link?

 

[beagle9]

The American unions had a couple of decades to adjust, but unions always hold on until it's too late. The unions are not about to save anything while lowering their membership contribution.

I've seen this so often at work. We would deliver crates to companies moving out of the state or country. In most cases, it was union shops. Talk to the workers about it, and they refused to back down from the company in spite of the company promising they would close up shop. Union workers were duped into believing that their unions would find other union jobs for them. What they didn't realize is that it was not the 70's anymore.

Then that's when you get leaders who stop letting them move their shops out of the country.

Tide's turning on that one. Free Trade is no longer popular oneither side of the fence.

. Unfettered or lopsided free trade you mean right ? Trade is great, but when it comes at the price of your core strength, then a nation has become a fool slap full of greedy idiots if you ask me.

 

[Brain357]

Corporations are always saying they want lower taxes. The people want good well paying jobs. So base corporate taxes on number of employees, pay, and benefits. If a company hires here, gives good pay and benefits they pay no taxes. If they choose to pay very little and import everything they pay high taxes. Everyone gets what they want. Welfare goes down, government dependence goes down, wages go up, employment goes up....

 

[Ray From Cleveland]

Then that's when you get leaders who stop letting them move their shops out of the country.

Tide's turning on that one. Free Trade is no longer popular oneither side of the fence.

Yes, well we could become like the former USSR and not let anybody in or out. But we can't even stop anybody coming in unfortunately.

But in a free country, how does government stop a business from moving out of the country?

 

[Ray From Cleveland]

Uh, guy, Japanese Autoworkers are paid better than ours. Japanese unions have a say in who the CEO of the company is.

The reality is, most of GM's problems weren't on the assembly line. they were in the board room. Where theymade the decision to keep making gas-guzzlers and SUV's when the market demanded fuel efficiency.

Right, that's why the Volt was such a success, and government had to offer tax rebates to buy those stupid cars because Americans didn't want golf carts with a car body.

 

[Ray From Cleveland]

My brother-in-law works for Toyota. He makes $70,000 per year as a supervisor in the manufacturing plant. Plus he has 4 weeks vacation, top level medical plan, and a pension. And yet Toyota is profitable.

The UAW would allow workers to retire after 30 years. I ran into an old friend of mine from my teen years. We were talking about the old gang, and he told me one of our friends retired a few years back. He retired at the age of 50.

You don't get any government health coverage or SS until you reach the age of 65, so the union supports all their retirees. When medical costs started to explode, the union made no effort to scale down the retirement plans for those who were already retired. I don't even know if they could to be honest. But that's what greatly contributed to the bankruptcy of the car companies.

Plus if you talk to your brother-in-law, Toyota employees actually have to do some work to keep their job. With American workers, all you had to do is be breathing to keep your job.

 

[Ray From Cleveland]

How Germany Builds Twice As Many Cars As The U.S. While Paying Its Workers Twice As Much

In 2010, Germany produced more than 5.5 million automobiles; the U.S produced 2.7 million. At the same time, the average auto worker in Germany made $67.14 per hour in salary in benefits; the average one in the U.S. made $33.77 per hour. Yet Germany’s big three car companies—BMW, Daimler DDAIY +% (Mercedes-Benz ), and Volkswagen—are very profitable.

 

[Ray From Cleveland]

There are lots of big mistakes. First they had gas guzzlers when people wanted economy. Then when they tried to make economy they were junk compared to Japanese economy cars. The designers and engineers are not union.

Correct. But they couldn't afford top engineers or designers. Union workers had the money.

 

[Wyatt earp]

It's the unions that ran GM into the ground. That's why starting pay there is so low today and you don't get benefits for quite a while.

Toyota put their money into quality parts and engineering. That's something a CEO couldn't have done with GM because they were putting all their money into union pay and benefits. American cars are now getting better, but I wouldn't know for sure because I haven't owned an American car in ten years.

Uh, guy, Japanese Autoworkers are paid better than ours. Japanese unions have a say in who the CEO of the company is.

The reality is, most of GM's problems weren't on the assembly line. they were in the board room. Where theymade the decision to keep making gas-guzzlers and SUV's when the market demanded fuel efficiency.

Where are all these high paying Japanese autoworkers?

What Happened to GM

GM likes to blame a lot of their problems on increased employee expenses in the United States due to the unions. This is a small factor I am sure, but mostly just an excuse. Toyota and other foreign automakers manufacture their cars in this country as well. In fact, the American car companies do a lot of their assembly in Mexico. So, the competition that is taking over GM's top spot is incurring similar expenses.

I think the real problem is the poor quality and the design of the cars. As someone who used to only buy GM vehicles I can say I wouldn't even consider buying one again. I find the design and look of the cars to be unattractive, I also feel the quality of their cars is inferior to their foreign competitors. While they clearly have not put as much effort into their cars as their competition, their prices somehow still remain equal with the competition. The sticker prices on the cars are similar I should say, but the promotions being used by the Big Three American automakers to sell cars is much different. Even with the sales promotions all three companies are still losing market share. Toyota gains market share every year and they have not had to offer an employee discount or a red tag sales event. They just build high-quality vehicles and that is all the promotion they need.

So you give US an opinion vs facts?
How cute

 

[Ray From Cleveland]

Great opinion piece by a journalist. I should care why?

Take a look at the Aztek, that wasn't a union decision.

That was a F-up, not a major disaster. Companies facing a total decline is not made by one error or one instance in most cases. It's usually much bigger than that.

 

[Ray From Cleveland]

Unions are not responsible for the product they produce. They don't make the design or production decisions. This fiction that the US auto industry failed because of the unions is the sort of lie that conservatives tell because they hate unions. The US auto industry failed because the executive of two out of the three companies made bad decisions as to what the American car consumer wants.

When GM re-introduced the Camero around the time the first Transformer movie came out 2007, I was excited. I owned a Camero back in the 1970's and it was one of my favourite cars ever. At the time, I owned a black Camero, and my (now) husband owned a white Firebird. So my husband and I were both excited to see the new Camero at the auto show. But when we got into the car, the seats were uncomfortable, and the whole cabin was very poorly designed. To say we were disappointed would be an understatement.

You can place a lot of blame on government with their idiotic cafe standards. I'm 6'3" and I can't get into many mid-sized cars. People are getting larger and government keeps trying to force auto companies to make their cars more fuel efficient.

Years ago my (then) mechanic explained it all. He told me that in order for GM or American car manufacturers to stay in business, they have to compete price wise. You can't do that by paying outrageous salaries to union workers while at the same time making cars with high quality parts. So yes, unions did have much to do with it.