Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Ford to move all small car production to Mexico

That's what I do.

they're moving their low margin production to mexico, so they can fill those plants with high margin products (trucks and SUVs) because they have less re-work, and are 2x as productive as mexico's work force. The UAW isn't going to loose any jobs, and they're actually LOOSING their 2 teir wage system (which for them is good) that means that the people that were making those small cars, who's ceiling was limited at 19/hr are able to make more money by being moved into A. tier. This will create billions and billions of dollars in construction here in the US. Our local chyrsler plant is shipping the dart to mexico, and replacing the compas with the Jeep cherokee, they are putting on a 500 worker 3rd shift, to support this, 2 suppliers are building 400,000 sq ft mfg facilities that will employ another 500 each, them moving the [bleep] boxes to mexico is allowing them to invest in their high profit, high value employees, this is why you don't hear the UAW bitching about it.

Whatever. Nobody needs to convince me why Ford beats GM, day in, day out. They just do. In every aspect.

The global economy is making a global standard of living which is going to suck for the average American.

Yes.

Maybe we should all move to Mexico.

That wouldn't be that much different than moving to America 500 years ago...other than the neighbors.

So if you have children you should be driving them to be greater than average, right?

Nope, Louisville, Kentucky.

my f250 was built in louisville and my subaru outback was built in indiana.

no argument from me, but they also have an obligation as an American citizen - not to the American worker but to the future strength and reliability of this country.

You may build cars in Mexico but you sell them to Americans. CEOs are overvalued and overpaid, especially when their only solution to maximizing profits is not to innovate but to outsource.

Ford and others need that cheap labor for a huge profit margin. How else are they going pay those Union retirements.

Seriously? An obligation to American's? The world wide shareholders don't buy that (pun intended). Ford has not innovated? In my mind they are the most innovative US car company these days.

I said an obligation as an American citizen, not to Americans

This idea that corporations have an obligation to maximize shareholder profit is actually relatively new - Milton Friedman pushed the concept in the 70's that a corporations only obligation to society is to increase its profits. This also led the way to justify pay salary to stock prices.

Compare that to the Business Roundtable who was saying

"“Corporations have a responsibility, first of all, to make available to the public quality goods and services at fair prices, thereby earning a profit that attracts ­investment to continue and enhance the enterprise, provide jobs, and build the economy,”

“The long-term viability of the corporation depends upon its responsibility to the society of which it is a part. And the well-being of society depends upon profitable and responsible business enterprises.”"
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Henry Ford said "“The owner, the employees, and the buying public are all one and the same, and unless an industry can so manage itself as to keep wages high and prices low it destroys itself, for otherwise it limits the number of its customers. One’s own employees ought to be one’s own best customers.”"

Maybe he questioned the logic of trying to sell $30K cars to Americans while paying Mexicans $120 a week to build them.

The Business Roundtable? Of course that is what they would claim. They ain't dummies. What is it the member CEO's do?

I think you (and Pugs) mistake my meaning. I'm not anti-business or against profit in any way. I do think that it's popular to blame "lazy, greedy, American workers, especially union workers for the loss of American manufacturing jobs but that's far from the whole story. The textile and furniture industry in North Carolina was almost if not entirely non-union, and by no means highly paid, but it's still pretty much gone overseas. If the government wasn't so heavy-handed, a lot of those jobs might still be here.

I'm not a huge fan of unions either. I was in our union for over 20 years, but as soon as I was moved to a right-to-work state I got out, mostly because as I mentioned earlier, our union spent 75% of the dues on contributions to Democrats. They also were more concerned with union security than worker concerns. Unions have definitely priced their members out of work in a lot of cases. I am vehemently against stuff like card-check and other forms of gangster tactics the unions use, like the guy I know who was shot by union thugs just because he was a guard at a non-union mine.

I'd like to see more manufacturing here, because I think it makes the country stronger (and richer), but it's going to take some compromise and innovation from a number of players to make it happen. All things considered, I'm not sure it's ever going to happen.

It's as simple as the biggest bang for the buck. Keep the share holders happy.

Many years ago I was on a raft trip in Alaska which passed under the Alaska Oil Pipeline and painted on the Pipeline and the bridge which held it was the following...Made in Japan....Keep in mind this was back in 1990 and the pipeline was built in the late 70's early 80's but do you get the picture here?

So are they American autos?