"bernie" > wrote in message
...
> On Aug 2, 11:35 am, "alan" > wrote:
>> "lockjaw" > wrote in message
>>
>> ...
>>
>>
>>
>> > A ridiculous time! with 600 locations closing.
>>
>> > never fly. Plus Starbucks treats its employees very well.
>>
>> > and Jack / Izzy? the problem with GM etc. ain't the unions -- it is
>> > the idiotic management
>>
>> You're absolutely correct. And although any serious economic analysis
>> comes
>> to the same conclusion, don't expect Jack to allow himself to be confused
>> by
>> the facts . . .
>
>
> BMW reported on Friday their profits this Q down 33%. Nissan
> reported Friday their quarterly profits down 48%. Along with Toyota
> and Honda auto sector profits are glum.
>
> http://www.tradingmarkets.com/.site/...STORY/1799680/
>
> I find it hard to believe that all these companies have "idiotic
> management". Maybe the worst economy in about 50 years has something
> to do with it. Even if they were all producing hybrids at 100% plant
> capacity it wouldn't do any good if folks can't buy a new car.
> Bernie

Certainly the "worst economy in about 50 years" has something (perhaps
everything) to do with GM's current troubles. What I was referring to was
what I perceived (perhaps mistakenly) to be Jacks' contention that the UAW
was responsible for GM's big downturn in the 70's which turned Detroit into
a ghost town. GM's inability to hold the market and subsequent inability to
re-capture it had nothing to with unions. While GM was foundering, Japanese
and German automakers were doing quite well --- with highly organized and
very powerful labor unions. GM's troubles were management based. Now
they're mangement-based and economy-based.
alan