A Modern Parable

[XP715]

http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.jsp?arti...281474977067637

Got that in an e-mail this morning. How would we go about disproving a few of the broad, sweeping statements made; particularly the ones where American car manufacturers can't handle costs, blah blah blah. You can tell people facts all day long but they just jump up and down and point to back issues of Consumer Reports, so I need hard facts in black & white (newspaper articles, etc.) to forward this back to all the people it's gone to.

[Blake Noble]

I demand a refund. I want the wasted five-minutes of my life back.

[XP715]

Also, I wonder why the author never mentioned that all the Americans cheer on the Japanese team during the canoe race no matter how hard the Americans try, even though the Japanese company doesn't put anything back into the country they take so much from?

Edited March 22, 2008 by XP715

[SuperSport623]

[IfICouldWouldYou?]

Well, in 20 years when Toyota and Honda have the same legacy costs as Detroit, they will have to sell the oars to pay the bills, too.

Just think how profitable Ford and GM would be if only they and Chrysler were 'allowed' to sell cars and trucks here.

[cletus8269]

i think one of the comments on the page sums it up good too.

One major factor was left out of this parable. The fact that the Unions bleeded the corporation to death. Once they realized that their artifically high wages were hurting the corporation they approached managment and both organizations hurt the corporation. In the end Toyota wins because they have less labor costs.

also i think the reason why the asian companies build factories to sell here is because then you dont have import costs

[CARBIZ]

Japan Inc will only build enough factories here to APPEAR domestic. They learned from the beatings they took in the early '80s. As I've said, MITI is very clever and orchestrates everything Japan Inc. does overseas. The one thing that Japan Inc does a lot better than Detroit is crank up the PR machine.