regfootball

tell me how you really feel. :rolleyes: one thing i will find that i liked about your post is the reference to CEO pay not being cut. I honestly do not know what the solution to this problem is, as its not isolated to GM. But what are the forces that can change this? I do not think that the unions will ever be the ones to be successful in reforming executive compensation. One thing is for sure. A labor strike will not contribute any time soon towards a global movement to reducing executive pay. And hey, Bush/Cheney are oil folks. Doesn't surprise me that gas is going through the roof. I'm surprised it took this long, maybe they were just waiting for re-election first. That said, Kerry was a horrific alternative and I can't believe that the Dems in the last two elections cannot come up with anything better than the Gore/Kerry combo platter. Its like being asked, do you prefer poison, or being shot? And it only gets worse, Queen Hillary is laying the groundwork for embattled fems and semi-thoughtful 'wanna be aware' soccer moms to put her in power in 08. Like I would vote for her? If you really want a national downfall, an undoing of the country, put Hill in office. lastly, it doesn't seem that mass US culture would really give a hoot if the union got cut in half. That's really the key thing to understand here; public sentiment. Union labor would gain a lot more public support if they were convinced into thinking that unions contributed in a meaningful way to corporate and national success. But too often what I've come across from people I know is a fervent anti-union sentiment. Whether its right or wrong isn't the issue, but many people feel that 'why are they asking for more when they already have it so much better than me'? If everyone in our country unionized and got great benefits, then many companies who provide the jobs would simply go under and they also would fail in the global market. No country can survive as an island in the world unless they participate in the global economy. If you don't participate in the world, you lose political and military influence. Then, someone takes you over and you can't defend yourself. I strongly dislike this new trend in outsourcing US jobs and I do believe we need a strong manufacturing base and need to pay those jobs well. But unions pining for a lot more than what the average American makes is not the effective solution. Unions do not have what it takes to reform the pay deficiencies of America's working classes or executives. It will take some sort of third party breakthrough in our economic structure to ever be able to make social class pay scale corrections. Some social force aside from unions will maybe someday reform our pay structures in America.

Living here in Minneapolis area I am getting lots of media coverage on this. Basically, Northwest will have to go under if they cannot cannot cut their costs. The amount of money they have been losing over years now suggests the bleeding cannot continue. Even if NWA is using the bankruptcy card as a tool or leverage, the threat is very real. NWA cannot raise fares, they would price themselves out of the market. Why? Many factors, but I am sure too high labor costs IN COMPARISON to others in the market are one of them. I know they won't see pay increases which is a bummer, but if the outside market exposes your current salary as too high, what do you do? Ultimately, the market in some way will set what you are worth, regardless of whether you try to artificially prop up your own worth. It just sucks when the adjustment has to happen for so many folks at one time. Just pick your day when you want it happen. Now...or in a couple more years when the bubble breaks then (because the company couldn't afford your pay). Considering NWA got rid of pretzels or snacks or something on flights to save money, I would assume they've looked for a lot of cost savings. The mechanics have these options -strike and risk losing their jobs forever. There are going to be MANY folks out there who would jump at the chance to get what the compensation package of the striking workers was. Good luck finding a new job as good. A prolonged strike will likely shut down the airlines. -settle quickly and give in some more than they wanted, but realize that keeping their jobs and a compensation package that is still good compared to many others is satisfactory to continuing on in life. Such is the way when you sign away your ability to be your own agent and put your livelihood in the hands of others. Ah, the concept UNION. We can all throw our families futures down the toilet at the same time! tens of thousands of us at a time! If that isn't good for economy and country, I don't know what is! And we can harm thousand's of others futures at the same time too! What it seems to do well, is handcuff corporations from proactively trimming costs when neccessary, on the fly. It sucks to be laid off (3 time veteran, thank you) but maybe we all need to consider that organizations have checkbooks too, and when dollars coming in are not what we like, then its nice to shed 'payments' when we can't afford them. To trim down and expand up as revenue and work demands, rather than to be handcuffed by expensive and inflexible labor contracts.......... I see your angle here, and its parallels with the auto industry. But I doubt you will find much union sympathy here. All it really shows is a microvision of how bad the US car industry will be forever damaged if the union doesn't recognize that pushing it too far and getting greedy is their own ultimate demise. It just brings everyone else down with it. And you always hear the whole 'joe EXECUTIVE makes xxxx million too much". True, but even if exec pay was slashed, its not going to turn a company around or benefit the rank and file that much. And then, all your top execs would quit and believe it or not, cheaper execs would screw the company up pretty badly. There's always going to be corrupt folks at management levels skimming the crab out of the crab salad. Striking should not be done from the angle of 'us against them/poor vs rich/we need to bring the top men down!'. Its nothing less than a feeble attempt at class warfare and is just a bunch of people pissed off at their perceived status in life. And the rest of America looks down on that angle, and all that happens is you lose your jobs because you got too feisty. You just gotta give some and shut up with all the undignified fightin' words. Its not professional or classy and its devalues your support from the rest of America (I am referring to some of the comments I've been reading from the striking mechanics in this example, not anyone here on this board). And all companies are poorly managed. You can blame it as 'poor management' but all companies make good decisions and all of them make shitty decisions. Managing GM or NWA is so complex, the company has to excel in SPITE of what can be piss poor management. Humans are not perfect. www.startribune.com has a lot of coverage about the NWA strike Really what I see to this is the catastrophic pendelum effects that unions can impose on an economy. No group of folks should be allowed to have that great of an influence on the health of a large company, a state's economy, or the ability of a much needed airliner to do work safely and with service to its CUSTOMERS. I predict big damage, with smaller, leaner carriers benefitting.

The Impala has better proportioning than the Camry.

that 29 grand charger was not a Hemi. thanks, tannersoc for shedding light on the obvious, the new impala has cheapness inside. again, my impressions of drivng the SS didn't wow me or do anything for me that made me really want the car. Still, its a decent cruiser in the classic GM vein. A great cornfield state cruiser for the interstates, and thanks for someone also confirming that yes, the rear seat is small like on so many GM cars. but i will say the new Impala is a big improvement and I would buy one over a Camry, Accord, Sonata for sure. No worries there. The LT and LTZ deserve to be huge sellers and the SS package is a nice offering for those who want a smooth v8 car. The Impala is a very good offering. It just is nothing to lust over, even the SS. There's too many more interesting cars out there.

my aztek has exposed screws and they're real.

I think the cobalt will benefit from the radical nature of this new styling. the jetta went and left for the high ground and the civic has gone for the wierd ground. Corolla and Cobalt will benefit. Focus is old, Mazda 3 is more expensive than a Mazda6.

sucks. can we please keep this Korean trash off our shores. wait, they are building Korean trash here now.

we are a society and nation that is ALL ABOUT conveinience.

thanks, I wish the CTS had AWD also. That one annoying incident can sometimes be frustrating. I would have a GTO in a heartbeat if I had enough coin to have another car to drive in the winter.

So wasn't it annoying when your CTS got stuck last year? Having AWD would have helped some from avoiding it happening or helped get it UNstuck. My angle here is most casual car buyers really don't ever want the CHANCE of that annoyance happening.

but exactly that is why the mass market wants FWD, was for the exact reasons you stated. Or Ferdi. Cars are tools, people make car payments to get space and transportation. Those needs outweigh in most cases the need for rear drive handling. FWD is more convenient and safer within most people's skills and limits. I do think GM needs more RWD cars, but only if AWD is offered on those models as well. That's the only way for GM to cover their backsides in case a model ends up not selling because its RWD only. Remember, RWD adds many more components into the cost of manufacturing the car and that alone adds another component that keeps RWD from going en masse. By the way, the chrysler 300 and magnum sales are trending down and the Impala sold a whopping number of cars last year, next year will be even more. The 300 is not a huge sales success for the long term. It is popular due to the hemi name and its penis extender styling.

my next door neighbor across the street from me, who works for Dodge (not entirely sure in what capacity but its for Dodge, not a dealer), was commenting to me the other day about how it was a big mistake for Dodge to only offer the charger with RWD and also about the under porduction of AWD Magnums. And he flat out stated how poor the RWD Magnum and Charger are in snow, do not believe any of the hype about them being any good with the electronic systems. He said the trac control and stuff hardly does much to help. He knows all the Dodge product well and has first hand knowledge with all of it. Considering how most folks can only afford one car payment (or two if its a family) they want a car they can get around in, and something that won't get stuck, even ONCE (as compared to the aforementioned trans am). FWD vs RWD lessens your chance of foul weather foibles GREATLY. And THAT is why FWD will still be more suitable for mass volume cars. The automaker can make em and sell em in any state. Nowhere in the US will sales tank because the cars won't get around. Plus, FWD is more space efficient and cheaper. The need for folks to get around easier and safer for their hard earned money far outweighs the need for a machine to do 'smoky burnouts'. The trend is also to go from FWD and step up to AWD for even more traction. The RWD only market is destined to be for vehicles with smaller sales volumes and sporting or luxury focus. Manufacturers can't bet the farm on cars that half the states don't want, or can only drive 9 months out of the year, and they don't want expensive inventory rotting on lots all winter if they don't unload them by December.

where is the delete message option?

if you buy say, 4 dining room chairs that won't fit in the low height trunk, the fold flat front is a godsend.

perhaps there will be some good aftermarket center stack face panels available to get rid of that bland cover.

ok, now that front end IS progress. no more killer guppies loose! that and the interior tweaks do help. still those hideous SWOOSHES though!

i would like a supercharged sedan option. a supercharged 2.4 with 240hp would be nice in a 6 speed malibu.

the futuristic look of it will make the hybrid version compare well to the prius. i like the sedan side view. the interior is busy (nods to Josh). still very 'rice, 2050'

yup that is the point. I still am aghast at how GM gets ripped so badly for interiors but Chrylser's interiors lately are horribly cheap miserable trash! this thing is pathetic!

yup. cheesy knockoffs is all they can do. this car's proportions are seriously messed up and that front end is horrific.

I liked it the old way, with all the other brands grouped together.

http://www.gearsandcheers.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=37 if its ok, i'd rather not retype what I posted on the interim site. The anniversary is in about 10 days or so, so I will get a more comprehensive laundry list typed up soon.