[Capri306]

I'm as big an American booster as you'll find, but the sad fact is that Detroit is STILL in the process of 'waking up'. They are still in the mindset that, "people will buy whatever crap we put out there," and the Japanese were smart enough to see that Detroit would have a hard time getting away from Tayloristic management. Detroit will have to basically "unmake" all of the wrongs it has done by proving itself through reliability AND performance, while doing it at a low cost to the consumer. The latter is what I fear they have a problem doing. It will be a sad day when Detroit is no longer the motor city it once was.

We were burdened with inventing an industry; they benefitted by taking our products and refining them. We would've done the same thing had it been the other way around.

You want to know the funny thing about Hondas? They're the most American-made vehicle in the country right now. Ford, GM and Chrysler have all said they are players in the "global economy," which in layman's terms means, "screw our people, our brothers, sisters, fathers, and mothers at home! We need a cheaper product so we can get profitability up! And I don't care if some 8-year-old in China making 50 cents a month makes parts for my cars, just do it!" THAT IS THE COLD, HARD FACT OF THE MATTER. GREED is yet another enemy of Detroit's auto industry, IMO. I'm not against ANYONE making money, nor large sums of it. But there is a certain point at which it's just going to hurt you and/or your business to continue hording such wealth. What could you possibly do with $40 billion??? Would it *really* make a difference if you made only, say, $39 billion?

I've been to these product launches, the meetings, the presentations on the "benefits" of global marketing. The bottom line? Every job in this country that has anything to do with manufacturing/engineering is going to Asia. Period. They work for peanuts over there, and the cost savings are just too enticing to pass up. Seriously, would you pay engineer X $40,000/year, or would you pay engineer Y $40/week to do the same job? The greed is just amazing, though. The suits just don't see any benefit to paying anyone here in the states anymore, when there's a huge market overseas that can do it cheaper.

Okay, I ranted enough. Just trying to get to the crux of the argument.