Americans Want Car Makers to Survive
Susan Tompor complained yesterday in her Detroit Free Press column that many Americans now think of Detroit as a "dirty word." She is missreading the mood of many people outside of Detroit. I, for one, want to see Detroit, and it's car makers survive. I feel for the employees that would lose their jobs if the car companies go bankrupt, and fear a further decline in the US economy if the companies go under. I imagine many people feel the same.
I hold no innate animosity against Detroit and, though I am frustrated with the car companies' denial of long term reality over the years in the name of short term profit, the essence of how they've gotten themselves into their current crises, I'd like to see them succeed. It would be wonderful if the US car industry could again become a focus of national pride. If Americans could know that the best engineers, designers, and automotive businessmen in the world were once again our own.
The reality is that Detroit automakers, which are really America's automakers, are slow to change, and delude themselves with visions of future grandeur that would come from homeruns like a Volt, if successful. But instead of hitting home runs, they should build reliable, economical cars that can compete head to head with the Toyota Corollas and Honda Civics of the world. They haven't done nearly well enough.
The question is, how can these companies be made truly stronger? They need to be restructured. There needs to be a paradigm shift. Anything less would be a continuation of the 30 year overall decline of the US auto industry, which began with the oil crises of the mid 1970s. Giving the companies a bridge loan would be like giving a junkie a few bucks to buy more drugs. The junkie won't change, and eventually he will die because of it.
The alternative is forcing the junkie to go cold turkey. The shock could kill him right away, but if he survives, cleans up his act for real, he has hope for a future.
Bankruptcy is the cold turkey that GM needs. People would lose their jobs, but in the long term, maybe, a truly strong company would emerge and a healthy industry could create many more jobs.
So if you wonder why so many people hold animosity against Detroit, its car makers, realize that we don't hate the auto industry, and we definitely don't want it to fail. We want it to survive, to someday thrive. We want a positive outcome so badly that we're no longer willing to watch the industry kill itself with self denial.
And, one other point of frustration: with the way the economy is looking, it does take a lot of chutzpah to ask underemployed people around the country to pay for the plum benefits of automotive workers. You want compassion? You have to give compassion.
I hold no innate animosity against Detroit and, though I am frustrated with the car companies' denial of long term reality over the years in the name of short term profit, the essence of how they've gotten themselves into their current crises, I'd like to see them succeed. It would be wonderful if the US car industry could again become a focus of national pride. If Americans could know that the best engineers, designers, and automotive businessmen in the world were once again our own.
The reality is that Detroit automakers, which are really America's automakers, are slow to change, and delude themselves with visions of future grandeur that would come from homeruns like a Volt, if successful. But instead of hitting home runs, they should build reliable, economical cars that can compete head to head with the Toyota Corollas and Honda Civics of the world. They haven't done nearly well enough.
The question is, how can these companies be made truly stronger? They need to be restructured. There needs to be a paradigm shift. Anything less would be a continuation of the 30 year overall decline of the US auto industry, which began with the oil crises of the mid 1970s. Giving the companies a bridge loan would be like giving a junkie a few bucks to buy more drugs. The junkie won't change, and eventually he will die because of it.
The alternative is forcing the junkie to go cold turkey. The shock could kill him right away, but if he survives, cleans up his act for real, he has hope for a future.
Bankruptcy is the cold turkey that GM needs. People would lose their jobs, but in the long term, maybe, a truly strong company would emerge and a healthy industry could create many more jobs.
So if you wonder why so many people hold animosity against Detroit, its car makers, realize that we don't hate the auto industry, and we definitely don't want it to fail. We want it to survive, to someday thrive. We want a positive outcome so badly that we're no longer willing to watch the industry kill itself with self denial.
And, one other point of frustration: with the way the economy is looking, it does take a lot of chutzpah to ask underemployed people around the country to pay for the plum benefits of automotive workers. You want compassion? You have to give compassion.
posted by CatZoo at 10:14 AM
0 comments
