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Readers' forum: As GM goes, so goes nation
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This is a trend. Real estate is still dropping. There are billions in noncollectable debts that will be written down.
Wasn't trickle down economics a beter fantasy than a reality?
The wealthy are much more wealthy. Russia, Reagan's evil empire is running in the black while we sink deeper in debt.
Buying foreign goods instead of spending more for American made goods is the choice that individual Americans made - and then they wonder why THEIR job was exported out of the country.
Greedy Americans wanting something for nothing is a large part of the problem. Greedy politicians who sign agreements with other nations that allow those nations free access to our markets without requiring them to let us have free access to their markets is a big part of the problem. Lazy workers who want to be paid for doing a shoddy job is a big part of the problem.
The problem could stop tomorrow if each American worker took pride in his job and gave an honest day's work for an honest day's pay, and then spent his paycheck on goods that were entirely made in America.
The cost of each item would be much, much higher, but the jobs would stay in America. We simply have to fully understand that the shopper's greed has cost far, far more than the discounted price on that foreign made product.
The Wal-Mart syndrome has destroyed the American market.
This is a simple as I can put it so everyone should understand, you think?
My dad was considered some in management as a pain in the neck. He retired in 1989 when GM tore down the factory that he had worked at for nearly 25 years or so.
He started in the mid 60's making this statement: "When engineers run a company, they make a high quality product, but they do not make much money. So the money men come in and take over. When they do, they make a lot of money, but they make a lousy product." The money men at GM started making plans to move car building out of the US in the 60's. It has continued to accelerate ever since.
When I drive around Flint and Detroit and see where people worked to build the best product that they were allowed to build, torn down and allowed to become empty weed covered lots, the phrase that the letter writer uses comes true.
I can't ever recall seeing a Kerry/Edwards or Obama bumper sticker on a Ford or GM vehicle. The libs are too hip and cool to buy American.... so don't blame Reagan or Bush
The fact is that most people shop at Walmart because they HAVE to. When your high paying engineering job is sent overseas, you have no choice. Ask me how I know.
I am the original owner a 1984 Chevette. When it was new, it would go 50 mpg on the freeway. Today, it is still running fine, passes all the emissions tests, and averages about 33mpg around town, and can make better than 40mpg on the freeway.
I am not suggesting you will all want one, but keep that in mind that you are being asked to pay $25K to $35K for a super duper hybrid that doesn't get the economy of a 24 year old car, and ask yourself is that is really progress?
Moore's scating attack on the CEO's of America predicted the economic situation we are in today.
Michael Moore takes on corporations, politicians and Americana in general in a mordant satire that will leave both conservatives and liberals reeling with embarrassment. Moore tears into corporations and labor unions alike. Citing "economic terrorism," he goes after the "Big Welfare Mamas"?the CEOs?detailing their cozy tax deals with federal and local government, which have added to the deficit. He attacks the unions in "Why Are Union Leaders So F#!@ing Stupid," citing how they have collaborated with corporations (while taking huge salaries) to slash jobs from their own memberships. No one is immune; Moore scrutinizes the President, Bob Dole, NAFTA, Cuban refugees and Pat Buchanan. A scathing, funny book packed with facts, it will appeal to those who loved Al Franken's Rush Limbaugh Is a Big Fat Idiot.
Congress passes the laws that restrict business. When the laws are too restrictive for that business to make a profit in America, it outsources or moves to a foreign country where the laws are not as restrictive.
Some laws are necessary, but most of the restrictions placed on business are placed there because of special interest groups who want to gain an advantage through an act of Congress rather than competing in the "real world".
The profit margin of most businesses is around 10%. That doesn't leave a lot of room for increased wages. That doesn't leave a lot of room for customer discounts. In fact, it's a wonder that most businesses are still able to make a profit.
Those who think that greedy CEOs are the cause of the problem know absolutely nothing about business or about running a business. Those who think that paying a CEO absolutely nothing would increase the wages of the workers in that business also know absolutely nothing about business.
Class envy is an art form practiced by liberals. It is not worthy of America or of Americans.
You got that right. Unions killed the goose that laid the golden egg. And they still don't understand what they've done or how they did it. Collectively, they don't have the brains of a wet dishrag.
Next economic lesson is the economics of scale. The cost per car is related to sales sold. If GM's management produced cars people wanted to buy the overhead per cars drops by the increase in production.
Look at business in America. Business is focused on the next quarter's returns. Toyota focuses on long term goals.
People who trade shares want it all and the want it now. You can't run a major car company without investing in the long term. Any monies invested how for the future, is debited against current profits. So, to keep profits high in any one quarter, companies fore go long term improvments.
This is why I don't buy American. It's the American way of doing business. American business will make number with little concern what they produce. This is why we have e coli in meat and contaminated food. These companies made the numbers but, at what cost?
This is what we call the loss function. I hate Microsoft. They sell be a flawed product and expect me to debug it for them.
No wonder both are in the tanks and will likely never fully recover.
Not if they follow GAAP accounting rules promulgated by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants.
But some Toyotas are manufactured in the US, are they not?
Of course, no one is forcing Toyota to provide American workers with health insurance.
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buck wild | 3:37 p.m. July 5, 2008: "@ roland: no one ever said that big corporations don't want nationalized health care - of course they do - it's one less expense they have to worry about."
Good point. If American corporations didn't provide health insurance for their employees (i.e., insurance was nationalized) the cost of corporate goods ans services would be significantly reduced making them more competitive on the world market.
I may be wrong. This was my assumption. This is why I believe in letting business depreciate capital at an accelerated rate. This would create demand and modernize American business.
Thank you for bring up what conservatives avoid. Making health care a cost of doing business makes costs higher in America. It locks workers in to jobs for health care. It's bad for busness.
I'm in favor of a capital gains structure that would create an incentive for retires to sale investment with little or no tax to bring liquidity in to our economy. Trickle up economics.
I'm a Left Coast Liberal I believe freeing up money for the middle class to consume and invest more will cause all boats to rise. When, the middle class spends money the rich get wealthier and invest more.
Oh, I know enough about mankind to know that a natural man has to want to rise above his natural selfish nature.
The Liberals want to force people to share. That won't work. People can't be forced to do good or to be good. The net effect of forcing goodness through taxation will be to decrease incentive. Those who can will invest their money in businesses in other countries who have a more favorable business environment. Those who can't will just stop working so hard, so that they become one of the 'getters' instead of being one of the 'givers'. That's human nature.
There is no magic bullet that can slay this problem. It would be great if changing just the Health Insurance program would fix it all, but it won't. Congress has strapped business with so many rules and regulations that small business spends a horrendous amount of time and money just trying to comply. That takes capital away from producing their product or service. Off-shore companies don't have those expenses.
It's time to level the playing field. All companies that import goods or services into America need to be regulated just like American companies.
Yes. Profit equals earnings minus expenses, and minus depreciation on fixed assets and other costs expected to benefit the generation of income for longer than a year.
"This is why I believe in letting business depreciate capital at an accelerated rate. This would create demand and modernize American business."
IRS has allowed more and more up front write-offs of fixed asset costs over the years. I think the rates are quite generous. GAAP does not dictate depreciation rates (to the best of my knowledge) except that it must be reasonable considering the life of the depreciable asset.
"I'm in favor of a capital gains structure that would create an incentive for retirees to sale investment with little or no tax to bring liquidity in to our economy. Trickle up economics."
Taxing long term capital gains at a reduced rates encourage long term investments having a stabilizing economic effect... but less trickle-up (or is it trickle-down?). I'm in favor of no capital gains tax but that would let many fat cats off tax free.
In my opinion, capital gains should not be taxed at all if the profits are rolled over into another investment. Again, I'm showing my ingnorance here, but I believe that an IRA can be rolled over without penalty into another IRA. Capital gains should have that same privilege. By doing that, the economy gets the full benefit of new capital and Government gets the full benefit of taxes generated by the profitability of businesses that receive that capital. Isn't that the way that profits from the sale of a home work? If you sell your home, but buy another home of equal or higher value, aren't you exempt from taxes on the profits of that sale?
The Government can't take everything and expect investment to continue. It just doesn't work that way.
Being a liberal, a admit to a bias. I believe the better off the middle class has it the better America's economy does.
Parts of supporting the middle class is having an environment that makes American business competitive.
Let me explain trickle up economics. Unlike Bush, I believe it's not who spends the money. It's know benefits from money passing hands.
70% of American's economic activity is consumption. If you understand the law of large numbers the middle class is America's largest consumer of the goods and services that business provides. By targeting the middle class and not the wealthy the rich get wealthier because their investments in the economy acquire more value has their volume of business increases.
At the end of the day, what really matter is who puts money i the bank.
My knowledge? Sketchy at best.
"Being a liberal, a admit to a bias. I believe the better off the middle class has it the better America's economy does."
My view would be just the reverse... A better economy makes the middle class better off. But, I'm conservative by nature. :)
I am by no means rich but I know that the money I paid in taxes last year could have gone to say new hardwood floors or something in my house but instead it went to the Government to fritter away instead of a to a contractor or retail business. I don't mind taxes but the further they go from the local level the less say so you have in how they are spent ( or burned as it were)
You can either borrow the money to buy the new equipment of you could reserve enough Retained Earnings to pay for it.
"In my opinion, capital gains should not be taxed at all if the profits are rolled over into another investment."
If it's a "like-kind exchange" there is no tax.
"If you sell your home, but buy another home of equal or higher value, aren't you exempt from taxes on the profits of that sale?"
Yes, and if you own your home and live in it two out of five years you can exclude up to $500,000 of capital gains on the sale.
"I am by no means rich but I know that the money I paid in taxes last year could have gone to say new hardwood floors or something in my house but instead it went to the Government to fritter away instead of a to a contractor or retail business."
The government's 'frittering away" is actually stimulating the economy... probably just as much as your contractor or a retail business.
"I don't mind taxes but the further they go from the local level the less say so you have in how they are spent (or burned as it were)."
It's about the same, in my view. No one listens to constituents with any degree of regularity or interest.
Life isn't fair and I miss the Mormons of my grand parent's era. They made it through the depression and they weren't whiners. Life isn't fair. People of character count their blessing in life.
My grandmother living in Plain City, Utah felt blessed to have five dollars to buy food, Rush Limbaugh signs a 400 million dollar contract and whines about taxes.
The government developed computers, the Internet, nuclear technology, satellite communications, radio and more. How many high paying jobs did these technologies create? The return on the GI Bill was 7 dollars for each dollar your government spent. Pineview Dam was build during FDR's rein. There's Glen Canyon and lets not forget the 15 billion for your Winter Games. Forest fires are fought and paid for by government as are highways.
Utah has gotten more in Federal dollars than Utah has ever paid. I don't mind carrying you but, please get the spurs out of my back!
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