An argument I hear regarding US and non-US autos

[Dave Reynolds]

is the old "those foreign cars may be made in the US, but the profit goes (insert the nation of your choice)."

What the hell does that mean? To me, it is the same as the 70s "Hungry? Eat your foreign car!" bullshit.

If the plants are in the US, is the profit not, at least partially, put back into the US plants? Does the profit not pay the American workers who work at the US plants?

Could someone explain this to me?

[gizmo1979]

1. doesn't help 30,000 ford

workers.Not even alittle bit.

[Dave Reynolds]

2. Great, thanks for explaining.

:eyes:

But on that note, if Ford had a little more diversity in it's lineup, we may not have gotten that news today.

It's not the worker's fault, but the management's.

[awoke_in_2003]

3. I have wondered about that attitude

myself. The way I see it, Chevy makes cars here, employing americans, with the profits going to the rich American fat-cat. Nissan makes a car here, employing americans, with the profits going to rich japanese fat-cats. All you are doing is substituting rich guys, both companies still employing americans.

[sendero]

4. And the Japanese....

.... make cars here that people want. The Americans do not. Because American business practices are short-term and stupid.

[awoke_in_2003]

7. Agreed...

better mileage, better quality.

[wuushew]

6. Plus it is quite easy to buy foreign stocks

the argument is creating a false barrier where none exists.

[Dave Reynolds]

10. That is my thinking, as well.

Back in the 70s that may have been a different story, but in these giddy days of globalization there really is no such thing as an truly "American" car.

[lindisfarne]

5. Beyond the fact that only fatcats are really benefitting from the profit,

there's also the matter of Ford, GM putting lots of components in their cars which are produced outside the US. Their cars might be assembled in the US, but they're importing lots of the parts that go into those cars (including, I think, the steel, at least in part).

[awoke_in_2003]

8. Good point

some Nissans have more american made part in them then some fords and chevys.

[alarimer]

9. It isn't clear always where your money goes

GM owns Volvo or Saab; I can't remember which. Maybe it is both. Chrysler was owned by Daimler; I am not sur if they still are. But the point is, these are a multinational conglomerates regardless of where they might be headquartered. So I buy based on things taht are important to me: value, economy, style, whatever. And it is true, Toyota and Nissam both have plants in the US. I don't knoe if they are unionized but still the wages put something into the local economy that is a damn sight better than Walmart.

[Dave Reynolds]

11. Nissan in (I believe) Tennessee

pays a damn good wage, enough for the workers there to have a nice home with property.

I recall an article a while back about the union's attempt to gain entry to those plants, they were rebuffed.

[dusmcj]

12. executive salaries 400 times those of workers

which ought to give some insight into where all that profit is going. American industrial workers have less buying power, and fewer benefits, and less job security, than they did 30 years ago.

These conditions support an economy in which a cycle of consumer production and consumption creates profit arrived at by squeezing cost (remember, (profit = revenue - cost)) and that profit goes to to top of the workforce, not to either R&D or the productive classes.