Comments on: Big Three Spending Millions On Lobbying
Auto Makers Drowning In Red, But Still Spent Neary $50 Million Lobbying Congress
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- What does Obama know, and when did he know it? Posted by hermanwalton at 05:28 PM : Dec 04, 2008 Obama has been a sitting Senator, so when did everybody else in congress know? you see they are all in bed together so they ALL knew what was going on,and have all along.
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- What does Obama know, and when did he know it?
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- its so funny to see people cut down the other party while saying how great theirs is.The bottom line is people no matter which party you support...you support corruption and mis representation.It is no different than choosing between the crypts or the bloods, both parties are evil, and will NEVER represent the people, their allegiance will ALWAYS follow the lobby dollar. Y''ALL HAVEN''T FIGURED IT OUT YET?
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- Consumer Distorts magazine carries some blame for the decline of the Detroit 3. They seem biased towards the imports. They compared the Pontiac G6 to the Nissan Altima in one issue. The two were almost identical in the numbers comparison, and the G6 exceeded in some categories like braking distance. Yet the CR eggheads gave the nod to the Altima because the G6 "had a small backseat." It is only up to the consumer to decide if the backseat is too small for their purposes. These same eggheads gave the Chrysler Pacifica a "recommend" rating in an early model year, but then revoked that same "recommend" in later years because the %u201Cwindow beltline was too high%u201D, something that never changed in the vehicle and didn%u2019t bother around 60,000 buyers each year.
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- Starting around 2010, new UAW workers will start at $14.00 per hour pay. Illegal and legal Mexican landscapers and construction workers can make around $18.00 per hour pay, believe it or don%u2019t.
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- How could the 50 million auto companies spent on lobbying not be seen as bribery? This lobbying BS needs to be stopped, completely and entirely.lobbying needs to be a crime , punishable with severe penalties, such as if you get caught , you have ALL your personal assets and properties seized with no hope of return , much like they do if someone gets busted for dope.All they have to say is ....ill gotten gains and take whatever, thats how they do citizens so why not them too? I would bet if they stood to lose everything they would think twice about doing it.
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- If the two of them were republicans and one a democrat, you Communist Bull S#%t(CBS) will be hounding the Republicans 24/7 and leave one demonRat alone. Well, now these two corrupt scums are your buddy liberal scums who get millions from auto executives and suck up to union thugs. Where is your screaming news reporters hounding these demonRats?
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- jntlw, I agree with your assessment of the health care problem. How can we expect US companies to compete with foreign companies who have no health care costs, but it seems to be the plan of most of our leaders, on both sides of the aisle, to put even more of the cost of health care on the backs of American companies. I also agree that CEO pay has gotten way out of line with reality and golden parachutes are just a sort of job security to discourage firing executives for poor job performance. Getting rid of golden parachutes would solve the problem of poor management. Perform or find another job. No golden parachutes and no bonuses unless the company turns a descent profit.
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- oh well those pension plan 401k''s are becoming more worthless every day, they are another example of fantastic ideas that only made money for some on wall st., and losses only for those who had invested in the 401k''s.The new grand illusion of American workers....retirement,sorry folks we had to trade those in so the corporate and political guru''s could find a way to steal those dreams too, while they whisked away on corporate jets with golden parachutes.
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- hmmm... I am trying to recall the similar piece that CBS ran on the campaign contributions by the financial institutions and their top dogs. And I am sure that CBS called to light the sub-market rate mortgage that Sen. Dodd, Chair of the Senate Banking Committee received from Countrywide (before it went belly up). My memory must be failing me because I just can''t seem to recall those articles...
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- Posted by jntlw at 04:43 PM : Dec 04, 2008
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Amen! you hit the nail on the head! - Reply to this comment
- Americas downfall is greed,fertilized with lobby dollars and corruption, this greed is starting to eat away at the middle class.I saw a shining example in a wall mart store the other day,the McDonalds near the exit had a sign that said"only have a dollar left? We have a 99cent menu".It''s pretty bad when the greedy corporations envision taking EVERY cent you have.We are going down the tubes while congress turns their heads and do not care.The most disgusting thing is knowing that members of congress took an oath to represent the people that voted them into office, and they are steadily selling us out for lobby dollars.What this amounts to is no less than treason.
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- The UAW workers and their pay is not the problem. Their pay is in line with what the market pays. Unscrupulous rises in healthcare costs are a big part of the problem. So healthcare is a huge issue not just to the general public but also to companies who help fund healthcare to current and retired employees. This burden could be erased if we had a non-profit universal healthcare for every American. Healthcare costs are draining our companies of monies to invest and also draining the monies of each individual''s nest egg. Why should healthcare be a for profit entity - it shouldn''t. So this must be addressed.
Two more issues that need to be changed - CEO pay and executive pay must be lowered substantially as they are unreasonably over paid - golden parachutes should be abolished totally! do yo and I get golden parachutes? No - who made them gods. The 2nd issue is poor management. The reason the big car makers are in trouble is poor management and foresight into what the public needs. Auto CEO''s colluded with the oilmen to continue making cars that are not fuel efficient for greedy gain on their part. Both the oil industry and the former car CEOs need to step down and find new jobs. Things need to be run very differently or this planet will be in chaos very very soon. - Reply to this comment
- Posted by fahr451 at 04:23 PM : Dec 04, 2008
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compare the cost of a honda to a pontiac. You will see that the honda costs more.
Compare a chevy to an accura. You will see that the accura costs more.
Foreign autos have always cost more than comparable american cars. Don''t compare a honda civic to a Lincoln. Compare apples to apples and you will see that foreign autos cost more than american autos. - Reply to this comment
- Posted by olderthnadam at 04:18 PM : Dec 04, 2008
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American auto workers make about $28 per hour.
Toyota, honda, nissan, etc employees make about $25 per hour.
That $75 per hour figure you are quoting is referring to legacy costs such as pensions for retirees. It''''s very misleading.
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Posted by concorde5
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I have never had a job or the opportunity to obtain a job that even had a pension and only a couple with health care benefits and the vast majority of hourly wage workers in this country are in the same boat as me. I realize that the cost of living is higher in places like Detroit or even Kansas City but no where near that much higher. - Reply to this comment
- Posted by olderthnadam at 04:18 PM : Dec 04, 2008
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American auto workers make about $28 per hour.
Toyota, honda, nissan, etc employees make about $25 per hour.
That $75 per hour figure you are quoting is referring to legacy costs such as pensions for retirees. It''s very misleading. - Reply to this comment
- I just don''t get this Neo-Con, anti-american, china first attitude of a lot of people.
We can''t keep shipping jobs overseas and importing illegals to take what jobs can''t be sent overseas.
We will become a 3rd world country. The writing is on the wall. - Reply to this comment
- We can''''t blame the employees or the Union for these problems. American auto workers make comparable salaries to auto workers for toyota, honda, etc.
Don''''t get me wrong. I''''m not saying that the Big 3 have no blame in this mess. They have designed inferior automobiles that don''''t hold up the way they should. But lets not punish the Blue Collar workers for the mistakes of the ceo''''s and the politicians who have caused this mess.
Either the tax payers can bail out the companies or we can pay for welfare, food stamps, unemployment etc for all those workers who will be without a job.
We''''re going to pay one way or the other. Lets do it in a way that keeps americans employed.
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Posted by concorde5
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I am not anti-union but I recently saw where UAW workers received $75 an hour total pay and benefits whereas there Toyota and Honda counterparts received $45 an hour total pay and benefits. Personally I would die for $45 and hour total pay and benefits since I have spent my entire life working manufacturing and warehouse jobs paying $8 to $12 an hour with little or no benefits. Why should people in the same boat I am in be asked to suffer when those making $75 are not. - Reply to this comment
- What the heck does the Iraq war or George Bush have to do with the golden bennies and overly generous contracts the Liberals have bestowed upon the UAW and the incompetant and greedy management of the Automakers?
Have you libtards one shred of original or factual thought? Just beat that same old tired drum of lies and propaganda. No one with a brain believes it but then again no one with a brain would consider themselves a liberal.
Obama will bail them out because the Unions got him and every other liberal elected. It''s the rules.
Time for the crooked libs to grease the palms that put them in power. - Reply to this comment
- And by the way. I think american auto workers deserve 18 dollars an hour. I know people who worked for factories back in the 80''s and made 18 dollars an hour.
It is grossly unfair to expect american workers to compete with workers in china making 2 dollars a day.
Congress needs to pass trade legislation that levels the playing field for american workers. That will give our manufacturing sector a needed boost and bring jobs back to the US.
We need our manufacturing sector or we will truly see a second great depression. - Reply to this comment
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