Newsweek: Toyota Truimphs

GREAT observation! 8)

And when it comes to unions, they only protect the weak and lazy. Unions are sand in the gears of capitalism.

That said, GM reminds me of that Simpson episode where Homer designed a car. They build cars for the Average Joe. Unfortunately, Joe is now Jose, and Average is Atypical.

Tokyo and Berlin know America better that Detroit does. One hits the lower end of the Bell curve and the other gets the upper end.

Shockingly, the Axis are winning the war. And are aiming for the heart of the curve.

Detriot and it's nine miles is now better known for music than cars. Congratulations.

 

Back in model year 1973, when the first emission control mods were crippling performance and mpg, I was about to replace my '67 Olds. When I drove the new Olds demonstrator it could hardly start and then stumbled around the lot. So I checked out a Chevy. It was somewhat smoother. I did some research and learned that Chevy engineers had added some sort of "compressor" along with the required EGR. Olds did not. In those early days, when life was simple, I picked up a phone, called GM Olds division and asked to speak to a (fellow) engineering manager. When asked why the omission, he replied: "We considered it commercial". So I bought a Mercury (9 mpg).

After the big run up in gas prices I felt that my next car should be a smaller, practical 4 banger. I bit on the X-car. (1980 Pontiac Phoenix. I'm still nuts abut 5 door hatchbacks as is now apparant.) That Phoenix had a short flight, rising and falling back into its ashes: Dashboard controls came apart, transaxle failed, engine burned oil, power steering leaked, wheels couldn't hold alignment and paint peeled. And talk about tolerances: One of the rear doors had actually been cut off and rewelded onto the pillar a half inch above the orginal mounting point.

OK, so I'm a slow learner, or a patriot or something but I finally got the message and bought an '86 Honda, then a '96 Camry, and (next week) a 2005 Prius. (Wish me luck.)

An M.E. friend of mine who once worked in Detroit told me that GM engineers were encouraged to find places to save pennies, because a penny saved on a million cars is $10,000. Yes the GM problem doesn't lie with the UAW, it lies with GM's tradition of trying to squeeze profit bucks (thoughtlessly) out of every opportunity regardless of the long term impact on the company's reputation. We slow learning customers eventually caught on and took our business to Mr. Demming's clients.

Worst thing: it's almost impossible to regain a lost reputation.

 

Maybe I've just been fortunate.

The Prius is my fourth car. They've all been pretty good. I think the one that gave me the most aggrevation was my Nissan.

My first new car was a Ford Pinto. I bought it after the redesign that fixed the gas tank thing. In fact it was just a few years before they stopped making them. I figured that the car would be better built to make up for the previous problems and that I'd get a good deal because they were still trying to counter the bad press. I was right on both counts. I had that car for 9 years and had no major problems.

My next car was a Nissan 200sx hatchback. I had that car for 11 years and of all my cars had the most problems with it. I had to replace the starter. I had to buy a rebuilt 'brain' for that car. Hoses, 02 sensor, I can't remember what all. But from about year 5-9 seems there was always something wrong with that car. After the money I put in to it, it was doing fine and I was actually going to keep it another 2-3 years, but it was totalled when I was rear-ended. The only thing I really didn't like was that I had to lift things up and over the tail to get things in the back. My pinto back was flush to the bumper.

So it's 1996 and I bought a Saturn coupe. I decided to go domestic because I was tired of having to buy Nissan parts and that the parts were always twice as expensive and when the generics finally came out they never did fit right. I still have the Saturn, it has less than 50,000 miles and I'm looking to sell. I liked the leather seats. It was safe. Still gets good mileage. Still runs very well. And it kinda felt like I was driving a sports car. But I sure missed having a hatchback. Saturn is part of GM but I guess at that time they were far enough removed that they made a pretty good car. But I understand that since then they've gotten worse each year. I actually did test drive an Ion and was not impressed.

Now I didn't really need to buy a Prius and I had sworn off foreign cars....but...well....I bought it for a lot of the same reasons the rest of you bought it. If I waited, my 9 year old car would only be worth less, I'd only put more miles on it, car loans will go up, gas will go up, the price of a Prius will go up...and the tax rebate will go away. This was the year.

(I had louvres for the back hatch of both the Pinto and the Nissan and they really cut down on the heat. I guess they don't make them anymore? I know they'd cut some mileage on the Prius but I have to wonder if they wouldn't also help a little with the heat when it's parked in the sun.)

******

Now...I would like to say a word about Unions. I'm in a union. But there are unions and there are unions. I'm a teacher and I'm in an education association. And I can tell you first hand why I need to be in a union. It's sorta like GMs penny pinching management style discussed in the previous post.

I have been teaching for over 25 years and have a masters degree and two teaching credentials. I'm in the process of getting a second masters degree and a third credential. Because of my experience and education I am at the top of the salary schedule. Now the district could save them selves a lot of money if they could get rid of all of the teachers on the top of the salary schedule and then hire fresh teachers right out of school that are on the bottom of the salary schedule. (IF there are any...there is already a shortage.) If it were not for our union and the collective bargaining agreement that is exactly what the district would do to save money. They'd fire any teacher with a masters degree and more than 15 years experience and replace them with a novice teacher. If it weren't for the law, they would hire people who didn't even have teaching credentials....because they're cheaper. And teaching is not like the private sector. In teaching you are penalized for your years of experience and education if you switch jobs. If I were to go to another district I would have to start on the bottom of the salary schedule as if I were fresh out of school. That is *if* I could get anyone to hire me in the first place. The association spends a lot of time making sure the district doesn't violate the law....which they do quite a bit hoping they won't get caught. Now you can argue the union is just protecting teachers' jobs, but that is the by product of what they are doing. They are protecting the quality of teaching students receive. Teachers associations also provide scholarships, do research and make sure legislation doesn't hurt students. They protect childrens' right also because if you check the law....students don't have a lot of rights. This includes safe and well maintained/repaired classrooms. This is especially important as maintenance and repair is the first place the district cuts corners whenever there is a budget crisis. Now I don't know how other unions work but our association is made up of.....teachers. We vote them in and they leave the classroom for the extent of their term and when it's up....they go back to the classroom.

I could go into a lot of why Gov. Schwarzenegger's education reforms will do nothing to reform education and will harm the quality off public education in California....but I won't. Because this is Priuschat and not Politicalchat. (But I will say we don't have tenure....we have "just cause". It's not the same thing.)

I do know that there have been plenty of abuse by unions historically...but I just wanted to comment a little about painting all unions with the same brush. In fact....teachers associations weren't even unions until the last few decades.

 

The rule of thumb regarding unions vs. corporations is that the side that has the power will abuse the power.