letter to pres. GM

[mrfixdit]

A little something to think about. It's a little long, but worth it

Letter from Troy Clarke, President of General Motors - followed by a response from Gregory Knox of Knox Machinery:

Dear Employees & suppliers,

Next week, Congress and the current Administration will determine whether to provide immediate support to the domestic auto industry to help it through one of the most difficult economic times in our nation's history. Your elected officials must hear from all of us now on why this support is critical to our continuing the progress we began prior to the global financial crisis......................As an employee or supplier, you have a lot at stake and continue to be one of our most effective and passionate voices. I know GM can count on you to have your voice heard.

Thank you for your urgent action and ongoing support.
Troy Clarke President General Motors North America
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
From Gregory Knox,

In response to your request to call legislators and ask for a bailout for the United States automakers please consider the following, and please also pass this onto Troy Clark, the president of General Motors North America for me. < /SPAN>

You are both infected with the same entitlement mentality that has bred like cancerous germs in UAW halls for the last countless decades, and whose plague is now sweeping the nation, awaiting our new "messiah" to wave his magical wand and make all our problems go away, while at the same time allowing our once great nation to keep "living the dream"…

The dream is over!

The dream that we can ignore the consumer for years while management myopically focuses on its personal rewards packages at the same time that our factories have been filled with the worlds most overpaid, arrogant, ignorant and laziest entitlement minded "laborers" without paying the price for these atrocities…and that still the masses will line up to buy our products.

Don't tell me I'm wrong. Don't accuse me of not knowing of what I speak. I have called on Ford, GM, Chrysler, TRW, Delphi, Kelsey Hayes, American Axle and countless other automotive OEM's and Tier ones for 3 decades now throughout the Midwest and what I've seen over the years in these union shops can only be described as disgusting.
& nbsp;
Mr. Clark, the president of General Motors, states:

There is widespread sentiment in this country, our government and especially in the media that the current crisis is completely the result of bad management. It is not…

You're right – it's not JUST management…how about the electricians who walk around the plants like lords in feudal times, making people wait on them for countless hours while they drag ass…so they can come in on the weekend and make double and triple time for a job they easily could have done within their normal 40 hour week.

How about the line workers who threaten newbies with all kinds of scare tactics…for putting out too many parts on a shift…and for being too productive (mustn't expose the lazy bums who have been getting overpaid for decades for their horrific underproduction, must we?!?) Do you really not know about this stuff?!?

How about this great sentiment abridged from Mr. Clarke's sad plea: over the last few years …we have closed the quality and efficiency gaps with our competitors.

What the hell has Detroit been doing for the last 40 years?!?

Did we really JUST wake up to the gaps in quality and efficiency between us and them?

The K car vs. the Accord?
The Pinto vs. the Civic?!?

Do I need to go on?

We are living through the inevitable outcome of the actions of the United States auto industry for decades. Time to pay for your sins, Detroit.

0A I attended an economic summit last week where a brilliant economist, Alan Beaulieu surprised the crowd when he said he would not have given the banks a penny of "bailout money". Yes, he said, this would cause short term problems, but despite what people like George Bush and Troy Clark would have us believe, the sun would i n fact rise the next day… and something else would happen…where there had been greedy and sloppy banks new efficient ones would pop up…that is how a free market system works…it does work…if we would let it work…

But for some reason we are now deciding that the rest of the world is right and that capitalism doesn't work – that we need the government to step in and "save us"…save us, hell – we're nationalizing…and unfortunately too many of this once fine nations citizens don't even have a clue that this is=2 0what's really happening…but they sure can tell you the stats on their favorite sports teams…yeah – THAT'S important…

Does it occur to ANYONE that the "competition" has been producing vehicles, EXTREMELY PROFITABLY, for decades now in this country?...

How can that be???

Let's see…
Fuel efficient…
Listening to customers…
Investing in the proper tooling and automation for the long haul…
Not being too complacent or arrogant to listen to Dr W Edwards Deming 4 decades ago.

Ever increased productivity through quality, lean and six sigma plans…
treating vendors like strategic partners, rather than like "the enemy"…
Efficient front and back offices…
Non union environment…

Again, I could go on and on, but I really wouldn't be telling anyone anything they really don't already know in their hearts.

I have six children, so I am not unfamiliar with the concept of wanting someone to bail you out of a mess that you have gotten yourself into – my children do this on a weekly, if not daily basis, as I did at their age. I do for them what my parents did for me (one of their greatest gifts, by the way) – I make them stand on their own two feet and accept the consequences of their actions and work them through.

Radical concept, huh…

Am I there for them in the wings? Of course – but only until such time as they need to be fully on their own as adults.

I don't want to oversimplify a complex situation, but there certainly are unmistakable parallels here between the proper role of parenting and government.

Detroit and the United States need to pay for their sins.
Bad news people – it's coming whether we like it or not

The newly elected Messiah really doesn't have a magic wand big enough to "make it all go away" I laughed as I heard Obama "reeling it back in" almost immediately after the vote count was tallied…"we might not do it in a year…or in four…" where was that kind of talk when he was RUNNING for the o ffice

Stop trying to put off the inevitable …

That house in Florida really isn't worth $750,000…

People who jump across a border really don't deserve free health care benefits…
That job driving that forklift for the big 3 really isn't worth $85,000 a year…

We really shouldn't allow Wal-Mart to stock their shelves with products acquired from a country that unfairly manipulates their currency and has the most atrocious human rights infractions on the face of the globe…

That couple whose combined income is less than $50,000 really shouldn't be living in that $485,000 home6

Let the market correct itself people – it will. Yes it will be painful, but it's gonna be painful either way, and the bright side of my proposal is that on the other side of it is a nation that appreciates what is has…and doesn't live beyond its means…and gets back to basics…and redevelops the work ethic that made it the greatest nation in the history of the world…and probably turns back to God.

Sorry – don't cut my head off, I'm just the messenger sharing with you the "bad news"

Gregory J. Knox
President
Knox Machinery, Inc.
Franklin, Ohio 45005

[Steve]

Makes some good points. I'm a free market guy and you have to take the bad times with the good.

[sweetdawg99]

I couldn't have said it better myself. This government and corporations have been getting away with far too much for far too long and now the chickens have come home to roost. 2009 should be interesting to say the least.

[tlperry68]

I also agree with free market policies but I also think that the world economy going down the tubes, another 2 or 3 hundred thousand job losses over night would be worse than giving a loan to these industries. Besides, I want my warranty in tact.

[unplugged]

In case anyone was wondering if this might be one of those internet myths it checks out at snopes.com

Now, I don't want to get off on a rant here......

Decades of self indulgence and greed, living in a world of false wealth created from excessive borrowing has put us in the financial meltdown we now face. Rather than try to stimulate a recovery by borrowing even more, why don't we bite the bullet and get ourselves out of debt for good?

Let this generation make the sacrifice so that we don't hand down the bad habit of borrowing. Let us show future generations that it is possible to forgo immediate gratification with true satisfaction that comes when one saves and waits. Can anyone point to history and show when borrowing for prosperity worked?

Those who lived during the depression provide the lesson. You can live through tough economic times. We can pay off this debt if we want to make the sacrifice. Sure, it may mean that we move in with family or friends, drive used cars and give up exotic vacations. Heaven forbid we have to drink tap water, and give up happy meals for peanut butter and jelly.

Americans spend more than $3 billion annually on chrome rims, and feel no shame in using consumer credit to buy such commonplace items like $500 Dyson vacuum cleaners and $350 Bose wave radios. Ferchisssakes we finance pizzas! Remember when grocery stores didn't take credit cards? What better gift to our children than a debt free society with a clear path to the future forged with the example of delayed gratification, self-sacrifice and community effort to get through the financial upheaval that is upon us?

Let us put aside partisan politics and move to a debt-free lifestyle. It will be difficult for government to make the necessary cuts and Americans will be faced with tough choices. Let's not find new ways to spend taxpayer money. How about finding new ways to return the money to the taxpayers? Let's start with returning the $2.1 million grant to set aside land in Colton for the Delhi sand fly. If private money can be raised to save the fly, then save the fly. If the fly can't wait for the funds to be raised, then we can always erect a monument in memory of its passing.

This and countless thousands of other government-funded projects will have to be put on hold until better economic times prevail.

"Of course, that's just my opinion, I could be wrong...."


Delhi Sand Fly

[sweetdawg99]

"Of course, that's just my opinion, I could be wrong...."

nice dennis miller reference

[dgafguy619]

Yeah the only problem with not bailing out these idiots is that those three companies are the only legit industries we got left, the only way we got out of the depression the first time around is that we had farming and industry, which has now all been outsourced and now we are saturated with bogus jobs and fake money and lazy workers