Management Must Go
AMERICANS ARE ANGRY ABOUT HIGH-priced oil they weren't prepared for and a financial crisis they weren't ready for.
Detroit OEMs are in some bunker mentality that prevents them from adopting the policies they do in other markets, namely flexibility and efficiency. The public is mad about a lot of things, but they aren't singling out Detroit.
They are talking about a government that doesn't prepare America for efficiency, for protecting the environment, for integrity in financial institutions, for a global policy where we don't go it alone.
You keep telling Detroit what they want to tell themselves as they circle the wagons. The auto industry may not even reside in Detroit unless the Big Three start thinking globally and lean out operations even more.
Expect the dealers to go down hard over the coming months. Before this is over, it will be “throw the bums out” regarding the guys at the top, just like it is now in the financial circles.
Now, Detroit is going for the money grab. The debt economy is going down and big, bloated products are going down, too, and communistic government and environmental rules had zero to do with it.
GM bet huge — and wrong — and loans should be given to new management teams, not those that took great cards and made them bad. Those responsible for bad policy must accept the consequences — free enterprise, it is called. It's the opinion, increasingly, of the nation.
Fritz Maffry
Kansas City
Manufacturing Mandatory
AT LONG LAST, SOMEONE IS SPEAKING out about the importance of manufacturing (see WAW — Oct. '08, pp.36) to the overall health of the economy!
Manufacturing is one of the few ways of creating real wealth within an economy. This article, addressing why the U.S. government should support the auto makers' request for $25 billion in low-cost loans, clearly states that manufacturing is critical to every economy on Earth.
It doesn't say why so many of our elected officials feel that manufacturing is some dirty, unfortunate happening that they would just as soon not have. I only say that if they think the U.S. has economic problems now, let them kill manufacturing and see what is left.
Keep this topic in the news as too many of our elected officials routinely vote against manufacturing, imposing irrational rules that reach too far. I am not encouraging a return to times when pollution was rampant and the ills of industry were many. But, a reasoned approach to continuing the development and redevelopment of manufacturing in this country to help drive an economy that is being crippled by numerous ills of its own.
Our children's children will need a place to work!
Ivan G. Sears
Rochester Hills, MI
Ethanol Good for U.S.
IN YOUR SEPTEMBER EDITORIAL (SEE WAW — Sept. '08, p.3) you suggest there is no conspiracy between the Big Three and the oil companies.
But try and convince the public to get behind ethanol. Tell them not to believe the oil companies' propaganda that ethanol is going to drive up the cost of their food. If all our gasoline had 10% ethanol, that would be 10% less the oil companies sell. They have the most to lose.
They have been feeding the public false information through magazines like Time, Smithsonian, etc. I have read the articles, and they are so one-sided they sound as if they were written by a marketing firm for Exxon.
I think ethanol is good for the country. Would you rather have a Midwestern farmer profiting from your fuel or a Sheik from the Middle East. Just think of the cash flow and how it would improve our economy.
Marty Judlowe
Hannibal, MO
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