Bye Bye Big Three?

2SHELBYS,

You have nailed it. The UAW has jacked the price of production of cars far from what a competative labor market would allow. That is the reason that foreign car makers have built their American plants in "right to work" states where compulsory union membership is illegal. Look into the "job bank" fiasco that the UAW foisted on the Big Three - it pays workers for not going to work. Where else but Detroit can an unskilled worker earn more than a college educated engineer? The executive pay argument is a canard. If you spread the cost of upper management out on each vehicle produced, it probably comes out to a couple of bucks.

Another thing to consider is that virtually every foreign government imposes huge taxes on gasoline. Japan must import 100% of its oil. The U.S. gas taxes are high, but nowhere near what they pay elsewhere. Gasoline is much more expensive there than it is here. Therefore, citizens of those countries need the greatest gas mileage their cars can get. Remember, the biggest selling vehicles in the U.S. prior to the recent gas price explosion were SUVs and pick-up trucks. When gas prices spiked, people once again fled to a ready supply of high gas mileage vehicles. Same thing happened twice in the 1970s.