unit731 Posted December 22, 2008 Report Share Posted December 22, 2008 rogie loves 'America' so much he can't wait for the Amero dollar to come out. The roads in Thailand are better then the roads are in the USA. Yes, correct. And the Yanks built most of the roads! As well as the Thai postal system. As well as the Thai electric grid. As well as the Thai phone system. As well as the . . . . Thank you Americans! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
buffalo_bill Posted December 23, 2008 Report Share Posted December 23, 2008 Previous automotive superstar Toyota announces substantial losses for the first time in later company history . I repeat my mantra we are facing the implosion of a structural oversupply and the car industry will never get back to the earlier volume . Because I am a friend of Rogueyam I offer Opel's hightec 16-valve engines and Isuzu's DI diesel to GM Detroit division and all they need to do is build a downsized reasonable car round my engines . The only manufacturer left with a huge order backlog is Ferrari with 16 months :thumbdown: , a concept worth to consider . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Posted December 23, 2008 Report Share Posted December 23, 2008 Difference is Toyota can ride it out, Detroit can't. Even the Detroit Lions (0 wins - 15 losses :smirk: ) are doing better than the big 3. Makes sense that Ferarri has a backlog. The rich are still rich. If you were worth 20 million and now you're worth 10 million, and if that loss is paper losses, do you really feel the impact? Unless your lifestyle is really a 20 million dollar lifestyle, the answer is no. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest lazyphil Posted December 23, 2008 Report Share Posted December 23, 2008 when i'm rich (win the lotto!) i'm buying an aston martin. support the uk car industry.....mind you i suppose ford or toyota own them anyway!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
buffalo_bill Posted December 24, 2008 Report Share Posted December 24, 2008 Steve , the typical Ferrari owner is a middle class self-employed individual , plus the occasional millionaire . The marketing secret is if they sell 6000 cars a year they build 5500 . Imagine 50 punters queueing up in front of Dollhouse but 40 girls only . Phil , Aston Martin is now owned by an Arab investment company . Also their problem will be lack of cash once the day has come to develop a new engine . I bet they will be bought by Mercedes fairly soon . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HeartThais Posted December 24, 2008 Report Share Posted December 24, 2008 http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/be2dbf2c-d113-11dd-8cc3-000077b07658.html A great essay on the economy, keynes, and political ideology. "The third and most important lesson is that one should not treat the economy as a morality tale." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Posted December 30, 2008 Report Share Posted December 30, 2008 Kerkorian sells off Ford shares at deep loss Billionaire investor Kirk Kerkorian has sold off all of his remaining shares of Ford Motor Co, completing a retreat from a high-profile stake in the No. 2 U.S. automaker that cost him hundreds of millions of dollars. The rats are leaving the burning ship. :smirk: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bangkoktraveler Posted December 30, 2008 Report Share Posted December 30, 2008 It seemed like he might have contemplated gaining a controling interest in Ford, if not owning Ford out right. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bangkoktraveler Posted January 4, 2009 Report Share Posted January 4, 2009 Bailout puts retiree health care at risk Retirement health care for as many as three-quarters of a million Americans will be placed at high risk if conditions proposed as part of federal loans to rescue the auto industry are enforced by the incoming Congress and Obama administration, labor experts say. At issue is a condition of the federal loans that calls for General Motors Corp. and Chrysler to use company stock or the equivalent to pay half -- that is, $10.5 billion -- of the cash owed to a union retiree health-care trust. "It's as if we, as a nation, learned nothing from Enron, essentially risking the health care of retired and active workers in such a cavalier fashion," said Harley Shaiken, a professor at the University of California at Berkeley who specializes in labor issues. "The great Enron lesson was: Don't put all your eggs in one basket. ... Putting half your eggs in the trust-fund basket is still a high level of risk." Enron workers lost the lion's share of their retirement savings when the company's once-fast-gaining stock became virtually worthless. Enron workers received their matching contributions in Enron stock, then were prohibited from selling it until they were 50, and many also invested their 401(k) contributions in company shares. Since Enron's collapse, many corporations have limited the amount of company stock their employees can hold in 401(k) accounts. Legislators and shareholder advocates argued for tougher regulations to protect individual investors. That is why, Shaiken said, it is shocking that President George W. Bush "apparently bowed to political pressures from the Republican right in the Senate" and called for the retiree health care of so many Americans to be placed in jeopardy. Shaiken says he thinks that the new Democratic Congress and President-elect Barack Obama will revisit conditions placed on the UAW, and particularly on the funding of the VEBA (voluntary employee beneficiary association), when they take office. Others say it might not be possible for the automakers to achieve the degree of cost-cutting required to meet conditions of the federal loans by the end of March without abiding by the terms set by the Bush administration. The White House agreed to provide as much as $17.4 billion in loans to carry GM and Chrysler through the first three months of 2009. But the automakers must demonstrate viability by March 31, or they will be forced to pay back the loans immediately or file for bankruptcy protection. As part of the loan agreement, the federal government set targets for restructuring that include union wage concessions, the change in VEBA funding and cutting the company's bond debt by about two-thirds. Gary Chaison, professor of industrial relations at Clark University in Worcester, Mass., said that although the changes to VEBA funding are not optimal for the approximately 750,000 people for whom the new fund was supposed to provide health coverage beginning in 2010, it still might ensure more benefits than they otherwise would have received in retirement. At the time the UAW agreed to creation of the VEBA, workers and analysts thought it would protect the Detroit automakers from the risk of going bankrupt. Although a U.S. automaker's default seemed possible just a year ago, few thought it would happen before the VEBA was funded and took effect in 2010. But with the risk of illiquidity now an imminent possibility, the UAW on Dec. 3 agreed to let GM and Chrysler postpone until 2012 their VEBA payments that were due in 2010. Now the government is asking the trust to accept half cash and half stock. A UAW spokesman declined to comment on the proposed conditions for changing VEBA funding. Link Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cavanami Posted January 5, 2009 Report Share Posted January 5, 2009 Pretty much shows that the US gov could give a flying fark about the people! Isn't there an thread now running about a revolt in the USA coming in a few years...this is just more gasoline on the fire! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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