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Funny Picture - The Bailout


Dave Gundry

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I thinks its both funny and not unAmerican. Lets face it, the big 3 have produced some really poor products in the past couple of years. Sadly to say GM especially. And now, our tax money is being used to bail them out of a hole that they dug for themselves with poor planning, poor design, and poor management. Helped along by more and more costly demands from the Unions as well.

Edited by JFlowers
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I thinks its both funny and not unAmerican. Lets face it, the big 3 have produced some really poor products in the past couple of years. Sadly to say GM especially. And now, our tax money is being used to bail them out of a hole that they dug for themselves with poor planning, poor design, and poor management. Helped along by more and more costly demands from the Unions as well.

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I turned 16, the age to drive in my state, in 1985. Think about the quality of cars during that time. Really think of what people my age were getting for their first cars. Most of my guy friends bought Toyota or Nissan pick-ups either lowered them or raised them (4x4s) Most of the girls if not all of them bought either Toyota, Nissan, or Honda. We all needed dependable, easy to drive cars and trucks that were inexpensive to maintain, and while not inexpensive to fix, were usually "fixed" when you left the dealership.

While I'm sure many people have anectodal stories about lemons from these carmakers, I can only tell you my experience and that of my friends as we talked about this same issue while hiking yesterday. These same kids are now in their late 30s, early 40s. Some of us have bought American with varying results, and all but one of us (there were twelve of us hiking yesterday morning) is now driving a foreign made auto. That one drives a truch, and gets a good deal on Chevys as his relative is a dealer who works for Chevy.

These are some of the people who now find comfort with the car designs that have been coming out of Japan for the last 24 years. Can you blame us? Really, think about it. We're not talking about war bonds you guys, we're talking about our personal bottom line and brand recognition. Why would someone up and coming try and bet their money on the U.S. automakers playing catch up? they lost a big portion of us in the 80s and most of us haven't looked back. The others, me included, have tried American with mixed results. (I had two vehicles made in the U.S. since I was 16. They were poor quality and couldn't seem to be fixed by the dealerships who sold them to me. WTF?)

I love this country you guys, but why should I go and spend my hard eaned cash on a maybe proposition? Just doesn't make sense in my book. Weather you like the bailout or not, or you blame the unions or unfair trade conditions, you can't knock OVERALL QUALITY, and decent service history.

My name is Jimmy, and I drive a 2003 Tacoma. I'm a member of the NRA, and the USPSA, I vote, pay my taxes, and I LOVE America!

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Not necessarily meaning to add fuel to the fire, but I drove a number of used American cars in my younger years and they nickel-and-dimed me to death. I had to keep TWO cars as insurance against one breaking down (which they often did) so I'd have ONE running car most of the time. Finally I began buying imported (Japanese) vehicles and the only nickels and dimes I've had to put out are for new batteries (about every nine years) and decent tires (I'll admit that they don't put decent stock tires on their cars). Reliability is the name of the game with these cars. That's what some of us need.

I'll also admit to owning a few British cars in my youth (boy, that XKE was nice), but they, too, had idiosyncrasies that nickeled-and-dimed as well, and weren't as reliable as the later Japanese line of vehicles.

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I just had this discussion with a guy at work. I work in a manufacturing facility (non-auto) and he's of the mind that you gotta back your brothers. In principle, I don't disagree. However, who are we really supporting? So many of the "foreign" models are being build here in the states. A ton of the so called domestics have final assembly done in Canada or Mexico, with most of the components coming from over seas. A few years ago, I worked for a company building GM supplied parts. We built them in Texas, but were "incentivized" (got to keep the business) by moving it south of the border when NAFTA went through. We didn't even get those lines up and running when they start harping that they want us to go to China. It just makes you wonder why they deserve your loyalty. Because the CEO's an American? Or because of the guys on the line? If it's the latter, I think you can get a Toyota or a Honda and still feel patriotic.

Here's a link to a guy who compared content on individual vehicles:

http://www.mombu.com/ford/transmissions/t-...els-962985.html

Turns out the Mustang is less "American" than the Camry.

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let one of the big three go under and see what happens to the economy of this country. keep buying foreign cars and see what happens. do you know what would happen if 2 million people were unemployed at once?

i can't believe people don't support this country just to be trendy. i've had two ford rangers in the past 14 years and with proactive maintenance i.e. oil changes, they've both last a very long time.

the misconception that the big three make crappy models is history. today's vehicles are much better than the 70's and 80's.

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