On Thu, 30 Nov 2006 09:44:27 -0800, "Gandalf Grey"
infectedmail.com> wrote:

Wait until they all want a govt bail-out - so they can keep
building more over-priced, under-performing, mediocre autos.
They'll probably want protectionist legislation too.

They'll probably get both. Hey, they didn't buy all those
politicians for the FUN of it ya know ...

The problem with Toyota, Honda and such is that their plants,
which crank-out high-quality product, do so (at a profit) by
hiring as few HUMAN BEINGS as possible. Hell, there was a
Nissan ad on a month or two ago touting their new 'American'
manufacturing plant ... run by hundreds of sophisticated
assembly robots. They showed a picture of the building and
robots ... I don't recall seeing any PEOPLE in the picture.

So what do we DO with all of the people ? The UAW and friends
made sure there were plenty of jobs for humans at Ford, GM and
DC. Alas, this is one of the reasons they're so uncompetitive
now. Still, the people have to do SOMETHING - they don't get
paid to sit at home, drink beer and watch football highlights.

This problem has been building since the dawn of the industrial
revolution. History is replete with stories of peasants throwing
shoes or stones or whatever into the gearworks of factories -
terrified that the factories meant the end of their cottage-
industry jobs. It did - but they got (crappier) factory jobs.

Why ? Because there were just a few manufactuers and a LOT of
potential customers. Nowdays though, the people we used to
SELL to are making the stuff THEMSELVES. Big problem. One
where the old laws of "build more for cheaper and you'll soon
need to hire ten times as many workers" no longer apply.
The new rule is "Get rid of as many humans as possible and
you MIGHT keep the business afloat".

So what do we do with all these humans ? Teach 'em to sell
real-estate to the Chinese ? Eat 'em ? Let 'em rot ???

I suppose some 'liberals' will demand that Toyota pay extra
into the welfare fund ... but that's only gonna put Toyota
into the red just like Ford and GM. They're only making
money BECAUSE they jettisoned the human poundage.

Your telephone operator is now a machine, your cars and
TVs are built by machines, if it's tangible - a machine
can probably make it better, cheaper and faster. All
this leaves for the next generation are 'service' type
jobs ... work that doesn't really BUILD anything ...
for a pool of customers that gets smaller and smaller
as THEIR jobs first go to China and then to the machines.
There doesn't seem to be any bridge to a utopian welfare
state where people lounge around and fingerpaint while
the 'bots do all the grunge work.

Anybody with a workable solution to this escalating crisis
is encouraged to speak up - quickly. Neither communism or
capitalism or socialism or any economic '-ism' seems able
to cope.