Just One More Thing Going Wrong
Monday, 10 October 2005 16:52![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dr_phil_physicsThe big news locally over the weekend was the Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing of Delphi, the GM parts division spun off a few years ago. Lots and lots of speculations flying around, as you can imagine. A complete shutdown or moving off-shore of Delphi would be devastating to the Michigan economy, already reeling from thirty years of woe.
A Disclaimer
I am pretty much a GM/Chevy person when it comes to vehicles that I've ever owned, mostly driven and have much desire to own in the future. Grew up in a GM/Chevy family -- which didn't stop my sister from running off and having her own disastrous affairs with Ford products. I'm not saying that GM/Chevy is the "best" cars and trucks out there -- I'm saying I am comfortable with them and understand some things about the parts they use and how they are put together and where/how the controls work, etc., etc.
So I really don't want to see GM go under, nor see its parts system get shot to hell and outsourced to wherever.
But This Stinks...
Having said that, Delphi's suppliers are saying that their contracts are null and void, especially since they don't have the bucks to be creditors to Delphi and give them free money by washing away lawfully incurred bills. And the UAW says that the talks they were having with management, the deal being offered was dropping $27/hour salaries to the $10-$12/hour range, no overtime, reduced vacations and increased "employee participation" in paying for health care benefits. That would likely result in a bumper crop of cars, boats and houses getting dumped onto the market, an unhappy workforce, economic migrations from Michigan to wherever... it could be very ugly.
Hype? Miscommunications? Who knows?
But The Grand Rapids Press confirmed that Delphi sweetened the deals for 23 top executives, in order to "prevent them from being picked off by other companies." Excuse me? These 23 are responsible for driving Delphi into a wall -- there are companies out there clamoring to steal them away from Delphi so they can get their own companies ruined? This as they are dumping their retirees onto the Federal government? Oh wait, what a great deal! Yeah, sign me up for making all these people someone else's problem. (end sarcasm)
I may be oversimplifying things, but am I missing something here? (sad grin)
Short Term Thinking
The spinning off of divisions and parts suppliers by large corporations has run up huge amounts of cash, often squandered, and put a host of great names and operations in jeopardy, sometimes never to return.
Short term strategies are destroying the fabric of American industrial might and corporate intellect, and shipping or giving it all away overseas. History and legacy are disappearing, and what replaces them isn't worth buying. Sigh.
Just One More Disaster
The big news globally was the devastating earthquakes in South Asia, including Pakistan. A local talk radio person was complaining about the U.S. pledge to send $50,000,000.00 worth of aid to the region, saying we could no longer afford it.
Fifty million dollars is an amount which can fall off the back of a FEMA truck in the New Orleans rebuild.
More importantly, ignoring, dissing or giving the finger to Pakistan, Afghanistan or India would do NOTHING to improve things in that part of the world and would certainly do horrible damage to relations with the U.S., to say nothing of the perceptions of Americans.
Being petty is one thing. Being petty and stupid will only cause us grief. If you can't be motivated to do the right thing because it is the right thing, then (a) don't throw a roadblock on those trying to do the right thing and (b) do the right thing anyway, even if your motives are just to save your scrawly worthless miserly neck.
The bad guys don't really need to be given another reason to hate U.S. and the rest of the people overseas shouldn't be given reasons why they might suddenly start thinking the bad guys might have a point.
Dumb. Treat people as people -- that's the lesson for today.
Dr. Phil
A Disclaimer
I am pretty much a GM/Chevy person when it comes to vehicles that I've ever owned, mostly driven and have much desire to own in the future. Grew up in a GM/Chevy family -- which didn't stop my sister from running off and having her own disastrous affairs with Ford products. I'm not saying that GM/Chevy is the "best" cars and trucks out there -- I'm saying I am comfortable with them and understand some things about the parts they use and how they are put together and where/how the controls work, etc., etc.
So I really don't want to see GM go under, nor see its parts system get shot to hell and outsourced to wherever.
But This Stinks...
Having said that, Delphi's suppliers are saying that their contracts are null and void, especially since they don't have the bucks to be creditors to Delphi and give them free money by washing away lawfully incurred bills. And the UAW says that the talks they were having with management, the deal being offered was dropping $27/hour salaries to the $10-$12/hour range, no overtime, reduced vacations and increased "employee participation" in paying for health care benefits. That would likely result in a bumper crop of cars, boats and houses getting dumped onto the market, an unhappy workforce, economic migrations from Michigan to wherever... it could be very ugly.
Hype? Miscommunications? Who knows?
But The Grand Rapids Press confirmed that Delphi sweetened the deals for 23 top executives, in order to "prevent them from being picked off by other companies." Excuse me? These 23 are responsible for driving Delphi into a wall -- there are companies out there clamoring to steal them away from Delphi so they can get their own companies ruined? This as they are dumping their retirees onto the Federal government? Oh wait, what a great deal! Yeah, sign me up for making all these people someone else's problem. (end sarcasm)
I may be oversimplifying things, but am I missing something here? (sad grin)
Short Term Thinking
The spinning off of divisions and parts suppliers by large corporations has run up huge amounts of cash, often squandered, and put a host of great names and operations in jeopardy, sometimes never to return.
Short term strategies are destroying the fabric of American industrial might and corporate intellect, and shipping or giving it all away overseas. History and legacy are disappearing, and what replaces them isn't worth buying. Sigh.
Just One More Disaster
The big news globally was the devastating earthquakes in South Asia, including Pakistan. A local talk radio person was complaining about the U.S. pledge to send $50,000,000.00 worth of aid to the region, saying we could no longer afford it.
Fifty million dollars is an amount which can fall off the back of a FEMA truck in the New Orleans rebuild.
More importantly, ignoring, dissing or giving the finger to Pakistan, Afghanistan or India would do NOTHING to improve things in that part of the world and would certainly do horrible damage to relations with the U.S., to say nothing of the perceptions of Americans.
Being petty is one thing. Being petty and stupid will only cause us grief. If you can't be motivated to do the right thing because it is the right thing, then (a) don't throw a roadblock on those trying to do the right thing and (b) do the right thing anyway, even if your motives are just to save your scrawly worthless miserly neck.
The bad guys don't really need to be given another reason to hate U.S. and the rest of the people overseas shouldn't be given reasons why they might suddenly start thinking the bad guys might have a point.
Dumb. Treat people as people -- that's the lesson for today.
Dr. Phil
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don't forget overseas response to us
Date: Tuesday, 11 October 2005 12:56 (UTC)They did it because it was the right thing to do. After all, we're all human aren't we?
Re: don't forget overseas response to us
Date: Tuesday, 11 October 2005 14:54 (UTC)And the bulk of U.S. aid to such things overseas actually comes from private citizens and corporations anyway.
What do these people want us to do? Sit with idle helicopters in Iraq and glance over the Pakistani border and say, "Gee, too bad. But we're a little overextended here, so you're on your own."
It's necessary to do something. It's necessary to get the ball rolling. Time is short in the first few days after such devastation.
Dr. Phil