What is wrong with Detroit? Here is the Problem plainly put!!:

A Friends Wife wrote this preamble:

Having lived in and near 'auto' towns for 34 years, Flint, Saginaw and Bay City, these things in the second letter are what I have observed by
listening to the union workers brag about drinking, playing cards on the
job and padding their hours. They also liked to work Sundays for triple
time/no bosses. Third shift was double time/no bosses.
Also saw for years, workers 'ballooning' a loan for a car, then selling it
in a year for more than they paid for it and getting another new one. I'm talking Caddy's and Corvettes. This sudden cancer that is eating the auto industry alive is anything but sudden. I said then and I'll say it now,
they were raping their company!! Please take the time to read this, it's
well worth it. Kat

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

There are two letters below. One from General Motors President to all
employees and all of their suppliers..

The other is from the President of a supplier to the auto industry. His
letter is an awesome letter that tells it like it is.

Every manager in Detroit and ALL politicians should read this along
with the union members.

This is one of the greatest responses to the requests for bailout money I
have seen thus far. As a supplier for the Big 3 this man received a letter
from the President of GM North America requesting support for the bail out program. His response is classic, and has to make you proud of a local guy
who tells it like it is.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Dear Employees & Suppliers,
Congress and the current Administration will soon determine whether to
provide
immediate support to the domestic auto industry to help it through one of
the
most difficult economic times in our nation's history. Your elected
officials must hear from all of us now on why this support is critical to
our
continuing the progress we began prior to the global financial crisis.
As an employee or supplier, you have a lot at stake and continue to be one
of our most effective and passionate voices. I know GM can count on you to
have
your voice heard.

Thank you for your urgent action and ongoing support.

Troy Clarke
President General Motors North America

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Response from:
Gregory Knox, Pres.
Knox Machinery Company
Franklin , Ohio

Gentlemen:

In response to your request to contact legislators and ask for a
bailout for the Big Three automakers please consider the following, and
please pass my thoughts on to Troy Clarke, President of General Motors -
North America Politicians and Management of the Big 3 are both infected
with the same entitlement mentality that has spread like cancerous germs in
UAW halls for the last countless decades, and whose plague is now sweeping
this nation, awaiting our new "messiah", Pres-elect Obama, to wave his
magic wand and make all our problems go away, while at the same time
allowing our once great nation to keep "living the dream" Believe me folks,
The dream is over!
This dream where we can ignore the consumer for years while management myopically focuses on its personal rewards packages at the same time that
our factories have been filled with the worlds most overpaid, arrogant, ignorant and laziest entitlement minded "laborers" without paying the price
for these atrocities this dream where you still think the masses will line
up to buy our products for ever and ever..
Don't even think about telling me I'm wrong. Don't accuse me of not
knowing of what I speak. I have called on Ford, GM, Chrysler, TRW, Delphi, Kelsey Hayes, American Axle and countless other automotive OEM's throughout
the Midwest during the past 30 years and what I've seen over those years in these union shops can only be described as disgusting..
Troy Clarke, President of General Motors North America, states:
"There is widespread sentiment throughout this country, and our
government, and especially via the news media, that the current crisis is completely the result of bad management which it certainly is not."

You're right Mr. Clarke, it's not JUST management ....how about the electricians who walk around the plants like lords in feudal times, making people wait on them for countless hours while they drag ass, so they can
come in on the weekend and make double and triple time for a job they
easily could have done within their normal 40 hour work week.

How about the line workers who threaten newbies with all kinds of scare tacticsfor putting out too many parts on a shift and for being too
productive (We certainly must not expose those lazy bums who have been
getting overpaid for decades for their horrific underproduction, must we?).
Do you folks really not know about this stuff? How about this great
sentiment
abridged from Mr. Clarke's sad plea: "over the last few years we have
closed the quality and efficiency gaps with our competitors."

What the hell has Detroit been doing for the last 40 years?! Did we really
JUST wake up to the gaps in quality and efficiency between us and them? The
K car vs.the Accord? The Pinto vs. the Civic?!? Do I need to go on? What a joke! We are living through the inevitable outcome of the actions of the
United States auto industry for decades. It's time to pay for your sins, Detroit .

I attended an economic summit last week where brilliant economist,
Alan Beaulieu, from the Institute of Trend Research , surprised the crowd
when
he said he would not have given the banks a penny of "bailout money".

"Yes, he said, this would cause short term problems," but despite what
people like politicians and corporate magnates would have us believe, the
sun
would in fact rise the next day and the following very important thing
would
happen....where there had been greedy and sloppy banks, new efficient ones would pop up. That is how a free market system works. It does work, if we
would only let it work"

But for some nondescript reason we are now deciding that the rest of the
world
is right and that capitalism doesn't work - that we need the government to
step in and "save us" Save us my ass, Hell - we're nationalizing
and unfortunately too many of our once fine nation's citizens don't even
have a clue that this is what is really happening. But, they sure can tell
you
the stats on their favorite sports teams... yeah - THAT'S really important, isn't it...!

Does it ever occur to ANYONE that the "competition" has been
producing vehicles, EXTREMELY PROFITABLY, for decades in this country? How
can that be??? Let's see... Fuel efficient... Listening to customers.... Investing in the proper tooling and automation for the long haul....
Not being too complacent or arrogant to listen to Dr. W. Edwards Deming
four
decades ago when he taught that by adopting appropriate principles of management, organizations could increase quality and simultaneously reduce costs. Ever increased productivity through quality and intelligent
planning.
Treating vendors like strategic partners, rather than like "the enemy" Efficient front and back offices..... Non union environment!
Again, I could go on and on, but I really wouldn't be telling anyone
anything they really don't already know down deep in their hearts.

I have six children, so I am not unfamiliar with the concept of wanting
someone to bail you out of a mess that you have gotten yourself into - my children do this on a weekly, if not daily basis, as I did when I was their age. I do for them what my parents did for me (one of their greatest gifts,
by the way) - I make them stand on their own two feet and accept the consequences of their actions and work through it. Radical concept, huh..?
Am I there for them in the wings? Of course - but only until such time as
they need to be fully on their own as adults. I don't want to oversimplify
a complex situation, but there certainly are unmistakable parallels here between the proper role of parenting and government.
Detroit and the United States need to pay for their sins.

Bad news people - it's coming whether we like it or not. The newly elected Messiah really doesn't have a magic wand big enough to "make it all go
away." I laughed as I heard Obama "reeling it back in" almost
immediately after the final vote count was tallied. "we really might not do
it in a year or in four" Where the Hell was that kind of talk when he was RUNNING for office?

Stop trying to put off the inevitable folks...! That house in Florida
really
isn't worth $750,000.. People who jump across a border really don't
deserve free health care benefits..! That job driving that forklift for the
Big 3 really isn't worth $85,000 a year.... We really shouldn't allow
Wal-Mart to stock their shelves with products acquired from a country that unfairly manipulates their currency and has the most atrocious human right infractions on the face of the globe! That couple whose combined income is
less than $50,000 really shouldn't be living in that $485,000 home! Let the market correct itself folks - it will.

Yes it will be painful, but it's gonna' be painful either way, and the
bright side of my proposal is that on the other side of it all, is a nation that appreciates what it has and doesn't live beyond its means and gets
back to basics and redevelops the patriotic work ethic that made it the greatest nation in the history of the world and probably turns back to God.

Sorry - don't cut my head off, I'm just the messenger sharing with you
the "bad news". I hope you take it to heart.

Gregory J. Knox, President
Knox Machinery, Inc.
Franklin , Ohio 45005
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