The United Auto Workers (UAW) almost killed the American car industry once – back in the ‘70s and ‘80s – when it succeeded in making American cars too expensive (and too poorly built) relative to the Japanese competition – by demanding high wages and benefits for low-quality work.
Now comes its second opportunity.
Today, the union – which represents workers from GM, Ford and FiatChrysler – will tell Congress it opposes President Trump’s efforts to reduce the regulatory burden on the companies which employ the union’s workers and the car buyers which support them. It will tell Congress it wants the Obama-era fatwas defining carbon dioxide as an “emission” – and thus a “pollutant” – to remain in force and be enforced.
And for the public to be forced to spend more money on cars that are more “efficient” – regardless of the cost.
The UAW does not put it quite that way, of course.
Instead, it says that rescinding the fatwas – which are literally fatwas, orders emitted by unelected regulatory termites who have somehow acquired de facto legislative powers – “could lead to protracted litigation and uncertainty in the industry that will limit growth,” in the words of UAW Legislative Director Josh Nasser.
What that means is the UAW prefers to let California and other states run by “climate change” beee-lievers – in the put-your-hands-on-theTV-and-be-healed religious sense of the word – impose their religious beliefs on the car industry and thus upon the rest of the country and so the entirety of the car buying public.
Nasser does not want to fight them – or for the Orange Man to do so, either. Notwithstanding the Orange Man was elected – and so can claim a national mandate the regulatory termites and UAW cannot.
California, et al have vowed to “fight” The Orange Man’s efforts to reduce the cost of buying new cars by dialing back how “efficient” they are required to be. He has also stated most heretically that he does not beee-lieve in “climate change” – at least, not in the computer-model-generated/cooked-books Impending Doom hystericized “theory” being peddled by secular Jimmy Swaggarts looking to make use of Useful Idiots (or poltroonish opportunists) such as the UAW’s Nasser.
Who ought to grok that it is important as a purely practical matter – as a matter of their economic survival, ultimately – to dial back the cost of new cars because people do not have unlimited funds to buy them. That if people cannot afford to buy them, it does not matter how “efficient” they are.
Hybrids and electric cars being economic Exhibits A and B.
They are both very “efficient” – meaning, they do not much use much or even any gas. And they are considered very “clean” in terms of their carbon dioxide “emissions” – by dint of the fact that their “emissions” aren’t “emitted” at the tailpipe. They are also the only vehicles currently on the market which meet the fatwas emitted by the Obama-era unelected but de facto law-making regulators.
Which the Orange Man isn’t even trying to rescind – as such.
All the Orange Man is trying to do is maintain the previously imposed fatwa intact through 2026.
This means that cars made between now and then will not have to average almost 50 MPG – no matter how much it costs car buyers.
Instead, they will only be forced to average 30-something, no matter what it costs car buyers.
Which has already caused the price of today’s new cars to increase such that people have begun to shy away from buying them, which the UAW apparently has not noticed but probably ought to have.
This includes “efficient” models like the hybrid Chevy Volt – which Chevy had to stop making because people stopped buying it. And the Bolt EV – which Chevy is still making but having to give away, as is the case with all EVs – including those manufactured by St. Elon the Electrified.
Because while these hybrids and EVs reduce fueling costs, they increase buying costs. Which means they do not save you money. Which is something Nasser and the UAW do not grok – or are afraid to discuss.
The situation grows more economically perverse as the cost of gas continues to decrease – the result of increased supply – which increases demand. Not for “efficient” and expensive hybrids and EVs – but for cars that aren’t.
Because the bottom line for car buyers isn’t “efficiency.” It is the bottom line.
Another concept apparently beyond the ken of the UAW – and California, et al.
They live in a cost-no-object bubble of dementia; swim in a miasma of End Times rapture predicated on “climate change” mumbo jumbo they don’t understand or are terrified to contradict, social justice warrioring having thoroughly infested every corridor of power precisely because it is seen as a means to more of the same.
If “climate change” is “denied” it amounts to the same thing as Dorothy’s dog pulling back the curtains and revealing the little man within pulling the levers and speaking into the voice amplifier which produces the voice of Oz.
And we can’t have that – no matter what it costs us.
…
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Eric, and the rest here, I think this article is pretty relevant, even if a few years old:
https://www.msn.com/en-us/autos/news/gearheads-push-to-preserve-rights-to-work-on-their-own-cars/ar-BBjqs5S?ocid=LENDHP
I don’t really think people know just how long the PTB have been trying to eliminate individual ownership rights, most notably GM and John Deere.
Wonder how much longer until “amateur” household appliance repairs become illegal? TPTB and the manufacturers would probably argue that one may accidentally injure themselves or burn down their house, or some other “safety” garbage.
That is what is so perverse about the US system. It’s not like the commies in Cuba or Russia where they create poverty and everyone is now on their own to survive within the system which foists upon them a necessity of doing for themselves but one where everyone is dependent on the powers that be to live and independence becomes a violation of the law.
Russia hasn’t been a communist country in the wake of the collapse of the USSR.
There are more Greek orthodox Christians there than there probably are in Greece. Communists abhor Christianity.
There are more people who are more concerned about real freedom, in Russia presently, than in the US. After having seen the results of communism, they’re now diligent to regain and hold onto freedom.
Americans, on the other hand, have forgotten the necessity of freedom, and have been bought off and distracted to the point where most no longer care.
And many in Russia are embracing the ideals of Christianity on which our former American ideals of liberty were built. Someone was telling me a while back, about this typical 501c3 “church” here, who decided to “help” the Russian Christians by sending some of their garbage over there- including contemporary “Christian” music, and books and games and the like.
The Russians to whom it was sent returned it, and said “What is this?! This is blasphemous! This is stuff that would not even be fit for many non-Christians! Are you trying to corrupt our kids?!”.
It’s just like when you see Mexicans here doing physical labor- how hard they work compared to Americans- and you don’t even have to tell them what to do- or even if there’s a language barrier- they just do it!
Americans and Europeans on the other hand, have become the very epitome of the things we used to criticize and of what people used to teach their children not to be….
If human freedom was a necessity, humans would have been exterminated long before Christ was born.
It is difficult to say that America was founded on Christian beliefs when every state was occupied by a different denomination.
Some of the U.S. founders were deists, who believe that the Universe was created by a Supreme Being who basically wound it up like a clock and then stepped back, not intervening in everyday affairs. Jefferson even created his own version of the bible sans miracles, which he believed were contrary to reason, and focused instead on the Christ’s moral teachings.
Hi Jason,
Deism – and Gnosticism – appeals to me; it is spiritual but the insolent certainty (about everything) which many other religions “of the Book” assert and which I have loathed since I attained the age of reason for the to me self-evident reason that these “books” are the product of men, not God and are laden with absurd and even vicious claptrap.
But at the same time, I remain in awe of creation and have a sense that such complexity could not just have randomly popped into existence, either. The signs of an intelligence are – to me – disturbingly apparent at times.
After examining many accounts of Creation, I’ve come to the conclusion that the most likely is that the entire Universe was sneezed out of the nose of a being named The Great Green Arlkeseizure. Beware the Coming of the Great White Handkerchief!
Morning Eric,
It is that very complexity that convinces me that there is almost certainly not a creator. Spontaneous order is perhaps the most complex “system” known to man. However, all attempts to control it through planning and intelligence, produce harm and interfere with its’ functional beauty. In short, no single entity, and certainly not a committee, could produce something as awesome and complex as “creation”.
Cheers,
Jeremy
Only trouble is, Jeremy, is that spontaneous order does not exist, unless one first has already accepted the presupposition that there is no Creator.
In the real world, unless we are dealing with either intelligent entities; symbiotic relationships, or pre-programed processes, there is only entropy and disorder.
When one starts asking why and how…. Why does the wind blow? Why is there lightning? it invariably leads to an answer which only prompts anotherr why (The wind blows because of a difference in pressure. Why is their a difference in pressure? etc.)
All questions eventually lead back to where did the energy come from, and where did the matter come from? Since these things are not eternal, and therefore had a beginning, and also a time when they did not exist; and could not have created themselves, because they did not yet exist, nor do they possess intelligence, all roads lead back to something or someone beyond the realm of the physical
Hi Vonu,
My impression of the mindset of the 18th century is not of a generally religious people (except perhaps in Massachusetts) but rather a generally humanist oriented one. General acceptance of live – and let live. Or, perhaps more accurately put: Leave me be. People questioned authority – secular and religious. This was the legacy of the prior several hundred years. Which is now in the process of being undone and the mindset of acceptance of authority re-established everywhere.
Hi Eric,
If you’ve been around the libertarian movement for as long as I have (since the mid 1980s), it will be apparent that the problem is illegitimate authority which is routinely accepted as legitimate that has always been the cause of problems of governance. When this becomes based on what is apparently nothing more than ancient superstitions rather than lawfully accepted statutes, when the percentage of the population that believes in the superstition falls to the point where they are in the distinct and decreasing minority, and rumor replaces proven fact as the medias output, we’d all be better off to return to our innate moral compasses, assuming we have ever had such a thing, and start simply saying “NO” when the mob is going wrong.
When everyone in the executive branch of the government acquires the credibility required to command the ignorant masses in violating the Constitution, authority belongs to whoever has the most armed agents of the government, and the simple ability to protect oneself becomes the anchor of society. Unfortunately, this is exactly where fear for ones life becomes the driving force for society at large.
As the old saying goes, love your neighbor but clean your gun.
Stock up on ammo.
Vonu, it was the principles of freedom- the ideas that all men are equal before God, and by their natural condition are entitled to freely speak; to the sanctity of their property and privacy; to do as they think best, and live their conscience before God without interference by rulers or other men, etc, which sprang from the broad principles of Christianity- as was also influential in the establishment of the English Common Law (principles of which still remain to this day) enacted by Alfred The Great….
The fact that different states were founded and populated by different groups with differing beliefs and practices- nay, not just states, but counties and townships and villages- which was also a part of that freedom which we once had- so that these groups had their own governments; schools, etc. where their values and beliefs were practiced among their own.
It was Christianity that drove enough British away from the Anglican Church to populate secessionist colonies in the first place.
Too many of the major movers were deists to believe that God got more than lip service to sedate the superstitious.
True- Christianity drove ’em away from Anglicanism, because Anglicanism was never Christian- it was just a re-do of Catholicism.
Once the Scriptures started appearing in in English; and especially after the invention of the printing press, and the decriminalization of possessing the Scriptures made such accessible to the public, those who truly cared (as opposed to those who just participated socially) left such churches in droves.
Interesting, that the mere possession of Scripture in the common tongue used to not only be a “crime”- but a capital crime! Kings and politicians don’t like the ultimate anti-statist book which undermines their authoriteh! (Even King James, when commissioning the official Bible of the realm, made several stipulations, including that it uphold “the divine right of kings’ and ‘the feasts of the church’… )
The Bible: The most censored and banned book in history; so hated by states, that it incensed tyrants to brutally torture and murder good people for nothing more than merely possessing that book in their own tongue, and for reading it.
One has to wonder why anyone would want to censor or ban that which was never more than a questionable transliteration of a poorly understood original in languages of little use outside of scholarship.
World Christendom would have been better off if the butchery had ended with the Geneva.
“Questionable translation of poorly understood languages”? Since when is Greek a poorly understood language? (The Hebrew/Aramaic Scriptures were translated into Greek by native-speakers of both languages, before the time of Christ).
New Testament was written mostly in Greek- with some perhaps originally in Aramaic or Hebrew.
The vast amount of literature, from the time of Christ and the next several hundred years quoting the original manuscripts in Greek and Latin, make the Biblical record THE most verifiable piece of literature [even from a purely secular standpoint] of any, ancient or modern.
Hey Nunz,
Well, I just disagree. Spontaneous order does exist, it’s all around us. In fact, it’s so pervasive that most people can’t see it. As for regression arguments, they don’t convince me of anything except that, at some point, the human mind seeks an answer to a question it does not understand. Sure, one can posit an eternal being that exists and was somehow not created by another such entity to “solve” the regression problem, but it doesn’t. It merely creates an end point.
Look, I’m not one of the asshole new atheists who seek to destroy the faith of others. I just do not find any argument for the existence of God to be compelling. The concept of God, similar to Aristotle’s concept of the prime mover, seems rooted in the human need for understanding. I believe that it is a creation of the human mind to answer a seemingly unanswerable question.
Still, it doesn’t matter what I think, except to me. Your faith is valuable to you, I would never be arrogant enough to insist that I am right and you are wrong on this matter. Note, I never disparage the faith of others, though sometimes I point out hypocrisy, I just don’t share it.
Cheers,
Jeremy
Robert Lanza MD and Bob Berman have a better grasp of creation than any creationist could, IMO.
I clearly meant when it was communist. Duh.
Russia qua Russia has never been communist.
Calling the USSR “Russia” was never any more legitimate than referring to the United States as “Texas,” since Russia was simply the largest state in the USSR. Since Russia became a stand-alone country, it has been as Christian, if not more so, than America.
If it was clear what you meant, you wouldn’t have felt the need to clarify your clarity with ad hominem.
ad hominem? duh is not an ad hominem. It’s an exasperation at the stupid game you’re playing. If you think that’s so bad to be worthy of calling it one then I suggest leaving the internet now before you encounter real ad hominem.
The Russian Empire fell and was replaced with the Soviet Union. Russia and USSR were used interchangeably throughout the cold war in the english speaking world. Furthermore it’s not called the USSR revolution, it’s called the Russian Revolution or communist revolution.
You damn well know what I meant and your game of ‘gatcha’ because my language left a little hole to exploit is trollish. Your follow up really shows the game you’re playing. Go back to usenet in 1991, at least the game was fresh then.
Thank you for admitting your ad hominem was really lousy.
Maybe you could explain how you imagined that I said anything about a “USSR revolution?”
Your language is a gaping hole.
It’s really no different than “America” being used interchangeably with “The United States of America”. You’re splitting hairs to no useful end.
And you’ve now effectively admitted that you are simply being a troll who looks for any little gotcha. Well congrats you found a rare instance where I didn’t make sure every phrase was tight because this forum generally isn’t visited by people like yourself.
Go to any retirement community in Florida…Most of them are Union Parasites and mostly retarded loudmouth assholes.
So true, Do!
People from NY are famous for that- spend their lives in shitty NY because of a good-paying union civil-serice job, then retire to FL or SC or AZ with a pension well into the six figures.
Case in point, the dick-sucking detective who was instrumental in getting Martin Tankleff wrongly convicted of killing his parents, retired to FL with a pension of over $250K a year!
Things should be interesting when their pensions disappear in a massive correction caused by an inverted yield curve that will, eventually, occur.
1. Private-sector unions at least used to have some understanding of their own industries. Nowadays, they’re just junior elements of the government-sector unions. And the govt. unions all are run by far-left enviro nuts, who set policy for the UAW, Teamsters, etc. But…
2. GM will get bailed out, again. Ford will get bailed out for the first time. Chrysler will break off from Fiat and become part of GM.
Gm could have OWNED Fiat- they had a deal to buy Fiat, then changed their minds. They paid Fiat $2 Billion to get out of the deal, and Fiat used the money to buy Chrysler. How comical is that ? GM is a trainwreck, and has been for years.
The Big Three have been taking steps towards suicide ever since their shares of the market began being taken away from them by those who started out selling cheap junk and are increasingly building better vehicles than the Big Three ever have and selling them for less than the Big Three could make a profit on.
Daimler Credit has probably been doing the same thing to itself that it did to Arrow Trucking a few years ago.
The UAW is primarily why cars cost twice what they should.
As a result of the compensation being paid as part of metastasizing American exceptionalism gone to seed.
The UAW with their partner Big Government is the only reason why cars cost twice what they should. Fixed that for ya.
Ummm, there is no Big 3. FCA is very far off from when Chrysler was a U.S. company.
Its really the big 1.5 where Ford and GM are only 3/4’s of what they used to be.
If you all knew the cost to assemble a car by the big 1.5 and FCA you would know they have a crap-ton of money somewhere which is not going into assembling cars.
Also, in the last 10 years the big 1.5 and FCA seem to ignore their customers, so don’t be surprised by anything they do – its not for you, its for your to purchase with debt.
Chrysler is 97% of FCA profits. You buy a Chrysler/Dodge/Ram/Jeep and you are basically keeping Fiat Maggots on welfare.
Maybe they should rent their box of ugly sticks out to other manufacturers in the hopes that Americans haven’t tired of buying butt ugly cars.
Fiat holds their own in Europe though. I guess Europeans are used to crappy cars- even crappier than Chryslers….
Fiat also does O-K with tractors and heavy equipment- which, for some strange reason, aren’t the crap-heaps that their cars are….
Wouldn’t know a thing about their cars, but the Ram truck I have now is the best truck I have ever owned. Chevy and three Fords and the Ram is head and shoulders above the other two.
Abandoning a brand they’d let go probably wouldn’t have hurt their credibility if they hadn’t adopted the box of ugly sticks from the designers at Chrysler.
I have never deliberately chosen any particular brand of any of the vehicles I’ve owned. All three of the vans have been been, coincidentally, Fords, and each has been an improvement on the precious one(s). I have never had the longevity, reliability, or driveability of the current one in all other vehicles I’ve owned combined, so I’d probably not gain anything by abandoning the light truck brand with the best overall reputation.
Those Ford full-size vans are probably THE most reliable vehicles ever to ply the roads. The ’99 I had was amazing- even with 300K mikes on it. Never needed a thing ‘cept one fuel pump and a heater core, and still ran like new. I never should have sold it!
It was truly amazing!
Just rented a “Ram” truck. It was fine in some respects, esp. fuel economy and hemi at that. Ride quality with those big wheels and not so big tires sucks. It was tall, just a half ton 4WD, and not rough but it sucked on curves, not really bad but nothing like a GM. My old 93 Turbo diesel 4wd one ton ext cab 8′ bed would handle circles around it and be more comfortable doing it.
I liked the XM/Sirius radio though. Of course it was hamstrung with those big “reums”. This is such stupid shit. A 4WD pickup with 20 or 22″ wheels(heavy as hell) and short sidewall tires.
I guess it was ok for a rental truck but then, they don’t want you to really do much of anything with it and pulling a trailer is verboten.
I did enjoy coming into Fredericksburg and seeing the sign that said “Willkommen”.
My old 89 Chevy K1500 is the best riding vehicle that I have!
We went through the Nimitz museum back about 30 years ago when the twins were little.
My non-running 82 was heads above everything else in ride quality. A 3/4T 4WD pickup with a 4 shock front end was amazing in the cuts and ruts it would simply roll over with none of the expected jolt, a real dirt road eater.
It had one problem when a friend first bought it new as a diesel, it wouldn’t start. The dealer that soon went out of bidness wouldn’t fix it. He took it to “lemon” court and there were 3 corporate lawyers waiting for him.
The proceedings went something like this: Mr. —-, you say it wouldn’t start but you have been using it haven’t you? Yes. And how did you use it if it wouldn’t start. I gave it a shot of ether and it would run after that.
Lawyers, well, you voided the warranty when you did that so your vehicle is no longer under warranty and we’re not responsible. And the goddamn court let them get away with that.
I tried to get him to help me go over the fuel system and find where it was pulling air but he never seemed to have time. Next thing I know it has a 454 in it.
That diesel stayed in his barn with very few miles for a couple years till a guy came by one day and saw it. He inquired about it and was told why it was there. He bought it, replaced one that he’d run to death(those engines would last a long time). Next time they saw one another my friend asked about the engine. The guy said he put it in the truck he had and it had never missed a beat and was still going strong.
So my friend is understandably pissed off at GM and buys a Ford of the same vein, but the Ford road like a wagon and the quietness the Chevy had wasn’t anywhere to be found in the Ford. It was more like riding in a tractor. He finally traded it for a 90 Chevy 4WD half ton x cab that he ran into the ground. That pickup regularly hauled trailers never meant to be pulled by a half ton. It did it for many years till he just ran it into the ground by not doing things like putting on new brake pads and such. It was a damn shame. He ran himself into the ground too but that’s another story.
I worked in a shop for over 20 years which used several different union employess for product manufacturing. We had the carpenters, electrical, bricklayers and pipefitters all working on the same product and no one could do any other job. I am sure this added to the cost of the product as every union protected its territory. The work rules were silly and at times caused inefficient work flow. It was nice to get contract raises and col bumps but it became difficult to increase productivity because the company was still using stone age equipment and production methods. Eventually, after some 85 years, they went under as the last 40 years were union and the costs to build a specialized product became prohibitive. Unions may have their place, but i believe they are not the most efficient method of production and employee welfare. Nice writing.
The one huge unmentioned floater in the punchbowl for the car-biz is that a modern car will last almost indefinitely with with just oil and filter changes. There’s no necessity to buy a new car every 3-4 years unless the driver totals his present car. What’s keeping the business going is the preponderance of leasing on new car sales, since the lessor takes the car away if you stop making the payments. I was in the car-biz for my entire career after the military and still keep in touch with many people so employed. All say it’s getting tougher and tougher to make any money – competition keeps squeezing margins to almost hopeless levels for the dealers. It always was a tough and competitive biz to be in – now it’s can be almost impossible to keep your nose above water
John T M:
Those are issues with the car dealers.
That group makes any scumbags in the UAW look like Mr. Rogers.
You will find most customers are not sympathetic, and that most dealers are not doing the best for their customers. And I do not mean price-wise.
The last 4 years have seen most auto-dealers kowtowing to various credit providers so that the customer can get into a car and the dealer will get a fee.
This means the customers get the loan the car dealer gets the most money from.
When you are so devoid of sales skills and incentives that you have to make money from car loans then you have a business problem which is too far gone to be rectified.
And lets not event discuss the graft which is called ‘Dealer Warranty’.
None of that bad behavior needs to happen, and car buyers do not need to be preyed upon by the dealers.
Dealers did it to themselves, and had ample opportunity and time to find a non-predatory way to run their business years ago.
But they didn’t and it should never be excused or authored into some missive about the ‘better days’.
With the advent of full synthetic oils, only the filters need to be changed as long as the oil hasn’t been contaminated or tortured to breakdown.
But those are the problems with any oil…. They become contaminated with dirt, carbon and moisture….and or break down from heat. The synthetics are supposedly a little more resistant to heat.
Personally, I feel a lot safer using real oil and just changing it more frequently. The old school technology has always worked well for me…stick with whayt works.
The advantages of synthetic are the reason things last so much longer and the newer the vehicle, the tighter the tolerances and the mandatory need for synthetic. Even my 93 Turbo Diesel mandated synthetic lube in the NVG 4500 transmission. I’ve changed lube in big rig transmission that were so worn they “chined”. That crap gets on your nerves and only lets up when you get out of one.
Put synthetic in there and the chine will decrease to a great degree, even disappear in some not in such bad shape.
I’ve seen tests of engines that were loaded up to the max with various lubricants and slowly relieved of enough fluid to kill them. I’ve seen synthetic engines just keep going without a plug in the pan. You can get on the Amsoil site and get an idea of how synthetic lube and premium petroleum oils compare or rightly, don’t. It isn’t even close.
Amsoil has a test called the 4 ball bearing test. There’s only a couple that can pass it and one is Amsoil. When it was shown Mobil 1 wasn’t capable, they sued Amsoil and gave them hell to the point they quit showing that test on Mobil 1. I like to use Mobil 1…..to clean an engine so I can install Amsoil. I’ll use a engine cleaner Amsoil makes, change it over to Mobil 1 and run it till it’s just filthy and let it drain 24 hours. The next round of Amsoil might get dirty a bit more quickly than the next change which stays clean and pretty….unless it’s some really old POS and then you’re playing with fire anyway. Breaking too much crud loose too fast can be damaging, one of the reasons of the debate of changing vs. not changing transmission fluid when one begine to act up. Well, if you are going to change one and the filter, damned sure use a synthetic.
I dunno, 8- not that there’s anything wrong with synths….but my reasoning is that I’d rather change my erl frequently- rather than buy more expensive synths and leave it in a long time.
My injuns are always still purring like kittens and running strong at 300K mikes- most people I see using synths aren’t getting that kind of durability from common engines with no work being done to ’em.
But yeah, for trannies and such…..synths are better.
I use Mobil One 15W50 as hydraulic fluid in my Grasshopper instead of the absurdly expensive OEM stuff (I might just fix the leak this winter!)
I think with engines though, frequency of changes is more important- even if the erl doesn’t break down, you still got combustion by-products and crud and especially moisture….and the more time between changes…the more moisture.
We’ll have to agree to disagree. If I have to get into one of my engines, it’s clean like just put together. Those common things with engines(lots of them)that used to have upper end clicking, are quiet and run so smooth you can’t tell they’re running.
For people who run a lot of miles, it saves a lot of money. Of course filtration is part of it and using the best filter or filters(by-pass) is a great way to keep an engine like new way down the road. Going by the manual, everything I run comes under the “extreme” condition which normally halves the mileage for recommended changes(and you’d better believe it’s right…where I am). In the conditions I am in, those change intervals are almost always half of the normal. I just changed front hubs, worn out so bad I thought I’d have to replace spindles. The guy who sold me new ones said instead of 100,000 mile replacement, I could expect half that. I agree. I installed a K&N air filter on my diesel and next thing I know, there’s dust in the intake. I changed to a dual density Amsoil foam filter and not a bit of dust. I had changed to a premium filter with the best pleated paper and a pre-filter made of foam. It did a great job too but the Amsoil was easily washed and reoiled so I saved a lot, and I do mean, a lot of money on air cleaners.
Last year we began to see triple digit temps in April and it kept up till well into October. That’s asking a lot from a lubricant.
When I was a kid and bought my own big rig I noticed after about 50,000 miles my transmission didn’t shift as smooth as it did when bought. I asked an old owner-operator and he said I didn’t need 90-130 W gear lube since there were no gears needing the scrubbing action protection like a rear-end. So I did what he said and used mineral oil. Came in one day and drained it hot, used diesel the next day in a sprayer and cleaned hell out of it. I then installed mineral oil and that transmission was slick as hell and worked better in winter too. 100,000 miles I did it again. That transmission stayed slick as long as I had it. Maybe you can’t feel the difference in your engine but changing gears constantly you notice when it’s really slick.
Put mineral oil in the rear-end and get the joy of replacing both of them. Different lubes for different applications.
I just wished back then the transmission had a filter but it never looked nasty after I went to mineral oil. With the correct lube and a (the more the better)sized cooler, you can extend the life if everything.
It’s why I use two stage filters on such as cars and pickups. I use a engine block heater too. Oh, I never had one that wouldn’t fire up no matter how cold it was, it just saves so much wear, idle time, etc.
I’ve heard people argue, Well, it gets hot in Texas but it doesn’t get that cold. I guess that depends on if you think -17 is cold. And actually, it’s not uncommon for us to have single digits in the winter and 115 in the summer. Look under “Extreme conditions” in the manual for what type of lube and when to change it here.
BTW, Every vehicle I’ve owned for the last 35 years I’ve changed the coolant when I bought it and installed Bar’s Leak. The wife’s car has 285,000 miles on the original water pump.
UAW = United Against Working.
On the flipside, labor costs in “the big three” are only about 10% of total expenditures. The auto companies cry poverty while having one of the most eficient workforces available. Automotive assembly line work is not easy, although in recent years more attention has been given to ergonomics. The auto companies DO extract “their pound of flesh” by having each worker perform multiple assembly operations while the line is moving. It’s not easy work. Many retirees from the automotive industry DO have health problems due to years of bending, twisting, and other difficult postures demanded by their jobs.
It is management that determines the quality of the vehicles by specifying the quality of the parts that go into them. The line worker is not responsible for the overall quality of the vehicle, but only for proper assembly. In the “old days” the line worker was looked on as a “necessary evil” and not permitted to point out “defects” in assembly operations, but those times are long gone.
W. Edward Deming, the “father of statistical analysis” and “quality control” was embraced in Japan long before the American auto industry adopted his concepts. They had to learn “the hard way” after producing decades of junk.
Much of that attitude toward the workforce is thanks to Frederick Taylor’s work on efficiency.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederick_Winslow_Taylor
While it appears on the surface to be gone now, the underlying structure in any organization keeps the workers misinformed and subject to constant “adjustments” by management. Like everything else in the United States, because someone did a study in 1910 about how to manage a workforce it became canon throughout society and the only thing left to say was to make slight changes around the edges. About the only real change has been the acknowledgment of repetitive motion injuries (only when faced with overwhelming evidence), although they just dump that off on their insurance company any payout has to come after a lengthly and dubious investigation.
The fact that we continually discuss the theories espoused by a bunch of intellectuals in the early 1900s as if the world has always been this way strikes me as a bit odd. One guy writes a book and that’s the way it is forever? Maybe when debating the nature of God that’s OK, but this ain’t religion, it’s science(ish).
I’d love to have the option of working for a few years, taking a sabbatical, then coming back into the daily grind again. But that would require one to be debt free (nearly there) and have rock-solid investments that aren’t subject to the whims of the central bankers. Or maybe form a business with a few partner/workers doing something that might be interesting and profitable. But the capital markets don’t reward “laid back” entrepreneurs, and maybe they shouldn’t. As long as one sucker puts in a 70 hour week that becomes the benchmark. And once you leave you don’t come back at the same level you left (just ask any woman who decided to have a child).
“The fact that we continually discuss the theories espoused by a bunch of intellectuals in the early 1900s as if the world has always been this way strikes me as a bit odd. ”
Me too. It’s the same way in every facet of the modern world. I keep finding the root causes of modern problems being between roughly 1885 and 1935 with a huge concentration between 1910 and 1918. Of course some things will go back to the 1840s or earlier but after about 1935 it seems just making things worse on the same original premises. But we can’t discuss these basic premises to solve the problems. Another patch must be made that keeps the premise alive. I don’t get it.
Sometimes I think people are too ignorant or too lazy but I lay it out for them and they get insulting or mocking ‘do you want 1910 level healthcare?’ and other nonsense.
As if the world were somehow binary. Take central control or die of an infected cut. No middle ground. Don’t question why our worker’s marketplace is a monopsony market, forcing you into an ever-more specialized slot with non-transferable skills. “What’s good for GM is good for America” has been transformed into “What’s good for Goldman Sachs is good for Washington.”
That which has become digital cannot avoid becoming binary.
Oh the labor market that’s another thing. All these morons think that automation is the evil capitalists putting people out of work. That people can only do one narrow thing. Yet these are the same people who demand someone must have a degree in X to do X. They also insist the government regulate everything to block out new competition, people developing new industries, ways of doing things and so on.
They also complain about the wages and wealth inequality and then want central banking. It’s insane.
BrentP,
“I keep finding the root causes of modern problems being between roughly 1885 and 1935”
That was when the decisions about how we were going to be allowed to live were made.
Fabian Society was formed in 1984.
“According to author Jon Perdue, “The logo of the Fabian Society, a tortoise, represented the group’s predilection for a slow, imperceptible transition to socialism, while its coat of arms, a ‘wolf in sheep’s clothing’, represented its preferred methodology for achieving its goal.”” https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fabian_Society
I was a fireman and paramedic. I resisted being a fire union member for years, even at $15/month dues. Later in my career, I joined, due to pressure from other firemen. When us paramedic firefighters did not get an extra three steps of pay for performing paramedic duties on advanced life support ambulances, per city legislation, the union president stated that since this did not effect a large number of employees, the union was not going to make this an issue. The city passed this legislation due to a lack of paramedics in the department: the department was running shorthanded. Out of 900+ sworn firemen, 27 of us were effected (3% of the sworn personnel). Years later, the city started TAKING AWAY those three steps of pay from paramedics as well as three steps of pay for those of us who NEVER GOT the pay, because many more firemen were becoming paramedics to get the pay, and that was causing the city to pay more money. Then, the same person who HAD been union president (now promoted to a chief position) said that he should have made it an issue. Being part of union leadership is one method of becoming a chief; city promotes you to shut you up. Every single union president has made chief. I quit the union when I was told that it did not effect enough members. I can say that this fire union made as much sense as a screen door on a submarine and about as worthless as teats on a wild boar.
Several years ago, the campaign chair of the Colorado Libertarian Party asked me if I’d considered running for elective office in Denver. I responded that I had considered throwing my hat into the mayoral race. He asked if I had done any platform creation. I told him that I would run on the idea of combining the police, fire, and paramedic departments into a common public service department where advancement would be dependent on continuous cross-training between the three. Those who wanted to remain in only one of the three functions would hit a career end of their own making. Those who chose to continue on and become fully proficient in all three disciplines would become well-paid and well-trained commanders, who could continue in their careers well past where normal police officers and firemen retire due to physical decline. My campaign ended when I told him that I would campaign in my usual street clothes and serve likewise if elected. I’ve never been interested in wearing any kind of uniform. I refused a scholarship to the Air Force Academy for that reason in addition to the illegal war in Vietnam being still underway.
Good for you, Bill! Never trust a person in a suit. A suit is something a person wears to differentiate himself as someone who never has to do physical labor; someone who can compel others to do his dirty-work for him; or someone who wants to appear to others to be something which he is not.
I wore a suit once in my life- when I was 13 and made my ‘confirmation’- and simultaneousl,y renounced both Catholicism and suits!
Nunzio,
“
Good for you, Bill! Never trust a person in a suit. A suit is something a person wears to differentiate himself as someone who never has to do physical labor; someone who can compel others to do his dirty-work for him; or someone who wants to appear to others to be something which he is not”
Is a sport coat Ok? Covers my Galco Miami Classic shoulder holster nicely.
How about gloves?
Now I realize that I don’t wear gloves to keep my hands from being blistered, bloody, and infected. I just don’t want to get my hands dirty.
It isn’t a matter of trust. It is a matter of personal creature comfort. I am simply not comfortable in layers of clothing. I routinely go without even a hoodie unless it is absolutely necessary to get from one warm place to another without shivering. I didn’t have a suit until after I was married and only bought that one because the misses demanded that I have one after her father died a week after we were married. I don’t remember what I wore to his funeral, but I do remember the single time that I wore that suit, after she was my ex-wife. I remember all the women in the office wowing me in that suit the day I decided to take it to work and change into it there before going to the Brownwood Jaycees banquet where my best friend was inducted into the presidency thereof. I also remember donating it to the local senior citizens thrift store. Good riddance.
Tuan,
One glove or two? 😉
Speaking of suits:
What are the first five words a black dude hears after getting a new suit?
“Will the defendant please rise”!
It’s really funny that the same people that insist I trust the government also support government employee unions. If the government treats its own employees so badly they need unions why should I trust the government?
Termites? Don’t you mean Terrorists?
The UAW are retarded parasites…which is why they exist. Fucking terrorist FDR and it’s Wagner Act terrorism.
I will never knowingly buy anything those UAW mafia maggots touched.
Hi Do2,
In this case, as in the prior, the UAW is crapping in its own bed – so to speak. If GM, et al don’t make money then the UAW’s members don’t get paid. And this business of amen’ing a government fatwa that cars average 50-plus MPG means a de facto hybrid/electric car mandate – which means the cost of the average new car will go up by thousands. Which means more and more people will simply stop buying new cars.
eric, I told the b&c about “out with Chevy” and she was confused(not uncommon) but asked if they wanted everyone to buy GMC. I finally explained to her what it meant. She didn’t think that was a good idea.
I explained selling to the 1%(no, not THAT 1%)they were shitting on flyover country people who barely tolerate the LBGTQ. I know 3 people who have bought new Ford’s(pickups) and 2 had GM pickups, the other had a Dodge.
When I saw that motto I immediately thought of “Soap” when the gay guy goes to Texas to see a girl he’s taken up with. When it was explained to his GF’s mother he was a “homo” she said “We don’t have those in Texas, at least not so you can tell”.
I’m probably 1 in a 1,000 who doesn’t say nasty things about gays in my county. I knew a guy who seemed to be “around” a lot and this other guy’s kids called him “fudgepacker” to his face.
Growing up we’d occasionally go visit one of my mom’s old friends with a boy my age…..Perry. When we were very young we knew he was different but didn’t know what to call it. I think they fairly quickly decided to home school him. He got a lot of hell before any of us knew about gay or “homos” as they’ve always been called here. I liked Perry, just didn’t want to hang around with him too much.
I met a whole bunch of high plains people from a couple counties who all knew each other. The tallest one, about 6’5″, was gay. His friends, especially his best friend was unaware of it. But we began speaking of it one day and his best friend said he had no idea. I said “didn’t his eye make-up give you a clue”. He moved to Galveston and participated in some sort of health care. We all got together 20 years later to bury him. The family said he died of cancer but everyone already knew he died of AIDS. It was a really sad day since we had almost no contact with him but wished him no ill will. Of course this was the old college crowd where you don’t get quite the same reaction you do from a great deal of rural Texas.
But mark my words, that “out with Chevy” is going to come back to haunt their stupid asses. There’ll be so many jokes for people driving Chevy pickups the owners will tire of it.
All this goes to show how far out of reality “corporate”CEO’s really are. You alienate flyover country and go broke.
It’s absurd, 8, isn’t it? It’s like they no longer care about offending the biggest segment of their customer base; as if they exist to make political and philosophical statements- and don’t care at all about bidness- which, I guess is an easy mentality to get into, once they start relying on Uncle’s schemes and programs and loans and such rather than making an honest profit by manufacturing quality products which people would want to buy (and not offending the majority of those people!)
And sheesh- what were Perry’s parents expecting? Name your kid Perry….he’s gonna be a fudgepacking interior decorator- not a pipe-fitter (They can’t grasp that big pipes aren’t meant to fit in small holes)- Unless of course, you’re Perry Como- but he was Eye-talian, and like Archie Bunker said “We know Eye-talians are always bothering women”- But there are limits even to that- like that Giorgio Armani…..Hey, even we have our limits! Name your kid Giorgio, and he’s gonna be a prancing fashion designer….even if he’s Ukrainian!)
Maybe Ford’s new slogan should be “Ford; Straight up!”
If anything, I thought Mazda would be the company to first start catering to fags- after all, they already cater to urologists- don’t they have the Mazda Meatus?
You know, I never thought of it, but when the former foremost purveyor of muscle cars throws in with the LGBT-whatevers while the manufacturer of the stereotypical hairdesser’s car stays out of it, you know things have gone upside down.
Maybe that could be Mazda’s new slogan. “The others build agendas. We just build great cars.”
HAhaha! I never thought of that, Chuck!
We should’ve known about Chevy though….the bow-tie shoulda been a dead give-away.
When I saw that motto I immediately thought of “Soap” when the gay guy goes to Texas to see a girl he’s taken up with. When it was explained to his GF’s mother he was a “homo” she said “We don’t have those in Texas, Live ones anyway”.
Pure economic terrorism, and the destruction of private industry- with the union members and the public being used as stooges to pay the price!
Just look at the ruins which are Detroit to see what decades of unionism have accomplished!
Just look at the bankrupting of Shitcago and IL in general- mainly due to the cost of unionized civil-service salaries, benefits and especially pensions; not to mention that the exact same thing is in the beginning stages in many other locales around the country.
Unions were started ostensibly to combat dangerous working conditions and inhumane labor practices. Today, Uncle regulates those things. Unions have become nothing but financial strong-arm organizations.
Unions are as much to blame for the decline of American industry as are politics- for it was the unions which made American-produced goods too expensive to compete; made it too hard for businesses to extract a profit from their endeavors; and reduced the quality of everything by making it too hard to fire lazy incompetent workers.
Anything the psychopaths do that violates the 13th Amendment is an act of terrorism. Government is nothing more than a terrorist organization. One needs to be fucking mentally retarded to refer to politicians as “Leaders”.
The parasitic ruination of Detroit started with the socio-economic political terrorist Coleman Young…But, yeah. Parasites gonna parasite.
Do2, Jeremy, and the rest of the Motown gang here,
Hizhoner?
I think Cavanagh started the ruination.
https://youtu.be/T-C8DwL2ovQ
Detroit: City on the Move (1965)
This video has it all!
Central planning
Diversity
Real cars
The International Celebration of “Freedom”
JFK and the Olympics
Even friendly police without Batman suits.
Almost all the topics discussed here.
I first saw this played on a projector about 50 years ago. It’s something Goebbles would be proud of.
I think Hizhonor was a result of, as opposed to, the ruination of Detroit.
“After all, in 1967 Mayor Jerome Cavanagh lamented upon surveying the damage [from the riot], “Today we stand amidst the ashes of our hopes. We hoped against hope that what we had been doing was enough to prevent a riot. It was not enough.””
Not enough?
They sent in the 82nd and 101st airborne fucking rangers, the national guard, and the state police. But that wasn’t enough.
Sort of explains why the Philadelphia MOVE and Waco fires were necessary.
Terrorist appears to have become the new nigger.
Dad had 25 years in the UAW Chrysler Plant in Belvidere, IL (omni, neon, caliber, cherokee plant). He only ever bough two chrysler products. 2 caravans the 88 and a 91 years. He would drive old bmw’s and japanese cars and park far away from everyone at work. He and everyone else there knew they were making crap cars.
VW recently voted NO to the UAW. That should be clear enough to the average person that the UAW has no benefits.
At UAW plants if you drive a car not made in one you must park in the back of the lot.
You should see thread on jalopnik on that vw vote. Some people were astounded why they wouldn’t want the UAW in there. Except those of us that have actually had to be in or deal with the UAW or similar unions.
Wow….sounds like fitting punishments for pedophiles! Not only make them work on assembly lines in UAW plants…but force ’em to drive American cars!!!!
Ahh…the Supreme Court would probably say it’s cruel and unusual punishment!
I tried to convince my dad to buy the Neon Srt4 when it came out but he knew better.
I saw a lot of GM and Fords in that lot though. My dad said as long as it was domestic it was accepted.
Yugos and Fiats had to park really far away. (Had nothing to do with being non-domestic- they’d just break down before they got there)
They were both always proof that one gets what they pay for.
I blame that more on management than I do the workers though. Sure, they have a role with idiotic work rules and such, but it’s management that makes decisions on what parts to use; they often go with a cheap, low priced part vs. one of higher quality. Or management will dictate using crappy parts from the parts bin (e.g. Chevette parts in the Pontiac Fiero), etc. Sooo, I blame management more than the workers for the fact that crap cars are being built.
Ernest Angley?
How about Ernest Ernest – Faith-Healer To The Cars:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1LyhCXAKzBE
Foul demons come out!
They do, and they are all dressed, and sound just like televangelists!
I’d say that the Orange Oaf has already thrown in the towel,’ cause he has just appointed some dumb twat from here in southern KY. as ambassador to the UN, who has stated that “Climate change is a real risk to our planet, which must be addressed”.
Gotta love the lying psycho- who, while campaigning as the anti-war candidate, chose a Neocon as his running mate, and after he was elected, chose to staff his cabinet with a bunch of other Neocon establishment warmongers; and while rightly saying that “climate change/global warming” was BS….goes and appoints a bunch of it’s believers,including the latest, mentioned above, to various positions…… Is this guy just a serial liar, like all politicians are- or is he genuinely insane and schizo?
And why would anyone believe that the UAW represents the thoughts and interests of the autoworkers- considering that such were among Trump’s biggest group of supporters when he was campaigning on the ideals of not bowing to all of the climate change BS, and of reducing the regulatory tyranny so that the decimated cities of the rust belt could get back to the business of actually doing business instead of just existing to suck off of taxpayer-funded programs?
First thinmg the autoworkers should do, is dump the UAW- before the UAW completely kills their jobs- which is exactly what bowing to the climate-change hoax will cause to happen!
If trump could have hired worst people Im not sure how. Totally embarrassed I supported this loon.
All of his hiring decisions following his little meeting with the CIA have been driven by their enhancement of his survival until the end of his term. Now that he has sold out, he has to continue to court the military-congressional industrial complex if he doesn’t want to become the new Patton.
Israel would be proud to mistake Air Force One for a random Iranian cargo plane the same way they did the USS Liberty for an Egyptian warship.
Or the USS Vincennes. Good analysis.
Of course the way he speaks is anathema to a Texans ears so when he was promoting his “new” tax code, he wanted everyone to know it was for the “little guy”. It sure enough was. The little guy gets to pay through his nose.
So he says I’m giving a break to the working man, truckers, he specifically mentioned….and then runs out a goddamn teamster to stand beside him. Every old trucker in the country gagged at that moment. It’s the reason there’s a premium to deliver to NYC.
I used to have to work, or try to, with some NY teamsters in Galveston. It was nearly a riot every time, not just by me but by every trucker there. You could count on getting screwed when you pulled up to a dock and that’s what was facing you.
I had a cousin who was a cotton broker that I’d never met but my uncle told me about him and gave me his number and said if I ever had any trouble with the labor and it was his cotton, to call him. I had just about put it out of my memory but got down there in the middle of the night and the next morning I was only a few trucks back in line. So this typical teamster, NYC accent and all, comes out to speak with me and tells me he needs this other load behind me, would I agree to let him unload. I was just a kid but could get fairly roused up with a good screwing so I said Ok. He ran the guy around me(nothing against that guy, he was just a victim like me)and unloads him and then starts running other trucks for a load “he needed” too. This goes on all day and I’m right there in line when one comes out and drapes the chain and locks it over the gate. So I go over there and go into the office and talk to this NYC teamster smart-ass and asked what was going on. We’re through, going to the house, you’ll have to wait till tomorrow. Then it hit me and I asked if I could use his phone. I called this cousin and told him what was going on and read the bill of lading with his name on it off to him.
The guy says “Let me talk to that prick” so I did. Mr. smartass stood there and said yes, yes, yes yes and finally hung up the phone. He looked at me, nearly too hard, almost got his ass whipped just for that look and then said “Bring your truck around” just spitting it out.
I went back to the truck and my best friend just happened to be with me. I cranked it up and he asked what was going on. I said “We’re getting unloaded” as the guy came out there and removed the chain. I pulled in and they started unloading and I went in and stood over this guy just waiting for him to say one wrong word. He just sneered and signed my papers.
When I went back out there were a few truckers waiting for me wanting to know how I did that. I told em and showed em my bill of lading. When I left there was another truck in there getting unloaded with several lined up to go in the gate and chains off just waiting their turn.
They weren’t gonna take no for an answer. I spoke with a couple of them later that week and they said unloading went on till after they were gone. We all had a good laugh. That’s the kind of scum that are teamsters.
They think Texans are stupid. It matters not what they think because everybody there had a hand on a gun and that was something they understood.
When I was in those environs I slept with my head on my right hand wrapped around a Browing Hi Power. When help got there in the morning they’d jump up on the bottom step of your truck and then back off and be back well away from the truck when you looked out. They’d be waving and smiling. They knew truckers shot first and asked questions later in the dark on docks. No big deal since the cops wouldn’t even come to the docks till the sun was high in the sky….and they’d tell you so. Cowards even back then.
Bringing a Teamster onstage…..why didn’t he just bring out John Gotti or Joe Bonanno?
That’s why Reagan was such a good prez ( 😉 )- He knew how to act.
The CIA didn’t make him pick Pense as his running mate.
Soon as he did that, I said to myself “Either this guy’s not what he’s purporting to be…or he’s very stupid”.
In retrospect…both have proven to be true.
Just like the CIA didn’t make Kennedy pick Johnson, huh?
that pick got jfk killed
It was more a facilitation than a cause. There were several groups that wanted Kennedy dead. LBJ was a well known facilitator of murders before he got into the White House. He was well enough connected to never have to stand trial for any of them, although Billy Sol Estes spilled his guts after prosecution was possible.
Just like Reagan’s pick nearly got him killed…
Reagan’s pick was forced. The uniparty forces any president they think that may go off the reservation to pick a vice president that will do the job so to speak.
If that president gets far enough out of line they take action to get the vice president into office.
The safest presidents were Bush and Bush jr. Why? The first was the deep state establishment and that’s why he got to pick that dufus for vice to protect himself. The second, well, he intentionally let the vice president do most everything important.
If you refer to Trump as “President NotHillary”, you will feel much better about Trump 🙂
^^^This !^^^
@Nutzio- your hatred for our President will only make you more and more crazy as you watch his continued success. But then again, you DO provide some of us with cheap ENTERTAINMENT;-]
Nunzio’s right. Any libertarian that supports having trash like Bolton – Pompe0 – Haspel – Nuland -and Nikki Haley in positions of power isnt a libertarian. At all. If youre nnot thats fine but these are the most vile people on the planet. Not to mention weirdo kushner.
THe closest that any libertarian has ever gotten to the White House was when Tonie Nathan got the only electoral vote that a libertarian ever got.
Eric,
“The United Auto Workers (UAW) almost killed the American car industry once – back in the ‘70s and ‘80s – when it succeeded in making American cars too expensive (and too poorly built) relative to the Japanese competition – by demanding high wages and benefits for low-quality work.”
Almost?
I remember some names, Woodcock, Carter, and lacocca.
And if I remember correctly, that triumvirate DID kill the American automobile industry.
Perhaps you’ve never read the coroner’s report, but the cause of death was the Chrysler Corporation Loan Guarantee Act of 1979.
What business is it of the union what products are made? That’s not their decision nor concern. They make whatever the factory owner tells them. There’s tons of stuff my employer does that I disagree with, but I hold my nose and do it, because aside from grousing to my supervisor the alternative is to walk away. I’m sure at some point an executive decision about our product might push me over the edge, but I seriously doubt it.
Of course I’m also a shareholder in my company. That’s another story. If the UAW is a major shareholder in GM (which I’m pretty sure is the case) they do have a right to an opinion though the proxy and board election process. Every year I get the proxy election statement, and every year I vote to replace the CEO just because I can. Falls on deaf ears, but at least I logged my vote. And again, they can always sell their stock if they think the direction of the company isn’t in line with their values.
If the unions stopped paying attention to the products that their members produced, the names of their locals could become even sillier than they already are.
Poor corporate America doesnt want their money invested in the Scam/Pyramid scheme to go to waste and economic reality to set in. If I was a paid GM lobbyist I would vote to keep it from rescinding too!
Perhaps the new Martin Scorsese film, The Irishman, will inspire a few new house painters.
Where’s Jimmy Hoffa?
Call (313) 962-7297
Those crazy-ass televangelists make me sick just to look at them, and the hairdo is enough to make you puke.
When one gets wound up and repeating himself like a broken record, you just want him to choke on his own B.S. I have the same reaction to union bosses, politicians, insurance salesmen and newscasters. They all have the same tailors and hairstylists, too, apparently. E-Loon needs to give them all the first free ride to Mars, one way of course!
Almost forgot…..fill the cargo hold with all the SJWs……you know….for food.
That’s just evil, SJW’s would be terrible tasting. Look at what they eat- it would be like dining on vulture…
I hear they taste just like chicken, lol!
GTC, I think you meant “chicken shit”!
Nunzio,
I had to look that one up.
“Coprophagy… The feeding on or eating of dung or
excrement that is normal behavior among
many insects, birds, and other animals …”
Tu, nothing with ‘COP’ in it can be good!
Nunzio,
Even copulation?
Personally Nunz, I find that a little copulation from time to time can be a good thing.
But if one were to consider the activity in the context of the current spawn in the age of Idiocracy, you might be on to something.
All they have to do is collect tithes and donations like talking heads sell advertising.
Another union story from personal experience…
Most people are unaware that “right-to-work” legislation does not invalidate any union contract beyond the abolition of the “union security clause” which mandates “forced” union membership as a condition of employment and absolves the employer from liability for following this union “mandate”.
Every other part of the union contract (collective bargaining agreement) remains in force.
Unions criticize those who choose not to join (in right-to-work states), but when the National Labor Relations Board attempted to absolve unions of the requirement to represent non-members, the unions fought that decision successfully. You see, numbers DO matter.
If unions offered good health insurance with reasonable rates, they would gain more members than they would know what to do with. Union purchasing of health insurance across bargaining unit lines would do much to lower the cost. There is indeed “economy in numbers”. Unions should research and exploit this area.
I was hired by a major firm to maintain complex electrical and electronic systems. Within 6 months, my employer was able to eliminate the use of contractors. I had brought the repair operations “in-house” thereby saving my employer a considerable amount of money.
My employer decided to reward me with a substantial “raise”. All went well until my “union” (who I was FORCED to belong to) found out about it. My “union’s” position was “if he gets a raise, everyone else in the bargaining unit must get a raise”. My “raise” was promptly rescinded. Efforts by my employer to create another “bargaining unit” job classification was met with hostility by my “union”. Here I am, FORCED to pay “union dues”, to a “union” that is keeping me down.
It took TWO YEARS, upon the expiration of the “contract” , for me to get my “raise”.
I have NO USE for unions and can stand on my own two feet to get ahead.
P. S. I know about the “Beck” decision…most unions make it extremely difficult to utilize it…
Right-to-work legislation is the best thing to happen here in the USA. It’s a shame that it cannot be nationwide…
I was a supervisor in a shop that voted in a union (thanks to AT&T screwing with the health insurance and concessions made to the CWA to get the TCI merger though). The pro-union techs were very much at war with the anti-union techs. They’d spend company time following the anti-union techs around looking for safety violations and basically anything else they could tattle about. When confronted they’d claim they were conducting “union activities” and get away with it. They wouldn’t tell certain techs when or where meetings were taking place, and at one member assaulted another and police were called. Solidarity indeed.
The odd thing was that they never got a contract. My techs went for about 3 years without any pay increase or change in benefits because of the law that put a freeze on wages and benefits until there was a contract in place. The union sent the B team in to work on the contract and basically never seemed interested in completing the process. When enough was enough there was a decertification election and out they went. Oh and along the way the tech bubble collapsed and AT&T sold off a bunch of systems, including ours. I’m certain that the only reason it was sold off was because they could get rid of the union.
Same thing happened to a coupleof friends of mine. The employees that go above and beyond do not get raises because the union says so. Way too much weight given to seniority alone. Makes the old timers lazier. Never bring in the union.
Eric,
The unions long ago ceased being for the workers long ago! No, the unions (rather the union leadership) is: 1) for themselves; 2) provides a slush fund for the leftists and the Democratic party (redundant?); and 3) provides money laundering for the Democratic party. The unions just take the workers’ money for themselves, and to give to the Democratic party. They ceased being about the workers DECADES ago…
I’d be much more willing to join a union if they actually did what they are chartered to do, namely get a good contract between employees and employer. The CEO has his headhunting firm, the Hollywood actress has her agent, yet collective bargaining has been a complete disaster for the US working man. Once they figured out it was more lucrative to lobby government officials instead of negotiating contracts it was game over.
I work in an industry that depends on outside contract labor and in-house labor. The contractors are employed by firms that are employed by my employer. They negotiate a contract and compete with other contracting companies. It wouldn’t be a big change if our in-house people were suddenly unionized aside from that now lets a whole new layer of Uncle’s meddlers into the tent. And we all know that once that happens no one but Uncle wins.
Hi RK,
“Collective bargaining rights” is one of those shady terms designed to conceal the government coercion underlying the system. An honest term would be “grant of exclusionary privilege”.
Cheers,
Jeremy
I was forced, due to a closed shop, to join a union years ago. They didn’t do SQUAT for us! All they did was take our money for themselves. The local union boss was NEVER around. Can you say no-show job funded by us?
If you want to find the laziest gold brick in the joint, look for the shop steward. He can’t work “because he’s doing goonion business.”