Once again....
...am I going to have to keep quoting myself?

Ok, ill ask again in ten years :-D

I can quote you too :-X0A6

Ford is moving out of the country because that is the only way they can be competitive with toyota and nissan. For some reason these import companies can run a factory in the USA with fewer employees, less overhead, and get more done than a domestic company can. It's not because Bob around the corner bought a Toyota. It's because Ford and GM are wasting time and money playing politics with the unions among other BS and forgetting that they're supposed to be running a business. Ford builds a better product than any automaker they just need to get their you know what together on the business side of it.

We should force Toyota to be UAW

I don't think that will work. They tried to unionized walmart, and walmart just shut down the store.

But would 'yota or Datsun really close the plant and lose that much production?

Hmm, some good COULD come of unions afterall ;)

Gotta think about this one for a while...

It would level the playing field

That's a great idea unionize everybody and everything so no one will want to build factories here. The ones that stay will pass the increased cost of doing business on to us as the consumer. I would like to go the other way and get rid of the unions all together. Make it so Ford and GM can do business here with out getting bogged down in union BS.

That IS another way ;)

Im glad you like the idea :) :-wink

Just remember that we need to avoid politics here guys ;)

When Ford, GM or DC come to my state and build a plant and bring some jobs here, I'll start listening. Nissan did that when they did not. And did it big time.

UAW and the "big three" all got caught up in the "pension for life" and "health insurance for life" mentality of the past and can't figure out how to get out of this. It looks like, from what is going on with GM and with the airlines, that this is going to play out very ugly.

Nissan, Honda and Toyota got to write on a blank slate in setting up their job forces. They chose to locate in "open shop" states. I'm neither for or against labor unions. I am against living in the past and being left behind in a world economy that is based on workers being more self-reliant.

401K self-funded retirement plans with contributions from both employer and employee, portable health insurance plans with deductables just high enough to make the employeee think twice about running to the doctor every time he has a runny nose and having every test known to medicine run on him is what is absolutely killing the traditional model for automotive manufacturers.

When labor and management get their heads together and agree on a competitive and modern model for being fair to workers while not endangering the long term survivability of the manufacturer, then American manufacturing will again thrive.

They can send their representatives down here to Mississippi, interview the workers, get a feel for their level of satisfaction with their jobs and working conditions and learn a few things and then improve on them.

We just can't expect a protectionist attitude mired in the past to keep us at the top.

;)Lets get this back to the HD truck market

Here is a link to an interesting article http://www.nav-international.com.br/Ultimas_Noticias_int.asp?Idioma=2&Notic=500 It's not going in a HD truck but does show a connection between International and Nissan. Maybe the rumors about Nissan getting a Powerstroke in their HD trucks is not that far fetched. That would be very interesting to see a 3/4 ton Nissan with a Powerstroke or at least an International engine I'm sure Ford would cry foul if they called it a Powerstroke.