10-27-2008, 09:41 PM
While it is fine to say screw big corporations and let them fail, the repercussions of doing so might be far costlier in the long run than helping them out now.
One of the main reasons that the big 3 automakers are in trouble is the high cost of paying pension and health care benefits to retirees which makes it harder for them to compete with foreign makers that do not have these staggering obligations.
From Wikipedia:
In order to improve profits, the Detroit automakers made deals with unions to reduce wages while making pension and health care commitments. GM, for instance, at one time picked up the entire cost of funding health insurance premiums of its employees, their survivors and GM retirees, as the US did not have a universal health care system.[13] With most of these plans chronically underfunded in the late 1990s, the companies have tried to provide retirement packages to older workers, and made agreements with the UAW to transfer pension obligations to an independent trust.[14] Nonetheless, non-unionized Japanese automakers, with their younger American workforces (and far fewer American retirees) will continue to enjoy a cost advantage.[15
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Three_a...ufacturers
One of the main reasons that the big 3 automakers are in trouble is the high cost of paying pension and health care benefits to retirees which makes it harder for them to compete with foreign makers that do not have these staggering obligations.
From Wikipedia:
In order to improve profits, the Detroit automakers made deals with unions to reduce wages while making pension and health care commitments. GM, for instance, at one time picked up the entire cost of funding health insurance premiums of its employees, their survivors and GM retirees, as the US did not have a universal health care system.[13] With most of these plans chronically underfunded in the late 1990s, the companies have tried to provide retirement packages to older workers, and made agreements with the UAW to transfer pension obligations to an independent trust.[14] Nonetheless, non-unionized Japanese automakers, with their younger American workforces (and far fewer American retirees) will continue to enjoy a cost advantage.[15
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Three_a...ufacturers
![[Image: IMG-2569.jpg]](https://i.postimg.cc/Jn06m2gT/IMG-2569.jpg)
Whippet, Whippet Good