I wasn't aware that pharmaceutical companies donated a lot of free drugs to underdeveloped nations. If that is indeed true then good on them. I think all consumers of said products help fund this -not just those from the usa. If the usa is the only market or largest market that the companies are selling to then it makes sense a greater pool of contrib comes from this area - per head I'd assume it to be about the same as the rest of the world.

There is certainly more R& D carried out in a large wealthy country than a smaller one. I would contest that this unfairly benefits other countries. Whether you are a tertiary institution or a private company, you carry out R& D to benefit (for the most part) your institution or your company. These things are not given away freely. I would guess that America would benefit just as much if not more from these developments. I may be wrong on this one but most companies/institutions are not in the habit of giving away their intellectual capital.

The overall benefit of a large american military presence is very questionable in the current climate. Our most recent regional problem was in East Timor where requests were made to the US to provide support (much like both Iraq's only this was a true humanitarian problem). How much support do you think was given? Mind you our support in this particular middle east episode is also of token size - which in my view is too much. I feel that current actions by the us in the middle east may simply be creating a wonderful opportunity to promote/recruit the next generation of terrorists, which is much more of a threat than Saddam ever was. Again, this is just my opinion & one which I would not expect you to share.

So I stand corrected on your first point if this is in fact the case, second point and third ones are kind of dubious and when negative factors taken into account become even more so.

Maybe I'm incorrect but my impression from world events is that the US looks out for the US and the rest of the world can go **** itself. If that's not the case then your national PR is not doing such a good job - which is certainly not through lack of trying.

Len, Aurel is spot on. China will own us in very short order.

Yep, but you forgot India, who'll own us after China's had its way. With that, I'm practicing already: "Chow mein, sir. Or curry chicken?"

You gotta love how the right wingers will always blame company mismanagement and bad marketing and design on union assembly workers.

Too much listening to rush limbaugh must cause brain damage or something.

Gavin,

I came across awfully abrasive and it was not my intent. I admitted that we don't always do what we do to out of some altruistic sense of fairness. We are capitalists, but.....the benefits (and costs) do get shared by the world in one way or another. As a fan of our system I believe the benefits outweigh they costs.

Nostatic,

I for one welcome our new masters:) It is confusing though, I thought the Japanese were suppose to own us by the late 80's? Wait.....are the Japanese selling us to the Chinese? Talk about short term capital gains! That tax bill's gonna be a doosey:)

any chance that GM and Ford will merge? GMF? :o

Assuming a permanent loss of 25K jobs, are we at a net loss country-wide? New Hyundai plant, Toyo truck plant, plus the already exsisting Toyo, Honda, BMW, M-B plants? Seems to me that Auto worker jobs are being reshuffled about the country.

Yep, but that doesn't make news....gotta be doom and gloom. I mean come on .0167% of our workforce was just told they will lose their current jobs by 2008! The horror!

Th buzz is pretty intense in the GM shops today, fellas.
The one comment I have heard most today is "lay me off, I will just collect my unemployment and party for the summer". Not exactly those words, obviously, but that is the general sentiment that I am hearing from SOME of the UAW here. They don't care because they will get 95% of their wages anyway if they are laid off. On the flip side, maybe Walmart will stop growing if there are no UAW folk's to spend their money at the existing stores;):p

I'll bet it's a big deal to those 25,000 people, their families, and the local businesses in their area that depend on their patronage.

How does that work? Some sort of severance package?

hey that's fine lendaddy. I think most people don't act in a total altruistic fashion either. And yes, developments from major countries certainly have a positive impact on the globe. I for one would like to see the us take it's place as a responsible world leader- which it is in a position to do. But I'm not so sure our societies exhibit the same ideals on a micro scale. In any case, it's the best we've got at the moment - but no harm in wishing for a little better.

Thom,
From what I understand, they get all the state will pay out and the union and GM make up the difference. I believe the union has a type of slush fund to draw from. I do not know the percentage each contibutes.

Lendaddy,
I work for a vending company and we service most of the GM/Delphi plants in Michigan, especially Flint, Bay City, and Saginaw. What I have seen this year is the impact on the smaller shops we service that supply the Big Three. These are the folks I have some concern about. They may be union but that doesn't mean the UAW will stand with them in troubled times. I have seen it before. IMO, GM counted on people to keep buying a new SUV each year and missed the boat on fuel efficient vehicles. Not that they are not trying, but maybe not aggressive enough.
They have come along way from the 80's for sure but the lackluster vehicles they produce really have driven alot of next generation buyers away. I am not into Hondas but the new Acura TL looks very nice. I can tell you that in the area around Mid Michigan,people that do not work in the GM facilities really don't have a lot of compassion for the UAW because, IMO, of the things that happened in the past few decades.

Michigan also has lifetime benefits on auto accident injuries (only state in the country).

In all other states, if you get into an auto accident, the auto insurer pays your medical bills to treat you up until you are back to where you were before the accident, or you are as healed as you are going to get.

In Michigan, they have to pay for Physical Therapy, Massage Therapy, Accupuncture, Chiropractic, etc...for the rest of your life!

Seems as if the health insurance situaiton is like the weather:

Everyone talks about it, but no one does anything about it.

Anyone ever wonder WHERE the money is going? I have seen no objective studies that actually come up with an answer.

Why not? There's always been rumors that Warner Bros. would merge with Disney. The main culture with the two is entertainment, as with GM and Ford, it's manufacturing. I can see it happening if either company has something in common.

I'm not sure the union is to blame for this one - yes 1500 of every car is heath care costs - which is totally screwed up if you ask me -

GM management needs a good a$$ kicking. Have a little friggin direction - Do a little market research - design and build a car that people want - and build some quality into it. Good grief! Take some of your successful designs and leverage them.

Do the far east competitor thing - find a car that is successful from another manufacturer and emulate <- fancy word for copy... then each each year make it better.

Oh - and can the folks that gave us the Aztec!

Jeremy---Right on, man!!
I agree, they(management) need to have some direction. Both parts of the equation are to blame for the GM situation.

Good question. I wonder. Healthcare benifits for healthcare workers is a big part of the cost.. SmileWavy

My guesses worth $0.02 - Otherwise unhealthy people living longer thanks to improved techniques and drugs. Defensive medicine. Healthcare costs of the uninsured being absorbed. Insurance and legal expenses... :confused:

ummm.....you got that wrong....It will be GFM :p