How Detroit, the Motor City, turned into a ghost town

Originally Posted by wjh2657

Unions were convinced that all laborers should have two houses and their kids should drive sports cars by the time they were 16. (And they priced their wages to match) This was while the rest of the country, their market, was making less than 1/2 of their pay.

this is all to true, they expect to make to much while doing to little. I am all for a fair wage but they take it to far. this added cost just gets added to the consumer and as a result they pay more and get less in the end.

Originally Posted by wjh2657

They made gas guzzlers that were way overpriced and too expensive to operate and maintain while their competitors made economical cars. (Gas prices didn't go up, they caught up. When the numerous subsidies and artificial market restrictions were dropped, gas prices sought their natural level.)

the only real fuel efficient cars sold in the us were from the Japanese, and I am talking about non hybrid cars. I hated putting the gas in my old v8 cars that got like 12 or less mpg, and gas was less that $1 gallon then

Well subtract one more from Michigans population come Saturday. I'm moving to TN

Originally Posted by blairellis

Well subtract one more from Michigans population come Saturday. I'm moving to TN

Welcome to the state of the free!

They sent jobs oversees because of taxes and union. Not greed and evil intentions. If I recall correctly, it similar to how the US got started.

On a side note, manufactoring is not gone nor dying. It has changed, but we still make a lot a stuff here in the US. More than we import BTW. Not the same stuff we used to make, but again that goes back to taxes and unions.

Manufactoring will never be like it was before the fall of communism. Things have changed and it is truly a global market now.

Originally Posted by Smith

They sent jobs oversees because of taxes and union. Not greed and evil intentions. If I recall correctly, it similar to how the US got started.

On a side note, manufactoring is not gone nor dying. It has changed, but we still make a lot a stuff here in the US. More than we import BTW. Not the same stuff we used to make, but again that goes back to taxes and unions.

Manufactoring will never be like it was before the fall of communism. Things have changed and it is truly a global market now.

I agree on all points except first. the major Auto manufacturers were not paying taxes or little at best. They had many, many tax breaks. The unions were a source of unreasonable wages, I agree, but there was still a lot of big corporate profit driven greed involved.

The rest of your post is correct. You are dead on that all industry is going to have to learn how to compete in a global market..

American Industry will identify the markets and will produce the product that sells. It is who we are, it is what we do.

The main point of this thread was that Detroit, meaning the Michigan based auto industry was dying. That is still true. American manufacturing, including auto manufacuring, will now shift more into other states and communities with newer and different products.

Originally Posted by wjh2657

I agree on all points except first. the major Auto manufacturers were not paying taxes or little at best. They had many, many tax breaks. The unions were a source of unreasonable wages, I agree, but there was still a lot of big corporate profit driven greed involved.

The rest of your post is correct. You are dead on that all industry is going to have to learn how to compete in a global market..

American Industry will identify the markets and will produce the product that sells. It is who we are, it is what we do.

The main point of this thread was that Detroit, meaning the Michigan based auto industry was dying. That is still true. American manufacturing, including auto manufacuring, will now shift more into other states and communities with newer and different products.

When I say taxes I'm talking mostly about Cafe standards and the like. True they were not paying traditional taxes but they were paying out the wazzu on government standards, regulations, etc.

Here is an interesting read.
http://www.uschina.org/public/docume...ufacturing.pdf