We had to let 9 people go at work due to very poor sales. I made about 30% less this year than last year because of slumping sales. Companies all around me are declaring bancrupty, while others are on the brink of collapse. In case you didnt notice, there is a little financial melt down happening.
I noticed that Canda Post was on strike. Whats that all about? Didnt anyone tell them about internet? I question peoples timing and motives sometimes.
The big three auto giants are up shits creek and they are expecting us to bail them out. I heard on the news that the unions were not prepared to make any concessions. OK, so I'm going to reach into my pocket that is 30% smaller than it was last year and hand over money to people who make far more than I do? Forgive me, but NO! If we cared about our auto industry then we would buy their product.
I own 2 chryslers and my son owns a GM. The reason I bought my American/Canadian car is that I beleive in buying local. I am a loyal guy. I beleive in buying local as I beleive that is the way to protect our jobs. I buy my musical instruments from the guy in town even though I pay 20% more. His children went to the same school as my kids and he is an important member of our community. He gives to local charity. He is a freind.
I beleive the way to help the big three auto makers is to buy their cars. I was astonished to see how many Japaneese cars are in the parking lot at Chrysler. Do the Chrysler workers not even care enough about their jobs to buy the products they build? Should my tax payers dollars subsidize the manufacturing of items that no one wants? NO!!! I have a plan. Its stupidly simple. Every auto worker should immedietely go and buy one of the cars they produce at their plant.
Consider it a small gesture to support the company that provides them their very lucrative livlihoods. Consider it a small vote of confidence.
My brother in law works for Chrysler and I hope and pray that they can pull through. I want him to have a good job. I want him to have a secure job. I dont belive however, that money should be taken out of my pocket to prop up the manufacture of items that no one wants. The auto union has done nothing for me when I lost 30% of my wage yet they believe I should pay for them while they make no concessions???????
I say no money without concessions. If I had a blank chq, I would fill my furnace tank with fuel and my freezer with food right now instead of worrying about how I'm going to keep my family fed and warm this winter.
One more piece of advice.
IF YOU WANT OUR AUTO INDUSTRY TO SURVIVE, THEN YOU MUST BUY THEIR PRODUCT!
I do......
I am VERY pleased with my Chrysler vehicles.
I hear you...
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately the last American made care I had was a Pontiac in 1986. At the time it died the air conditioner didn't work, neither did the power windows (bad combination), the spark plug wires would need replacing every 6 months because they were getting fried by the heat thrown off by the turbo charger, the heater core broke pissing radiator fluid onto the floor of the passenger seat when I was taking a client out to lunch. The final straw was when the oil seal went on the turbo charger leaving a smoke cloud behind me for blocks! I bought a 1986 Mazda and never looked back. The string of Mazda vehicles I've bought since then have never left me stranded at the side of the road even once.
Globalization means that we can have the best products the world can produce at the cheapest possible price. That high paying jobs exist from companies that produce significant "value" because of their innovation created from a superiorily educated work force (kids, stay in school) and that commodity, low skilled tasks are best made in India so that we in North America can have every single little thing our hearts can imagine, denying ourselves nothing. But it is precisely that "expect everything" attitude that breeds complacency and a culture that is used to getting everything without investing (education, effort) much to get it. A recipe for disaster and a trajectory that can't last forever. A pattern recreated in the rise and fall every empire since the beginning of time.
The global greed and corruption (led by the USA but the world fell into the rabbit hole) that is coming to light as a result of this is apocolyptic. Brings me back to my aged old question, "where are we really in the prophetic time line?" But I digress...(like that's not a real enough question)
I watched Good Will Hunting the other night on TV. Love that movie, have seen it a dozen times at least. My favourite scene is when "Will" goes on a tirade to the NSA director trying to recruit him.
Here it is...expletives left in, sorry.
Why shouldn't I work for the N.S.A.? That's a tough one, but I'll take a shot. Say I'm working at N.S.A. Somebody puts a code on my desk, something nobody else can break. Maybe I take a shot at it and maybe I break it. And I'm real happy with myself, 'cause I did my job well. But maybe that code was the location of some rebel army in North Africa or the Middle East. Once they have that location, they bomb the village where the rebels were hiding and fifteen hundred people I never met, never had no problem with, get killed. Now the politicians are sayin', "Oh, send in the Marines to secure the area" 'cause they don't give a shit. It won't be their kid over there, gettin' shot. Just like it wasn't them when their number got called, 'cause they were pullin' a tour in the National Guard. It'll be some kid from Southie takin' shrapnel in the ass. And he comes back to find that the plant he used to work at got exported to the country he just got back from. And the guy who put the shrapnel in his ass got his old job, 'cause he'll work for fifteen cents a day and no bathroom breaks. Meanwhile, he realizes the only reason he was over there in the first place was so we could install a government that would sell us oil at a good price. And, of course, the oil companies used the skirmish over there to scare up domestic oil prices. A cute little ancillary benefit for them, but it ain't helping my buddy at two-fifty a gallon. And they're takin' their sweet time bringin' the oil back, of course, and maybe even took the liberty of hiring an alcoholic skipper who likes to drink martinis and fuckin' play slalom with the icebergs, and it ain't too long 'til he hits one, spills the oil and kills all the sea life in the North Atlantic. So now my buddy's out of work and he can't afford to drive, so he's got to walk to the fuckin' job interviews, which sucks 'cause the shrapnel in his ass is givin' him chronic hemorrhoids. And meanwhile he's starvin', 'cause every time he tries to get a bite to eat, the only blue plate special they're servin' is North Atlantic scrod with Quaker State. So what did I think? I'm holdin' out for somethin' better. I figure fuck it, while I'm at it why not just shoot my buddy, take his job, give it to his sworn enemy, hike up gas prices, bomb a village, club a baby seal, hit the hash pipe and join the National Guard? I could be elected president.
Love that movie...
RR
teehhee....refreshing and thank you.....but sad too.
ReplyDeletedw