Wall Street Journal Article - regarding UAW Strike.

[PPK]

$250 billion dollar profit over 19 years with a $66 Billion stock buyback? https://www.barrons.com/news/profits-at-big-three-us-automakers-bad37dae

All things being equal: Ford is 88 billion in debt. Underwater. Sometimes if the bonds are cheap enough it does make sense to return capital to stock owner. They are owners of the company along with the bondholders. Though bondholders are first in line.

Profit is a financial term. They still way in debt. spectacular debt for a 30 or 40 billion company.

Anything but healthy.

I would not invest my money in ford stock.. I buy the trucks.. but too much debt and not enough growth to justify the stock price.

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[JJSnell]

Demand is a strong word and then walk out. Organized crime comes to my head, do this, or we walk and don't build your product.
I say more robots, buy a new F150 for $45K-$50k.

I don't want Americans out of work.....but I do expect "reasonable" accommodations or expectations.
Reminds me of the port of LA strike many years ago...their salaries are though the roof and work less than 40 hours a week. We have to be sensible. Flipping hamburgers cant pay $25hr...or then hamburgers cost ya $18.00....want fries with that?

Yah, really love teachers, shutting down schools while they picket... Talk about organized crime, its literally ransom.... Teachers union is the largest and most powerful in the US. UAW, not even close. One of many reasons we are pushing both our kids to be teachers... you cant beat the Giant today, so you might was well ride it and enjoy your 3 month summers....
Why not?

 

[Graygoose2021]

I will say, wife cousin went to college to become a school teacher in Texas.
She lasted one year...she said the way kids treat teachers now, and even physical. But they go to the office, its the teachers fault...never the kids.

She's a pharmacist now. Making way more money...less stress.

 

[Calson]

I am surprised that so many people are unaware of the class warfare since the days of Reagan and Thatcher. Thanks to Reaganomics it now takes two or more people per household to maintain a living. Average household income in 1970 was $61,400 but today it is $57,600 and requires both parents to work full time with prices and the cost of living has more than doubled in the past 50 years. Houses or rent costs 4x as much and cars cost 4 times as much and gasoline costs 10 times as much, and so forth.

The elites take profits and buy back stocks or issue dividends and so the profits generated by the workers goes only to the top 1%. CEO's now make 300 times as much as their workers and few would think for a second they provide 300 times more value. Often as with Carly Fiorina at Hewlett-Packard the CEO reduces the value of a company by 50% and they still get their multi million dollar golden parachute after putting the employees out of work.

Jeff Besos can afford to pay $500 million for a new yacht but he cannot afford to pay his workers a living wage. And he has many counterparts in our country.

 

[Snakebitten]

In 1970 a brand new 3500 square foot custom home in Houston co$t $42k

Are you saying my parents could have paid cash for it with 7 months salary?

I'm sceptical

 

[HammaMan]

These are all demands that are ironed out I the collective bargaining process. There really hasn’t been any mention of the Big Threes demands beyond offering a 21% raise.

Ford offered 30% before the strike and didn't even receive a counter.

 

[HammaMan]

I am surprised that so many people are unaware of the class warfare since the days of Reagan and Thatcher. Thanks to Reaganomics it now takes two or more people per household to maintain a living. Average household income in 1970 was $61,400 but today it is $57,600 and requires both parents to work full time with prices and the cost of living has more than doubled in the past 50 years. Houses or rent costs 4x as much and cars cost 4 times as much and gasoline costs 10 times as much, and so forth.

The elites take profits and buy back stocks or issue dividends and so the profits generated by the workers goes only to the top 1%. CEO's now make 300 times as much as their workers and few would think for a second they provide 300 times more value. Often as with Carly Fiorina at Hewlett-Packard the CEO reduces the value of a company by 50% and they still get their multi million dollar golden parachute after putting the employees out of work.

Jeff Besos can afford to pay $500 million for a new yacht but he cannot afford to pay his workers a living wage. And he has many counterparts in our country.

Sooo many inaccuracies with this text blob. The biggest negative impact to the poor is being incentivized to not be productive (handouts instead of hand up) and millions of military aged men coming across the border depressing wages while sending nearly a hundred billion dollars south of the border in the process. That's $100 billion a year not being injected back into the economy in which it's taken from. Total yearly capital leaving the US is more than the GDP of 118 countries, some of whose GDP is comprised of statistically relevant portions of said money.

And yet despite that large flow of capital leaving the US, zero is done to trace it back to legitimate labor. Someone can come to the US illegally, get paid under the table, wire money out of the country, and nobody bats an eye. Meanwhile that capital isn't being earned by an American or being used within the towns and cities it's made in. It's just gone, and what do you focus on? Billionaires whose value exists on paper? You think THAT is what's wrong? Oof, you're allowed to vote too, as are those who are incentivized not to work.

 

[Hullguy]

Exactly this...
Where is the incentive to do amazing work when Union rep protects you from anything bad?
- If my (union) bro is called in to work on his day off and then they dont need him when he gets there. He gets paid 3hrs of time. So the team leaders, very often, on purpose call their team in to work on Saturdays, just to send them home... Its part of my brothers Saturday morning coffee run...
- Here in Wash state our kids were not meeting 12th grade levels in math and reading. Ther were averaging 10th grade reading and math levels. (WASL Test), so they lowered the requirement to get kids to graduate... My hand to the Bible, they didnt fix why kids arent learning, they literally lowered the bar to 10th grade so they could graduate 12th grade.
- Again my bro works in large, untra tall buildings... and if a light goes out, they have to stop work for OSHA reasons, they then put a call in to have the 'designated light bulb changer outer' come replace the bulb, so my brothers entire team sits there waiting for the bulb to be replaced. Meanwhile the box of bulbs and scissorjack are both visible and accessible to use in 30 seconds. Its a joke.....

Which of these issues are union related. Management can stop the first one. Management issue. the School Board or the State sets education guidelines. And the lightbulb issue has been watered down. What kind of lighting? Is it a ballast or LED driver that failed. In many states a licensed electrician Ed’s to fix the ballast issue

 

[Hullguy]

same, we were setting up our booth in Las Vegas convention center, I moved a plant and a union boss came over and said you cant move a plant...I had to call the "detailer"...I was like WHAT! Sure, charge us $150 to move a plant....no thanks

I’ve worked in this industry! And the behind the scenes reality is that the Venue sets the prices and enforces them. They blame the union for the charges when it is the venue driving up prices. I wish I came close to making $150 an hour!?

 

[Hullguy]

Demand is a strong word and then walk out. Organized crime comes to my head, do this, or we walk and don't build your product.
I say more robots, buy a new F150 for $45K-$50k.

I don't want Americans out of work.....but I do expect "reasonable" accommodations or expectations.
Reminds me of the port of LA strike many years ago...their salaries are though the roof and work less than 40 hours a week. We have to be sensible. Flipping hamburgers cant pay $25hr...or then hamburgers cost ya $18.00....want fries with that?

the American Race to the Bottom. You will never see increased automation decrease the price of a vehicle. It costs less to build an EV and those prices are higher than a much more complex ICE vehicle!

 

[Hullguy]

From WSJ:
In many ways, this strike is made in Washington because of the Biden Administration’s policy mandating a rapid transition to electric vehicles. The UAW knows that EVs require fewer workers to make and will jeopardize union jobs making gas-powered cars. But the companies already lose money on EVs and worry about making too many concessions to the UAW that will cause them to lose even more as they are forced to build more EVs.

It’s hard to overstate the costs of this coerced EV transition. The Biden Administration, with California as its co-enforcer, is mandating that EVs make up an increasing share of auto-maker sales—two-thirds by 2032. California and other progressive states plan to ban all new gas-powered cars by 2035.

Is that from an editorial? Basically an opinion piece?

 

[Hullguy]

Sooo many inaccuracies with this text blob. The biggest negative impact to the poor is being incentivized to not be productive (handouts instead of hand up) and millions of military aged men coming across the border depressing wages while sending nearly a hundred billion dollars south of the border in the process. That's $100 billion a year not being injected back into the economy in which it's taken from. Total yearly capital leaving the US is more than the GDP of 118 countries, some of whose GDP is comprised of statistically relevant portions of said money.

And yet despite that large flow of capital leaving the US, zero is done to trace it back to legitimate labor. Someone can come to the US illegally, get paid under the table, wire money out of the country, and nobody bats an eye. Meanwhile that capital isn't being earned by an American or being used within the towns and cities it's made in. It's just gone, and what do you focus on? Billionaires whose value exists on paper? You think THAT is what's wrong? Oof, you're allowed to vote too, as are those who are incentivized not to work.

He is right on Reaganomics! Research the decline in wages and earning power of the American family. There was a boost but this was due to spouses having to go to work to live the ”American” dream.

 

[Graygoose2021]

the American Race to the Bottom. You will never see increased automation decrease the price of a vehicle. It costs less to build an EV and those prices are higher than a much more complex ICE vehicle!

Possibly. But it will guarantee to keep prices high if the American worker absorbs most of that building cost. Seems to work for Hyundai/Honda/Kia
It'd be working about now. I don't see ICE vehicles making the surge they had , people are now realizing the inflated "need" for these vehicles. Some states can barely charge now or keep rolling outages during peak times as it is. Plus the cost the own one is way more than any gas powered. I'll never own one. Cool cars, but I need more reliable transportation.
Plus, ever heard a cold start on a 425hp Charger...it's the dream of!

 

[JJSnell]

Which of these issues are union related. Management can stop the first one. Management issue. the School Board or the State sets education guidelines. And the lightbulb issue has been watered down. What kind of lighting? Is it a ballast or LED driver that failed. In many states a licensed electrician Ed’s to fix the ballast issue

Pretty simple really I didn't think I had to break it down but here goes
Contracts are written by the leadership and directives of the Union that when somebody gets called in to work they get paid minimum 3 hours of work whether they do the work or not. Management won't intervene because they're the ones calling in the employees to get the bonus pay.
School districts are incentivized to pass students onto the next grade and graduate at 12th grade. If they don't meet a certain percentage they lose Federal funding from the government. So in order to protect the funds and teachers' wages they pass students through like cattle through a gate. Once again all designed and orchestrated by contract writers in the union.
As for the light bulb needing to be changed, it was a light bulb that needed to be changed...

Clearly your multiple posts and even a quick bash on Reagan from 40 years ago exposes who you are. I used to think along those lines also until I became a business owner and realized the value of a hard worker and how much in taxes I have to pay to the government being a business owner. Political landscape changes dramatically when you step into those shoes.....

Good luck to you though.

 

[Snakebitten]

I'm convinced woman no longer being homemakers is cultural. (And breaks this old man's heart for children)

Nothing to do with a President in the Whitehouse.
So much more complex than that.

Worse, is the single mom travesty. It's epidemic and actually celebrated. I am personally witnessing how destructive it is for the most valuable thing on this planet. Yours and My grandchildren.

I'd much prefer my grandchildren to suffer American Poverty, (a household living on the wages of a dad underpaid at Ford(?)), than the REAL poverty of what's missing in their household.

We are such a mess. ?
And we are so convinced that more money is the solution.

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