Raging Against Ford Motor Company

Okay, I'm over reacting. After all, Ford didn't take any TARP money so it can do whatever it wants, I guess. It can close all the plants it desires in the US and build sparkling new ones in China, as it was proudly announced today. GM and Chrysler have to be a little more careful, given all that taxpayer cash they've taken, but only a little, since they have to get their financial stability back too, right? I mean, what else can a struggling multi-national do but fuck the hard working American worker and take off for other shores, which of course means they also write off the American consumer, since an out of work American consumer can't consume much.

So off to greener pastures go those happy multi-nationals -- China, India, Brazil...what do the rest of us do, other than rage, plead or bleed?

Buy local.

I've been trying to do it more and more. Buy from a guy or gal who owns that pharmacy down the street. Buy at a farmer's market where the people have dirt under their fingers. Avoid anything with a fancy logo over the door. You pay for that logo big time, because it also means mucho bucks for TV advertising and hard driving executives, large bonuses and so forth.

And I'm finding that buying local has helped (a little) in combating my rage at the fucks in all those high places who don't give a damn about me or you or anyone else. I'm starting to meet some nice, hard-working folks, too. They're struggling, these people who own their own companies- but my twenty bucks here and there has helped. And I can feel gratitude. And it feels good.

And when I buy local I suddenly become a capitalist again. The whole thing makes sense again. It makes me realize what will crash and burn with the second meltdown is not necessarily capitalism as we know it (and the second meltdown is coming because nothing has changed in Washington, or on Wall Street, or in the banks or fancy boardrooms across this country). And when the second meltdown comes, it shouldn't be the collapse of the concept of capitalism, it should be the collapse of corrupt capitalism.

I don't want this collapse to happen fast. I hope it takes a few years so I can get used to buying more and more local stuff. And I must admit, it hasn't been as easy as I thought. These multi-national fucks are smart. They're everywhere with big parking lots and they pound you everywhere with how cool they are. I still find myself going to Whole Foods when I'm stuck (I used to trust them, but now they're everywhere too and the photos on their walls are just too glossy to be trustworthy.)

Frankly, big is bad. Big beats up on little. Little is better (not perfect, but better and human.) Human is good. I don't believe human is perfect (not by a long shot). It gets corrupted real easy, but it gets a little harder when the guy or gal who has to face you every day across a counter tries to fuck you. It's not so good for business, then. So buy local. It's fun. It's smart. It's a real start on the antidote to what the fucks have left us with - which is each other - not such a bad thing when you actually think about it.

 

 

Follow Stephen Gyllenhaal on Twitter: www.twitter.com/stephgyllenhaal

Comments

[mixpiklix]

I am confused when the government bailed out gm and chrysler everyone said government motors and the Obama's in the car business, complaints by the ton .Ford motor company due to good management didn't need government money and said we can stand our own two feet and they have, To complain that they are building a plant in china why not? china is the world fastest growing economy Japanese sells cars in every country on the planet ,so does korea,so does england,why not America gm is there,chrysler is there. Walmart,Coke

[therealredstateblues]

and while ideally those vehicles should be built here and exported, china has major barriers to entry of US made goods that can nearly double landed costs, even though our markets are wide open to china's products

so in order to sell there they have to produce there, this is not at all unlike Ford buying a controlling stake in mazda to gain access to the closed Japanese market as well

[wilsawalt]

Why should Ford Motors be the scapegoat for the evils of global outsourcing? Because it spent its financial nut (billions of dollars) modernizing its American factories to build cars instead of SUVs like General Motors continues to do? So what if Ford invests a small hunk in a country that happens to be the most populous country in the world? Ford Motors employs 87,000 Americans who are paid a decent, respectable wage and are provided with health care after retirement.
There are way to many armchair critics these days. The leadership of the UAW can contact Ford workers in Mexico, China, Canada, Brazil and India or anywhere else via the internet or cell phone. If the American workers are angry that they are getting screwed over by outsourcing, then maybe they should read up a bit and do something about it. All the tools they need are there. The UAW's has been relatively silent over factories being built 4,000 miles away, because they understand that it costs too much money to ship cars 4000 miles over the Pacific Ocean. Mexico is a different story.
Why the hell is this Stephen guy going after the pride of the Rust Belt? There are so many companies that behave like vampires (i.e., Goldman Sachs & the Industrial Military Complex). They deserve pitch forks through the heart. Going after one of the decent, family owned companies that continues to invest the bulk of industry here in America is BS. Give Ford a break.

[michmudder]

You are overreacting. The China plant, which will assemble the Ford Focus, will join a long list of Focus assembly plants: Michigan, Australia, Argentina, South Africa, Germany, Philippines, Portugal, Taiwan, Spain, Russia, and Vietnam. All produce for LOCAL markets. The Michigan plant is the only one that produces the Focus for North America. If you buy a Focus in North America, it will be made by UAW employees in Wayne Michigan. The Indian plant will plant will make a vehicle for the Indian market not offered in North America. Employment levels at each plant depend on LOCAL sales.

[lightningbolt]

Ford can no longer be considered an American car company.

[drymartini1]

A corporation belongs to its shareholders, not to any country.

[lightningbolt]

What I meant by American car company is a company that produces their products in the U.S.

[Squeezer55]

The Financial Post did an article this week on the 60th Anniversary of the founding of Communist China. It compared three sectors -agriculture, industry, and services as a percentage of workers in the economy for China, Britain and the U.S. in 1949, 1960 and 2008. The most startling statistics were as follows :
2008: U.S. - Agriculture 1.2 % , Industry 19.5 %, Services 79.3 % - China - Agriculture 12.6 % ,
Industry 48.9 %, Services 51.5 %.
Almost half of China's workers are in manufacturing and resource processing whereas less than 20% of the U.S. workers are in the traditional good paying jobs of manufacturing and resource processing.
The vast majority of Americans are involved in " taking in each others laundry", poor paying areas of work where money is simply shuffled around to appear like the economy is moving.
Not only have good manufacturing jobs been shipped overseas , but so have professional jobs like I.T., and even legal document processing and paperwork.
This country is really behind the eight ball now and we need some very smart people to get this country back on track.
This country is really behind the eight ball now -

[watchTVgetSTUPID]

The Obama administration has made it clear the only way Ford will survive is if it accelerates the transfer of America's industrial infrastructure to China. When GM's CEO Waggoner tried to keep GM as intact as possible, Obama's car czar had him ousted and packed the board of directors with his own loyalists. Then Obama's car czar forced the elimination of Pontiac, Saturn and thousands of Dealerships, thus abandoning millions of loyal customers to the foreign imports.

Obama promised change we can believe in. Obama also promised to renegotiate NAFTA. But since being elected, Obama broke his promise to renegotiate NAFTA. See Democracy Now news report
http://www.democracynow.org/2009/8/11/obama_reverses_campaign_pledge_to_renegotiate

[DuganS1]

Ford still has work to do in its restructuring. Here's a quote from their 2007 annual report. Note how they lost large amounts of money in both 2006 and 2007 despite strong US and global economies and high car sales:

"Although a financial statement is just a snapshot in time, the numbers we achieved
in 2007 are encouraging. Our overall net loss of $2.7 billion represented an improvement
of nearly $10 billion over 2006."

I think they worked out some of their crushing legacy costs and high labor costs, but there is still work to be done.

" In 2007, our health care expenses (excluding special items) for U.S. employees, retirees, and
their dependents were $2.2 billion, with about $1.2 billion for postretirement health care and the balance for active employee health care and other retiree expense."

"To contribute to our goal of reducing annual North America operating costs by about $5 billion by the end of 2008 as compared with 2005, over the last two years we have reduced by about 46,300 the employment levels in our Ford North America business unit.

[therealredstateblues]

For has work to do yes,

And they are doing it

they had the forsight (or incredible good luck) to get their affairs in order before the wall street meltdown robbed the industry of its normal channels of capital and squeezed out consumer credit, and the rapid rise in fuel costs put the hurt on the industry as a whole - which again are the PRIMARY reasons for the industries woes

lets give the "blame the worker" argument about wages a rest - they have all renegotitiated the contracts (how come they can't do that with wall street bankers I wonder?) and wages are pretty much in line with the Jpapense transplants
"legacy" costs are benefits promised to the workerswho worked hard and contributions to these companies prosperity

of course this brings up the point that if US industries had national health care like their competitors do this wouldn't even be an issue

[therealredstateblues]

German automakers are profitable with much higher labor costs and lower productivity than US automakers they also have a higher regulatory environment, higher taxes, and more social costs than uS makers so this wage tax legacy argument falls pretty flat

the big difference of course is health care and retirement costs that put US automakers at a $1800 per car disadantage

[henrysdream]

I share your rage....The Ford Fallacy, buy American? Fusion made in Mexico, recently announced New Van to be imported from Europe, stop to think how may plants they and GM etc have in Canada, Mexico, Europe. This line of thinking equates to a lot of mental masturbation compliments of what used to be the big three.

Ford may not have taken TARP money, but they sure did take $4-5 billion in DOE loans, to retool, retooling that should have been done years ago, Ford like GM and Chrysler ahve come to the hybrid party way too late with too little technological innovation. More and more Ford has become a shell of what it originally represented. If not for Ford mortgaging every nut and washer just before the credit markets tanked....they to would be in the same position as its bretheren. At the core they are no diiferent than its two cross town rivals. A lot of good PR and diminishing substance.

The hyrid technology behind most if not all its hydrid vehicles is licensed from Toyota, utlizing its Synergy Drive technology, The Ford Edge & Lincoln MKX are based on the Mazda cross-over CX-7 or 9, the Ford Freestyle Cross-over on the Volvo Platform, the list goes on. A lot of Japanese and German car are more American with more American content than those touted by the detroit three, "buy our products and support our broken business model.

[therealredstateblues]

ford has always been an internatinal company from the time of the model T

Ford retooled 3 truck plants in US to build successful eurpean platfforms - and took LOANS to do it

they also did not get mixed up in the mortgage business like GM and Chrysler

Ford has taken the lead in green as well

Ford dominates the vehicle safety top ten

and did I mention - the consensus among the automotive press is the Hybrid Fusion is the most technologically advanced hybrid on the road today

[therealredstateblues]

Nothing wrong with taking successful technologies from partners mazda and volvo to improve their US products

this is a abd thing how?

[michmudder]

The Ford assembly plant in Kansas City will be producing the Transit Connect van. The Grand C-Max minivan will also be produced in North America (likely Louisville or Wayne Michigan).

[therealredstateblues]

the industry has always been "incestuous" from nearly the beginning

they all share, buy and sell technology, build parts for each other, use the same suppliers, rebadge autos and so forth, this is why when one major one gets in trouble it hurts them all

this is nothing new and again dates back to the very beginning of the industries and continues to day

[KC the SuperDog]

First - great article, I agree 100%, but watch the language, dude. You don't have to use the F-word (surprised it got past the editors).

Second - what is so different from GM and Chrysler accepting TARP money, therefore not allowed to ship jobs overseas, and IBM receiving Federal Government stimulus work and shipping 17,000 jobs overseas (in 2009 alone, current official tally from IBM is 10,000 with another 7,000 estimated by year end)?

Don't just rage against Ford - rage against all the big, financially viable US-based companies that turned their back on this country, their own US-workers, and their government, to feed the greed of the few millionaire Execs. Who do you think benefits from the US-based company's profits when the stock price rises due to cost cutting?

I can't believe I'm giving this guy credit, but I"m watching Michael Moore on Larry King and wow, he has characterized what IBM has done to a T......short term profits by firing (aka "lay offs") thousands of US workers and replacing them with cheap, foreign labor. IBM's US workforce has gone from 80% of IBM's workforce (2002) down to 29% (2009). Capitalism coupled with GREED.

PS - I see IBM now advertises on Huffington Post. Interesting. So.... let's build a smarter planet with a sudden and HUGE influx of new, untested workers from an unstable, third world country like Brazil, Russia, India, or China. I can't wait to see the traffic jams, food shortages, outages, miscommunications, etc.

[therealredstateblues]

Bill Ford pledged not to take a salary until the company returns to profitability

Alan Mulally is not listed in any of the Forbes or Fortune top paid CEOs list

GM has outsourced far more jobs out of the states and closed more plants than Ford has. Much of GM's engine production has shifted to India

Ford is in the process of converting 3 US truck plants over to build European platforsm in the US

the china plant they are proposing is to build auto for the Asian market - because china has barriers to importation, even though our markets are wide open to them

[DuganS1]

GM had to do that to survive. The company has been on a path toward failure for decades. It would be criminal for the CEO not to do something to rectify the situation. He did. But unfortunately it was not enough. He should have thrown the company into bankruptcy back in 2004-2005. About China, GM has to build there to sell there. It's not feasible from a cost perspective to build in the US and export to China, not even close. You can't pass on the huge pension and labor costs to China consumers on any significant scale. The wealthy can afford it, as they do expensive Italian furniture, which does well there, but the masses can't. The average Chinese person lives in a small apartment. The average American lives in a 2500 square foot house with air conditioning, a garage, multiple bathrooms, etc. etc. You can't compare the American consumer with the Chinese consumer.

[DuganS1]

IBM is investing abroad because that's where profit growth has been coming from and where it will come from in the future. They already earn over half their total profits abroad. This is not short term profits. This is about a long term business strategy. The vast amount of IBMs foreign investment is not about out-sourcing. It's about investing abroad to earn profits abroad. THis is true for the vast majority of US multi-nationals.

[therealredstateblues]

At the expense of abaondoning the US markets and the workers that made them great in the first place

[daveschwartz007]

It is very sad but how could any publicly traded corporation not expand outside of the US. In China you have cheaper labor,no unions,no enviromental laws,don't have to pay health insurance and no litigation risks. We have become a country of fat,lazy whiners where everyone has a title but spends more time finding ways to not do anything but still get paid for it. If all else fails as long as you get fired will get 15 months of unemployment. Management just supervises people doing nothing but BS better and have expense accounts.

[vlm1948]

You seem to suggest that if we did not have labor unions, environmental protections and employee sponsored health care, we could compete with China. Maybe that would be true, but China has an abysmal human rights reputation. Some fat cats in China are getting rich while the majority are slave labor. Sound familiar? American corporations sending jobs over seas are traitors to this country and should be treated as such. Companies such as KBR and Haliburton who have committed fraud against this country are also traitors and should be treated as such. And any Congressperson who takes corporate money while shafting his constiuents are also traitors.

[drymartini1]

companies cannot be traitors because you cant expect them to have allegiance to something to begin with.

A company's duty starts and end with the shareholder. No single country can "own" a company. US doesnt own IBM or any other of these companies for that matter. so leave the high horse and be practical.

[moUSAnMe]

I read where the US has only grown by 100,000 jobs in the last 10 years , while China's grew by 50 million jobs.

I guess we know where the jobs went.

Sick.

[michmudder]

Ford will continue to produce Focuses for the U.S. and Canadian markets in a UAW factory in Wayne Michigan. Ford will soon produce Focuses for the growing Chinesese in China. It's important to produce near your market, for the environment's sake. Shipping finished goods across the world is bad for the environment. But shipping profits from Chinese factories back to the U.S. rust belt is a good idea.

[therealredstateblues]

the 150k annual cars expected to be produced in china at this facility would hardly put a dent in US production

china erects major barriers to importation of US goods despite wide open US markets. if Ford wants to sell in china they unfortunately have to produce there

Just like Ford had to buy a controlling stake in Mazda to gain access to the also closed japanese market

Ford has produced in Europe from the very early years of the company. European operations remained profitable during much of the domestic downturn helping the co stay afloat

succesful european platforms are coming to the US to be built here as well - giving Ford a leg up on the mpg race

[Indra]

Amen Brother!

[petef59]

I had a Ford Escort 1984, bought used, drove 'til a 16 years broadsided me in 1995 and totalled it.
Now-that Fusion hybrid I was considering purchasing will never happen.

[therealredstateblues]

shame - the fusion is the most technologically advanced hybrid currently on the road according to most of the auto press

Ford has also made the biggest strides in becoming green - retolling the lima engine plant and the rouge to be much more energy efficient and less polluting

[ResidualSelfImage]

20% tariffs on all import cars and auto parts.

[JNarragansett]

This plant is for Ford to sell cars in Asia. Just like BMW has a plant in South Carolina or Toyota in Kentucky for selling in our market. Considering the complications and costs of shipping cars half way around the world, Ford understands that there is a great benefit to producing the cars in China if you are selling them in Asia. Unless you object to Ford growing in a new market (up to now they only have a small amount of cars sold in Asia) then you shouldn't have a problem with this.

[therealredstateblues]

exactly - not to mention the barriers china erects to prevent the importation of US goods despite wide open markets for theirs