TheFatKidDeath

We've all sited reasons for the demise of the American automobile industry, unions, CEO's, etc.

But here's the real reason:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pontiac_Aztek

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|TG-9th| TheFatKidDeath
"Born to Party, Forced to Work."
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Trooper

lol.....i think he is right

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that sounds like a good idea trooper.
-Vulcan

icky

Hey now, not everyone can make the ugliest car in history.

There is some competition for this title now, but it'll be hard to beat the canary yellow Aztek.

Chevy
Honda

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Peace through fear... since 1947!

TheFatKidDeath

I forgot to mention the 1990 Chevy Lumina Van. I refuse to post a picture as I didn't want anyone to turn to stone.

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|TG-9th| TheFatKidDeath
"Born to Party, Forced to Work."
http://www.theonion.com/content/node/55640 - Check me out on The Onion
http://www.theonion.com/content/vide...ssfully_avoids - I'm on the local news!

Evo<^|SiNz|^>

Case closed. Can we get a thread lock?

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"No bastard ever won a war by dying for his country.
He won it by making the other poor dumb bastard die for his country."
- Attributed to General George Patton, Jr.

SmokingTarpan

Well, first things first, how many union employees to one CEO? Quite a few, so that all balances out.

As far as flexibility in contract, there's a very important factor you're overlooking. A board can decide to oust the CEO, and the CEO is gone. Likely he'll have some sort of leaving the company package, but he's gone. A union employee, however, cannot be ousted so easily. You've got to have hearings, legal battles, all the fun stuff that you get when people just can't accept responsibility for life. More likely than not, the employee doesn't get ditched, just re-assigned (if he is let go, you can bet it'll be with a severance). Also, if the CEO gets annoyed with his contract and decides not to work, the company can still keep doing business or even replace him. If the union gets uppity, though, well there's a strike and pretty much everything comes to a standstill.

Sure, CEO's make huge sums of money. I don't think it compares very well to the hassle that unions can cause, however.

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[squadl]
"I am the prettiest african-american, vietnamese..cong..person." -SugarNCamo

icky

Isn't that the one that looked like a dustbuster?

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Peace through fear... since 1947!

SmokingTarpan

Nah, not a dustbuster. Futuristic, like from Total Recall or something.

http://lionscars.master-mechanic.com...2/DSCN1096.JPG

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[squadl]
"I am the prettiest african-american, vietnamese..cong..person." -SugarNCamo

Buck Fush

Why do CEOs make so much more than off-the-shelf union workers? Because they're worth more.

Any idiot can be taught how to weld. It's not that hard. Fair market value of a non-union welder: ~ $15-$20/hr. Wage earned by UAW welders:$28-$35/hr. Why? Because they're so much better than a non-union worker? No, because they have the ability to bully.

I took a 3 week course to learn how to weld. I'm no professional, but I can get by, and give my a year of practice and I could compete. Can I run a billion dollar corporation? NO. NO. NO. And if you believe you could, you're deluding yourself.

If UAW workers made comparable hourly rates as others in their profession I could see how the argument could be made that unions are there to protect the employee, but considering that union workers make much more than non-union workers with comparable skills, the only conclusion is that unions are there to force companies to pay wages that cannot be supported by the current market.

icky

Ya, I knew someone who had one, and I called it a dustbuster at the time.

I can't find a better matching dustbuster image, but I assure you that there was a model which, with a set of wheels, would appear to be ready to wisk away a couple of miniature soccer-playing children.

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Peace through fear... since 1947!

Chewy

Of course they will merge... just like everything else has in this world. What's ANOTHER monopoly gonna do?

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