You hit the nail on the head deranged.

 

GM just posted a 4.8B, yes billion, loss in the 4th quarter for '05. I fear GM will announce layoffs and plant closing again soon.

 

Haven't been on in a while.
I already asked nick how he pays for his education on $6.00. See, I got my BSME from the same school and in 2001 tuition ALONE was $50,000 for a four year degree. He did not respond.

Next, he also said that he knew people who STARTED at Walmart at a higher rate than he was currently making. He has also stated that Walmart is his favorite company. Lastly, he has has said he is Union, not by choice.

The last time I checked this is America. nick, WHY ARE YOU STILL THERE?? Does the Union chain you in the basement for fear you will leave? Guess what, THEY WILL LET YOU LEAVE AND NEVER COME BACK!!

My point of this is PLEASE KEEP ARGUING WITH NICK!! It is great humor and a nice break from my job trying to produce top quality engines for DCX.

Nick, is it not anti-American to want an American company to fail and it's workforce to seek other employment?[sm=confused06.gif]

As for Ford, yes it is sad. But, DCX has done, and is contuing to do, the same thing. I'm sure nick will be happy to hear that my personal opinion is that when the next generation v-6 engine comes along I expect to loose my job. I will move on, just as the Ford workers move on.

As for workers with $600,000 houses, that's easy. Think minimum down and baloon payments. Also, hard working parents who saved that passed on inheritance to their kids. Lastly, the housing explosion in MI, if you wanted to move every couple of years.

By all.

 

i pay for school trough scholarships and money my grandpa set aside for me so far. 50k are you joking. it is going to be in the 70k for current students.

the only reason i stay at my job is so i can take advantage of the union. i don't really have to work. they can't fire me if i don't, so why not just show up and get 7 bucks an hour.

i never said losing jobs was a good thing, but i say it is there fault for being part of the union. i don't hope ford dies, because my grandpa and uncle are getting pensions from them, i just hope they continue to fail miserably.

you are gonna lose your job? when is that gonna happen. are you referring to the 4.0L they are gonna make. if so start packing.

600k house is a little much for 50k a year, but 250k is not unreasonable.

 

First of all, I would like to inform you that I'm very much in favor of Ethanol. I use it everytime I fill up and I go to fuel stations that are big supporters of Farmers and Ethanol such as F/S and MFA Oil all the time. I'm wanting both to increase in production.

The problem is Ethanol cannot completely replace gasoline in our country. We are a lot more complex than Brazil. Majority of vehicles in this country can only run on 10% Ethanol and majority of domestic and Japanese cars made today are not made to be FFV vehicles. Even if our country was able to produce enough Ethanol so then all gas would have at least 10% Ethanol, the prices would not be affected that significantly because that would only reduce our dependence by a little over 10% and we are currently importing 65% of our oil. Let's say that we could take 10% off of the fuel prices as of tomorrow and not include the price of ethanol. With gas around $2.25 now in the early part of the year the price would be reduced to $2.02-2.03. Now as summer would come along prices would go up to around $2.50-2.75. As you can see, the problem would not be resolved. It would be an improvement but the problem would not be solved completely. It wouldn't even work if magically all cars became E-85 capable because if you look at the studies, you really don't save money running on E-85 because of the drop in fuel economy, you actually spend more. The truth is we should persue both routes because we can get get a greater supply of both and be less dependent.

In 10 years, technology and equipment changes so much that we might be able to reach other sites that we currently cannot reach to get oil. During the 70s, people thought the world would be completely out of oil by the 80s, but because technology has improved we were able to find more sites. In 10 years, we might be able to find a more efficient way to produce Ethanol to where we could run the country on 85% and have it be cost effective. Ethanol used to and it might still be more expensive to actually produce than gasoline, but the government used tax incentives and other things to lower the cost to encourage people and fuel stations to use it. As time has gone on we have found more efficient ways of producing it.

I didn't mention Ethanol because it was not turned down back in 2002-2003, as drilling in Alaska was. Ethanol production is supposed to go up in a couple of years with more factories (I think around 12-14), but we are still not going to drill despite the fact that it would help. Any thing we can do to help the prices and produce jobs in this country that are cost effective to do should be done. Even if Alaska is a short term solution, why not persue it if the companies are willing and they are. When those dry out we will go somewhere else where there is oil. We know of plenty of sights to drill for oil but we are not allowed to drill because of excuses from the environmentalist groups, or the technology and equipment is not advanced enough. We can't build more refineries like I suggested because of the same groups. We need to be more concerned about lowering fuel prices and creating jobs for people who prefer this type of labor, than we do about these groups.

My original point was that by drilling when suggested we could have prevented the prices from being quite as bad and given Ford and GM a glance on what was coming so then they could start adapting their automotive line-ups accordingly and kept some if not all of the jobs. When an opportunity presents itself, it should be taken.

 

I would like to remind you that the oil companies made record profits this year. The price of gas never had to be what it is their ripping us off and giving them more oil will not lower the price, it will just raise there profits. I do know there's some problems with using Ethanol but almost all cars can be made to run on it with very little modifications, just fuel lines and computer reprogramming a bet a tax break on that could make a lot of people change. If the government pushed Ethanol the price could drop a lot, it's a much easier product to produce and it's renewable. The problem is the government's in bed with the oil companies so no matter what happens we will always be ripped off by big oil. If the government would stand strong on these oil co. and get them for profiteering, the price would go down too.

 

if i may nicko, you said that youre there because you can do nothing and get paid for it...which is the exact problem that you point out with unions, so isnt it a bit hypocritical?

in this case, id have to say that gageman owned you there nicko...

 

And there is the exact problem with ethanol . There isn't anything in it for the oil companies so the politicians whom they control through their influence-(money) don't push for the only renewable resource available at this time that would eliminate or greatly reduce our dependence on foreign oil. The same goes for nuclear, coal, wind and solar energy. The oil companies have no stake in it and these are only competition for their oil dollars so there is no push to advance these technologies. Hell, wind and solar are free and produce NO emissions and still no meaningful government backing!

 

ok, lets take joe for instance...he has a pretty good paying job, but with that job carries the risk of losing over union nonsense...i think that he has mentioned how much he makes, but i honestly dont recall, but lets use the number 50k....if you make 50k a year, and to do so you have to put up with nonsense, like the union or not, then no, youre not going to just quit and go work at walmart for 7 bucks an hour. i made 30k a year back home and with my college debt and such, i certainly didnt live in the lap of luxury...regardless of the job, 50k is pretty good money...especially in a two income household.

also, when in school, i took 15-18 credit hours a semester, worked at LEAST 30 hours a week, and played travel hockey, which was on the ice for practice 2 nights a week, and dryland one night a week, with traveling about every other weekend, leaving friday morning or evening and getting back late sunday night...so your argeument isnt all that valid.

 

Nick, just a suggestion and nothing else......Print out your last post, fold it up and tuck it away somewhere that you won't forget it. In about 15-20 years, unfold it and read it again. You may be surprised..........

Dusty