Detroit News Gives the Big 3 a Wake Up Call

[AUUSN]

Yes the Titan is mentioned here:



Detroit backers don't get it: Denial doesn't work anymore

By Daniel Howes / The Detroit News
Daniel Howes

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Big bad John Engler swoops into town, tells the truth as he (and lots of other people) sees it and the predictable reaction is sputtering rage.

Or demands for an apology. Or finger pointing, mostly at him. Or the political equivalent of blaming the messenger. In those things, Detroit is still the national standard, even if most of its leaders struggle to muster the courage to face the reality of their economic predicament and act accordingly.

Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick's "promise ... hasn't been realized as mayor," Engler said Monday, adding that Kilpatrick "is saddled with the worst City Council in America."

I suspect I speak for many in and out of Detroit when I say: "Yes. And?"

Here's a mayor whose behavior routinely flouts the expectation of accountability that governs today's public officials; whose zeal for getting Detroit's sorry finances in order didn't emerge until election year; whose raw political skills lack good judgment and all that implies.

Here's a City Council whose reflexive mistrust of Kilpatrick, whose misunderstanding of economic truth and whose subservience to the power of municipal unions morph into petty micromanagement or inaction.

Engler is the Republican Detroiters love to loathe. But in the spirit of an old-fashioned journalism aphorism, he is "speaking truth to power" and power isn't taking it very well.

It's not just Engler who's giving Detroit a slap it arguably deserves. It's Rush Limbaugh using his national radio show to take shots at the city he calls "New Fallujah."

It's Wall Street labeling the debt of our two defining companies -- General Motors Corp. and Ford Motor Co. -- "junk" and consigning them to also-ran status. It's the chairman of Toyota Motor Corp. offering to "help" Detroit by lowering prices and offering to sell them gas-electric hybrid powertrains.

It's President Bush addressing workers at a Nissan plant in Mississippi and then posing for photos in front of one of their Titan pickups. If that doesn't illustrate the new American political reality -- and we're not in it -- what does?

These slams aren't happening because partisan outsiders "don't get" what's going on in Detroit, or in Michigan, or in the domestic auto industry. They're happening because smart people do "get" what is happening here. Their conclusions aren't favorable because the facts aren't, either.

Like water, economic reality finds its level. For decades, the city of Detroit's leaders acted as though the steady migration of residents to the suburbs, an eroding tax base, bad schools and a comparatively large union work force with rich benefits could exist outside that reality.

They can't any more than the leaders of Detroit's automakers could misjudge their competition, misread their home market, steadily lose market share, agree to generous, inviolable deals with autoworkers and yet expect to prosper in spite of it all.

If only. Outside perception -- offensive, galling, maddening perception -- is simply matching an economic reality that grew harsher over time. Denial doesn't work anymore because reality right here, right now is so undeniable.

Daniel Howes' column appears Sundays, Wednesdays and Fridays. He can be reached at (313) 222-2106 or at dchowes@detnews.com.

[jhromy]

The Big 3 have to step aside...the Titan is making it's way through

[falchulk]

This article is about the city itself, not just the big 3. Its not an endorsement of the Titan at all. Bush did the right thing by posing at the Titan plant though. If the Big 3 dont get it togehter and move more operations back here the goverment should support the companies that do. We need more investment in MFGing here no matter who it comes from.

[rvandam]

Originally Posted by AUUSN

It's Wall Street labeling the debt of our two defining companies -- General Motors Corp. and Ford Motor Co. -- "junk" and consigning them to also-ran status. It's the chairman of Toyota Motor Corp. offering to "help" Detroit by lowering prices and offering to sell them gas-electric hybrid powertrains.

Actually, Toyota offered to raise its prices (for its cars sold in the US) to help the 'Big' Three out.

[VShortt]

Originally Posted by jhromy

The Big 3 have to step aside...the Titan is making it's way through

They should not step aside. They should step up. Stepping aside would only serve to bring you a less innovative Titan in the years to come. Competition is a wonderful thing. Remember that competition is what brought your Titan to market in the first place.

[Squid]

We the Tax payers will bail them out, watch.

[tortuga]

Originally Posted by VShortt

They should not step aside. They should step up. Stepping aside would only serve to bring you a less innovative Titan in the years to come. Competition is a wonderful thing. Remember that competition is what brought your Titan to market in the first place.

competition IS a wonderful thing, however Nissan said why compete when all we need to do is make a better truck with a consolidation of all the little things we like in all the trucks out on the market... what in essence Nissan did was make a truck that doesn't compete but rather stands out in a class of its own... besides, the big 3 know damn well they have to step up, however they're beginning to do so but at the cost of american jobs by border jumping their factories...

[ruauman2]

When you have a large union workforce that earns $30-$50 an hour and much more in many cases, for relatively unskilled tasks, your business model is in deep s***.

I remember reading an article about 6 months ago concerning a QC person at one of the Big 3 in Detroit that made over $150K to make sure bolts had been properly tightened during assembly. This person had been in the employment of the company for a long time and the union takes care of those with seniority. Forget about the skill set this person may or may not possess that isn't a factor in determining wages.

As far as Detroit is concerned I don't remember a time when Detroit didn't have a lot of problems, money, jobs, crime, urban decay, pollution, etc, etc, etc.

[BigSkiff]

Originally Posted by ruauman2

As far as Detroit is concerned I don't remember a time when Detroit didn't have a lot of problems, money, jobs, crime, urban decay, pollution, etc, etc, etc.

And that, in a nutshell, is the crux of the problem!