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tommy o
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I work for GM. The problem I see with GM is the micro managing by Detroit. The management at plant level are handcuffed by overbearing ill informed upper management in Detroit. I see plant management constantly making wrong decisions, not because they don't know any better but because somebody in Detroit has mandated how things are to be done. Management by fear.
If you want to be successful, put good people in charge and let them react to situations on instinct and experience. Congratulate them on good jobs and guide and communicate on jobs that did not go well. Convince them to listen to the guy on the line with an open mind and you will be a success.
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tbird19482
AOL
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Hans Schweinficker wrote: <quoted text> I hope you are not the Kaisertown Loonie. You are confused. The document signed in 1945 was NOT a peace treaty. It was an instrument of surrender. The peace treaty was signed in 1951. Japan again became a sovereign nation and was allowed a military. Another misconception - we still occupy Japan. WRONG. Read the peace treaty. We are there at the invitation of the Japanese Government. They can throw us out at any time. I mentioned Janes a one source. For info on Japan's Military Budget, go to: globalsecurity.org You will see that they have a larger military than England. We do NOT pay this. Hansie I hAVE NOT READ UP ON things and I beg your forgiveness if I was wrong but as of about 5 years ago WE were still for the most part paying for their defence I see they have A super NAVY , and arny , oh yes lets not forget their MIGHTY air force, LET ME SEE with all that money they are spending on their dwefence WHERE IS IT GOING? IF anything happens in JAPAN who is the first ones to defend them ? NOT THEM SELFS ITS the UNITED STATES.
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Fuzz Nuts
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Hans Schweinficker wrote: <quoted text>
I believe what we are seeing are the results of an ever shrinking world.
Naturally one would expect manufacturers to source parts, supplies, etc. from the source with the lowest price. Once one guy does this, all have to do it to keep price competitive. The problem here is that we in the US want a very high standard of living compared to the rest of the world. This equates to labor costs that are much higher than anywhere else in the world. Are we willing to decrease our standard of living? I don't think so. The answer is that we must do things that others cannot do at the present. This requires lotsa EDUCATION. Sad part is that we are falling behind in physics, engineering, math, etc. Are Americans no longer willing to pay the price (work and education) to live the good life? I don't know.
EXAMPLE - A few months ago whilst reading my Smithsonian, I saw an ad for a watch that intigued me. It was for a Graves 33 replica sold by the Stauer Company. This was a one of its kind. The original recently sold for over $11 million. I figured what the hell, I'll take a chance for $100. I've had this watch for a few months. Beautifully finished. In addition to a dial showing the time, it has "mini dials" that show day, date, month, and sun/moon. It is a self winding automatic. It has something like 215 parts to accomplish all these functions. Here is the kicker - I have a Girard Perregaux an expensive Swiss made watch. My $100 special is every bit as accurate as the Swiss watch. Why pay $3 or 4 grand when you can get the same result for $100. Hell, I could buy thirty watches of different designs and have a new one for every day of the month.
BTW - The replica is made in China, where else?
Hansie The watch you bought sounds nice. I am interested to know how to get some information on it. Can you please let me know. Frankie
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Hans Schweinficker
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Fuzz Nuts wrote: <quoted text>
The watch you bought sounds nice. I am interested to know how to get some information on it. Can you please let me know.
Frankie Fuzzy - Go to stauer.com Look up the model which is: Graves 33 For $100 it's amazing!!!!!! No way we could duplicate this in the US for that price. Hansie
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“Huh? What! OK?”
Joined: May 9, 2008
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Hans Schweinficker wrote: <quoted text>
The problem here is that we in the US want a very high standard of living compared to the rest of the world. This equates to labor costs that are much higher than anywhere else in the world. Are we willing to decrease our standard of living? I don't think so. The answer is that we must do things that others cannot do at the present. This requires lotsa EDUCATION. Sad part is that we are falling behind in physics, engineering, math, etc. Are Americans no longer willing to pay the price (work and education) to live the good life? Sad to say but young people expect the high quality American lifestyle but they aren't willing to do the work to get there. Americans have become fat, dumb, and lazy due to the generosity of their parents and grandparents. The idea that anybody should take something challenging in school such as physics, chemistry or calculus is absurd! Forget a classical education where Latin or Greek is involved. Learning another language? Forget that stuff too much work. Japan is suffering the same problems too. Their young people had it too good with their "salryman" parents. I don't know what can be done to right the ship either. The unwritten rule in our company is becoming....if you're under 40, we're really not all that interested. It seems that there is no work ethic any longer. I haven't been posting for a couple of days...why? There is an uptick in business. I'm jumping through my backside to take care of my clients. They want their projects done by August 1. I want them done earlier....a great job ahead of schedule. That's how its done. Hansie, I think much of this is internally driven though. Last year I went to Italy. The best deal was me flying through Munich. In order to get to the other jet I had to go to a different terminal go through passport control and security again. The security folks were talking in German, and I didn't understand a darned word they said. I was embarrassed. I was hungry but wouldn't order anything at the airport because I was ashamed of my ignorance. If that was my kid, I don't think she would have been upset in the least. All I can say is that I have Rosetta Stone - German Level 1. That ain't gonna happen again. One last thought. When I was in London long time ago I was reading the real estate section of the newspaper. I was taken aback by the terms "leasehold" and "freehold". It was explained to me that under a "leasehold" you are effectively buying the property for 99 years then it reverts back to some royalty. The look on my face expressed the fact that I was not very keen on the idea. To which the person I was with said "What is the matter? I suppose you want to leave the property to your children?" That was my original idea to which he said "let them earn their own property" The man was right. Before he died Barry Goldwater, the original conservative (no neocon type either)said "If you live your life without changing your ideas and opinions, you're not living and learning" Later guy....opportunity is knocking for me.
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Nick
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Forget your personal feelings about GM...Fact is we are in a recession and GM needs to retructure if it is to face the new realities of today...forget the past they made lots of money in the past.
I have seen them restructure many times in the last 30 years and they always came back....will they this time?I don't know but do not rule GM out...they are not dead yet.
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O Really
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Nick wrote: I have seen them restructure many times in the last 30 years and they always came back....will they this time?I don't know but do not rule GM out...they are not dead yet. I think you're right. They will come back. No matter how many times the THIRD-RATE management of this company screws up, people keep giving them another chance. If any other business screwed up this much, they would be extinct ( your mechanic, doctor, etc.)
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Hans Schweinficker
AOL
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thenycommie wrote: <quoted text>
Sad to say but young people expect the high quality American lifestyle but they aren't willing to do the work to get there. Americans have become fat, dumb, and lazy due to the generosity of their parents and grandparents. The idea that anybody should take something challenging in school such as physics, chemistry or calculus is absurd! Forget a classical education where Latin or Greek is involved. Learning another language? Forget that stuff too much work. Japan is suffering the same problems too. Their young people had it too good with their "salryman" parents. I don't know what can be done to right the ship either. The unwritten rule in our company is becoming....if you're under 40, we're really not all that interested. It seems that there is no work ethic any longer. I haven't been posting for a couple of days...why? There is an uptick in business. I'm jumping through my backside to take care of my clients. They want their projects done by August 1. I want them done earlier....a great job ahead of schedule. That's how its done.
Hansie, I think much of this is internally driven though. Last year I went to Italy. The best deal was me flying through Munich. In order to get to the other jet I had to go to a different terminal go through passport control and security again. The security folks were talking in German, and I didn't understand a darned word they said. I was embarrassed. I was hungry but wouldn't order anything at the airport because I was ashamed of my ignorance. If that was my kid, I don't think she would have been upset in the least. All I can say is that I have Rosetta Stone - German Level 1. That ain't gonna happen again.
One last thought. When I was in London long time ago I was reading the real estate section of the newspaper. I was taken aback by the terms "leasehold" and "freehold". It was explained to me that under a "leasehold" you are effectively buying the property for 99 years then it reverts back to some royalty. The look on my face expressed the fact that I was not very keen on the idea. To which the person I was with said "What is the matter? I suppose you want to leave the property to your children?" That was my original idea to which he said "let them earn their own property" The man was right.
Before he died Barry Goldwater, the original conservative (no neocon type either)said "If you live your life without changing your ideas and opinions, you're not living and learning"
Later guy....opportunity is knocking for me. Commie, I believe that much labor performed by humans is becoming a world wide commodity. We are in deep trouble if that is indeed the case. See my earlier post on a Chinese made watch I bought for $100. The damned thing is every bit as good as my expensive made watch. During WW-2, the US manufactured a litte over 50% of the world's goods. Them days is gone! As King Arthur said "The old order changeth yielding place to the new". Hansie PS - Take a break and go to Mike Ulrich's for a nice Holstein and lotsa Warsteiner!!!! Glad to hear your business is good.
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Hans Schweinficker
AOL
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thenycommie wrote: <quoted text>
Sad to say but young people expect the high quality American lifestyle but they aren't willing to do the work to get there. Americans have become fat, dumb, and lazy due to the generosity of their parents and grandparents. The idea that anybody should take something challenging in school such as physics, chemistry or calculus is absurd! Forget a classical education where Latin or Greek is involved. Learning another language? Forget that stuff too much work. Japan is suffering the same problems too. Their young people had it too good with their "salryman" parents. I don't know what can be done to right the ship either. The unwritten rule in our company is becoming....if you're under 40, we're really not all that interested. It seems that there is no work ethic any longer. I haven't been posting for a couple of days...why? There is an uptick in business. I'm jumping through my backside to take care of my clients. They want their projects done by August 1. I want them done earlier....a great job ahead of schedule. That's how its done.
Hansie, I think much of this is internally driven though. Last year I went to Italy. The best deal was me flying through Munich. In order to get to the other jet I had to go to a different terminal go through passport control and security again. The security folks were talking in German, and I didn't understand a darned word they said. I was embarrassed. I was hungry but wouldn't order anything at the airport because I was ashamed of my ignorance. If that was my kid, I don't think she would have been upset in the least. All I can say is that I have Rosetta Stone - German Level 1. That ain't gonna happen again.
One last thought. When I was in London long time ago I was reading the real estate section of the newspaper. I was taken aback by the terms "leasehold" and "freehold". It was explained to me that under a "leasehold" you are effectively buying the property for 99 years then it reverts back to some royalty. The look on my face expressed the fact that I was not very keen on the idea. To which the person I was with said "What is the matter? I suppose you want to leave the property to your children?" That was my original idea to which he said "let them earn their own property" The man was right.
Before he died Barry Goldwater, the original conservative (no neocon type either)said "If you live your life without changing your ideas and opinions, you're not living and learning"
Later guy....opportunity is knocking for me. Commie, My own experience is that when people study other languages under FORMAL conditions they become BETTER in the use of their original language. Judging the quality of some of the posts I read, I think lotsa folks here could use some foreign language training!! Hansie PS - When in Munich, order the Schweinhaxe (Pork Shank), of course, with a few litres of Spaten.
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Hans Schweinficker
AOL
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Hans Schweinficker wrote: <quoted text>
Commie,
I believe that much labor performed by humans is becoming a world wide commodity. We are in deep trouble if that is indeed the case. See my earlier post on a Chinese made watch I bought for $100. The damned thing is every bit as good as my expensive made watch.
During WW-2, the US manufactured a litte over 50% of the world's goods. Them days is gone!
As King Arthur said "The old order changeth yielding place to the new".
Hansie
PS - Take a break and go to Mike Ulrich's for a nice Holstein and lotsa Warsteiner!!!! Glad to hear your business is good. Commie, Heard an interesting speech some time ago. The speaker felt that the world is indeed shrinking and that companies will procure goods where costs are lower to get a competitive edge. Of course, once one guy does this, they all do it. The speaker thought over the long run the US must maintain its technical edge or we are doomed. He also said we may very well become more of an agrarian society again. We have vast amounts of arable land. Plus our farmers are far and away the best in the world. The more things change, the more they stay the same. Hansie
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Fuzz Nuts
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Hans Schweinficker wrote: <quoted text> Fuzzy - Go to stauer.com Look up the model which is: Graves 33 For $100 it's amazing!!!!!! No way we could duplicate this in the US for that price. Hansie I visited the Stauer Company website to look at the watch. It is a knockout and I ordered the gold one. I know I will be happy with it. Frankie
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Hans Schweinficker
AOL
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420 Sheriff wrote: "Garbage" waste of a 100 bucks I assume you're talking about the watch the Fuzz guy bought. You say garbage. Did you buy one of these watches? If you didn't, how do you know what it is? If you did, and you had problems return it. I checked Stauer. They have a very good reputation. The watch has a TWO year warranty. I've had my Graves 33 (Stainless steel) for over three months. I have never had to adjust the time. This watch works every bit as good as my Girard Perregaux (Swiss made) that cost almost $4,000 a number of years ago. I would guess that you do not have one of these watches. You're just another American that can't understand that America is no longer the king of the roost in everything. Get used to it. It's a global economy. The uneducated and undereducated in this country are in for tough times. Hansie
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Judge it!
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