How is the economy affecting your life?

Typhon said:
I think that's a given, I bet high street spending will be super low this Christmas and that could end up leading to retail jobs being cut too
Click to expand...

Spending here is insane. The malls are packed with people every weekend. You can't find parking spots. Deals to be had everywhere.

There's way too much money in the this City. People here just keep spending ... and that's what will keep our little insulated economy going :)
 
Last edited:
Kraken said:
Aside from that you have all this unskilled labor making 80 grand a year to screw a widget into some part. We need to take a look at that. It created this standard of living that is not sustainable. Call me old fashioned but in order to acheive that standard of living one must work hard and have some skill. Not some schmuck who gets high and drunk on the job making that kind of money. Theres too much of that going on.
Click to expand...

Yep, I agree with this. Yes, one big issue with American auto makers is that they have been making what they want, rather than what the public wants, but it's also about what you mentioned. The pay and benefits of those working for American auto companies is nuts, and this has made it ridiculously hard for American car prices to compete, let alone make a nice profit.
 
MarkMyWords said:
Yep, I agree with this. Yes, one big issue with American auto makers is that they have been making what they want, rather than what the public wants, but it's also about what you mentioned. The pay and benefits of those working for American auto companies is nuts, and this has made it ridiculously hard for American car prices to compete, let alone make a nice profit.
Click to expand...

Car rental companies here only stock domestic vehicles. I've never owned a domestic vehicle. I've only ever driven German and Japanese. So when I got my rental unit when my SUV was getting fixed, I couldn't believe how unresponsive, clunky, and utterly disgusting driving a domestic vehicle was. These vehicles had under 10,000km on them and they were already falling apart and had mechanical/electrical issues. I couldn't wait to get rid of the piece of crap and get back to driving mine.

I have rented just about every domestic SUV on the market, and I wouldn't remotely consider purchasing any of them. They are cheaply made, don't steer well, and feel horrible.

I like to meld with my cars ... become one with it. You can't do that with the North American crap they're producing nowadays. It's no wonder they're laying people off.

Maybe if they built a better vehicle that felt good to sit in and drive, they wouldn't be crying now.
 
i_love_muscle said:
Car rental companies here only stock domestic vehicles. I've never owned a domestic vehicle. I've only ever driven German and Japanese. So when I got my rental unit when my SUV was getting fixed, I couldn't believe how unresponsive, clunky, and utterly disgusting driving a domestic vehicle was. These vehicles had under 10,000km on them and they were already falling apart and had mechanical/electrical issues. I couldn't wait to get rid of the piece of crap and get back to driving mine.

I have rented just about every domestic SUV on the market, and I wouldn't remotely consider purchasing any of them. They are cheaply made, don't steer well, and feel horrible.

I like to meld with my cars ... become one with it. You can't do that with the North American crap they're producing nowadays. It's no wonder they're laying people off.

Maybe if they built a better vehicle that felt good to sit in and drive, they wouldn't be crying now.
Click to expand...

Yep, not only have they not been responsive to the public wants, their quality has been crap. Ford has gotten a lot better, supposedly GM and Chrysler have too, I dunno. The problem with that is even if quality has improved, it will take much much longer for it's perception of quality to change, and that's really the important part.

Me personally I wouldn't drive a POS SUV if they were the last vehicles on Earth. I'd rather waste gas in a 396 '69 Chevelle. :D
 
Seriously, it makes me wonder whatever happened to vehicles like the 65 Mustang and the 67/68 Camaro?

Ford and Chevy really went downhill during the 70s and they haven't gotten their mojo back.

If they could build a vehicle comparable to a BMW X3 or X5, or a Toyota RAV4 or Highlander, I'd buy one. But NA vehicles don't hold their value and they fall apart too quickly. They're pretty much scrap metal after you've driven them for 4-5 years.
 
Chrysler is total garbage. My father in law retired from there and we get the discount so since I've been married I've been driving Dodge. I've never had so many problems with brand new vehicles in my life. My current mini van has been good to me so far. But my Rams were ****. dropped a tranny in one with less than 20k on it and blew out rack and pinion on another with less than 10k on it. What a farce. Who the hell puts rack and pinion in a 4x4 truck anyway?

Another thing. Can I get a ****ing stick shift in anything anymore? WTF?

ok as you were. LOL
 
Yeah. What's with all the vehicles going automatic? I prefer standards. It's a control thing ;)

When it's time for me to shop for a new vehicle, the one that still has standard transmission will be the one I buy. Toyota seems to gone to automatics on their SUVs, so I'll be going German I think ... I've always wanted a BMW X3 or X5 anyway. And the deals right now are insane. 1% financing for 72 months on new and used. Even I can afford that ...
 
i_love_muscle said:
Maybe if they built a better vehicle that felt good to sit in and drive, they wouldn't be crying now.
Click to expand...


you've obviously never driven a Mustang or Challenger.

What we need to save our asses is some new technology. Like what we had in the 90's to bring us out of a recession. Back then it was the internet and all the tech companies.
 
Kraken said:
you've obviously never driven a Mustang or Challenger.

What we need to save our asses is some new technology. Like what we had in the 90's to bring us out of a recession. Back then it was the internet and all the tech companies.
Click to expand...

Only driven an old Mustang and an old Camaro. Those cars are sweet :) But they had no pollution controls on them. They went like stink.
 
i_love_muscle said:
If they could build a vehicle comparable to a BMW X3 or X5, or a Toyota RAV4 or Highlander, I'd buy one. But NA vehicles don't hold their value and they fall apart too quickly. They're pretty much scrap metal after you've driven them for 4-5 years.
Click to expand...

Hmmm, people I know who have or had BMWs complain about high maintenance and repair costs after the warranty and free maintenance period is over.

Remember that rental cars are probably somewhat more likely to be abused, which results in being in worse condition for comparable age and mileage compared to peoples' personal cars (although many people do not take very good care of their personal cars either).
 
I'd still rather have a vehicle that holds its value.

Yeah, I know all about how much it costs to service a BMW. It's actually not much more than a Toyota when everything is said and done.
 
MarkMyWords said:
Yep, I agree with this. Yes, one big issue with American auto makers is that they have been making what they want, rather than what the public wants, but it's also about what you mentioned. The pay and benefits of those working for American auto companies is nuts, and this has made it ridiculously hard for American car prices to compete, let alone make a nice profit.
Click to expand...

Much of the extra cost borne by GM, Ford, and Chrysler is due to past underfunding of pensions and retirement benefits that they had promised decades ago. Basically, it is like you promised yourself a certain standard of living when you retire at age 65, but don't start saving until you are 60... now consider a company promising such a pension to its thousands of employees, but not putting any money into the pension investments until the employees are about to retire.
 
i_love_muscle said:
I'd still rather have a vehicle that holds its value
Click to expand...

Be careful when using published depreciation percentages based on MSRP.

Many US and Korean brand cars look bad in depreciation percentages based on MSRP, but when you base depreciation from actual selling prices (after $thousands in rebates), they are not really that bad in that respect.
 
Kraken said:
Another thing. Can I get a ****ing stick shift in anything anymore? WTF?
Click to expand...

You probably have to special order it if it is even available. Seems that most American car buyers want to pay more to use more fuel, accelerate slower, and take more risk of breakdowns with automatic transmissions.
 
tjl said:
Much of the extra cost borne by GM, Ford, and Chrysler is due to past underfunding of pensions and retirement benefits that they had promised decades ago. Basically, it is like you promised yourself a certain standard of living when you retire at age 65, but don't start saving until you are 60... now consider a company promising such a pension to its thousands of employees, but not putting any money into the pension investments until the employees are about to retire.
Click to expand...

Yeah I follow. It's a mess, and now it's obviously caught up to them and is biting them in the a$$ big time. I wonder what the future holds...

I see Dow teetering just above 8,000 points right now...ugh.
 
tjl said:
You probably have to special order it if it is even available. Seems that most American car buyers want to pay more to use more fuel, accelerate slower, and take more risk of breakdowns with automatic transmissions.
Click to expand...

stupid people. LOL
Not to mention the amount of control you have in the winter.

Most people use the clutch for a foot rest anyway.
 
Why does someone who spends his days inserting bolt 'a' into nut 'b' get a full pension with full health benefits?

I spend my days designing roads, climbing water towers, standing in roads to do survey work, taking abuse from contractors, handling cranky residents on construction sites and clients who are unhappy with their product and at the end of my time here I will have a 401K which I had to fund from my own take home earnings, and barely any benefits. Someone please justify that.

I'm not saying that an auto worker doesn't deserve a nice retirement...everyone is entitled...but I need some justification towards what they get and why the get it.

Now conversely, a police officer, fire fighter, DEA agent, FBI agent...people who put their lives on the line daily qualify for full pensions and retirement benefits. They put themselves completely out there everyday to protect everyone else..give them what they deserve.

I dunno...I love the US but things are just completely bass-ackwards
 
firefreak said:
I dunno...I love the US but things are just completely bass-ackwards
Click to expand...

I think that's the order of things everywhere ...

Stupidity seem to trump common sense every step of the way.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top