Oh yeah. We have been totally sold down the river. GM started this crap with their "captured imports" program, to the extent that they even built the first Toyota plant here in the US to produce the Toyota Corolla/Geo Prism. It was a stupid and short sighted idea that would have caught up to them if they had not been bailed out with OUR FREAKING MONEY. Now, as usual, we are taking the screwing. The market share they continue to loose will continue to support foreign owned car companies.

My only hope in this is Ford. I really liked the way they handed the bailout. They have not made many vehicles I would want, but that is beginning to change with the new "looks like an Aston Martin" Fusion. That is a good looking car.

Basic economics. Money flows downhill to the least expensive way to produce a given quality. That is why government should NEVER interfere by "helping" any industry survive. If, as in the case of GM, it keeps some workers employed, it only delays the inevitable as those workers lose out to China, or wherever. If GM and Chrysler couldn't succeed on their own, then they should have been allowed to fail. However, that doesn't get you any votes from the low information voters.

I highly recommend the book "American Icon". It chronicles Ford's comeback including the bailout fiascos, union negotiations, securing financing that allowed them to survive the recession, and Alan Mulally's (CEO) management that drove a global culture change throughout the company. One of my favorite lines was a letter written to Ford - I just purchased a Chrysler but when I heard about the bailouts I was so disgusted, I turned around and traded it in for a Ford (paraphrased).
The book definitely made me a Ford convert.

Actually, this is Fair and Free Trade. GM is doing exactly what you and I and everyone else would be doing under the circumstances. The fault is not in the company, but in our stupid and criminal government that has set up rules that lead to failure of the economy.

As an owner of GM, or any other company big enough to deal with China, would you not want to escape the problems created by our government:
UAW, AFL-CIO, EPA, ADA, OSHA, minimum wage, IRS and American workers' laziness and propensity to sue?
Would you not take advantage of China's much more capitalist laws and healthier work attitude than in America?

Do we buy American made products (which are awfully difficult to find nowadays) at any cost vs cheaper and often better imported products? In the 19th Century and for the first half of the 20th, America was the greatest economic and cultural power in the world precisely because it did not have the evils that I listed above; today China is fast becoming the greatest economic and, perhaps cultural giant precisely for the same reasons. The more we kill freedom and opportunity, the lazier and uneducated we become, the more we become a hand to mouth government handout society, the quicker we solidify our future as a Third World welfare nation. So, don't blame GM.

Sickening. I own Ford stock. I used to be a Chevy guy.

Capitalism that is manipulated and controlled by evil tyrannical governments, ours included, is not capitalism at all. It is crony capitalism.
There is no such thing as free trade. The playing field is not level.
The noble experiment that was a representative republic has failed. The representatives no longer represent the people.
We have the best government money can buy.
America, that used to be a melting pot, has become a boiling pot and the scum has risen to the top.

Objective Analist I agree with you

Are you on Linkdin? I'd love to connect with you.

my e-mail address is bradford.snipes@yahoo.com

The Toyota Camry is the most American car made. Toyota USA is an American company owned in part by Toyota of Japan and in part by stockholders in the USA. The Camry was created for the American market originally. Japan moved all production of the Camry to the US and now, it is the only car made in America from parts made exclusively in America. It is more American than any Chevrolet or Ford. Of course, Chrysler is no longer an American company, being foreign owned and operated.

Made my blood run cold. Akersons groveling and kowtowing is disgraceful.

Marxist politicians, bankers, and crooked businessmen - an unholy alliance. How will we fight them?

I would say that most of the information was correct. There are a few caveats. Many of the automobiles and supporting parts for them have been made in Canada and Mexico since the Clinton era. Even prior to that. For many many years American cars have been assembled here but most of the parts made elsewhere.
The fact that 70% of the cars are made outside the US is not all that surprising to me. Given the market in China (rather the reputed market, who really knows) to a multinational it would make sense to move the production to where the demand is.
The time to really get worried is when they ship cars from China to here. Something similar happen to Toyota (might have the company wrong but it was Japanese). All of the Camrey model cars are now built here and shipped back to Japan. (This may no longer be true, my data is a little old). Cost them jobs on the Home Islands.
anyway, the situation is bad enough that we should start asking for a larger portion of the debt they owe to be repaided, like now.

and how