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The good stuff is coming from Japanese manufacturers in America who have a substantially lower wage structure, thus allowing them to put, on average, an extra $2000 per car into the car (and not to pension plans, health insurance, wages, etc.). As long as that differential exists, Detroit won't be competitive even if it fixes its other multiple problems.

I wonder if Max has read about the Ford Fiesta, it gets over 60 miles per gallon,sells like hot cakes, and guess what you can not buy it in the USA.
As for executives making more money, compare Tax Hike Mike salary to a state employee!
There will always be more money at the top.
Brian 444, I disagree on the good stuff coming from the Japanese, Ford and Chevy both have some great cars, they have lost car buyers confidence. How they regain it, I have no clue.
I think its got to start with the attitude of the Japanese companies, the car breaks we fix it.

"There will always be more money at the top."

But there use to be a reasonable rato - like 20 to one. After the ME generation got into gear, it grew, and in the past 30 years it has risen to over 400. imho the drop in the top income tax bracket, which affected a small group of people, has contributed heavily to this phenom'.

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"Ford and Chevy ... they have lost car buyers confidence". Bingo ... Ford and Chevy led by the above ME ME generation. That the problem: a disconnect between reality and what those that "run" big companies actually do for the big companies ... but they are good at cashing those paychecks and signing boondoggles with union leaders, then blaming the union for 100% of the problems.

Funny that the Reps are the first ones to cry "class warfare" and the first ones to practice it.

On the "wage" differential much of that visa vie foreign competitors can be fixed by fixing the health care issue. Car companies are moving to Canada strictly on that issue.

vis-a-vis

Thank you rufus, vis-à-vis foreign competitors, they do have better management.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122384818385826909.html

They also don't have the legacy costs in each vehicle as brian444 notes. This is the result of decades of capitulation to unions and their greed.

Lastly, many people cannot get car loans. You can put the best product in the world on the showroom floor but it will collect dust if no one can get a loan to buy it. That is why bailing out the Big 3 is ridiculous, they will likely use the money to build more vehicles that no one can buy.

FWIW I have always bought cars from the Big 3 and have had very few problems with them. The only foreign car I ever owned was an Isuzu. The timing belt blew at 70mph and bent all the valves, a costly repair for a car with only 50K miles.

"The timing belt blew at 70mph and bent all the valves, "

That must have been a rude awakening!

Hey, Dan, same thing happened to me on the Interstate to Durham back in the summer of 1985 with a 1977 Buick Skylark straight drive. Yep, that baby stopped dead in the road with no warning, but I was able to coast off the highway onto the shoulder. The mechanic who fixed it called it a timing "chain" (and back then it probably was a "chain" LOL). Nothing else in the engine was damaged. I drove it back and forth to Durham for another 2-1/2 years before I bought a 1987 Chevrolet Celebrity automatic with overdrive for making that horrible trip. We relegated the 1977 Buick to being our "in town" car for three more years until we traded it in in 1990.

I am still driving the 1987 Chevy and we still refer to it as our "good car." Just goes to show what regular maintenance and skillful driving (right, Dan?) will do for a car and its driver.

Golly am I going to be sad when "the day" comes that I have to replace that 1987 Chevrolet.

I agree the "big 3" make some excellent cars these days, but it's painfully obvious they cannot pay significantly more than the Japanese companies to American workers and remain viable.

If I were shopping now, I would seriously consider a Ford Fusion, which Consumer Reports speaks very well of. However, if I bought a Fusion, I understand Ford would charge me about $600 extra to compensate the now-retired workers who made my first car - a 1968 Mustang. While I have fond memories of the Mustang, and am grateful to the workers who built it, it doesn't appear this state of affairs can be maintained.

"The auto worker is the quintessential middle-class American." Unlike the average auto worker, if the "quintessential middle class American" loses his or her job, they can't sit around a union hall for years and collect 90 to 95% of their wages. This is possible because of the UAW's Job Bank. This along with the incompetence of the Big 3 execs, particularly GM's CEO, is the main reason that I will not buy a Big 3 auto.

"That must have been a rude awakening!"

It sure as hell was, happened in Salisbury and I had to get the thing towed into town, get someone to pick me up and was without a car for almost two weeks.

Kornbluth, the Fusion is a good pick. I bought a Focus last year when gas was getting really high. It's an excellent little car and perfect for business travel and errands around town. I still love my little Focus even though gas is practically free these days.

Good post conundrum, haven't seen you around in awhile. Did you read my link? While the UAW has a job bank in which workers are paid to stay home or come to work and play cards, Toyota is putting it's idled workers into training and plant maintenance.

The big 3 do make some good cars but their management structure and union compensation make them uncompetitive.