from the continuing-downward-spiral-for-workers dept.
The World Socialist Web Site reports:
In spite of a continuous chorus in the media of a booming economy creating robust job numbers, General Motors is unleashing a new round of attacks on autoworkers in North America as part of a global cost-cutting offensive against the working class.
The corporation announced on [April 13] it will cut one of two operating shifts at its massive Lordstown, Ohio, assembly plant, cutting as many as 1,500 jobs effective June 15. As recently as 2016, the plant was operating three shifts around the clock with nearly 4,000 workers. By the end of June only 1,500 will remain.
As sales for the compact Chevy Cruze, the only vehicle produced at the facility, began to slip, GM shuttered the third shift in January 2017, axing 800 jobs. Over the course of 2017, the plant was idled for weeks at a time and rumors began to circulate about the impending layoffs.
As an indication of the severity of the cuts, this is the first time since the recession of the 1980s that the plant will operate with only one shift.
[...] The company sold 450,000 fewer vehicles to dealers last year than they did in 2016, but because of aggressive cost-cutting attacks on the workers, imposed by the union, which include everything from an expansion of Temporary Part Time employees at less than half pay, widespread layoffs and shutdowns[,] GM pretax profits for 2017 topped $12.8 billion.
US passenger car sales are on track to decline for the fifth straight year while sales of light trucks are setting records. US sales of compact cars dropped 10 percent in the first quarter and 5.8 percent through 2017.
Lordstown is not the only plant affected by this shift. GM's Detroit-Hamtramck factory, for example, relies heavily on production of small and midsize sedans, including the Buick LaCrosse, Cadillac CT6, Chevrolet Impala, and the Chevrolet Volt. In October, the automaker announced plans to cut about 200 jobs there and halt production beginning November 20 through the Christmas break, affecting 1,500 jobs over the holidays. The second shift was eliminated in March 2017, eliminating 1,300 jobs.
[...] The same conditions are developing in [GM] factories everywhere as GM pursues its cost-cutting strategy with a vengeance.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 19 2018, @03:41AM (9 children)
The population of the village of Lordstown is 3266.
-- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2, Insightful) by frojack on Thursday April 19 2018, @04:57AM (8 children)
TFS says
As recently as 2016, the plant was operating three shifts around the clock with nearly 4,000 workers.
Hmmmm, so by June, every adult in town who wants a job will have one.
Allowing for babies, children, old folks, how many working age adults would you expect in a town of 3266?
Yet, in spite of employing the entire town, GM chose to "attack" them??
Tell me gewg_, do YOU believe half the crap you post?
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by qzm on Thursday April 19 2018, @05:09AM (5 children)
"World Socialist Web Site"
Need we say more?
These people will almost certainly believe that:
1) the companies OWES them jobs, and its ONLY reason for existing is to give them as much money as possible no matter their efforts.
2)That all companies are evil, and the sooner they are all destroyed, the happier society will be.
After all, just open your eyes and look around at all the socialist paradises that exist in the world.
Of course things can ALSO swing too far the other way, and often do.
But referring to layoffs as Attacking the workers? no bias there, really (rolls eyes).
(Score: 2, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 19 2018, @05:49AM (4 children)
Socialist
An actual Socialist wants a change in the ownership model.
Cuba goes part-way by allowing traditional owner/non-owner employee businesses, but doesn't allow them to get too big e.g. no franchises or chain operations.
That's still not Socialism.
Socialism is where every worker is an owner of his workplace, things are decided democratically, and his vote is equal to the vote of any other worker-owner.
(There are no non-workers who are owners.)
...and (Capitalist) Henry Ford would look at these modern Capitalists and say "WTF?"
In 1913, Ford doubled his workers pay to $5/day.
He realized that workers are also consumers and, without consumers, an economy goes bust (like USA's is now).
-- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Gaaark on Thursday April 19 2018, @10:14AM (1 child)
^this!
You don't have workers earning, you don't have customers buying.
So simple even a CEO or shareholder should be able to figure it out.....
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
(Score: 3, Insightful) by The Mighty Buzzard on Thursday April 19 2018, @10:27AM
Yup, I have to double check my thought processes to make sure I'm not just undercaffeinated when I agree with gewg_ but paying your workers what they're worth to you is an important part of capitalism. Keep the throat cutting where it belongs, on the store shelves.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 2) by bobthecimmerian on Saturday April 21 2018, @12:37PM (1 child)
Our education as children in the US, at least for me and my friends, covered basically four communists: Marx, Lenin, Stalin, and Mao. We all know the results, the "People's leaders" took power for themselves and instead of corrupt monarchies that slaughtered citizens at will and treated the average person like a slave you had a "communist party" that did the same thing but even worse.
However, that's not the whole story of communism. In the 19th century and 20th century there were communist groups that were libertarian communists, like Mikhail Bukanin. Bukanin predicted exactly what happened to Soviet Russia and Communist China in the 18-fucking-60s. Libertarian communists reject the idea of private ownership of capital (thus, they are communist) but they also reject the idea of a central state to manage the communist economy (thus, they are libertarian). There was a section of Ukraine that operated that way around 1920 but the Bolsheviks conquered it, and sections of Spain operated that way in the late 1930s but other groups conquered it. This is where I'm putting my research... maybe this branch of communism won't inevitably shift into hell on earth.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday April 22 2018, @08:14AM
a section of Ukraine that operated that way around 1920 but the Bolsheviks conquered it
Yup. The Ukrainian famine of 1932 - 1933 (Holodomor) was entirely man-made.
After Lenin died in 1924, Stalin took over.
Partly, the Ukrainian genocide was punishment for the Ukrainian desire for a better system.
sections of Spain [...] in the late 1930s
Notably, Barcelona 1936 - 1937.
Orwell was there for the Spanish Civil War.
He wrote about this stuff in "Homage to Catalonia" (the region that contains Barcelona).
N.B. Catalan is currently attempting to break away from Spain.
-- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 19 2018, @05:18AM
We're not talking about Jericho here.
There's not a wall around the town.
It's easily assumed that there are|were workers from other nearby localities.
Even then, when I was working, I would make stops on the way home.
I can see food marts and drug stores and diners and such in the town taking a serious hit from fewer commuters.
...in addition to locals with no jobs and no money.
-- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 19 2018, @12:55PM
I guess it's unpossible for people to commute from surrounding areas, from sometimes up to an hour away, to work one of those jobs.
I've never heard of such a thing in my life. Nobody works anywhere that isn't within 100 yards of their house. That's just how the real world works.
(Score: 4, Disagree) by idiot_king on Thursday April 19 2018, @03:48AM (30 children)
Everywhere I look, I see Trump's brand of capitalism tanking... It's almost as if.... wait for it.... capitalism always.... wait for it... wait.... fails every single time.
When will Americans wake up and finally vote Socialist or other non-failing system? Why, why why???
(Score: 4, Insightful) by coolgopher on Thursday April 19 2018, @04:23AM (5 children)
Because that's never offered as a real option?
(Score: 2) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Thursday April 19 2018, @04:43AM (4 children)
I expect that he'll run again in 2020
Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 19 2018, @06:06AM (1 child)
Bernie is a Capitalist.
He's a timid FDR-wannabe.
Bernie has proposed a baby step in the right direction, but the problem is Capitalism.
Until we get rid of that, things aren't going to change for the better.
Every time The Working Class makes a gain, the Capitalist Oligarchs claw it back (via the legislators they buy--and Citizens United et al. have only made it worse).
Publicly-funded election campaigns are a necessary first step in the process.
Without that, nothing will change.
After that, we need something like Italy's Marcora law. [google.com]
That has given Italy thousands and thousands and thousands and thousands and thousands of worker-owned co-ops.
N.B. Anyone who hasn't heard about those has lousy sources of information (Lamestream Media, I'm betting).
-- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 1) by khallow on Thursday April 19 2018, @09:34AM
So why should I think that "change for the better" is better than the status quo? Not feeling it.
While it's an interesting idea, why not allow any sort of business model, including corporations and proprietorships? Those work too.
The Marcora Law also has only given 257 [yesmagazine.org] new worker-owned businesses in the past 30 years.
and this worker's paradise has a few problems:
Remember, can't spell "PIGS" without "I"taly.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 19 2018, @01:00PM
Yeah well I'd like to nominate Mr. Vim for president (with coolgopher as a running mate) in 2020 so that we can finally have true
Scottishcapitalism.We don't need any Russian troll racist all white male candidates like Bernie Sanders proposing progressive measures that will benefit white people in the working class (in addition to blacks and especially Hispanics). For every white person progressive policies help, a black person gets shot by a cop! If we help a single white person, we'll soon be overrun by meddling Russian bear cavalry!
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Thursday April 19 2018, @02:57PM
Maybe, following China's and Turkey's lead, he will save us the time and trouble of conducting pesky elections. Way more efficient than countries that bother with single-candidate elections.
Make America Grumble Again!
To transfer files: right-click on file, pick Copy. Unplug mouse, plug mouse into other computer. Right-click, paste.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 19 2018, @04:27AM (3 children)
And all those who pray to the capitalist God while not paying their own dues are purged from the system, along with their economic toadies in the management and working classes. It will be a blood climb back to relevance for America, and it is one I don't see happening before another repressive power gains dominance. One that will bring aspects of technological totalitarianism to their inescapable conclusion.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by captain normal on Thursday April 19 2018, @05:10AM (1 child)
Just what do you mean by "another repressive power..." . Don't you think the people will have had their fill from this current repressive power?
When life isn't going right, go left.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by c0lo on Thursday April 19 2018, @05:53AM
No, I don't think they will. Look, they are squalling even now which type of lizard people is better to run them.
Until they don't start believing they can run on their own, nothing will happen.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 1) by khallow on Thursday April 19 2018, @09:40AM
I wonder if that leaves anyone who is any good at blood climbing? Given how much subsequent bitching there is about "the people" and their "squalling", doesn't look it.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 19 2018, @04:47AM (4 children)
I feel the same way about socialism. It’s amazing that Venezuela fell whereas Chile is doing so well.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 19 2018, @06:28AM (3 children)
Venezuela is Bolivarian (Anti-Imperialist) but calling it Socialist (worker-owned cooperatives) is a real stretch.
The Capitalist Oligarchs still essentially run the country.
(They have a problem similar to USA's" bought-off politicians.)
While Venezuela has a nice little start on Socialism, but it still has fewer than 1500 "communes"--and its population is 32M.
Chile is doing so well
Chile had a murderous USA.gov-backed dictator for a generation.
Any opposition was utterly destroyed.
Chile is still propped up economically by USA.gov.
If USA.gov did to Chile what it has been doing to Cuba for 6 decades (and to Venezuela since Chavez was elected), Chile would fold like a cheap suit.
-- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 1) by khallow on Thursday April 19 2018, @09:53AM (2 children)
Sure it is. But not if we use the normal meaning of words like "socialist".
That's code for "We fucked up. Better blame the usual scapegoats." If the above were true, rather than the usual rhetorical dodge, those Capitalist Oligarchs" would still own and run the oil fields that they owned and ran before the Bolivarian experiment kicked off.
What is the nature of this propping up? What fraction of their economy are we speaking of?
Strange how once again, you felt the need to defend the likes of Venezuela and Cuba.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 19 2018, @01:14PM (1 child)
Because capitalist oligarchs would never do such a thing. Capitalism would be perfect if not for those meddlesome Russians and their super power of spending chump change on Failbook ads to swing a whole election!
(Score: 2, Interesting) by khallow on Thursday April 19 2018, @02:06PM
Mere money is not how you can measure the critical impact of the Russian menace. They also issued over 3,000 ads. 3,000 is a big number and our mental defenses aren't geared to take on big numbers. So after you've seen these ads for 3,000 times, your defenses are completely used up. You're like, "Ok, so I see clearly now how the Lizardoids ran the pizza shop child porn factory for the Clinton mafia, but what are we doing about it?" And then you vote Trump. Because the only thing he'd be stuffing at a pizza restaurant is his face. You've seen the size of the guy!
The Russians need to be stopped and this is the only way. 3,000+ ads told me so.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by frojack on Thursday April 19 2018, @04:59AM (1 child)
Yeah, the cars aren't selling, but dammit, they should keep on making them. Its there socialist duty to keep on delivering what the stupid consumers don't want.
Maybe if Chevy's ads weren't so cringeworth they would sell more cars.
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by captain normal on Thursday April 19 2018, @05:18AM
Or maybe also, if their cars weren't such cringeworthy pieces of crap they would sell more cars.
When life isn't going right, go left.
(Score: -1, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 19 2018, @05:15AM (1 child)
Because nobody is as stupid as you, obviously.
(Score: -1, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 19 2018, @06:58AM
Well, frojack is. Just saying. Somebody had to say it.
(Score: 1) by tftp on Thursday April 19 2018, @05:32AM (3 children)
Maybe because Socialism failed everywhere, except North Korea, and nobody sane wants the NK's version (which is not socialism but monarchy.)
(Score: -1, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 19 2018, @09:42AM (1 child)
You seem to have a very warped, McCarthy-era-propaganda understanding of socialism. Hint: look at the socialist democracies of northern Europe instead. You even admit that what NK has is not socialism (immediately after proclaiming it successful socialism, but still).
Yes, the implementation of socialism usually eventually fails... just like the implementation of every single other type of governmental and economic system. We could also say that democracy and capitalism failed everywhere, except in certain few cases, which are not really democratic or capitalistic.
(Score: 3, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 19 2018, @10:34AM
You're closer to the mark than he is but you're still wrong.
It's NOT socialist democracy[1], it's Liberal Democracy, sometimes called Social Democracy.
There are even some parties that call themselves Christian Democrats.
Some people see "social" and automatically go to "Socialist".
That's WRONG.
Here's Socialism:
Socialism is the collective ownership of the means of production by The Workers.
If the word OWNERSHIP doesn't figure prominently in your thing, your thing is NOT Socialism.
Socialism is an ECONOMIC system.
The governmental form that goes along with it is DEMOCRACY.
Socialism is DEMOCRACY EVERYWHERE (including the workplace).
Most of the workplaces in northern Europe are hierarchical and Capitalist; definitely NOT democratic or Socialist.
[1] "Socialist Democracy" or "Democratic Socialist" is redundant.
-- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 19 2018, @10:16AM
You're zero for 2.
Yugoslavia had 3 decades of successful worker ownership of the means of production.
USSR under Lenin was doing pretty good (despite constant military and economic harassment by USA and its allies).
...until Lenin died and Stalin decided he wanted to be a dictator.
There has never been worker ownership of the means of production in North Korea.
North Korea is a dictatorship (also constantly under military and economic harassment by USA and its allies).
Anyone who calls that place Socialist is just plain stupid.
-- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Thursday April 19 2018, @10:29AM
Excellent troll there. Thank you for showing the noobs how we do things around these parts.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Thursday April 19 2018, @03:32PM
Ballot Instructions. Please to be selectifying which items you prefer for:
[x] Lots of government benefits (health care, universal basic income, welfare, retirement, and always tax refunds)
[x] Lower or no taxes
[x] Eliminate the deficit
[x] Pay off the national debt
[x] Rainbows
[x] Free Range Unicorns (ummm . . . delicious!)
[_] . . . or the other thing, failing system, consequences, reality
To transfer files: right-click on file, pick Copy. Unplug mouse, plug mouse into other computer. Right-click, paste.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 19 2018, @03:40PM
The problem of the rust belt has nothing to do with capitalism, a lot to do with the lack of nationalism. What do you Socialists dislike the most? Nationalists, because your just a bunch of statist globalist tyrants are what you are who wants to use open borders to drive people into poverty so they can be more easily duped into accepting your little authoritarian schemes. The ideas of open borders and free trade are whats destroying working class people, having to compete with cheap foreign alien immigrant labor and with products made in third world countries where you can hire people for cents an hour. Close the borders, implement fair tariffs and understand that trade between first and third world countries is a race to the bottom that will make first world countries like third world countries. The economies are fundamentally different and incompatable.
(Score: 2) by eravnrekaree on Thursday April 19 2018, @03:49PM (3 children)
This is laughable. Nearly every socailist country is a total failure. Venezuala, the USSR, North Korea. China's no longer purely socialist Whats killing the rust belt is globalism, the way you globalist socialists are flooding first world countries with foreign alien immigrants and open border and trade, driving down wages, putting working class families out of work. Then you exploit the poverty you created to push your totalitarian socialist schemes to enslave the people. What we need is what you socialists hate most, nationalism, strong borders, no immigration, for us to recover our middle class.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 19 2018, @11:00PM (2 children)
[socialist] country
The opposite of Socialism is NOT Democracy.[1]
Socialism is an ECONOMIC system.
The opposite of Socialism is Capitalism.
The governmental system that MUST coincide with Socialism is DEMOCRACY.
Socialism is Anti-Capitalism.
[1] ...and Capitalism can (and does) exist under the most of governmental regimes, BTW.
Venezuala, the USSR, North Korea
Capitalist country, Capitalist country, Dictatorship (everything belongs to the dictator AKA the only Capitalist allowed).
Calling North Korea "Socialist" is just plain stupid.
Now, what set North Korea apart is that it is anti-USA's imperialism.
USSR is the -ONLY- 1 in that group that is Anti-Capitalist.
China's no longer purely socialist
Gawd, are you ever stupid.
China is the most successful Capitalist country on the planet.
Has been for several years now.
Again: The opposite of Socialism is NOT Democracy.
-- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 19 2018, @11:04PM
Capitalism can (and does) exist under the most of governmental regimes.
-- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 19 2018, @11:07PM
Capitalism can (and does) exist under the most repressive of governmental regimes.
-- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 19 2018, @03:50AM (4 children)
Even for a Euro-socialist such as myself, this statement is just... cringe-worthy, to put it mildly. This type of phrasing is what turns people away from the good effects of socialism.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 19 2018, @10:49AM (1 child)
What things are you doing so that you and your coworkers become the owners of the means of production.
If your answer is "None", then you aren't a Socialist.
turns people away from the good effects of socialism
I would be interesting in your opinion of what those are.
As you apparently don't know what a Socialist is, that should be quite comical.
...and the only thing "socialist" about this whole thing is the name of the website.
If they were going for anything Socialist, they'd be saying "Take over the means of production and become the owners." [googleusercontent.com] (orig) [libcom.org]
-- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 19 2018, @11:05AM
The new owners confronted the bank that held the deed to the property and didn't back down.
The workers got repaid for the time that the means of production was idle. [googleusercontent.com] (orig; at about the 60 percent mark on the page) [dissidentvoice.org]
There's a tire factory in Mexico that has a similar story of the workers becoming the owners.
Both are now Socialist worker-owned cooperatives.
-- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by eravnrekaree on Thursday April 19 2018, @03:46PM (1 child)
Socialism is a lie. The problem here in the rust belt is Globalism. Nationalism is the solution. Globalism is what has led to the rust belt being turned into what it is, the decimation of working class families. What do you Socialists hate most? Nationalists. Becuase you want to drive the people in first world economies into poverty with your globalism with mass immigration and offshoring so you can then dupe them into your totalitarian Socialist schemes with the poverty you created. Having to compete with cheap immigrant labor and foreign labor in third world countries, you hatred of borders and national sovereignty, is whats driving people into poverty and then you exploit it for own totalitarian agenda.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 19 2018, @11:14PM
The problem [...] is Globalism.
That's just Capitalism doing what Capitalism does: minimizing costs by finding the cheapest labor.
If your tiny little brain could actually connect dots, it would see that the problem is Capitalism.
(Thomas Piketty wrote a 696-page book on the topic.)
Nationalism is the solution
Riiight. That Hitler thing worked out so well.
Capitalism + Nationalism == Fascism
Gawd, are you ever stupid.
-- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 5, Insightful) by RandomFactor on Thursday April 19 2018, @04:07AM (11 children)
Summarized: Company selling less of specific model car. Company cuts car production staff at factory making that model. Company is an evil force attacking workers and this disproves overall economy trends.
This logic doesn't make sense to me...."The World Socialist Web Site reports"....never mind, all is clear.
В «Правде» нет известий, в «Известиях» нет правды
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 19 2018, @05:33AM (10 children)
Company cuts car production staff at factory making that model
That's what Capitalists do.
You left off the part where they found work for those folks at another facility or revamped the facility.
...because they don't.
I've mentioned the (Socialist) Mondragon cooperative many times before.
When they were faced with a similar situation, they (being a worker-owned cooperative) didn't shed any workers.
With housing starts being down due to the worldwide economic slump (Thanks, boom-and-bust Capitalists and governments under the thumb of Oligarchs), appliance sales were down.
Mondragon moved workers in their appliance division around to different production lines, everyone worked just a bit less each week, and there were no major changes in any of the worker-owners' lives.
Socialism rocks!
-- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 3, Informative) by The Mighty Buzzard on Thursday April 19 2018, @10:33AM (8 children)
Your unwillingness to take the lack of selling what that factory was making into account is why socialism has always failed. Likewise, GM's unwillingness to build a decent vehicle like say Toyota does is why they sold so many fewer. Ideology is all fine and good but it will not change reality nor can you eat it.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 19 2018, @11:14AM (3 children)
Mondragon was founded in 1956 with 6 worker-owners.
Currently, Mondragon has over 100,000 worker-owners in 40 countries on 5 continents.
You wish all your "failures" went so well.
-- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Thursday April 19 2018, @11:22AM (2 children)
So, every other attempt on the planet vs. one success story? You're not going to win any arguments like that.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 19 2018, @11:56AM (1 child)
google.com/search?q=%22*.percent.of.businesses.fail.within.*.years%22
(I do wish the comments engine wasn't so phobic about quote marks in hyperlinks.)
within the first 10 results yields:
I'm quite certain that they're talking about Capitalist operations.
-- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Thursday April 19 2018, @12:14PM
Lacking comparison, that is utterly irrelevant to anything at all.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 19 2018, @11:46AM (3 children)
Everybody--well, everybody except the recent bunch of Capitalists--knows that you **meet** demand; trying to *create* demand by overproduction is just stupid.
That's why Capitalism is known for its boom-and-bust cycles.
...going into a slump on average every 4 to 7 years.
...with a complete cratering about every 80 years.
If you had a roommate as unstable as Capitalism, you'd have kicked his ass out long ago.
-- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Thursday April 19 2018, @11:55AM (1 child)
Your logic isn't. The goal is as slight an overproduction as possible. The economic system you choose has nothing at all to do with how well you can predict that.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 19 2018, @12:10PM
overproduction
I assure you that "Supply-Side Economics" wasn't the invention of a Socialist.
The notion of infinite growth (infinite consumption) in a finite world is strictly Capitalist in nature.
(Obviously not saying here that all Capitalists are wise; many are simply stupid--but driven by insatiable greed.)
-- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 1) by khallow on Thursday April 19 2018, @02:10PM
Except when it wildly succeeds. Bacon for breakfast!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 19 2018, @09:29PM
Lordstown is tooled up for making the Cruze, which isn't a bad car. But (for whatever reasons), the sales of cars, particularly smaller sized cars, are way down at this time. Toyota/Honda/Nissan (who all make cars in USA as well as Japan and elsewhere) have the same problem selling smaller sized cars. The new vehicle sales are (stupidly, imo) currently dominated by trucks/SUVs.
Even if all the Lordstown workers pooled their piggy bank money, I strongly doubt that they could design and re-tool that plant to make a more popular product. Look at all the money pumped into Tesla and it is still far from turning any profit. Interestingly, Tesla is located in a former GM plant that also used to make small cars (last use was a joint venture with Toyota).
(Score: 0, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 19 2018, @04:17AM (3 children)
It's clearly a public service on offer here.
Post the nutty things that the socialist big thinkers say, out in the open for all the non-socialists to see, and plainly display how idiotic it is to people who didn't get the brain implants.
Good job, Gewg, your capitalist overlords thank you. Excellent propaganda work.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 19 2018, @04:32AM
The issue is always the same. Divide and conquer.
They divide you. And then they conquer.
No matter who they are or who you are. They divide and you are conquered.
The only constant? The diversion must get you to divide.
So what is our diversion? We are quite divided. Not without reason.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 19 2018, @07:01AM (1 child)
Don't come crying to me when you are the one attacked by a large corporation, have your "almost sustainable job" cut off at the knees, your pension revoked, your mortgage defaulted upon, the food taken from your children's mouths. It amazes me that anyone can not see that such an attack on someone's livelihood is tantamount to an attack on their life. Working class self-defense is in order.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Thursday April 19 2018, @10:17AM
Happened to me in 2001 with HP and its Compaq merger. I got laid off and moved on. I didn't come crying to anyone about it. All that other stuff didn't happen to me because I was prepared for the "attack".
I indeed cannot see that. Nor can you. Because it is not true.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by MostCynical on Thursday April 19 2018, @04:46AM (3 children)
on one hand, it is one factory, making one vehicle
On the other hand, if sales are up for other models, are they hiring more elsewhere, or just making the rest work harder?
Sack the workers. They cost money.
Once they are all gone, we will make sooo much money!
"I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 19 2018, @05:36AM (1 child)
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 19 2018, @05:57AM
Because making money for the purpose of keeping them is the whole purpose, right?
(Score: 1) by Nutria on Thursday April 19 2018, @06:43AM
Of course, the workers in Lordstown would have to want to move to where the other plants are, instead of sitting around getting Unemployment Insurance, whining and waiting.
(Score: 2, Funny) by fustakrakich on Thursday April 19 2018, @04:53AM (4 children)
Trotsky lives!
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 19 2018, @05:36AM
Heh. Read TFA and see how many of their red-hot pokers I left out.
...then read my response to RandomFactor, up in the (meta)thread.
-- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by aristarchus on Thursday April 19 2018, @07:04AM (2 children)
Troksky created the Red Army. He said, "You may not be interested in war, but war is interested in you." And, he died in Mexico. What are you trying to say, fusta, I don't see the connection.
(Score: 2, Funny) by fustakrakich on Thursday April 19 2018, @07:30AM
he died in Mexico.
I can think of worse places
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 19 2018, @07:36AM
Trotsky (watch your spelling|typing, you old fart) was all about "All power to the soviets".[1]
It would appear that fustakrakich is not in favor of Democracy.
[1] A soviet is a council (workers council, town council, whatever).
-- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 3, Interesting) by jmorris on Thursday April 19 2018, @06:42AM (3 children)
Just when ya thought journalism couldn't get more yellow than CNN, we get another post from World Socialist.
So much wrong no point in fisking it line by line. So I'll just point out one howler. Notice this line:
Sounds like they have enough money they don't have to "screw" their workers, right? Well lets dig a little deeper. Their '17 top line revenue was 145.6B so right there we see they aren't rolling in coin if they only had a topline profit of 12.8B, that is single digit margins and that is bad news. Gets 'better' of course, when you sell 145.6B, and you aren't a tech darling, Uncle Sugar wants a taste and taste he did, 11.5B worth. Little of this, little of that, 4.2B writeoff to "discontinued operations" and they reported a 3.9B loss for 2017. So that kinda puts an entirely different shine on why they might be pinching pennies, doesn't it?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 19 2018, @07:08AM (1 child)
^^^This! Is jmorris protecting his GM stock. What is good for GM is good for America! On a clear day, you can see General Motors. But now Detroit looks like Berlin after the war. And Flint, well they saved a ton of money by alt-sourcing their municipal water suppy! Sometimes I wonder if jmorris may not have been part of that, the lead in the water, producing gradual insanity and increasing right-wing leaning views and opinions with decreasing ability to rationally justify the same.
(Score: 2, Funny) by khallow on Thursday April 19 2018, @10:21AM
(Score: 2, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 19 2018, @07:48AM
You'd never know that by looking at what the C-suite guys are pulling down.
If some cuts were made there and that dough was spread around to some of the people who actually WORK for a living, that would improve things.
(Y'know, give it to the folks who actually BUY stuff.)
The execs could also stop with the stock buy-backs.
Those don't increase company productivity (and which were a crime before Reagan).
Put that into R&D then make more stuff that consumers actually want.
-- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by realDonaldTrump on Thursday April 19 2018, @03:11PM (1 child)
Chevy Cruze was made in Lordstown. Now made in Ramos, Mexico (giant sucking sound -- jobs). General Motors is sending Mexican made model of Cruze to U.S. car dealers tax free across border. Make in U.S.A.or pay big border tax!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 19 2018, @11:47PM
Mexico is killing us economically!
Hyperbole, as usual.
...and, actually, we did it to ourselves.
NAFTA == North American Free Trade Agreement == Drop barriers for international Capitalists
giant sucking sound
That was the characterization of NAFTA by H. Ross Perot, who ran a 1-issue presidential campaign in 1992.
There is a reason he got 19 percent of the popular vote: He was absolutely right on trade.
jobs
Thanks, Slick Willie--and every gov't since: Having jobs as a major export was|is such an awesome idea.
Let's hope that the wisdom shown this week in Maine (ranked voting) spreads nationwide and we start to see Democracy replacing Oligarchy.
Getting rid of that stupid plutocratic Electoral College would be another excellent idea.
The time when we most needed a "correction" from an overclass of wise Oligarchs, that failed us (and we wound up with Donald J. Trump, Sr.).
...and a pipe dream for me:
A Supreme Court that declares The Commission for Presidential Debates an illegal anti-competitive corrupt organization under the RICO Act.
-- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by richtopia on Thursday April 19 2018, @04:02PM (2 children)
Consumers in the USA are buying less cars year over year. While a rapid increase in the price of oil could increase demand for small cars quickly I have a hard time faulting GM from slowing production of cars that aren't selling. The article below lists the sub-compact Sonic and full-size Impala from GM on the chopping block too.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/cars/2018/04/04/gm-chevrolet-sonic-ford-fiesta-taurus-impala/485483002/ [usatoday.com]
Disclaimer: I own a 2012 Chevy Cruze. Based on my rental car experiences, compact cars are roughly the same, so I have a hard time rating one better than the other. I did have one issue with a leak in the heater core which was covered out of warranty as it is a known issue.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday April 20 2018, @01:44AM
They're lasting longer these days.
This stands in contrast to the lyrics of a 1980s Merle Haggard song.
I wish a Ford and a Chevy would still last ten years, like they should [google.com]
A century of aggregate engineering experience is paying off (just in time for the internal combustion engine and traditional drivetrain to become obsolete).
the price of oil could increase demand for small cars
You left out the word "electric".
-- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday April 20 2018, @01:51AM
If "less" means "smaller", that's true too.
In the 21st Century USAian economy, anything bigger than is absolutely necessary is obviously seen as luxury.
With 60 percent of USAians now not able to handle a $400 emergency without selling something or taking out a loan, luxury is a thing of the past.
-- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]