The Down Range Forum
Member Section => Down Range Cafe => Topic started by: Teresa Heilevang on June 11, 2009, 01:28:04 AM
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http://www.snopes.com/politics/soapbox/knox.asp
There are two letters below:
One from General Motors President to all employees and all of
their suppliers.
The other from the President of a supplier to the auto industry.
His letter is an awesome letter that tells it like it is.
Every manager in Detroit and ALL politicians should read this,
along with the union members. It's a bit long, but well worth the read.
This is one of the greatest responses to the requests for bailout
money I have seen thus far. As a supplier for the Big 3 this man
received a letter from the President of GM North America
requesting support for the bail out program. His response is
classic, and has to make you proud of a local guy who tells it like it really is.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
First the letter from GM:
Dear Employees & Suppliers,
Congress and the current Administration will soon determine
whether to provide immediate support to the domestic auto industry
to help it through one of the most difficult economic times in our
nation's history. Your elected officials must hear from all of us
now on why this support is critical to our continuing the progress
we began prior to the global financial crisis.............
As an employee or supplier, you have a lot at stake and continue
to be one of our most effective and passionate voices. I know GM
can count on you to have your voice heard.
Thank you for your urgent action and ongoing support.
Troy Clarke
President General Motors North America
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Now the response from one of GM's suppliers:
Gregory Knox, Pres.
Knox Machinery Company
Franklin , Ohio
Gentlemen:
In response to your request to contact legislators and ask for a
bailout for the Big Three automakers please consider the
following, and please pass my thoughts on to Troy Clarke,
President of General Motors North America.
Politicians and Management of the Big 3 are both infected with the
same entitlement mentality that has spread like cancerous germs in
UAW halls for the last countless decades, and whose plague is now
sweeping this nation, awaiting our new , Pres-Obama, to wave his
magic wand and make all our problems go away, while at the same
time allowing our once great nation to keep "living the dream."
Believe me folks, the dream is over!
This dream where we can ignore the consumer for years while
management myopically focuses on its personal rewards packages at
the same time that our factories have been filled with the worlds
most overpaid, arrogant, ignorant and laziest entitlement minded
"laborers" without paying the price for these atrocities this
dream where you still think the masses will line up to buy our
products for ever and ever.
Don't even think about telling me I'm wrong. Don't accuse me of
not knowing of what I speak. I have called on Ford, GM, Chrysler,
TRW, Delphi, Kelsey Hayes, American Axle and countless other
automotive OEM's throughout the Midwest during the past 30 years
and what I've seen over those years in these union shops can only
be described as disgusting.
Troy Clarke, President of General Motors North America, states:
"There is widespread sentiment throughout this country, and our
government, and especially via the news media, that the current
crisis is completely the result of bad management which it
certainly is not." You're right Mr. Clarke, it's not JUST
management. How about the union electricians who walk around the
plants like lords in feudal times, making people wait on them for
countless hours while they drag ass, so they can come in on the
weekend and make double and triple time for a job they easily
could have done within their normal 40 hour work week.
How about the union line workers who threaten newbies with all
kinds of scare tactics for putting out too many parts on a shift
and for being too productive (We certainly must not expose those
lazy bums who have been getting overpaid for decades for their
horrific underproduction, must we??!)
Do you folks really not know about this stuff? How about this
great sentiment abridged from Mr. Clarke's sad plea: "over the
last few years we have closed the quality and efficiency gaps with
our competitors." What the hell has Detroit been doing for the
last 40 years?! Did we really JUST wake up to the gaps in quality
and efficiency between us and them? The K car vs. the Accord?
The Pinto vs. the Civic?!? Do I need to go on? What a joke!
We are living through the inevitable outcome of the actions of the
United States auto industry for decades. It's time to pay for your sins, Detroit .
I attended an economic summit last week where brilliant economist,
Alan Beaulieu, from the Institute of Trend Research , surprised
the crowd when he said he would not have given the banks a penny
of "bailout money". "Yes, he said, this would cause short term
problems", but despite what people like politicians and corporate
magnates would have us believe, the sun would in fact rise the
next day and the following very important thing would happen.
Where there had been greedy and sloppy banks, new efficient ones
would pop up. That is how a free market system works. It does
work, if we would only let it work".
But for some nondescript reason we are now deciding that the rest
of the world is right and that capitalism doesn't work - that we
need the government to step in and "save us" Save us my ass.
Hell - we're nationalizing and unfortunately too many of our once
fine nation's citizens don't even have a clue that this is what is
really happening. But, they sure can tell you the stats on their
favorite sports teams.yeah - THAT'S really important, isn't it?!
Does it ever occur to ANYONE that the "competition" has been
producing vehicles, EXTREMELY PROFITABLY, for decades in this
country?... How can that be??? Let's see. Fuel efficient.
Listening to customers..Investing in the proper tooling and
automation for the long haul.. Not being too complacent or
arrogant to listen to Dr. W. Edwards Deming four decades ago when
he taught that by adopting appropriate principles of management,
organizations could increase quality and simultaneously reduce
costs. Ever increased productivity through quality and
intelligent planning. Treating vendors like strategic partners,
rather than like "the enemy".Efficient front and back offices..
Non union environment..!
Again, I could go on and on, but I really wouldn't be telling
anyone anything they really don't already know down deep in their
hearts.
I have six children, so I am not unfamiliar with the concept of
wanting someone to bail you out of a mess that you have gotten
yourself into - my children do this on a weekly, if not daily
basis, as I did when I was their age. I do for them what my
parents did for me (one of their greatest gifts, by the way) - I
make them stand on their own two feet and accept the consequences
of their actions and work through it.
Radical concept, huh? Am I there for them in the wings? Of
course - but only until such time as they need to be fully on
their own as adults.
I don't want to oversimplify a complex situation, but there
certainly are unmistakable parallels here between the proper role
of parenting and government. Detroit and the United States need
to pay for their sins. Bad news people - it's coming whether we
like it or not. The newly elected Messiah really doesn't have a
magic wand big enough to "make it all go away." I laughed as I
heard Obama "reeling it back in" almost immediately after the
final vote count was tallied. "we really might not do it in a year
or in four" Where the Hell was that kind of talk when he was
RUNNING for office?
Stop trying to put off the inevitable folks! That house in
Florida really isn't worth $750,000. People who illegally jump
across a border really don't deserve free health care benefits!
That job driving that forklift for the Big 3 really isn't worth
$85,000 a year. We really shouldn't allow Wal-Mart to stock their
shelves with products acquired from a country that unfairly
manipulates their currency and has the most atrocious human rights
infractions on the face of the globe..!
That couple whose combined income is less than $50,000 really
shouldn't be living in that $485,000 home..! Let the market
correct itself folks - it will. Yes it will be painful, but it's
gonna' be painful either way, and the bright side of my proposal
is that on the other side of it all, is a nation that appreciates
what it has and doesn't live beyond its means and gets back to
basics, and redevelops the patriotic work ethic that made it the
greatest nation in the history of the world.
Sorry - don't cut my head off, I'm just the messenger sharing with
you the "bad news". I hope you take it to heart.
Gregory J. Knox, President
Knox Machinery, Inc.
Franklin, Ohio 45005