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In reply to the discussion: Germany Explodes Republican Myth [View all]Jim Lane
(11,175 posts)26. By coincidence, I was just reading Mitt Romney's "thoughts" on this subject
The son of the former head of American Motors should at least be able to say something sensible about automobiles, right?
Well, maybe not.
In Romneyland, foreign manufacturers have a "cost advantage" over American manufacturers of about $2,000 per vehicle. What are the sources of this difference? According to Romney, the three most important are:
1. The United Auto Workers (negotiated pension and health benefits for retirees).
2. The United Auto Workers again (negotiated wages and work rules).
3. The federal government's fuel economy standards.
This wisdom is dispensed at pages 117-18 of his book No Apology.
Pander much, Mitt?
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How much of these automakers' financial profitability comes from bringing jobs to the US
The Genealogist
Dec 2011
#2
So you suspect that German workers are doing well on the backs of U.S. autoworkers.
LiberalAndProud
Dec 2011
#39
Except that in 2010 US produced nearly 7.8 million automobiles, not 2.7 million
Fool Count
Dec 2011
#5
They have an actual industrial policy. A better model. I nail rabid cons I know with this.
Populist_Prole
Dec 2011
#14
they also have apprenticeships-that PAY MONEY even, we should be more like Germany & Canada
StarsInHerHair
Dec 2011
#20
We have apprenticeships that pay you while you learn - but hard work isn't held in high regard
Edweird
Dec 2011
#23
"Germany ... an economic model with more bottom-up worker control than that of any other country..."
pampango
Dec 2011
#25
They can afford to pay people better in Germany because their CEO's and other 1% don't take as much.
limpyhobbler
Dec 2011
#41
I did an in-depth study of free speech rights and of employee's rights of representation
JDPriestly
Dec 2011
#46