Locate an Auto Repair Shop in Foster, Oklahoma

Foster, OK Car Consumer Discussions

Re: [circlew]

by steve_ on Sun Nov 16 08:11:00 PST 2008

So, when B.O. solves the Health Care problems in the US, why would you even need the UAW? What else does the UAW do? (and who else could do it?) Negotiates contracts. Otherwise it's the company saying take it or leave it on pay, and they'll keep churning the workers to save another nickle. Having a stable workforce benefits the employer since it's expensive to train new workers, and the union can provide a stable workforce to choose from. (Pay your workers well, and let them vote with their feet). Negotiate working conditions. The union will step in when an employer tells the line workers that they can only have two bathroom breaks a day. (OSHA could do that). Protects workers rights. Think Troopergate. :) Seems like the unions have been good forcing companies to hire women and minorities too and protecting against agism firings. (Rely on OSHA. Workers Comp, Department of Labor or some other state or federal agency). Training and apprentice programs. If the unions didn't train journeymen electricians who would? (Community colleges would be an answer - too bad Boise doesn't have any yet). Fosters communication among the workforce. (Make the employees part of the company somehow - ownership, stock options - and they'll pay attention to what's going on and what's needed).

Re: 50 billions to UAW workers? [cz75]

by dallasdude1 on Tue Nov 11 19:21:47 PST 2008

Bankers produce MONEY. The creation of money is done by the national banking system and folks who take out loans to buy autos, homes, and other goods/services. Banks were intended to provide a service and not to foster a brokerage service. When was the last time you applied for a loan at a bank to buy stock? More like bankers took risk with other peoples money, lost it, and now want a socialist bail-out. Phil Gramm, the author of the ENRON loophole, had his wife on the ENRON payroll and all the while deregulated. This deregulation got us into the current mess. A mess which threatens the working man/woman and the American standard of life. This is the legacy of Reagan, deregulate and a golden shower will trickle down. Allowing banks to act as brokerages is plain stupid. Any first year business student can tell you the difference between a value added employee (UAW autoworker) and a non value added employee (a Banker). Who is going to buy the UAW cars and homes if they ship the jobs overseas?

Re: Audi diesel [ruking1]

by alltorque on Thu Oct 16 09:04:29 PDT 2008

Ruking1, just a minor clarification. Here in UK the acceleration figures are quoted as 0-62mph, not 0-62kmh. The EU Standard is 0-100kmh and we just convert to mph. Sorry to be pedantic but 0-62kmh is S L O W. :sick: Fully agree about the 0-60 dash times. Dynosaurial, (is that even a word ?), and utterly pointless in the real on-road world. Just gives childish bragging-rights down the pub and I know folks who get excited about a 0.2 sec difference. Top Gear do tend to foster this boyish foolishness. I would much rather see 40-70mph or 50-80 or whatever as a more realistic, and representative, measure of real worth. Autocar do an annual 0-100-0mph series of tests and, whilst very entertaining and a good guide to ultimate stopping ability, they do not relate to the way that "Joe Public" ever drives, (well, not the survivors anyway). As for the way such figures are achieved, by whom and mechanical survivability, it's not something the manufacturers like to talk about. Indeed, I have seen on other Fora about reported drivetrain failures, (and Warranty problems), on Nissan GT-R's whose owners have, (allegedly), switched off all the control functions, engaged "Launch Control" once too often and, (again, allegedly), ended up with very expensive repairs. But that, as they say, is a whole different boiling water container of scaley aquatic gill-breathers. :) Gotta go - time for tea.

Dear Mr. President part two

by mattandi on Sat Oct 11 06:59:22 PDT 2008

"So my administration worked with Congress to quickly pass a $700 billion financial rescue package." So, that is the comprehensive plan. Oh, and did you actually read that law that got passed so quickly? There's a bit more in it than just a "rescue" plan. "Seven hundred billion dollars is a significant amount of money." Naw, really? And you really want to give it to the idiots that already gave away all their own money? "The plan we are executing is aggressive. It is the right plan. It will take time to have its full impact. It is flexible enough to adapt as the situation changes. And it is big enough to work." We'll see. "The federal government will continue to take the actions necessary to restore stability to our financial markets and growth to our economy. We have an outstanding economic team carrying out this effort, led by Secretary of the Treasury Hank Paulson, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, SEC Chairman Chris Cox, and FDIC Chair Sheila Bair. I thank them and their dedicated teams for their service during this important moment in our country's history." You understand our reluctance to express our gratitude just yet, right? "Our economy is innovative, industrious and resilient because the American people who make up our economy are innovative, industrious and resilient." So, why to this point have you not asked us to employ our innovation, industriousness, and resilience, and gotten out of the way, and let us take care of this? Do you really believe in us? I can appreciate that you don't want any of us to get hurt, but we've been through tough times before. We have pulled through them every time. The government has been there with us through those times, but this "just let us take care of it" thing is a little hard to swallow. I'm just not getting why you consitently sound like we should just sit back, relax, and let the government fix it, and with our money no less. We sincerely do appreciate your help, but we can handle more than you think we can. I know we can be greedy and selfish, but we also have an amazing tendency to pull together when we need to. We can be pretty brutal to those that screw up, not because we're heartless, just firm and resolved. Capitalism has served us well for a long time whether it had a more conservative or liberal pulse, but it is just making it more difficult for our economy to be innovative, industrious, and resilient with the government jumping on it at every turn. Really, appreciate it, but you might consider taking a beat or two and letting the economy actually work. Perhaps you could use your time working on revising any policies that fostered the environment that got us to this point. We just might surprise you. And don't worry, we will actually start shopping again eventually. May God bless you as well.

Re: In a fight for their lives [kernick]

by mattandi on Thu Oct 09 13:23:59 PDT 2008

Well, the whole thing sure is a mess. I think everyone here would agree on that to some extent. I have yet another fear. Government intervention may not be so bad in and of itself, but only in very small and extremely limited amounts. I'm afraid the New Deal has turned into a very Bad Deal. It appears we have created/are creating a market that is incapable of functioning without the government being involved, or at least we have fostered an environment that promotes such thinking. And that is the mother of all royal screw ups.