Pupster Buys American May 2, 2007
Posted by skinbad in Economics, Man Laws, Travel.trackback
Go congratulate him. Or call him a Non-Consumer-Reports-Reading idiot. Whatever.
His new ride isn’t as cool as this:
But it still looks pretty darn fun.
Jeep commercial:
Best commercial ever.
I only buy American cars. You dont get more American than a big car on the open road. Its Freedom with a capitol F.
A small part of me thinks that people that buy foreign cars are traitors.
are the tits stock? or are they after market?
Meh. I have a Chevy truck, my eldest drives a Ford POS (decent vehicle, but they cheap out on all the switches, handles, electronics, blah blah blah… something little is always breaking on it), youngest drives my old GMC truck, and Mrs. D in T is in a Camry.
The Camry is one of the best vehicles I’ve ever owned.
I like Chevy trucks just fine, but for the most part American automakers have built crap vehicles for decades. I’m grew weary of being punished by them, and I don’t accept that I’m not doing my part for America. Next to your home, it’s the largest purchase you make, and over a lifetime you probably spend more on cars than your home.
I blame the unions – they have saddled GM and Ford and Chrysler with an unbearable millstone, but the unions are only part of the problem.
There’s a lot of quality in a Chevy truck and a Vortec engine, it’s not like they don’t know how to make something worth owning. Too often they simply choose not to.
Detriot, you can earn my business, or go to hell. I don’t care which.
My friend keeps insisting on driving Jeep Cherokees. And I keep having to cart him around in my Accord because his vehicle is in the shop.
It’s a Jeep thing. I’m starting to understand.
Cute in a B-cup. The little laugh makes it.
I like this marketing trend:
Thank you Dave. Discussing American v/s foreign cars is always a delicate subject, what with people calling you traitors and all.
My Toyota Corolla was built by American workers in an American factory. Except for a little profit that went to Japan (and some to American shareholders), my Toyota is as American as anything coming out of Detroit.
My Honda Accord was a very good vehicle. I had it for over 100K miles and I think I changed the oil three or four times. Still ran like a top!
Feel sorry for whoever owns it now, though.
Thank you Dave. Discussing American v/s foreign cars is always a delicate subject, what with people calling you traitors and all.
My Toyota Corolla was built by American workers in an American factory. Except for a little profit that went to Japan (and some to American shareholders), my Toyota is as American as anything coming out of Detroit.
goddamn foreigners…
GO BACK TO JAPAN!
I’ll have to check, I know my GMC was built in Canada… not sure about the Silverado
If you take care of a vehicle (some require more than others) as it should be taken care, almost every vehicle will last forever. At least the major systems will.
American Foreign, whatever, in essence most of the tech is the same. That is as long as you own a tested vehicle. Ford playing with that 6 speed electronic 4 wheel drive in the 500 was doomed from about halfway through. ZF Lemforder designed the original, but couldn’t cut the costs of the trany, so what does ford do? ford fires ZF Lemforder (who have a name for building that shit in cross country performance vehicles) and works on the tranny themselves, what happens? OH! HEY! the fucker keeps failing.
I don’t know where that came from, I just hate watching “US” company’s shoot themselves in the balls, for such stupid reasons..
I currently drive an American car, but that’s only because a 4-door Saturn is such a babe magnet.
It’s a japanese engine.
All of the “buy american’ bulshit, especially with complex systems is bullshit.
1/5 of the 777 is contractualy REQUIRED to be made in Australia, and later, a specific portion of the cockpit electronics (had a cousin who was a chief engineer for the avionics until my actual cousin filed for divorce) of the 777 MUST be made by japanese based corporations, however, all things put together, the majority of fabrication is performed in the US.
Sorry for me being verbose, but I just went through the laymans breakdown about how the trade deficit doesn’t take account of the domestic generation of wealth, and how, while we are in fact exporting a portion of our domestic income, in the long run we are actually doing ourselves a favor by diverting lesser jobs to other nations, and other nations are benifiting by capitalizing on the US consumer/market concept.
Best commercial ever. If not, it’s close. Is that Jennifer Love Hewitt?
As to Pups new ride? I like it. I was 18 when I bought a brand new CJ7… loved that thing to pieces. Literally. I tore it up. Really fun truck. Wish I still had it.
If you take care of a vehicle… I’ve been driving a ‘92 F250 for about 10 years now. She’s probably pushing 300k miles, & runs like a champ. I change the oil once a year wether it needs it or not. Seriously, with synthetic (Amsoil), bypass filtration & regular oil sampling (Blackstone Labs), the 3k oilchange thing is just a myth. I routinely rack up over 10k per change & never exceed the oils’ specs. A few minor “peace of mind” mods like an 18 wheeler-style coolant filter & more efficient air filter rig, & I’m sitting pretty. Prev. Maint. is the key.
Even though she’s 15 years old, only half is American made, though. The IH 7.3 is Canadian & the ZF5 is German (I think). If I ever buy another new vehicle, I’d like to buy American, but I have to say that I’ll look at everything that suits my needs – DiT is right when he says that unions have helped to suck the big 3 dry. Besides, can you eally tell what’s US from what’s not? Daimler-Chrysler, anyone? Ford-Jaguar?
Frankly,
I’m from the south chicago steel belt.
Unions destroyed the local steel industry, not the markets, it was the communist unions that destroyed it, and don’t get me started on the electrical unions that are now enshrined in the state regulator lexicon.
The Ford plant here in Norfolk, VA is getting ready to shut down, & I know quite a few folks that (used) to work there. They try to tell me that labor is such a small percentage of the cost of building a truck that it had no bearing in closing the plant that hd been open for decades. Then I see how much money they make for such little work, not to mention the benefits, the unemployment & then the buyout offers made & almost shit a Yugo.
When they start complaining about how they can’t find another job making $75k, I laugh.
>>goddamn foreigners…
>>GO BACK TO JAPAN!
They won’t take me, Amish.
Big eyes scare them.
“Then I see how much money they make for such little work”
I only worked in one union auto plant, but i have to say the work wasnt what i would call easy.
To make 75,000 a year at the plant you would have to both work there for many years and also work shitloads of overtime.
The people there that made that much, and there were some who did, pretty much gave up on having any sort of life outside of work.
“When they start complaining about how they can’t find another job making $75k, I laugh.”
Why? What else are they going to do for work? If your a 50 year old man with a wife and kids and a mortgage what are you gonna do? Go back to school? Get a new factory job? There all overseas or being done by mexicans. Hell try getting a new job anywhere after your fifty if youre a laborer. Nobody wants your ass.
I feel a lot sorrier for people busting there ass in a factory for 30 years making 75 grand and losing their jobs than i do some spoiled little rich kid who’s daddy paid for him to get into college who has a nice safe comfortable job behind a desk who hasnt got to worry about his job being sent to Mexico.
who has a nice safe comfortable job behind a desk who hasnt got to worry about his job being sent to Mexico.
Increasingly, those nice safe white collar desk jobs aren’t safe any more. Right now workers overseas are doing American tax returns, accounting, software development and legal work.
They won’t take me, Amish.Big eyes scare them.
yes…it must be your eyes that scare them…
http://img264.imageshack.us/my.php?image=tushargay8.jpg
that isnt supposed to be labeled “Tushargay” apparently imageshack adds “ay#” to the end of hosted pictures. Did not know that.
NTTAWWT
Amish, you named that image tushargay.
That is a nice gesture, but sorry, I don’t swing that way. You will have to go flirt with someone else.
Amish, that was the funniest thing I’ve seen in a month of Sundays.
And by the way, Tushar is not gay. Ask Rosetta. He tried for months and was so disappointed by Tushar’s rejection that he just dropped off the face of the planet.
Maybe Rosetta and Amish can hook up. Bart will be jealous, but ignore that curmudgeon.
“Amish, you named that image tushargay.”
no i named the file Tushar G.
For Godzilla.
Image shack added the extra letters. Its apparently just a (hilarious) coincidence that it added the letters “ay” to the end of that pic.
The title of this one was “jdnytjnghk” but it came out “jdnytjnghkq0″
http://img408.imageshack.us/img408/590/jdnytjnghkq0.jpg
The real funny part about Amish and Rosetta hooking up is that, despite Rosie’s gender-confusion, Amish would probably end up as the woman in the relationship.
Here is a vid of a double jointed kid. You have to see it. Ive only seen one dude who could contort more than this kid. He could move his body in a way so that his heart could be seen beating below his rib cage. This kid isnt that good, but he’s still pretty neat.
The most freaky thing you will see today:
http://emuse.ebaumsworld.com/video/watch/6695
>>Its apparently just a (hilarious) coincidence that it added the letters “ay” to the end of that pic.
Whatever, man. Maybe your intense gheyitude affected imageshack.
Post a picture there and see if it adds extra digits to the file name.
I was a Union officer, elected in (not major, I was the sergeant at arms) after only 3 months of work that the interim union leadership chose to validate.
My argument (because I actually am good at research if I chose to research) wasn’t that we should make more, but rather, I made a graph of how valuable our product (suspensions) made up such a small per item value that we had no right to demand the 23 bucks an hour the union ultimately got for maintenance, and the 18.30 they got for the line workers.
The reason I said the union had no right to make those demands is because if ford fucked up, they could lay it on the unions, and Ford had every right to do so.
Yes, each evening we produced more than 22 million dolars worth of retail product, but start dividing that between the hundreds of contractors.
The unions only see $ they ignore business and progress.
I wasn’t “voted out” as “sergeant at arms” re-writer of the UAW local bylows, oh no, that isn’t what I did wrong, what I did wrong was I turned around and said “you should have listened to me you greedy bastards.”
I don’t ever want to touch a union job again. My curse is that I’m too good. “you are a forklift driver” someone might say, but I will still be the guy who points out a simple failure that everyone should have noticed, but never does.
That really is my curse. BTW my training is a lot more than being a forklift driver, so imagine the fights I won in other environments.
I don’t know if I should quite, I fighting that desire thanks to my big bro.
…but i have to say the work wasnt what i would call easy.
compared to the average working stiff? Ever worked construction? My point was that they chose that job, or ended up with it and chose not to pusue other avenues (for whatever reason).
Guys I know were working a few hours overtime, but many of them were milking it for everything they could get – can’t tell you haow many times I’d hang out with them in my back yard drinking a beer while they were on the clock (had a radio with them so they could hotfoot it back to work when needed).
What else are they going to do for work? After 30 years, one would think they might have a bit of a cusion. If your a 50 year old man with a wife and kids and a mortgage what are you gonna do? Go back to school? Get a new factory job? For the local plant, Ford offered either a six figure buyout, at least that much worth of schooling (plus a base pay for a few years – i think 4), or relocation to another plant – with a HUGE cash payout for the move.
I have a neighbor that was there about 10 years & took the buyout ($130k, I think)… he barely went to work, because he knew how to wotk the system. His “back problem” prevented him from doing so much that many supervisors didn’t want him around.
The key is to live below your means, Am. If you’re making even $50k as a blue collar worker and live like a $400 per hr attorney, you get no sympathyfrom me. And I won’t even get into the kid whose daddy got him the desk job – I’ve worked since I was 15.
If your a 50 year old man with a wife and kids and a mortgage what are you gonna do? Go back to school?
Now that hurts.
sorry about that. Just keep working on your Triple Lindy and im sure you’ll pull through.
If you make 30 years in a highly unionized field, you have all the politics necessary for middle management.
My judgement of middle management = “find a way to have everyone else do your job, and at the same time find a way to blame them for what goes wrong and claim praise when stuff goes right.” I think that is an accurate measure of the middle management ideal in general (though I did know some “middle” managers who were workers, and couldn’t help but BE workers, actually I sought them out over the years, they are the ones who became my friends and my “rabbi’s” as the military used to call them. Though I’ve been “fired” from almost every job I ever had, my “rabbi’s” know that it was a defiant method of quitting, and they loved me, just say’n)
Some people know what they are doing, but not enough, thats why I’m at the edge of just surrendering to the welfare state of unionize labor. In fact ….
When I had a semi-technical job, I knew 3 people who knew how to do their job and none of them were my friends in fact I hated 2 of them, and the other was a nice guy who managed to become a boss, and he was my boss, so he was something of a rabbi.
another job, which SHOULD have been more technical but it was pop and swap pussery had not one single person who knew what they were doing, or rather not one person who applied it to the job, and my co-worker, who should have known better didn’t and was impressed with the fact that I pointed out that “a gate is a gate” so we swapped out a norgat NJ1195 I think is the nomenclature, to replace an NJ1193 or whatever. The only drawback is that the diodes MIGHT burn out before the gate chip if the failure recured (actually it would still be the gate chip) and diodes cost about the same as human urine, bt I did a NOW fix, and he was completely oblivious to the concept. JEEZ! fix NOW, and replace later, when the parts come in, thats fixing!
wheres my claudia schiffer pooter puff?
OH! anyways, after 30 years of union work, you should get an associates, and you can be middle management in any other union shop until that union kills that company, and then move on.
Unions had their place a hundred years ago, now? they are just communist inclusions to common political argument.
My last truck was a ‘92 Chevy K1500 Blazer. It went 320k miles. It could drive underwater, and fly. I have a pic that proves the underwater claim; I was driving alone the day I made it fly, so no pic available.
I have an ‘04 F150 now. The last time I took it in for scheduled maintenance, the service guy said ‘that’s a good truck. We couldn’t find anything wrong with it.’
Unions are just businesses.
If they wanted to make themselves useful, they could help their members retool for other careers (back to school at 50? Why not?).
But they don’t.
I’m just a guy with a cush desk job who went to school (at night while working full time), worked construction years ago (including concrete work), and got my first job at 12.