got this email this morning, wanted to share. Many here know Scott, he's one heck of a human being...a great guy... anyway..lets just read and think about it some, if you will...
________________________________________________
Good afternoon Camaro Comrades and Firebird Friends.........
Let me make something very clear from the start.......the article you'll
find below reflects my own personal feelings about buying American versus
Foreign. It is not necessarily that of the company I work for and I want
to make that abundantly clear from the start.
I guess I'm 'old fashioned' in that I believe in America -- I believe it's
the best country in the world in which to live. (I also believe Canada as
being another great country........) I believe in celebrating on the 4th
of July. I believe my life-- and the lives of my family and friends -- are
better than most of the world's population. Are we a perfect country?
No...we aren't ...and I don't believe there is a perfect 'anything' --
let alone a country.
The problem as I see it is our way of life and standard of living is being
threatened on several fronts.......one of them being that we tend to be our
own worst enemy. We constantly air our dirty laundry in front of the
world. And we are putting our own people out of jobs. We aren't
supporting our fellow Americans.
Do I have the solution? No. I don't. The older I get, the more I realize
how much I really DON'T know. (I wish people like Barbra Streisand would
also come to the same conclusion!)
Anyway.....I digress while wrapping myself in the flag.
Sorry......that's just who I am.
I hope this prelude has not offended anyone. But I also hope that you'll
read the following article and realize that it DOES in fact affect you --
regardless of what kind of car or truck you drive........'cause you MAY be
paying a lot more in the long run if GM or Ford go under.
----- Forwarded by SCOTT SETTLEMIRE/US/GM/GMC on 04/12/2006 05:05 PM -----
"Andy Wolf"
<a1wolf@budwolfch To: "Teeter Howard" <hteeter@cox.net>
evy.com> cc:
Subject: FW: Is It Unpatriotic to Not Buy American Cars.doc
04/12/2006 03:32
PM
Thought some of you might like to see this article. Andy
-----Original
Is It Unpatriotic to Not Buy American Cars?
By Roger Simmermaker
Special to FCN Online
As I sat in an Orlando studio on Jan. 24
to be interviewed on Fox
News' "Hannity and Colmes" for the first time, that seemed to be the
question I was going to be asked to answer if the introductory comments
were any indication. In the studio in New York was Malcolm Bricklin,
founder and CEO of Visionary Vehicles, who plans on importing cars from
China by 2007. Ford had just announced plans to lay off 30,000 workers, and
since even Mr. Bricklin (to his credit) says he doesn't want to see so many
Americans join the ranks of the unemployed, it was a good question to ask.
But the show started with asking Mr. Bricklin a different question and by
the time the cameras pointed to me, I was given a different question as
well, so I never really got to answer it.
But as I continue to think about it since that interview, the answer I
would have given to Sean Hannity is the same as my answer today: If it's
unpatriotic to destroy the American middle class, then it's unpatriotic to
not buy American cars. As a country, we're drowning in a sea of red ink,
and as consumers (those who really should know better, anyway) we're
drowning is a sea of "what's in it for me."
Since President Bush has all but ruled out any government help for either
Ford or GM saying they have to make a product that is "relevant" (did you
know Mr. Bush himself owns a Ford pickup truck?) it's up to the American
consumer to realize that a bankruptcy for Ford or GM or both is definitely
not in the national interest. Not only would hundreds of thousands of
workers lose their jobs, but about 450,000 retirees would be de-funded.
These retirees on fixed incomes would see smaller pensions and reduced
medical benefits. The workers that remained would see massive cuts in
benefits as well.
Big deal, you say? At least American companies still offer their workers
pensions. According to a recent article in The Tennessean, Nissan North
America new hires won't be able to count on a company pension when they
retire. And if you work for Nissan and didn't happen to reach the age of 65
by the end of last year, you won't be participating in the
company-sponsored medical plan either.
If American companies can't remain successful and shoulder the burden of
health care for their workers, the rest of us will likely pick up the tab
in the form of higher taxes through expanded entitlement programs, which
are already growing at a rate of 8 percent a year.
84% of all federal spending of our tax dollars already goes towards the
"big three" untouchables: interest on the national debt, national defense
(including homeland security) and entitlements such as Medicare, Medicaid
and Social Security. So much for conservatives who wish for smaller
government. Generally speaking, few of us want to invite more government
intrusion into our lives. But a significantly smaller government these days
would result in benefit cuts that would ultimately affect all of us. The
days of those who want tax cuts because it means more money in their
pockets and means benefit cuts only for someone else are over.
So what's your reason for not buying American cars and trucks? I've heard
(and disproved) them all but I'll list a few of the more popular ones here.
1. Quality. According to the latest J.D. Power & Associates Long-term
Dependability Survey, Lincoln, Buick and Cadillac all made the top five for
2005. Lexus was number one and number two was mysteriously not reported by
the CNN story highlighting the survey. What's even better (if you are a fan
of American automakers) is that the average dependability of all GM and
Ford models combined was greater than the average dependability for all the
Japanese models combined.
________________________________________________
Good afternoon Camaro Comrades and Firebird Friends.........
Let me make something very clear from the start.......the article you'll
find below reflects my own personal feelings about buying American versus
Foreign. It is not necessarily that of the company I work for and I want
to make that abundantly clear from the start.
I guess I'm 'old fashioned' in that I believe in America -- I believe it's
the best country in the world in which to live. (I also believe Canada as
being another great country........) I believe in celebrating on the 4th
of July. I believe my life-- and the lives of my family and friends -- are
better than most of the world's population. Are we a perfect country?
No...we aren't ...and I don't believe there is a perfect 'anything' --
let alone a country.
The problem as I see it is our way of life and standard of living is being
threatened on several fronts.......one of them being that we tend to be our
own worst enemy. We constantly air our dirty laundry in front of the
world. And we are putting our own people out of jobs. We aren't
supporting our fellow Americans.
Do I have the solution? No. I don't. The older I get, the more I realize
how much I really DON'T know. (I wish people like Barbra Streisand would
also come to the same conclusion!)
Anyway.....I digress while wrapping myself in the flag.
Sorry......that's just who I am.
I hope this prelude has not offended anyone. But I also hope that you'll
read the following article and realize that it DOES in fact affect you --
regardless of what kind of car or truck you drive........'cause you MAY be
paying a lot more in the long run if GM or Ford go under.
----- Forwarded by SCOTT SETTLEMIRE/US/GM/GMC on 04/12/2006 05:05 PM -----
"Andy Wolf"
<a1wolf@budwolfch To: "Teeter Howard" <hteeter@cox.net>
evy.com> cc:
Subject: FW: Is It Unpatriotic to Not Buy American Cars.doc
04/12/2006 03:32
PM
Thought some of you might like to see this article. Andy
-----Original
Is It Unpatriotic to Not Buy American Cars?
By Roger Simmermaker
Special to FCN Online
As I sat in an Orlando studio on Jan. 24
to be interviewed on FoxNews' "Hannity and Colmes" for the first time, that seemed to be the
question I was going to be asked to answer if the introductory comments
were any indication. In the studio in New York was Malcolm Bricklin,
founder and CEO of Visionary Vehicles, who plans on importing cars from
China by 2007. Ford had just announced plans to lay off 30,000 workers, and
since even Mr. Bricklin (to his credit) says he doesn't want to see so many
Americans join the ranks of the unemployed, it was a good question to ask.
But the show started with asking Mr. Bricklin a different question and by
the time the cameras pointed to me, I was given a different question as
well, so I never really got to answer it.
But as I continue to think about it since that interview, the answer I
would have given to Sean Hannity is the same as my answer today: If it's
unpatriotic to destroy the American middle class, then it's unpatriotic to
not buy American cars. As a country, we're drowning in a sea of red ink,
and as consumers (those who really should know better, anyway) we're
drowning is a sea of "what's in it for me."
Since President Bush has all but ruled out any government help for either
Ford or GM saying they have to make a product that is "relevant" (did you
know Mr. Bush himself owns a Ford pickup truck?) it's up to the American
consumer to realize that a bankruptcy for Ford or GM or both is definitely
not in the national interest. Not only would hundreds of thousands of
workers lose their jobs, but about 450,000 retirees would be de-funded.
These retirees on fixed incomes would see smaller pensions and reduced
medical benefits. The workers that remained would see massive cuts in
benefits as well.
Big deal, you say? At least American companies still offer their workers
pensions. According to a recent article in The Tennessean, Nissan North
America new hires won't be able to count on a company pension when they
retire. And if you work for Nissan and didn't happen to reach the age of 65
by the end of last year, you won't be participating in the
company-sponsored medical plan either.
If American companies can't remain successful and shoulder the burden of
health care for their workers, the rest of us will likely pick up the tab
in the form of higher taxes through expanded entitlement programs, which
are already growing at a rate of 8 percent a year.
84% of all federal spending of our tax dollars already goes towards the
"big three" untouchables: interest on the national debt, national defense
(including homeland security) and entitlements such as Medicare, Medicaid
and Social Security. So much for conservatives who wish for smaller
government. Generally speaking, few of us want to invite more government
intrusion into our lives. But a significantly smaller government these days
would result in benefit cuts that would ultimately affect all of us. The
days of those who want tax cuts because it means more money in their
pockets and means benefit cuts only for someone else are over.
So what's your reason for not buying American cars and trucks? I've heard
(and disproved) them all but I'll list a few of the more popular ones here.
1. Quality. According to the latest J.D. Power & Associates Long-term
Dependability Survey, Lincoln, Buick and Cadillac all made the top five for
2005. Lexus was number one and number two was mysteriously not reported by
the CNN story highlighting the survey. What's even better (if you are a fan
of American automakers) is that the average dependability of all GM and
Ford models combined was greater than the average dependability for all the
Japanese models combined.
Comment