Ben Stein bashes automaker management
Ben Stein gets at a good part of the problem with Detroit automakers in this column, The Dream That Was Detroit.
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It’s not the labor unions who are at fault. It’s management. They’re bereft of ideas. They’ve lost their way (and I say that as a native Michigander, who had relatives who worked on the line and in management at various automakers). And they blame the union. But as Stein points out, the cost of labor doesn’t differ widely between automakers, and nobody avoids purchasing a car because of the price (at least, price is not the primary issue).
I liked that article too. If Detroit stopped blaming the workers, fird the bean-counters, hired some visionaries and quality experts and started producing beautiful, reliable, fun, energy-efficient cars, I’d be the first to drop my Honda addiction.