If you seek a pleasant peninsula, look around you

Just so you understand where I’m coming from, I was born and raised in Detroit.  My father was born and raised in Detroit.  He worked for Ford for most of my life.  I have many memories of going down to the huge, ancient Triple E building (where the engineers worked) and feeding the ducks in the pond out front.

Now that I have disclosed this, I must say THERE IS NO WAY WE SHOULD BAIL OUT THOSE CAR COMPANIES!  Or help them in any monetary way.

I drive a Honda, as does my husband.  (I loved my last Chrysler, but, alas, they are biased against big families and their minivan only seats seven.  We have eight.)  I’m sure I don’t need to tell you that we bought Hondas because they are great cars that don’t need to be repaired often.

Ford, GM and Chrysler don’t make good cars.  Sure, they invented cupholders and can make a super-smooth ride.  But we want cars that last!  And get good mileage!  Do you mean to tell me that somehow Japanese people (and occasionally Germans) are the only ones who can figure out how to make a great car?  

Face it, big three; you make crappy cars.  And now you are reaping what you sow.  If you didn’t want to fail you should have tried a little harder.  You should have sent spies to Japan.  Or hired Japanese people.  Or something.

I’m very sorry for the Michiganders who are going to live in an even rustier Rust Belt than they already do (I still know and love several of them.)  

But for the government to bail out people who are failing due to their own stupid mistakes? No way.  I have just one word to say: consequences.

I’m all about tough love.

P.S. The title is Michigan’s state motto. Which I remembered off the top of my head from way back in 4th grade. I also remember the State Rock (the petoskey).

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17 thoughts on “If you seek a pleasant peninsula, look around you

  1. Amen, sister!! I’m all about reaping the rewards/consequences of your actions. I drive a Honda, but our ‘kid car’ (the ones the teenagers get to drive) is a Ford. It lives up to both FORD acronyms: Fix Or Repair Daily
    Found On Road Dead

  2. Why don’t you tell us how you really feel, j/k.

    I’d rather drive a Honda or Toyota, as well. I must say our Ford had 472,000 miles on it when we traded it in 2 years ago.

    Having been one to make stupid mistakes, I agree, I have to figure a way out of my mess, they can too!

  3. Totally agree. I have a older Mercury which is really a ford. I will keep that baby until it dies since it is paid for. I also have Honda Pilot. That Honda has made me decide I am now a Honda or Toyota person. The cars are just made better.

    I came to yoru blog for food storage help. I love it!

  4. Yes, yes, and yes. I don’t want anyone to suffer, but we have collectively as a nation made some HUGE economic mistakes, and we all have to deal with it. As individuals we don’t get big bailouts to save us, and neither should corporations. If they can’t keep up, then they get to deal with their failures like every other company big and small! It’s called capitalism!

  5. Couldn’t agree more!!

    If they get a bailout I am going to kick some A in a major way.

    Ticks me off.

    I bet the losers at Jeep wish they hadn’t treated us so badly when we went in to buy a car. “THIS is the most popular car in America – WE don’t have to offer YOU anything”

    Shove it buddy.

  6. As we’re all entitled to our own opinions and I completely respect yours and those of the other commenters, I don’t fully agree with you. While I do agree that they’re not deserving of a bailout, I kinda have to side with the millions of employees that would be out of work without it. I don’t think it’s Joe Schmo’s fault on the assembly line that his company has been mismanaged. I think that if the government does step in, then the out-of-control unions and their unreasonable demands must be dissolved, and upper management should be in the unemployment lines. No one should personally profit from a bailout. This might also be the chance for Detroit to finally make vehicles that can compete in the world market – ie. more fuel efficient and of better quality.

    On a side note, GREAT blog, BTW… I think I’m going to have to implement your food storage plans, too!

  7. If competition didn’t make US car companies produce a better car, how is someone rescuing them from their folly going to??? they need to figure out, like everyone does, how to budget. I agree that it’s sad that Joe American will suffer if we don’t bail out these companies. But maybe if Joe American suffers, he will call for better work conditions, better pay, and the firing of the idiots at the top who made the bad decisions in the first place. Yes, consequences SUCK. But the only way we learn to keep from making the same mistakes is by having consequences.

  8. I will never buy an American made car again. We have a 2001 Chrysler Town and Country with only 80,000 miles on it, and we have had to get the transmission rebuilt twice and the engine as well.. now guess ,what? Something else is wrong with it. But we owe to much to get a trade in, so… now we are stuck with a car we can’t drive AGAIN but still have to make payments on.

  9. I LOVE my Toyota! My parents had one that had 360,000 miles on it and was still going strong…

    They should get no bail out—after all, I never get a bail out when I make a bad money/work related decision!

  10. I totally agree with you. I am not even crazy about the big bank bailoutsm, but the auto-makers wanting a piece of the action drives me nuts. It would at most keep them afloat for another year or so and they’d be in the same hole they are now. And really. . .what are they going to manufacture a hybrid hummer–give me a break!

    Atlas Shrugged? NOOOO!!!. . . I hated it!! I can’t stand Ayn Rand–she is acutally one of Greenspan’s heroes and spews the same ideology that he has now admitted is seriously flawed (i.e. that capitalism can and will regulate itself)

    Hey, I LOVE that rock–if anyone has one to give away

  11. They wouldn’t have to send their spies all the way to Japan – they could send them down to Alabama, or some of those other southeastern states, where there are Toyota and Honda plants, competing very nicely on American turf. So the next time you hear the big 3 complaining that their costs are too high because they have spoiled American workers, think again…the Japanese companies who come over here seem to have no problem with paying American workers what they are worth.

    I am totally with you on this. It drives me crazy.

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