No Fiesta for UAW
Jun 1, 2008 Political
Ford Motor Company announced that it is building a global car, a car that is fuel efficient, easily made and can be marketed anywhere in the world and that it is going to produce them in Mexico. Ford will begin making the Fiesta in Mexico and this will create nearly 30,000 jobs (no indication if they are all in Mexico). The United Auto Workers Union is very upset with Ford because the union wanted the company to invest in American plants and make the car here. The problem is, if Ford wants to make an inexpensive car they cannot have the union involved.
The major American auto manufacturers have real financial problems and those problems keep getting worse. The unions have been one of the reasons for some of the financial problems for years. Union rules about who can work where and do what, pay demands, benefit demands, and any number of other things have driven costs up and profits down. There are union workers who get paid to do nothing when there is a slow down all because of some union rule. Ford decided to go to Mexico where it would not have to worry about union costs. The irony is, Ford went to Mexico to get workers to do jobs Americans were willing to do. Another irony is they will be making the Fiesta in Mexico…
Ford might actually be thinking of other cost savings as well. About 10% of the Mexican population already lives in the US. Maybe some of them will go back home to get a job making cars. But, the big issue is that instead of trucking the cars north Ford can just let illegals drive them on in. They can pick up some extra cash dropping cars off in America and then they can just stay here. This will save us a lot of money because there will be no need for the fence that they are not going to build anyway. If we don’t have to worry about illegals crossing the desert on foot we can save millions of dollars not building a fence.
Ford is another company that sent jobs out of the country (ooh and on Bush’s watch) but what choice do they have? With all the global warming fanaticism and the government regulations as well as the burden of the union the company would never make money. By making cars in Mexico they are able to skirt some of the burdensome rules imposed on comanies doing business here.
Source:
Washington Post
Absolut Apology to Protect bottom Line
Apr 7, 2008 Political
I wrote earlier about an ad campaign by Absolut vodka that was developed to target the Mexican market. In the ad Absolut displays a map from the 1830s in which California, Texas and much of the south west was Mexican territory. The wording over it reads “In an Absolut World.” There have been calls for a boycott of that product and I indicated that the company had more to lose in the US than it did to gain in Mexico. It would appear as if they now realize that they offended Americans because the company has issued an apology.
“In no way was it meant to offend or disparage, nor does it advocate an altering of borders, nor does it lend support to any anti-American sentiment, nor does it reflect immigration issues,” Absolut said in a statement left on its consumer inquiry phone line. LA Times
It does not matter what they meant or what they say they meant, the reality is that Americans saw this as offensive an counterproductive. The company can say it did not mean to do a lot of things but they put up the map and said this is how it would be in an Absolut world thus indicating that in their world this is the way it should be.
By displaying the map and indicating that in an Absolut world the Mexicans would still own that property they have given legitimacy to Mexican groups who believe that America stole territory from Mexico. The fact that Absolut indicated in the original story that most Americans are unaware of the history shows the company’s contempt for the US and it shows they underestimated American response and understanding of the issue.
The history of the issue is quite clear. America did not steal any land from the Mexicans. The land was gained in war (as a condition to the end of hostilities) and it was gained when America PAID for it. Mexico had a ton of debt and the country could not afford to pay it. Very few Mexicans lived in California so the Mexicans sold it to get rid of their debt. Texas had fought for its independence long before it became a state and it was acquired legally. Absolut does not help the hard feelings that exist by indicating the territories should belong to Mexico.
In an Absolut world the vodka company would go broke because it lost its American customers. Its apology shows that it realizes it made a mistake and that it is worried.
Let us put the heat on them and ensure they pay for their insult to this country. Let us show them that Mexico cannot possible provide them more business than America.
Boycott Absolut.
Absolut-ly Not a Smart Move
Apr 5, 2008 Political
The Sweedish maker of Absolut vodka is running an ad campaign in Mexico that features a map of North America as it existed before the US LEGALLY obtained territories that once belonged to Mexico. The map has the words In an Absolut world across it. The whole idea is to play to the Mexican market and get the tequila drinkers to drink more Absolut vodka.
Unfortunately, the ad is an insult to the United States and has caused an uproar among those who have seen it, many of whom vow to never drink Absolut again. I don’t like the ad but there is a part of the associated story that indicates those in the South West might be offended but the rest of us are unaware of history and that assumption bothers me more. I guess they mean the revised history that says we stole this land rather than acquiring it through war or by purchasing it.
I hope that Absolut knows what it is doing because it seems to me that there are more customers here to lose than there are there to gain. In the real world the market makes the choices and Americans can absolutely hurt the vodka company more than Mexico can help it.
Let’s Give Texas Back to Mexico and Be Done with it
Dec 31, 2007 Immigration
The Mexicans have been invading America and they want to take Texas back. They are coming in here and sucking up resources and our Congress shows how impotent it is by ignoring the problem or by trying to reward lawbreakers. I think it is the right time to just give Texas back to Mexico and be done with it. It is obvious that the Texans don’t want to do anything to solve the problem so they can be part of Mexico or move before we seal off the border.
I originally thought that we might be able to solve the problem and still keep Texas but it now appears that Texas has decided it likes the ILLEGALS and wants them around. Those of us who don’t are xenophobes and our opinions don’t count. The Dallas Morning News has named the ILLEGAL immigrant as its person of the year. According to the DMN, the ILLEGALS do work Americans will not (at least not for the same wages) and they are such hard workers. Of course they do work for low wages. They make it up by taking millions of dollars in taxpayer money to which they are not entitled and by having jackpot babies so they can lay claim to this country.
If the DMN is so enamored with the ILLEGALS and thinks they should be the person of the year than that is fine. Let’s just give Texas back to Mexico and forbid entry from the northern Texas border. Texas can deal with the poverty, the social problems, the crime, the jackpot babies (well, they would be Mexican citizens by then) and they can figure a way to pay for it all without the money from US taxpayers.
Then, maybe the DMN would see how life really is. As long as someone else pays it is fine but when they have to foot the bill I imagine they would not be too happy.
BTW, if you want to see jobs that most Americans will not do look at any member of our Armed Forces. Now those are jobs most Americans will not do for any wage. Most ILLEGALS have no interest in doing that job.
Tags: ILLEGAL immigration, Mexico, texas
Fences Make Good Neighbors
Oct 8, 2007 Immigration
The United States has been playing with the idea of putting a fence up on its southern border to keep the ILLEGALS from walking across unabated. I say playing because this has not been taken very seriously by our elected leaders who would prefer to build a superhighway across the border and grant amnesty to all who can sneak in. This is important work for our leaders who must ensure that their family’s businesses are appropriately staffed with ILLEGALS doing the work Americans will not do. Without all the ILLEGALS, who will keep the landscape of their million dollar homes looking nice?
The President of Mexico is also opposed to a fence between the countries. Felipe Calderon believes that we should be building bridges, not fences and has voiced his concerns to President Bush who seems hell bent on doing whatever Mexico wants. Felipe Calderon was very appreciative of Bush’s efforts to pass an amnesty bill (they call it immigration reform) and he thinks it is important to allow his people to work here. He wants us to be friends.
I am all for being friends with Mexico. So let us explore this a bit further. Would you want friends who sneak into your house and take things to which they are not entitled? How many of you have friends who break into your home, eat your food, force you to pay for their health care, and make you pay them money because they are poor? If you have friends like this, you do not need enemies. Under Calderon’s logic, we should consider robbers who break into our houses as our friends.
If Mexico wants to be friends they can start by keeping their people home. They can also show good will by teaching their people how to come here legally rather than showing them ways to get here in violation of the law. Mexico can then send the US billions of dollars to pay for the services its people are using. He could also send crews to the border to clean up the terrible mess made by his citizens as they shed their waste in route to our country. We need a fence to keep the Mexicans honest about their efforts to be good neighbors.
I imagine that if two people lived next to each other and one of them had a dog that kept relieving itself in the other neighbor’s yard, there would be problems. If one neighbor erects a fence, the dog stays where it belongs and there are no hard feelings. This is because fences make good neighbors.
Calderon indicated that he has a problem with all the Mexicans coming to the US because they lose their hardest workers. If this is truly the case then the fence will also solve his problems and allay his concerns.
In any event, it is not his business nor is it his concern. If Mexico had any regard for the law a fence would not be necessary but since they do not we need a fence to keep the dogs from relieving themselves in our yard.
Source:
Yahoo News
Tags: border fence, Immigration, Mexico
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