So, the lesson I'm going to be able to teach my children from this economic recession is this: You should build a company that is so big and poorly managed that it sinks under it's own weight, but employs enough people that the government will pay you to continue to lose money instead of going out of business and allowing companies with working business models to move up the food chain. After all, that's how they do business in Washington, right.
I own a small business. We build houses. We have increased our profits every year for the last five years, but now due to the economy (not overpaid executives and union extortionist) we're having to down-size and re-tool to survive. In the past year we have cut our workforce in half (from 12 employees to 6), and we have taken on different types of contract work (basically anything and everything that we can to keep busy). I'm just wondering where my government hand-out is.
Maybe I need to hire 100,000 union carpenters next week, and then just let the debt pile up while I wait for my check from old Uncle Sam.
This is the thing, I know that the economy sucks (believe me, I know). And I know that if the big three American Car Companies go under a lot of people are going to be effected. But what about all of the small companies who are only suffering because of the recession? I mean let's face it, these Auto Manufactures can't blame their situation on the sub-prime housing debacle.
Let's look at some numbers. My company builds houses, their companies build cars. My average employee cost me (wages, taxes, insurance, and benefits) about $25/hour, GM's average employee costs them (and us) about $77/hour, that's three times as much. My workers work hard in the hot and the cold and the rain. Their workers watch robots build cars. An average house in America costs around $200,000 or 4 Suburbans. In thirty years those four Suburbans will be rusty piles of landfill mass, and your house will have tripled in value.
If anything, it would seem that my industry deserves government assistance more than they do. Not that I'm asking for any. I'll get by just fine.
The car companies, however, need $25 billion to survive and keep losing money by selling us overpriced depreciating fossil fuel burning pieces of crap.
Am I the only one having trouble seeing the logic here?
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3 comments:
I can't even believe it's up for discussion.
I think I read somewhere that the average factory-line employee expense, benefits and all, is around $24.00 an hour.
And someone thinks a loan will make their business model viable???
Up for discussion? I'm pretty sure it is a done deal.
O.K., I actually heard today that Ford may be asking for no assistance. I must say that I'm impressed.
If they can stay afloat on their own, then I say we should just use the sink or swim method with all of them.
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