To this point, I'm not saying your job is doomed or anything of the sort.
In reality, I'm not exactly sure of your job security so I can't speak to
that, nor was I. I know very well you can't change anything there, that's
kinda the entire point of this. Why get negative about something that will
likely have little to no impact on you (if your job is that secure)? It
certainly doesn't create a positive atmosphere for work, and it really isn't
good for the creative processes.
>Shuan, youre only screwed when you say something when you know little about
>it.
I'm sorry, have to laugh here. All those courses in Economics must've been
wasted on me, but probably my roommate as well, since he actually has a
Bachelors degree in Economics with a minor in Business Administration.
Because he works for a Dodge Dealership, we've already gone the rounds on this
entire discussion and both come to the same conclusions. This is a very
positive thing. The chances of a major program to increase the selling and
production base for Chrysler are extremely good. The only downside here may
be that most of the new production facilities and jobs may end up going to
other countries. This is not entirely bad, but it is fewer jobs that might
(and it's a slim might) have gone to US workers if Chrysler would've expanded
on it's own.
>Again, you must not have been following the posts so Ill clue you in. GM,
>Ford, McDonalds, Burger King, Kentucky Fried Chicken and Dominoes may all be
>international business', but the profit stays here!! Daimler-Chrysler profit
>goes to Germany. And yah yah yah, I read the line about how it doesnt matter
>where the profit goes because the dollar always has to come back here.
I am fully aware of the context of the discussion and you are missing the
point I was making that while those company's are US headquartered, their
international operations are extremely important to them. They don't
jeapordize their foreign operations just to piss off the workers in the
foreign countries. The exact same standard applies to the Daimler-Chrysler
merger. If you want to see how truely global companies work try researching
Siemens. There are a few ways to expand into foreign markets: start up
operations there from scratch, and in this case, purchase (or merge with) a
similar established company that you can handle. Chrysler isn't an itty bitty
company and Diamler isn't that much bigger. This merger is a marriage of peer
level companies. Diamler-Chrysler will only be an effective force as a team.
When all the cards are finally in place, I think you and your co-workers will
find that there aren't going to be any major changes except you may have more
work to do as (since you are a designer) you may be asked to design and build
cars/trucks specifically for certain countries and their needs.
> Well,
>do you remember the trade deficit? do you understand what that is all about?
>Im not totally sure on this, but I think its when foreigners sell more to the
>states, taking the profit, and then not spending much over here or buying our
>goods abroad. I dont know, its something like that. Maybe we should look
>into that to see if our dollar does come back or not!! Hmmmm, curious
The "Trade Deficit" that everyone keeps talking about does factor in money
exchange but not to the extent that you are implying. It deals more with the
exchange of hard goods coming and going and by definition of goods being
sellable items it infers money. We do not have a "Trade Deficit" with Germany
like we do with Japan since it's more of a see/saw effect with most other
countries. They import more of our goods than we import of theirs (I think
our #1 imports from them are Beer and Cars). We ship them semicondutors,
electronics, food, high technology, and many more mundane goods. It's the
everyday items like toilet paper, toothpaste, and food goods that add up to
being more than high dollar items like cars. Germany has so few US assets
while the US has so many German assets that I think any talk of "Trade
Deficit" is not entirely relevant since this discussion is centered around
what Diamler-Chrysler will do as a company in the future and not really how
the US will be impacted by this (which I think is minimal BTW).
Don't get too caught up in the details, it magnifies little problems into
being huge obstacles. It's important to focus on your immediate surroundings
and try to deal with the problems as they come. Trying to bemoan decisions
beyond your control seem counter productive to me. I can't convince you that
this merger is a good thing, all indicators point to it being positive, but I
could be wrong. So hold on to your opinions until you feel that it is for
certain going one way or another and then act.
Shaun H.
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Fri Jun 20 2003 - 12:09:56 EDT