State of the unions

Well, it is probably obvious to a lot of people that the American... or rather the global auto industry (with a few notable exceptions) isn't doing so well. Especially in the face an energy crisis, GM and Ford are losing out big.

After hearing more news lately regarding the situations at German carmakers including Mercedes, it seems idiocy is the problem. I don't think you have to be an industry buff to know that lately, Benz sucks sour frog butt in quality. And considering my soon-to-be-deleted-position dealt with quality issues, well... you now know my position on my own company.

That's just my opinion but it's generally shared by many people including the consumer populace, well... that's not good. Sure, Daimler is better off than their cross-town rivals GM & Ford. But I think it's a matter of time before GM has to declare bankruptcy to restructure and all DaimlerChrysler has is a bit more time to fix their crap before they follow suit. So why do I think that we have this problem?

I'm not terribly sure if this is true in other industries or if it's generally true in the corporate world, but a lot of companies have no clue at all what their own employees do and contribute. The management is almost delusional in their perception of the state of matters. I'm sure that's part of the reason why the debacles with the United Auto Workers union is in the current state it is. Add this to the fact to inefficiency and unwillingness to listen to their own employees, well you can understand why failure is the only option. There's many paths to failure, and it seems only Toyota seems to be doing what it takes to reward their employees and make their company excel. Wonder of wonders... listening to your own workers!

Strangely enough, I think any corporate body including the U.S. encounters this lack of communication between leaders and consituents. Every single time it leads to problems. In the corporate world, political world, even the religious world with the Christian church, it still holds true. The foot can't say to the eye, that it doesn't need it... same analogy applies here and elsewhere. It doesn't take a Messiah to figure that one out.

Crappy thing is, in the world today, the leader doesn't pay the price. The people do.