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Dec. 13, 2005 - Rush Limbaugh Program
36:31
December 13, 2005, Tuesday, Hour #3
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Thanks, Johnny Donovan.
What a pleasure it is to be here on this great radio program as well, like you, I'm a faithful student at the Limbaugh Institute for Advanced Conservative Studies.
I continue to be a student and continue to learn.
There is no final exam, but we are tested every day, that's for sure.
I am coming to you from the Golden Tower of the Fisher Building in Detroit's heart of the Midwest Motown, the motor city and site of the Super Bowl number forty coming up next month.
And uh it is truly a privilege to be here.
And frankly, to have an opportunity to talk with you about something that I think you need to know about.
I think you need to know about it, and we're going to find out why here uh in just a moment.
From the White House just at lunch today, celebrating uh Representative John Dingle, who has marked a half century in Congress today.
Uh and in fact, uh as it says in I think this is uh last week's USA Today, in uh in fifty years, change hasn't hindered Dingle in Congress.
Democrat from Detroit inspires loyalties even among Republicans.
And a number of people were there at the White House uh paying tribute to John Dingle today, including the uh chairman of the board and CEO of General Motors Corporation, Mr. Rick Wagner, who is on the other end of our line, just uh coming from the White House.
Rick uh nice to have you on the program uh nationwide.
Thanks, Paul.
It's always great to be with you.
And uh and there's been a lot uh in the news about General Motors.
A lot of it you wish wasn't in the news.
Uh there was a uh guest editorial you did December 6th, an op-ed uh page in the Wall Street Journal, where you said despite public perception, the answer is not that foreign automakers are more productive or offer better quality or more fuel efficient vehicles.
You went on to say you're not looking for a handout.
And then just this uh yesterday in the Wall Street Journal, return of the Rust Belt, and one of the lines they throw in there is for too long Michigan has let itself be hostage to the fortunes of the big three auto firms, which would be like Pittsburgh waiting for the steel mills to come back.
The only thing less likely is that the Detroit Lions will make it to the Super Bowl sometime soon.
All right, they're taking shots at us from every direction.
The fact of the matter is uh there are other headlines.
GM can't shake Wall Street's bankruptcy fears, SP cuts GM rating to lowest in fifty-two years.
Here's the thing, Rick.
I thought this would be an opportunity.
We know in Detroit and in Michigan how important the outcome is for General Motors.
But the average person across this great country of ours may not know that it matters.
They may say, in fact, what difference does it make how this all turns out for General Motors?
Much has been written about what GM is trying to do, what it can do, what it should do.
Tell us what you're doing and why it should matter to the rest of the country.
Sure, Paul, thanks.
Let me start with your second question.
Why why does it matter that we have a uh domestically owned robust auto industry?
And I think the answer is pretty simple.
Um facting uh generates a huge amount of the RD investment uh in our country, generates a huge amount of the exports, creates uh fifteen million jobs, and the auto industry is the biggest part of that, uh, the the biggest single industry that provides those jobs in that role in manufacturing.
Um, the auto industry, the domestic auto industry, GM Ford and Chrysler invest more than sixteen billion dollars in research and development every year.
That's more than any other U.S. industry.
So from that perspective, um, we think a robust manufacturing industry is important for the U.S. economy and really important for for the future growth of the economy and job creation.
So we we think uh while we've got a lot of work to do to get General Motors turned around, and and I guess that's true of our domestic counterparts.
We think it's worthwhile work because uh the stakes are high for us, and we believe high for the country as well.
So, what are you doing to fix the problems that you have that are many?
Well, I think uh first and foremost, uh we're trying to build off the areas of strength we have, and we know that to really do well in this business, you've gotta you've got to have great products.
So, even despite a very difficult year financially, which you're you're very familiar with, we're actually spending more money on new cars and trucks.
And uh all the research on those cars and trucks and the journalists that see them tell us that we're very much on the right track with them.
So we're working very hard on the product side and the technology side, so we we can't offer consumers products that are fully competitive, whether it's from a quality durability uh perspective, whether it's got the styling that catches their eye, we recognize that's very important.
At the same time, we have to address the fact that our cost base is not competitive.
If you look at our productivity levels, we're actually pretty good.
We can do better, but we're in pretty good shape there.
But we have very high costs, in part related to our history.
We provide a lot of health care and pensions for a large retiree base, and those health care costs are running just like they are for the average American who pays their health care bills or their health care insurance bills, they're kind of running out of control.
So we've been working very hard on ways that we can reduce that burden on our company in a fair way to our employees and retirees, so we have money money available to invest in our future products.
We're also taking some tough calls on slicing back some of our manufacturing capacity.
And uh that those are those are tough things to do, but things we need to do again to get our business sort of slim and trim and ready to ready to compete in what is now a global auto industry.
And we're convinced as we execute those plans, we'll be back and just as strong as ever.
Rick Wagner is with us, Chairman and CEO of General Motors Corporation.
There's been no shortage of negative ink about GM.
I read some of the headlines uh just a moment ago, uh, some negativity from Wall Street, the media, no shortage of critics and those who question if there may even be a GM in the future and what would it matter?
Um what do you say to those people and the same people who also say that these are problems that you brought upon yourself?
Yeah, uh when you read all those headlines, Paul, sometimes you forget that the GM s still sells a lot more cars and trucks than anybody else in this country and anybody else around the world, and that we've got some very robust businesses in places like China where we're the number one player and Latin America and a lot of the places that are growing.
So we've got some good businesses, um, our most important business is here in the U.S., and we we we have to get it back in a profitable track.
Uh you know, I think uh that's why I wrote the op-ed piece in the Wall Street Journal about a week ago, because we wanted to we wanted to address the situation, the challenges that we face, and made the point very clearly that there's a lot of things that we need to do within our company, with our unions, with our suppliers, with our employees to make our business more competitive, um, and we're doing those, and as I said, we're investing in new products which are being being well received.
There are some other issues that relate to the fact that um our country's policies in support of manufacturing are not as competitive globally.
Uh our health care costs in this country are much higher than our competitors based in Japan and Germany, for example.
Um we do not believe that all of our competitors uh uh engage in completely fair trading practices.
The Japanese yen, for example, has been artificially weakened for years.
And so we very much uh recognize there there are things that we need to do on our side of GM, and we're working hard at doing those and um making good progress, we need to do more.
And at the same point, uh we recognize we have a responsibility to make clear what the what the issues that need to be addressed, you know, at a broader level, and we're willing to participate in those, but addressed at a broader level to make sure that we can have a robust manufacturing job creating base in this country for the long term.
Rick, with all the talk of the China price and what's happening in India and elsewhere around the world, and the thought oftentimes for suppliers that the farther away they get from the United States, the better it's going to be for them with the price they need to get, that that you and the automakers are demanding that they give them as a supplier.
Tell me why you think you can turn it around.
Why you think American companies can still be competitive?
Well, I I look no farther than the data which talks about the manufacturing productivity in our own plants in the U.S. And if you look at those, the independent studies, the so-called Harbor Report, uh placed GM plants in three of the top five most productive assembly plants in North America, for example.
Uh we're confident that um given 11th level playing field and addressing some of the issues that we've had that I've just described, we can be competitive doing a lot of the work that that is value added in our in our industry in this country.
Um we believe that's true of uh a number of uh elements in our supply base.
Perhaps not everything can be done competitively in the U.S., but that's really what global trade is all about uh but what we do need to do is make sure the higher level manufacturing jobs, the high value added jobs that can be done competitively in this country are done because not only does that provide jobs for Americans here, but it also provides us an export base, which we think is is very important, particularly given the the the huge U.S. trade balance deficit.
So it's in our interest, but it's and it's in the interest of our shareholders and customers, but I think there's a broader interest in that even.
How do you fight the perception that the Japanese, for example, are making better cars?
People remember planned obsolescence.
They remember the three year styling cycles.
They remembered cars that used to rust out.
They remember a lot of bad things about our American made cars.
How do you let them know?
I I know you're not asking for a handout from the government.
You're not asking for people to go out and buy your cars if they don't like 'em.
But I think you're asking people to go out and at least check them out now if they haven't done that in a long while.
Well stated, Paul W. That's exactly what we need to do, and that that's our job.
I mean first and foremost, we need to have designs that excite people and we think we're getting more and more of those out there, whether it's the Pontiac Solstice, which has been recognized as the most innovative design in the auto business this year or products like the Hummer H three or Chevrolet H HR, we're trying to give people some breakthrough designs.
But behind that we need to give them terrific quality and you know for example this year among the top five nameplates in the in the uh quality studies that are done independently by JD Power and such, we we had two of the top five brands, Buick and Cadillac rank higher than well known brands like Toyota, Honda, Nissan, Mercedes Benz.
So that tells us that we can execute at the level of quality that the U.S. customers expect and demand and deserve and we just got to keep working hard to get the message out.
Another area where we you know I don't think we get our due is in fuel economy where a lot of people don't know that GM is the fuel economy leader in most class of vehicles that we sell in and for example we have more more vehicles on the road today that get more than thirty miles per gallon than any other auto manufacturer.
So we need to work hard to get that message out ourselves.
I want to have a final word with you I know how busy you are and I appreciate the time you're spending with us, but a couple of very important issues still the B word still out there, bankruptcy, and a reminder to the rest of the country of what General Motors did for this country after nine eleven.
When you just stay with us and when we come back we'll continue final comments from Rick Wagner, Chairman and CEO of General Motors, and then back to your calls at 1 eight hundred two eight two twenty eight eighty two.
This is the Rush Limbaugh Show.
I'm Paul W. Smith.
Paul W. Smith in for Rush Limbaugh, nice to be with you.
It's a pleasure and a privilege.
Hopefully Rush will be back with us.
He's been under the weather.
We hope he'll be just fine and back with you on your favorite radio station tomorrow.
Rick Wagner is with us.
He's chairman and CEO of General Motors uh about a week or so ago he had a an op-ed piece in the Wall Street Journal.
Part of it says you see I've I I've asked the question why does it matter to the rest of the country on how this GM story ends up?
And then he had said in his editorial piece there are those who ask if manufacturing is still relevant for America.
My view, you bet it is manufacturing generates two thirds of America's RD investment, accounts for three fourths of our exports, and creates about fifteen million American jobs.
And the auto industry is a big part of that accounting for eleven percent of American manufacturing and nearly four percent of the U.S. GDP together, GM Ford and Daimler Chrysler invest more than sixteen billion dollars in research and development every year, more than any other U.S. industry and GM alone supports more than one million American jobs.
You are often described far too often described these days as GM's embattled chairman and CEO Rick Wagner.
Yet you seem to be okay.
You seem to be energized.
How do you do it?
Well I have to say Paul to be honest I'm energized by the challenge.
I don't obviously don't like the fact that we're losing money or all those people are taking pot shots at us but I think it's fair to say at GM we feel like we've got a once in a lifetime opportunity to really restructure this company to get it in the direction so we can be successful in our second hundred years as we have been the first hundred years and we're determined not to let the opportunity we have slip by because we it's under understand it's important obviously to our employees to everyone in the communities where we have plants,
but we've got so many Customers and we've got we've got shareholders and so we we've got a responsibility to get this thing turned around and we're confident that we're taking the steps steps to do that.
It's not not necessarily easy, but it's important, and uh I think I can speak for my whole leadership team and really for all of our employees and dealers when I when I say they're all behind uh the need to to step up the performance and do what we need to do and uh keep bringing out cars and trucks that uh help get General Motors right back on the winning track.
You spun off your your parts maker, Delphi, some time ago.
They have filed for bankruptcy.
Can General Motors avoid bankruptcy if there is a long Delphi strike, which is being talked about?
Well, I I think it's premature, Paul, to to uh speculate on a Delphi strike, or particularly a long one.
Um I think it's clearly in everyone's interest, whether it's Delphi its customers, which include us, um, its employees, um, everyone involved to try to work out what is obviously a challenging situation that they face.
But uh, you know, I think if anything, the fact of Delphi being in bankruptcy and the problems and the challenges that that brings to everybody involved really shows that uh bankruptcy is not a good solution for a company if there's any alternative, and certainly from GM side, we've made it clear that we have no plan, strategy, or intention to consider an alternative like that.
We take our responsibility to our customers, to our shareholders, to our employees real seriously, and we're we're determined to get the business fixed and work with Delphi to help make sure they can come out of bankruptcy and be a successful supplier too.
That that's certainly in our interest.
You talked about uh the the fuel economy and how well your GM cars are doing.
Do you think you missed the boat on hybrids or are you of the thinking that maybe maybe you did the right thing given that there are a lot of people now rethinking hybrids in the supposed fuel economy and cost factor.
Well, I mean, hybrids are I think an interesting technology and one that we need to play in seriously, and we are, and we'll be playing very hard over the next two or three years in a in a fairly broad array of hybrid products.
Uh what I think is is still not clear is how big that market's going to be, because the hybrid systems offer some nice advantages to the consumers, but they are s are are pretty expensive.
So I don't think we really know yet how big that market's going to be, the hybrid demand.
But uh we're for sure running hard to get uh not only competitive but to try to bring out uh an industry leading system, particularly for larger vehicles where we think more fuel can be saved with a hybrid system.
So we we'll have a chance to see that play out over the next couple years, and I think we'll have a great system and we'll we'll be competitive in the sector.
How big the hybrid segment of the market gets, uh I think only time will tell.
You want uh new product out there, and I know you're working on it.
People, uh cars that people cars and trucks that people want and they can afford, and that's very, very important.
And I should uh again stress why do I stress that people should give GM a chance?
Here's why.
We have short memories.
This I remember.
Right after 91, we were all numb.
Business stopped.
Nothing was happening.
General Motors stepped up and gave the economy a boost, a real shot in the arm.
You remember it was zero percent financing.
And I can't help but think that what you did was help save the U.S. economy, but somewhat at the expense of General Motors.
And I don't think the rest of us should forget what you did for the economy after 9-11.
And now you're on hard times.
You're not asking for charity.
You're not asking us to buy your cars if they're not the best car for the money, but you're asking us to at least give them a chance, take a look.
Well well stated, Paul W. I mean, we after 9 11, I mean we you and I even talked about uh the difficult situation that the industry was facing and all industry, and our guys came up with what I thought was a creative idea, and we went out with a keep America rolling, and lo and behold, it did work, and it got uh certainly our industry back on its feet and I think help helped right the economy.
And um I thought at the time it was it was the right thing for GM too, and it it certainly kept our factories running and kept our suppliers going.
Um we've had some challenges getting out of the incentive-based sales since then.
And so we probably paid a price.
But you've spoiled us.
Well, I think it was the right call at the time, and now we've got a we've got to change our our marketing approach a little, and I think we'll do that.
But I think in the end what you just said is the most relevant point that we need we just need to convince people to give our our new cars and trucks a look because they're completely uh competitive if not in the upper segments of quality we're executing them very well and they have great fuel economy and they look great and we're we're gonna keep bringing out those new products and keep uh trying to convince Americans to come out and buy buy a product from from the home team.
Rick, always a pleasure.
I thank you so much for joining us and we wish you good luck.
Thanks very much Paul W appreciate it.
Rick Wagner, the chairman and CEO of General Motors.
You've heard what he has to say.
Now I want to hear what you have to say at 1800 282 2882.
1 800 282 2882 and thanks uh to Rick Wagner Chairman and CEO of General Motors and uh and the question really has been and I wondered about this because I'm coming to you from Detroit the heart of the Midwest Motown the Motor City at site of Super Bowl number forty coming up next month.
We're very proud about that.
I just wondered if anybody else cared uh and if it's relevant to you on uh on the fortunes of General Motors.
I think it should be but I'm I live here now so it's it's hard to it's hard to be sure that you understand the importance of what's happening with General Motors is really uh kind of a study in what's happening with manufacturing in these United States and in business and uh and how our lifestyles may very well be challenged and changed uh in the days ahead.
And so I wanted you hear do you to hear right from Rick Wagner and I and I'd like to get some of your uh some of your thoughts at one eight hundred two eight two twenty eight eighty two.
That's one eight hundred two eight two twenty eight eighty two on the Rush Limbaugh show.
I'm Paul W. Smith and I'm going right to you on the phone.
Uh not far from here, Dan is in Sterling Heights right here in Michigan.
Dan welcome into the Rush Limbaugh Show.
Thanks Paul W. Appreciate uh you taking my call today.
Sure.
Mm-hmm.
And I really appreciate you having uh Rick on to uh t to tell us a little bit about what's happening with General Motors.
I I think he's uh right on point with uh having uh uh us look at and I mean everybody in the in the listening audience audience take a look at General Motors products and domestic cars in general uh I think our cars are outstanding.
I think we have great product uh and we really need to have everybody take a look at these cars.
Uh one of the points that I I I do have to make uh directly to Rick or to the auto manufacturers themselves is that there seems to be in in my opinion a segment of the automobile market that I don't think that they are addressing.
And uh I think a very important part of the market if if you were to travel uh I think around the country and in many of the fine cities and see what people are driving.
Uh I think you'll see that here in the Detroit metropolitan you're gonna see a lot more domestic cars than you're gonna see in some of the other areas and there are some great product out there.
What is it that you feel they're ignoring?
Well I think that they are ignoring the sports sedan segment of the market.
These are cars that uh I think are very appealing to a lot of people, especially to car guys.
And I guess I I put myself in that group.
I I've grown up uh always liking and enjoying automobiles my whole life and and I'm uh somewhat of a uh enthusiast and I really care about cars.
I really care about the automobile industry and especially here in the Detroit metropolitan market where um you know the survival of what's going on in our marketplace uh really is dependent on the success of the automobile business.
But in that market uh you know uh there are there are products that are very very fine products are you talking like uh some of the I can't give you the I don't know the names and numbers but like some of the Lexus's or the BMWs.
If you were to look at say um a new Infinity G thirty five a BMW three series a uh ID A4 a uh new Lexus IS are great products.
We in my opinion do not have a high end mid size sports luxury sedan to appeal to the group of people that buy those and if you drive around the country and look and see you're gonna s find that there are lots of these cars on the road and this is a huge segment of the market that we are not addressing and why do you think why do you think that is Dan how could that is we don't know This is a driver's segment of the car of the of uh of the market.
These are our automobile enthusiasts for the most part that buy and like these cars.
And I don't think they're buying them because they're imported.
I think they're buying them simply because they like them.
And if we made them, I know in fact that American people would buy these products.
I I looked I recently uh bought a new Cadillac CTF.
I love that car.
I'm gonna tell you that is a great automobile for anybody listening, take a look at it.
It's a fabulous product.
Uh I looked at all these other products and was very tempted at that time to buy one.
Okay.
Well, it's a little difficult for me to want to do uh be that I I live and work here at Sterling Heights uh and and very close to General Motors, uh and I like this new Cadillac CTS.
There obviously there are certain things being a car guy that that may be little things that they could certainly do to improve, but I could probably find that on any product.
Sure you can.
But but I just uh you know the i I mentioned this to my listeners here locally on WJR and I'll say to the Rush Limbaugh audience I just we did a a broadcast from the UAW Solidarity House, hearing their side of the story and their role in helping turn things around and Ron Gettelfinger, the president of the uh the UAW put me in three different vehicles.
One of them was a GM product, the GM Solstice, which is a fabulous little sports car.
But it's a niche vehicle, it's not a sports sedan like the G thirty five or the BMW three series or the Audi A4, the ones that you mentioned.
And it's a good question, Dan, as to why they missed that, if they've missed it uh altogether, or if they've got something in the pipeline, you know, they've got new product coming.
Knowing Bob Lutz as we do, an enthusiast, a driver who's always been very complimentary, for example, of BMW vehicles, that's certainly the the goal that they're shooting for with their vehicles.
Dan, I appreciate uh the call.
Let's go to Seattle, Washington.
Mark is on his cell phone on the Rush Limbaugh show with Paul W. Smith.
Hello, Mark.
Hi, Paul, how are you?
I'm good.
I hope you're well.
I'm doing great.
I think uh the president missed the point, uh manager of the General Motors missed the point in that the cars I don't think are good looking.
I'm a car guy, I own five GM cars and uh You own five you you don't own five GM cars right now.
Yes, I do.
Well, we I collect cars and I have uh a GM pickup and uh sixty-nine Camaro that I've had since I was sixteen years old.
And uh their cars are great, but they're not good looking.
They they miss the point.
They they look horrible.
Most people I know just do not like the looks of cars.
They don't make you they do not elicit the response from you, a car guy that says, Wow, I gotta get one of those.
That's a fact.
They just but you you you have five of them.
And I've been a loyal GM purchaser for most of my life.
I I um recently bought a car other than GM because it looked better and and it and it had the features I wanted.
But uh there is another item that I don't uh a little bit nervous, excuse me, Harry.
Don't be nervous.
There is another item that I don't like about the GM cars, and that's that they um have the on-star system that basically tracks you anywhere you go.
And I do not want to own a car that uh does that for me.
Oh, I love that on star system because I am uh I I get lost all the time.
I love that you can press a button and somebody can help you.
I get I go from one gas station to the next gas station asking for directions.
That's not the item I don't like about it.
The feature I don't like is the fact that it can and does track you.
And also if you get in a collision, that car will record everything that happens during and and prior prior to that collision.
Well, and and and they also will call the the police or an ambulance, which is a good thing.
Well that's interesting.
Interesting uh insight, Mark.
I do appreciate it.
Keep an eye on the Seattle for us, will you?
I sure will.
Thank you, sir.
Bob is in uh California and on the Rush Limbaugh show.
I'm Paul W. Smith Inforush.
Hello, Bob.
Good morning, Paul.
Hi.
I'm also a great car guy.
I've vintage racer, have several cars.
I mentioned that Russia's audience was the most informed.
I didn't realize you were also the wealthiest audience.
But it's nice to know cars for a lot of years and bought them when They were not that expensive.
I kind of kid with my wife now that those are her dowry if anything ever happens to me.
But the main thing I kind of wanted to call about is I'm I'm a devout guy, I uh of cars and love them.
I bought my c wife a couple of years ago at 2002 Malibu.
A wonderful, wonderful car.
She loves that car.
I drive a Ford pickup truck.
I've always I try to support, I'm a former active duty marine, try to support the United States.
But I don't think a lot of people know and understand that, you know, we don't get the same support going elsewhere.
Japan, for example, you don't see any General Motors uh dealerships there.
We bring in all these Japanese cars, which are wonderful cars, but we can't bring cars over there.
Right it just seems unfair.
You know, i I'm reminded of something that Lee Ayakoka said a long time ago.
Uh here's the other point, too, about buying American buying foreign or buying domestic buying foreign is that uh it was Leahoka who said a long time ago, if you know if somebody wants to sell cars here, they should build them here.
Well, they are.
You know, people who work for Toyota in Tennessee are are Americans working for Toyota in Tennessee, and they make their money and they spend their money in their community.
It's getting harder to know what's domestic and what's foreign.
When you buy a domestic car, there might be 10, 20, 30 percent or more, depending on the car, of foreign product and and parts in those cars.
That's very true.
So the the whole thing can get a bit confusing.
There is no question about that.
Uh I appreciate your call, uh, Bob very much.
And uh we'll get to our other callers at 1800-282, 2882 in just a moment.
1800, 282-2882, as we continue on the Rush Limbaugh Show.
As we continue, Paul W. in for Rush.
And uh good news, I've just been told it's official.
Rush will be back in this chair tomorrow.
Well, actually, he won't be back in this chair because I'm in Detroit.
He'll be in his chair, I suspect under the uh sunshine at the Southern Command.
That's where I presume he'll be.
What matters to you only is that Rush Limbaugh will be coming to you through this, your favorite radio station this time tomorrow, and that's certainly good news.
It was nineteen fifty-five.
Charlie Wilson, the chairman of General Motors, summed up GM's philosophy at the time.
You know it by now.
I'll remind you, he said, what's good for General Motors is good for the rest of America.
Now that's not what Rick Wagner said, the current chairman and CEO of General Motors, but he did talk about the importance of manufacturing in America and the importance of the automobile and automotive manufacturing to America.
And we're getting your thoughts at 1800, 282, 2882.
1800-282-2882, as we go to Jim on a cell phone in Youngstown, Ohio.
Hello, Jim.
How are you today?
I'm good.
I hope you're well.
Okay.
Very nervous.
A lot to say.
Wait, we're all friends here, so there's no you're nothing to be nervous about.
You're amongst friends.
Okay.
Uh, the comment that on the cars I like to talk about a minute.
Uh I've been buying cars since 1962.
And I've been buying all American cars.
My last car here I bought 2005 and bought a 2004 300M.
At 17,000 miles, I had to get new brakes.
They said because they made them thinner so they could cut the cost of the car.
When's the last time you had a car?
You only got 17,000 miles and you needed new brakes.
Yeah, well, uh, furthermore, I'm sorry, sir.
I was okay.
I need to mention that.
I want you to get this off your chest.
They're complaining about how the all the car companies are are hurting.
I worked for General Motors for Chrysler, and for Ford.
And each one of those plants in the Cleveland area, there has been more wasted time by the employees there.
They would work Monday and Tuesday, Wednesday they would start slowing down, Thursday they did little, very little production.
Friday they would pick up the production a little bit so they could work Saturday and Sunday, time and a half and double time.
I've seen them sit in cafeterias two, three hours at a time.
They would break a piece of equipment, they Would go and just rest on their laurels until two or three hours later before somebody from maintenance would come and repair it.
Okay.
I've seen it gone on over and over and over.
On top of all their expensive benefits they get, the benefit package, they also get all these cars at disc discounted rates.
Now I wonder if they didn't get those discounts.
I wonder if they would be buying those cars.
If they didn't get all that extra hourly wages they got for their nonproductive performance, I wonder what I think.
I gotta ask a question here, Jim.
Uh and I appreciate what you're saying.
I but trust me when I tell you, being born and raised in the shadow of Detroit and the auto industry there in Monroe, Michigan.
I've heard stories like this since I was old enough to hear stories about people uh sloughing off, people hiding in the factories, people not showing up for work, having friends punch him in, or however yeah, I've heard all those stories.
I've brought them up to Ron Gettelfinger, the president of the UAW said most of those stories are not true.
But the fact of the matter is I've heard so many of them that many of them are true.
Did you work in those plants, Jim?
I worked in those plants.
I And what did you feel?
What did you say?
What did you do when you saw all of these people in a sense stealing from the company?
That's the way of life.
See, that's the problem.
This is the problem.
This is the That's how they work, and look where we are today.
And there's plenty of blame to go around for everyone.
There's you know, the guys working the line don't plan the cars.
They aren't the ones that say, uh, gee, no one's gonna want these small uh compact cars until Toyota brings them in and all of a sudden they've secured twenty percent of the market, and we say, gee whiz, maybe people do like these small compact cars well made.
Uh I know management's made lots of mistakes, but it it just bothers me when I hear stories about people who are on the line doing this sort of stuff because they get away with it and because no one has stopped them.
Exactly.
That kind of is like going into a bank and saying, I'm gonna take this money because they've removed the glass that was the security glass, so I'm just gonna take the money.
And then who pay who suffers in the long run, you and I because we want to buy a car.
But the workers suffer too.
That's what I can't figure.
And this is the argument that I've had with Ron Gettelfinger.
Uh it should be that if you're in the UAW, it means you're the best.
It means you have pride in what you do.
It means that no one can build a better car than a UAW member.
But that means that UAW members that see anything like this, even if it's happening one percent of the time, have got to put their foot down, step in and say, stop this.
Right.
I totally agree, sir.
But it won't happen with the union.
Well, I uh well, then we're in we're in we're in big trouble.
Real big trouble.
All right, uh, thanks.
Let's go to Tom in Chicago.
Real quick, Tom, it's your turn on the Rush Limbaugh Show.
Hi, thanks for taking my call.
I just the actually the last three calls kind of compelled me to to call because I think everyone's missing the point of what Mr. Wagner was trying to say.
All right.
And just to let you know, I've been in a an automotive enthusiast for my entire life.
I'm not in the industry, but I just I read about it, I study it, I you know, I love cars.
I'm a big General Motors fan.
But his point was, and I think even what you mentioned was come in, you know, don't look at what was done years ago.
Come and look at what we have right now, or what General Motors has right now.
And the first caller who indicated that, you know, even though he was general you know mainly positive about General Motors, indicated that they didn't have anything to compete in a sport sedan.
Well, I mean, look at look at the the G six uh I think they call it a uh T T P with two hundred and forty horsepower, or the Pontiac Grand Dam that has three hundred horsepower, the thing with the Chevy Ampala or the CTS V series of four hundred horsepower.
I think there's a lot of choices there in the performance uh sedan segment for people to look at.
And as far as the caller after him with the styling, I don't know what he's looking at, but have you taken a look at Toyota's bread and butter cameras lately?
You you're and you're gonna tell me that that's head turning styling versus say a Pontiac G six or I mean take a look at any Cadillac or you know what?
Uh y you are you're preaching to the choir here, uh Tom.
I'm with you.
I agree with you, not a hundred percent, but one thousand percent.
The problem is there are a lot of people who don't agree with us or haven't taken a look, a serious look lately at what the domestic automakers have to offer.
All I'm saying is They should.
Well, back when I shared a cigar with Rush many years ago on the set of his old television show, or on the golf course with him together when that guy Mike Romaldi got the hole in one, never did I know I'd have this opportunity to work with Mike Mamone, Brett Winterbull, Kit H.R. Carson, Johnny Donovan, and of course our own Anna Bartellotta here at WJR on Detroit running the controls.
The good news is Rush is back tomorrow.
Rush is back tomorrow, right here on your favorite free radio station.
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