Comments on: Year of the Scandal, Housing Data Worsens, Jobs Outlook, Free Money, and More! http://5minforecast.agorafinancial.com/year-of-the-scandal-housing-data-worsens-jobs-outlook-free-money-and-more/ http://5minforecast.agorafinancial.com Sat, 21 Nov 2009 00:34:48 -0600 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 hourly 1 By: Economic analysis | 2009 Forecast, More Banks to Fail, Retail Disappoints, Recession Stock Picks, Huge Tax Cut and More! - Contrarian Stock Market Investing News - Featuring Bargain Stocks http://5minforecast.agorafinancial.com/year-of-the-scandal-housing-data-worsens-jobs-outlook-free-money-and-more/comment-page-1/#comment-1732 Economic analysis | 2009 Forecast, More Banks to Fail, Retail Disappoints, Recession Stock Picks, Huge Tax Cut and More! - Contrarian Stock Market Investing News - Featuring Bargain Stocks Thu, 29 Jan 2009 19:25:24 +0000 http://www.agorafinancial.com/5min/?p=387#comment-1732 [...] your parent company’s home office,” writes our last reader, referring to last Tuesday’s issue , “is two blocks out from the red-light district… Am I the only one saying, ‘Now that [...] [...] your parent company’s home office,” writes our last reader, referring to last Tuesday’s issue , “is two blocks out from the red-light district… Am I the only one saying, ‘Now that [...]

]]> By: sodalug http://5minforecast.agorafinancial.com/year-of-the-scandal-housing-data-worsens-jobs-outlook-free-money-and-more/comment-page-1/#comment-1663 sodalug Wed, 24 Dec 2008 01:15:44 +0000 http://www.agorafinancial.com/5min/?p=387#comment-1663 On the 10% labor cost for a car: typical UAW statement which is more of a half-truth. 10% of the vehicle cost to the OEM is in that range, however it fails to factor in all the labor that goes into the purchased finished material the OEM buys from suppliers, which is substantial. OEM's now buy almost all parts ready made from suppliers right up to complete interior modules! I guarantee there is plenty of labor in each of those parts. The OEM puts labor into final assembly, the body and frame, and the engine and transmission (although increasingly outsourced). Now the whole wages parity is another new slanted UAW line: yes its true Big 3 UAW workers do not personally earn much more than non-UAW transplant employees, but the Big 3 ARE paying for retiree benefits and it is not possible (without doing more extra work) to separate current benefits from retiree benefits - that's not how the company pays. They pay lump sums into pensions based on what the actuaries tell them. They don't divide it up on an individual employee basis - that's just ridiculous. So the UAW does have a point, but it is propaganda as always. The equation of total employment costs / total active employee hours still works out to $70 or whatever for Big 3 and a whole lot less for the transplants. On the 10% labor cost for a car: typical UAW statement which is more of a half-truth. 10% of the vehicle cost to the OEM is in that range, however it fails to factor in all the labor that goes into the purchased finished material the OEM buys from suppliers, which is substantial. OEM’s now buy almost all parts ready made from suppliers right up to complete interior modules! I guarantee there is plenty of labor in each of those parts. The OEM puts labor into final assembly, the body and frame, and the engine and transmission (although increasingly outsourced).

Now the whole wages parity is another new slanted UAW line: yes its true Big 3 UAW workers do not personally earn much more than non-UAW transplant employees, but the Big 3 ARE paying for retiree benefits and it is not possible (without doing more extra work) to separate current benefits from retiree benefits – that’s not how the company pays. They pay lump sums into pensions based on what the actuaries tell them. They don’t divide it up on an individual employee basis – that’s just ridiculous. So the UAW does have a point, but it is propaganda as always. The equation of total employment costs / total active employee hours still works out to $70 or whatever for Big 3 and a whole lot less for the transplants.

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