Tag Archives: Chrysler

One Light Bulb at a Time

 

Someone sent me the below piece on the internet. If you can get past the hokey manner in which it’s written, there really is a message here for all of us. Who caused all the corporations to move overseas? While they had much to do with it, I do believe we as consumers must share some of the blame. We bought the “things” made in China, Peru, Korea, Mexico, and even Vietnam to name only a few.

One of our duly elected President ‘s platform legs was to bring jobs back to America; by hook or crook get American corporations to move their plants back inside our borders thereby creating jobs for the American worker. The average American would be shocked to know what is not made in America. Allow me to digress with a story.

In 2000 my bride and I participated in a 43-day RV caravan deep into Mexico in our little 30′ fifth wheel trailer. It was fun and a true learning experience, and one I would never attempt today! Anyway, we entered Mexico around Brownsville, TX and came out in Nogales, AZ. About 50 or so miles south of the border coming out, we came upon the largest factory I have ever seen; it seemed to go on for at least 1/4 mile. There was no name on it; therefore, I had no idea what they were making inside this huge plant. That is, until I got to the northern end and the parking lot. Rows upon rows of GMC trucks waiting to be hauled into the U.S. So, the next time you start ribbing a friend about being UN-Americana by buying a piece of what we used to refer to as”Japanese junk” like a Camry, you best think twice and find out where your Ford, GM, or Chrysler was assembled. My bet is his Camry was made in the new Toyota factory in Chattanooga, TN (by American workers). I’ve toured the plant, and actually spoke with some workers (non-union, I might add), and they loved their jobs.

Can you imagine the impact a national movement could have on the three American car companies if no one bought their cars and trucks because the parts were made here, shipped to Canada or Mexico to be assembled, and then brought back in to sell to American consumers? Just imagine what would happen if we all started reading labels and refused to buy products not Made in the USA.

Trump needs our help folks, he can’t do it all by himself. Let’s help reduce that 44 billion dollar trade deficit by not buying any product made overseas, especially if it was made by an American company who moved out for cheap labor and high taxes. 

If you want to get an idea of just how many cars and trucks are assembled in Mexico, I challenge you to google it. You will be shocked!

I like the name the writer uses, “One Light Bulb at a Time.”

Made in the USA

Costco sells Goodyear wiper blades for almost half the price that you will pay on the outside and they are made in the U.S.A. Read and do the following. Unfortunately our politicians and top CEOs have pushed for trade to China and Mexico for years so Americans are now out of work.

Did you know that there is no electric coffee maker made in the US and that the only kitchen appliances made in the US is Viking? This information came from a report by Diane Sawyer.

Did you know Hallmark Cards were MADE IN CHINA? That’s why I don’t buy cards at Hallmark anymore. They are made in China and are more expensive! I buy them at Dollar Tree – 50 cents each and made in USA.

I have been looking at blenders available on the Internet. Kitchen Aid is MADE IN THE USA.

Yesterday I was in Wal-Mart looking for a wastebasket. I found some Made in China for $6.99. I didn’t want to pay that much so I asked the lady if they had any others. She took me to another department and they had some at $2.50 made in USA. They are just as good. Same as a kitchen rug I needed. I had to look, but I found some Made in The USA – what a concept!  And they were $3.00 cheaper.

We are being brainwashed to believe that everything that comes from China and Mexico is cheaper. Not so.

One Light Bulb at a Time.

I was in Lowe’s the other day and just out of curiosity, I looked at the hose attachments. They were all made in China. The next day I was in Ace Hardware and just for the heck of it I checked the hose attachments there. They were made in USA

Start looking, people. In our current economic situation, every little thing we buy or do affects someone else – most often, their job.

My grandson likes Hershey’s candy. I noticed, though, that it is now marked “Made in Mexico.” I don’t buy it anymore. My favorite toothpaste Colgate is made in Mexico …now I have switched to Crest.

You have to read the labels on everything.

This past weekend I was at Kroger. I needed 60 W light bulbs and Bounce dryer sheets. I was in the light bulb aisle, and right next to the GE brand I normally buy — was an off-brand labeled, “Everyday Value.” I picked up both types of bulbs and compared them: they were the same except for the price . . . the GE bulbs cost more than the Everyday Value Brand, but the thing that surprised me the most was that the GE was Made in MEXICO and the Everyday Value brand was made in – you guessed it – the USA at a company in Cleveland, Ohio.

It’s way past time to start finding and buying products you use every day that are made right here. Bounce dryer sheets… Yep, you guessed it, Bounce cost more money and is made in Canada. The Everyday Value Brand cost less, and was MADE IN THE USA! I did laundry and the dryer sheets performed just like the Bounce I have been using for years, at almost half the price.

My challenge to you is to start reading the labels when you shop for everyday things and see what you can find that is Made In the USA – The job you save may be your own or your neighbor’s!

If you accept the challenge, pass this on to others in your address book so we can all start buying American, one light bulb at a time!

Stop buying from overseas companies – you’re sending the jobs there. (We should have awakened a decade ago….)

Let’s get with the program and help our fellow Americans keep their jobs and create more jobs here in the USA.

Originally posted 2017-02-11 10:39:09.

Toyota Warns (Again)

About Electrifying All Autos. Is Anyone Listening?

Folks, when Toyota speaks, GM had better listen before they find themselves coming to our table again asking for a bailout.  A friend of mine now retired, worked in a field where he became acquainted with several CEO’s, one of which was Alan Mullaly of Ford,  who by the way, is credited with saving Ford when GM, Chrysler et al went bust. Having lunch one day a few years ago, my friend asked Alan a hypothetical question, “Looking ahead ten years who will be the “Big Three?” Without hesitation Alan said, “Toyota, Volkswagen, and Ford.” I’ll not delve into Alan’s explanation as to why these three; let me only say, as a Economist, I agree it him.

While living in TN we belonged to an Newmar RV Klub. Someone arranged a trip for the Klub to visit the Toyota plant in Kentucky.  WOW, is all I can say. You could eat off the floor. The employees were cheerful, courteous, and happy. Several months prior the UAW came and asked to post signs around the plant announcing a meeting in a space the plant offered up to them.  This was the umpteenth time the UAW had come to them trying to get their employees to unionize. The plant was always courteous and offered space and time for the meeting..  The plant even allowed any employee time off to attend the meeting if it was during his/her shift. Of the then nearly 8,000 employees four showed up. If you buy Toyota, or Lexus, you are buying American; that plant now employs over 10,000 Americans.

BY BRYAN PRESTON MAR 19, 2021 12:50 PM ET

Depending on how and when you count, Japan’s Toyota is the world’s largest automaker. According to Wheels, Toyota and Volkswagen vie for the title of the world’s largest, with each taking the crown from the other as the market moves. That’s including Volkswagen’s inherent advantage of sporting 12 brands versus Toyota’s four. Audi, Lamborghini, Porsche, Bugatti, and Bentley are included in the Volkswagen brand family.

GM, America’s largest automaker, is about half Toyota’s size thanks to its 2009 bankruptcy and restructuring. Toyota is actually a major car manufacturer in the United States; in 2016 it made about 81% of the cars it sold in the U.S. right here in its nearly half a dozen American plants. If you’re driving a Tundra, RAV4, Camry, or Corolla it was probably American-made in a red state. Toyota was among the first to introduce gas-electric hybrid cars into the market, with the Prius twenty years ago. It hasn’t been afraid to change the car game.

All of this is to point out that Toyota understands both the car market and the infrastructure that supports it perhaps better than any other manufacturer on the planet. It hasn’t grown its footprint through acquisitions, as Volkswagen has, and it hasn’t undergone bankruptcy and bailout as GM has. Toyota has grown by building reliable cars for decades.

When Toyota offers an opinion on the car market, it’s probably worth listening to. This week, Toyota reiterated an opinion it has offered before. That opinion is straightforward: The world is not yet ready to support a fully electric auto fleet.

Toyota’s head of energy and environmental research Robert Wimmer testified before the Senate this week, and said: “If we are to make dramatic progress in electrification, it will require overcoming tremendous challenges, including refueling infrastructure, battery availability, consumer acceptance, and affordability.”

Wimmer’s remarks come on the heels of GM’s announcement that it will phase out all gas internal combustion engines (ICE) by 2035. Other manufacturers, including Mini, have followed suit with similar announcements.

Tellingly, both Toyota and Honda have so far declined to make any such promises. Honda is the world’s largest engine manufacturer when you take its boat, motorcycle, lawnmower, and other engines it makes outside the auto market into account. Honda competes in those markets with Briggs & Stratton and the increased electrification of lawnmowers, weed trimmers, and the like.

Wimmer noted that while manufactures have announced ambitious goals, just 2% of the world’s cars are electric at this point. For price, range, infrastructure, affordability, and other reasons, buyers continue to choose ICE over electric, and that’s even when electric engines are often subsidized with tax breaks to bring price tags down.The scale of the switch hasn’t even been introduced into the conversation in any systematic way yet. According to FinancesOnline, there are 289.5 million cars just on U.S. roads as of 2021. About 98 percent of them are gas-powered. Toyota’s RAV4 took the top spot for purchases in the U.S. market in 2019, with Honda’s CR-V in second. GM’s top seller, the Chevy Equinox, comes in at #4 behind the Nissan Rogue. This is in the U.S. market, mind. GM only has one entry in the top 15 in the U.S. Toyota and Honda dominate, with a handful each in the top 15.

Toyota warns that the grid and infrastructure simply aren’t there to support the electrification of the private car fleet. A 2017 U.S. government study found that we would need about 8,500 strategically-placed charge stations to support a fleet of just 7 million electric cars. That’s about six times the current number of electric cars but no one is talking about supporting just 7 million cars. We should be talking about powering about 300 million within the next 20 years, if all manufacturers follow GM and stop making ICE cars.

Simply put, we’re gonna need a bigger energy boat to deal with connecting all those cars to the power grids. A LOT bigger.

But instead of building a bigger boat, we may be shrinking the boat we have now. The power outages in California and Texas — the largest U.S. states by population and by car ownership — exposed issues with powering needs even at current usage levels. Increasing usage of wind and solar, neither of which can be throttled to meet demand, and both of which prove unreliable in crisis, has driven some coal and natural gas generators offline. Wind simply runs counter to needs — it generates too much power when we tend not to need it, and generates too little when we need more. The storage capacity to account for this doesn’t exist yet.

We will need much more generation capacity to power about 300 million cars if we’re all going to be forced to drive electric cars. Whether we’re charging them at home or charging them on the road, we will be charging them frequently. Every gas station you see on the roadside today will have to be wired to charge electric cars, and charge speeds will have to be greatly increased. Current technology enables charges in “as little as 30 minutes,” according to Kelly Blue Book. That best-case-scenario fast charging cannot be done on home power. It uses direct current and specialized systems. Charging at home on alternative current can take a few hours to overnight to fill the battery, and will increase the home power bill. That power, like all electricity in the United States, comes from generators using natural gas, petroleum, coal, nuclear, wind, solar, or hydroelectric power according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. I left out biomass because, despite Austin, Texas’ experiment with purchasing a biomass plant to help power the city, biomass is proving to be irrelevant in the grand energy scheme thus far. Austin didn’t even turn on its biomass plant during the recent freeze.

Half an hour is an unacceptably long time to spend at an electron pump. It’s about 5 to 10 times longer than a current trip to the gas pump tends to take when pumps can push 4 to 5 gallons into your tank per minute. That’s for consumer cars, not big rigs that have much larger tanks. Imagine the lines that would form at the pump, every day, all the time, if a single charge time isn’t reduced by 70 to 80 percent. We can expect improvements, but those won’t come without cost. Nothing does. There is no free lunch. Electrifying the auto fleet will require a massive overhaul of the power grid and an enormous increase in power generation. Elon Musk recently said we might need double the amount of power we’re currently generating if we go electric. He’s not saying this from a position of opposing electric cars. His Tesla dominates that market and he presumably wants to sell even more of them.

Toyota has publicly warned about this twice, while its smaller rival GM is pushing to go electric. GM may be virtue signaling to win favor with those in power in California and Washington and in the media. Toyota’s addressing reality and its record is evidence that it deserves to be heard.

Toyota isn’t saying none of this can be done, by the way. It’s just saying that so far, the conversation isn’t anywhere near serious enough to get things done.

Bryan Preston served as chief of staff at the Texas Railroad Commissioner. The Texas Railroad Commission regulates oil and gas production in the Lone Star State, which is the nation’s top energy-producing state. He is the author of Hubble’s Revelations: The Amazing Time Machine and Its Most Important Discoveries. He’s a veteran and a Texan.

Toyota CEO Agrees With Elon Musk: We Don’t Have Enough Electricity to Electrify All the Cars

Question is, will the others listen or think they are smarter? My bet is on the latter