[Amc-list] Sins

[Don Johnson <donjohnson@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Archimedes writes;

They're all either dead or on life support because Americans don't seem to 
understand that we're not ina  battle for whatever riches we can win today, 
and to heck with tomorrow -- we're in a battle to be economically alive 
tomorrow.

When Executives, Managers, and line workers start to understand that 
multimillion dollar salaries and $50 per hour wages and cushy 
pensions-for-life for assembly line work were an anomaly and cannot be 
supported indefinitely, maybe attitudes will change.  But I doubt it.  It 
seems like the entire culture is unwilling to get off the "give me every 
dime I want, or the factory can "Go To ....".
++++++++++
Before we all go badmouthing the American worker, let's do some math. 
In the Fall of 1969 I bought my 70 AMX for $4500.00, not including taxes.
I could have bought a Corvette for $1000 more but I couldn't afford it.
So if we say a Corvette was $5500 in 1970 and they're now selling for 10 times that or more, then it follows that the $50 an hour worker of today should have been making $5 an hour then. I'm not sure of the wage then, but I'll bet we're not far off.
Superimpose that wage line with the wage line of management and you begin to see where I believe the problem is. 
Hold on while I get up on my soapbox.
I believe there is no morality in today's boardrooms. I think they believe they deserve the compensation packages that they get. When the workers see what is happening with the bosses pay package, whether the company is doing well or not, they are more than reluctant to give up some of their wages to support that. 
I read recently that some expert was saying that management compensation should be in the 40 times the average worker wage, but right now it is running near 400 times.
Now, I'm not saying that management compensation is killing our companies, but I will say that the greed factor exhibited and the lack of leadership by management leads to workers attitudes that end in plants being closed before wage reductions are taken.
I was in the airline industry and when Continental Airlines was next to dead a man named Bethune took over and promptly declared that he would not take any compensation (except for $1 per year) until the airline made money. The employees saw what he was willing to do and they got behind him and turned the airline around. The workers need a leadership that is willing to share the pain and not just the gain.
Maybe when the guy on the line begins to feel like he's part of team where everyone from the top down sinks or swims with the company, the answers to some hard questions will be different.
Getting down off the soapbox.
Don
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