Thread: Loss of US brands :(

Thinking of the formerly great American companies which are now in foreign hands or have been axed, like Atari which is French owned (Infogrammes) and Jeep has become Italian (Fiat). And all Obama wants to do is help the banks, it's sad.





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Pontiac

yeah, Obama should've saved the Atari brand name from the French guy back in 1983.

and the US government is saving GM, what more do you want? Should they have saved Plymouth? Should they have saved American Motors (original Jeep)?

What about all those electronics brands like, IBM, Sylvania, Magnavox, RCA, etc., which are now owned by the Chinese or Koreans.

And then you have the appliance brands. There are fewer and fewer appliance companies anymore, but still so many brands. A couple of years ago, Whirlpool bought up the Maytag Corp. In that acquisition, Whirlpool Corp. - already with Whirlpool, Kitchen Aid, Gladiator, Roper and Estate brands - added Maytag, Amana, Admiral, and Jenn-Air.

Frigidaire is owned by Electrolux, who also has quite the stable of brands, though most are not sold in the US.

GE owns Hotpoint.

And on and on.................

Hummer brand sold to a Chinese company today.

Atari isn't alone in the American brands sold of to foreigners, Zenith, Magnavox, RCA, Polaroid are gone also and have been for a long time.

Two of the main reasons...

1. For far too long there have been corporate tax-loopholes given to companies who move their operations overseas.

2. There is cheaper labor overseas, China for instance over the US.

Originally Posted by HD MM

Two of the main reasons...

1. For far too long there have been corporate tax-loopholes given to companies who move their operations overseas.

2. There is cheaper labor overseas, China for instance over the US.

1. Companies move out of the US to avoid the excessive taxation. The pattern is to give tax breaks, or subsidies, to foster the growth of an industry (see the recent push for "green" technology) . Increasing taxation stifles growth; lowering taxation fosters growth.

2. Very true. Labor costs are way lower overseas, mainly because the standard of living is lower.

We build less and less, every day. Some day it will be our downfall. If were not building it, who's going to have money to buy it?

Originally Posted by Paul Wozniak

We build less and less, every day. Some day it will be our downfall. If were not building it, who's going to have money to buy it?

Good question. We're in a viscous cycle right now.

I'm having a hard time trying to figure out how down sizing the car companies will result in more sales for them. The more people layed off, results in a domino effect of lay offs. All the way down to the mom and pop stores.

Originally Posted by Paul Wozniak

I'm having a hard time trying to figure out how down sizing the car companies will result in more sales for them.

The U.S. auto companies are operating in a way that is not profitable. The thinking is that downsizing will make the companies more lean and efficient, and maybe even profitable.

IMHO it won't work. One of the many reasons U.S. auto companies weren't profitable in the first place was because of the United Auto Workers Union. In short, it isn't profitable to build a car when you're paying the workers an exorbitant salary AND paying all of the retired UAW employee pensions and benefits. The current "restructuring" still gives too much to the UAW and therefore will not be profitable IMHO.

And by the way, if this were any other industry the government would have let the companies go under a long time ago. The UAW has a lot of power in Washington.