Fox’s Kilmeade begrudgingly admits Japan’s national health care gives their auto companies an advantage.
Fox’s Kilmeade begrudgingly admits Japan’s national health care gives their auto companies an advantage.
This morning on Fox and Friends, host Brian Kilmeade admitted that, despite conservatives’ repeated claims to the contrary, United Auto Workers’ salaries are in line with workers’ salaries at foreign auto plants. The real problem, Kilmeade said, was health care costs. At first, he claimed that Japanese car companies would face those same “legacy costs” in 40 years, but then acknowledged Japan’s “nationalized health care” will spare them those costs:
KILMEADE: The salaries are already in line with the Japanese. It’s the health care costs, the pensions —
STEVE DOOCY: Right, the legacy costs.
KILMEADE: The legacy costs that is the big difference. And the Japanese are going to have that in 40 years…
GRETCHEN CARLSON: Here’s my third question of the morning–KILMEADE: …although they have nationalized health care.
Watch it (You have to listen closely for Kilmeade’s last comment):
Indeed, health care costs add $1,525 to the price of every General Motors car that leaves the lot. In Japan, everyone is required to enroll in a public or private employer-sponsored health care plan — meaning that the government spends half as much on health care as the United States to provide care for everyone.
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This is why I watch Fox and Friends every morning: “for teh lulz”.
These guys are idiots.
March 30th, 2009 at 11:29 amFox’s Kilmeade begrudgingly admits Japan’s national health care gives their auto companies an advantage.
– - Fox would have never admitted anything if the country had been France.
March 30th, 2009 at 11:29 amThe Japanese are masters at re-engineering just about anything and everything that comes their way.
I guess when a majority of your population is decimated and your entire country in shambles after two unnecessary nuclear devices were detonated, you tend to gain a very healthy perspective on the fundamentals of growing a healthy economy.
The United States has a LONG WAY to fall before we EVER gain such perspective.
March 30th, 2009 at 11:30 amNo wonder we get no where…you know…the old saying about the weakest link in the chain.
March 30th, 2009 at 11:35 amHow soon will it be before Kilmeade will need to apologize to Limbaugh for these anti-conservative statements? It’s excruciating watching even snippets of these dullards sitting there pretending that the GOP is relevant. What a sad song they sing.
March 30th, 2009 at 11:37 amSince when is Kilmeade,Doocy,or Carlson anything more than what they are? which is news reporters.Why would you act like they are more important than that.Is what they say have any bearing on policy,of course not.Who’s the real idiots here
March 30th, 2009 at 11:38 amAnother reason why we need national health care. I live in a GM town, well, it used to be, and there are many retirees here who worked at GM for years. They are so worried about health care and their pensions. You cannot blame them.
March 30th, 2009 at 11:38 amAnother reason why we need national health care. I live in a GM town, well, it used to be, and there are many retirees here who worked at GM for years. They are so worried about health care and their pensions. You cannot blame them.
March 30th, 2009 at 11:38 amI doth say, BRBiggs, get thee to a grammarian.
March 30th, 2009 at 11:40 amI doth say, BRBiggs, get thee to a grammarian.
This is becoming a trend with the trolls.
We seem to have tapped a nerve at a regressive mental institution which has FauxNews on 24/7.
March 30th, 2009 at 11:45 am…..but as dumb as those three are, does that really count?
March 30th, 2009 at 11:46 amWho’s the real idiots here
**ouch**
Either “Who are the real idiots” or “who is the real idiot” would have been correct.
Now look what you did, you got “stupid” all over your face…
March 30th, 2009 at 11:48 amThe $1.7 Trillion in corporate tax cuts didn’t solve the issues because health care costs are the real problem.
Tax cuts help those who have money. Health care costs everyone.
Single payer National health care with no insurance brokering fees is the only way out of this.
March 30th, 2009 at 11:51 amWe’ve known that for years. It’s the elepehant in the room.
Good job Brian. Now go apologize to Rush Limbaugh just in case…
March 30th, 2009 at 11:52 amBRBiggs Says:
Since when is Kilmeade,Doocy,or Carlson anything more than what they are? which is news reporters.Why would you act like they are more important than that.Is what they say have any bearing on policy,of course not.Who’s the real idiots here
_____________________________________________________________
Interesting, now let me put it to you how I put it to the right wing during the election;
Since when is Rev. Wright, Bill Ayers, or Father Pleger anything more than what they are? Which is the fringe. Why would you act like they are more important than that.Is what they say have any bearing on policy,of course not.
There, complete with your bad grammar and everything…
March 30th, 2009 at 11:57 amspeaking of unions, i read this story in my local daily:
Union employees picket their own union
By SAM HANANEL – 2 days ago
WASHINGTON (AP) — Sometimes even unions have union problems.
Dozens of employees of the Service Employees International Union picketed their own union Friday over its decision to lay off about 75 workers.
The staffers marched outside SEIU headquarters in Washington as they yelled into bullhorns, passed out flyers and chanted, “Justice for all, not just some.”
“This union is supposed to be at the forefront of the progressive movement, but it can’t seem to follow its own ideology,” said Malcolm Harris, president of the Union of Union Representatives, which represents 210 SEIU organizers and field staff around the country.
The UUR has filed unfair labor practice charges and age and race discrimination claims against SEIU. Harris called SEIU leaders “hypocrites” for calling out corporations that shed workers, yet moving to lay off their own employees.
SEIU spokeswoman Michelle Ringuette called the complaints meritless and said layoffs are needed because the union is shifting organizing work away from its national office to local unions.
[...]
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gOG1Culi6wGOeMSW7T6SbU73O0ngD976I5VG1
Union of Union Reps? http://uur.webexone.com/login.asp?loc=&link=
i dunno, but that seems redundant, possibly subversive…
first time i’ve heard of such…
March 30th, 2009 at 12:11 pmThe big three would be a lot better off if they had gotten rid of the UAW a long time ago.
March 30th, 2009 at 12:13 pm“They’ll have legacy costs in 40 years”? That’s absurd. Can’t anyone in the media get a straight answer from anyone on the right?
March 30th, 2009 at 12:15 pmgimmegimme Says:
The big three would be a lot better off if they had gotten rid of the UAW a long time ago.
***
the foreign auto industry
thanks you for the preceding
piece of abject stupidity.
***
????????????
Danke!
Tack!
March 30th, 2009 at 12:18 pm:
)
American cars are too expensive because labor unions have raised the costs of producing them too much. In turn, people quit buying them. That caused the big three to lose profitability and now those union workers are losing jobs. They shouldn’t have been so greedy before.
March 30th, 2009 at 12:19 pmI’ll say it again and again if need be:
March 30th, 2009 at 12:21 pmAmerican cars are not losing to japanese cars because they’re more expensive.
All these anti-union arguments are not to the point, and are just being brought out because they’re anti-union.
While Toyota was making Priuses, the Big Three was churning out monsteer SUV’s as fast as they could.
If GM had not squashed their EV-1 and had it in production today, they would not be bankrupt.
Union Contracts and Pemsions have nothing to do with their wretched misjudgment of the market.
aaargh. Pensions.
March 30th, 2009 at 12:21 pmp.s. I’m not with the foreign auto industry.
March 30th, 2009 at 12:22 pmA brief unoffical history of US car making.
Sometime in the past, around 1940 or so, the US car makers decided the best way to build their product was with “planned obsolesence”, which would necessitate the pruchase of new car or repairs every few years. It was a way for them to guarantee income, and our cars have been built that way ever since.
March 30th, 2009 at 12:23 pmJapan, when they decided to sell in the US market looked at what they could do differently and better than US. It was simple, build a better car that was dependable and relatively maintenance free.
Japan built those cars while the big three were and still are building pieces of shi*.
For all you anti union right wingers – It’s not the Unions fault! They don’t design the cars they just build them. Get a clue.
If the US auto industry wanted to stay competitive all they’d have to do is build something reliable that didn’t get 12 miles to the gallon.
Simple really. The big 3 only have themselves to blame.
Only it isn’t true that people aren’t buying american cars because they’re too expensive… People aren’t buying American cars because their models don’t match market realities.
March 30th, 2009 at 12:24 pmthere have been high gas mileage cars made in europe BY AMERICAN MANUFACTURERS for years… way higher than 30mpg also…
wonder why that is…
any ideas, troolls?
March 30th, 2009 at 12:25 pmYes, GM should have been producing more fuel efficient cars to change with the times and rising energy costs. However, if those monster SUV’s weren’t so expensive to produce, they would be sold cheaper and easier. The cheaper payments would in turn make it possible for consumers to afford the extra fuel. Not a very green picture, but it works financially.
March 30th, 2009 at 12:26 pmgimmegimme #20,
No logic there. The price points for a US made car are the same for a Japanese made car. Unless of course you think the US automakers would drop their prices to say, 7k to 10k a car for the pieces of shi* they sell.
March 30th, 2009 at 12:27 pmYup. I love my American-made Saturn. It gets 35 miles a gallon and since it’s a fairly simple machine I can do most of the maintainence myself. Too bad they’re probably dropping the brand.
March 30th, 2009 at 12:27 pmI love my American-made Saturn. It gets 35 miles a gallon and since it’s a fairly simple machine I can do most of the maintainence myself. Too bad they’re probably dropping the brand.
Great product from a stupid company.
Please, stop supporting ignorance, stop rewarding failure.
March 30th, 2009 at 12:29 pmMy first car, a 1967 Plymouth Fury III, had 330 hp, 425 ground feet of torque, was a total blast to drive and got around 30 miles to the gallon.
Sometime, a long time ago, car companies decided it was better to get 15 to 20 miles a gallon, because that’s all they made for years.
In cahoots with big oil anyone?
March 30th, 2009 at 12:33 pmgg,
GM pockets ten thousand dollars pure profit from every Suburban and Tahoe sold.
People stopped buying gas guzzlers over a year ago, and GM was had no alternative vehicle choices.
Did you even read the article this blog is about?
Try again.
March 30th, 2009 at 12:35 pmI don’t think we should have bailed the big three out. I think we should have let them fail. Then it would be up to the carmakers that survived to pick up the slack and show them how it’s done. I like my Chrysler, but not enough to save these companies when they obviously weren’t smart enough to fix their problems.
March 30th, 2009 at 12:36 pmectoendomezo #31,
I saw a bright candy apple red Hummer on the road yesterday. But I live in L.A. Enough said I guess.
March 30th, 2009 at 12:36 pmgimme #35,
Interesting you think the big 3 should fail. In reality there’s your first post:
“The big three would be a lot better off if they had gotten rid of the UAW a long time ago.”
Your just anti union.
March 30th, 2009 at 12:40 pmRich, those were high compression engines. Those were killed by smog equipment and new emissions standards.
March 30th, 2009 at 12:40 pmecto – sounds like that new chevy traverse…
i was in a showroom not long ago, they had a new one inside, the rep was there to educate the salespeople about it…
i asked one salesman about gas mileage, and he actually sounded proud when he answered “24!”… i responded, with dripping sarcasm, “wow, back to the 80s”…
$30k for 24mpg… incredible…
i bought a new kentucky made toyota corolla wagon in ‘93… and i felt good about that BECAUSE it was made in the USA… that was before i knew about all the corporate welfare and union busting… i still have that car… almost 200,000 miles…
and, i still love my toyota.
March 30th, 2009 at 12:42 pmRich, they should fail. They knew their cars weren’t generating enough sales and profit to cover the costs of making them. Yes, they should have made more fuel efficient cars, but a dollar is a dollar. To me, it makes more sense to work for $5.oo an hour less and still have a job, than to push for higher pay and cripple the company that writes my paycheck.
March 30th, 2009 at 12:42 pmgimmegimme Says:
Rich, those were high compression engines. Those were killed by smog equipment and new emissions standards.
What’s your point troll, other than on your head?
March 30th, 2009 at 12:43 pmThey knew their cars weren’t generating enough sales and profit to cover the costs of making them.
This is an outright lie.
Limbaugh thanks you.
DISMISSED.
March 30th, 2009 at 12:44 pmRich H Says:
In cahoots with big oil anyone?
ding ding ding!!!
hey! you’re not a trooll!
i asked the troolls for that answere…
March 30th, 2009 at 12:45 pmI expect to be paid fairly for the work I do. If I don’t like my compensation, then I will leave that job and find compensation I do like. I personally would prefer to work for a company that is strong and profitable.
March 30th, 2009 at 12:46 pmgg is a union basher.
FCUK OFF TRAITOROUS PIGSHIT.
March 30th, 2009 at 12:46 pmI personally would prefer to work for a company that is strong and profitable.
WHO THE FCUK ASKED YOU A QUESTION PIGSHIT?
March 30th, 2009 at 12:47 pmI don’t need a union. I will make myself valuable to whatever company I work for. When layoffs come, I’ll be one of the very last to go, because I went above and beyond what was expected. I don’t have to like unions, DNFP, and that’s my right. You’re problem is you don’t think anyone should have any opinion you don’t agree with.
March 30th, 2009 at 12:51 pmAlso, the Japanese do not allow American automobiles to be manufactured in Japan. The Japanese charge a 33% tariff (tax) on American automobiles imported into Japan. We, on the other hand, charge a 0% tariff (tax) on Japanese automobiles imported into America. This is corporate-greed trade, not “free” trade. We are the saps of the world.
March 30th, 2009 at 12:53 pmgimmegimme Says:
I don’t need a union. I will make myself valuable to whatever company I work for. When layoffs come, I’ll be one of the very last to go, because I went above and beyond what was expected. I don’t have to like unions, DNFP, and that’s my right. You’re problem is you don’t think anyone should have any opinion you don’t agree with.
***
“when layoffs come’?
you are not a very valuable person
with a negative attitude like that.
***
you’ve probably heard this a lot:
“thank you for coming by and seeing us.
we’ll keep your application on file for
the next three months and should
anything come up that we feel you’re right for
we’ll contact you. good luck.”
:|
and you go home and read
another chapter of “atlas shrugged”
and somewhere ayn rand is laughing
at you. and so are we.
:)
March 30th, 2009 at 1:00 pmGimme #38,
We’ve had forty years to design a better enigne. How come the japanese can do it and we can’t. Clue: it has nothing to do with the unions.
March 30th, 2009 at 1:03 pmgimmegimme Says:
p.s. I’m not with the foreign auto industry.
***
because you are not valuable enough to them.
witness:
“There’s nothing of any importance except how well you do your work.”
- Ayn Rand, (’Atlas Shrugged’ 1957)
***
resistance is futile.
are you making yourself
valuable here?
:|
March 30th, 2009 at 1:07 pmgimme,
If the U.S. made better cars then there wouldn’t be a problem. They’d sell more than foreign models and the union costs would be the same. It’s just that the product would be better.
March 30th, 2009 at 1:09 pmWhere do you blame the union for this? Is there a clause in the contract that says “we will only work for the big three if you guys design obsolete pieces of shi*.”
***
don’t bother rich h,
i believe i have shamed
gg sufficiently.
***
he is now crying
the tears of a clown,
when there’s no one around.
:\
March 30th, 2009 at 1:09 pmHi Joe,
It was just refreshing we weren’t addressing a troll about O’Rielly, so I was kind of hoping he’d stick around.
At least it only took him a few minutes to realize his “logic” didn’t make any sense.
March 30th, 2009 at 1:14 pmIs it really necessary for the personal attacks? In reality, I still have my job. I haven’t taken a paycut or anything else. I make six figures a year. OUCH! Rich, I already wrote that the big three should have made more fuel efficient models, so how is that argument valid against me. Fact is, a dollar is a dollar. If union workers weren’t sucking as many dollars, then companies would have more dollars. These companies needed to fix the problem with both solutions, not one or the other.
March 30th, 2009 at 1:21 pmI guess my “logic” should work the way the democrats’ does.
March 30th, 2009 at 1:24 pmWe are already in debt, so we need to spend MORE. That’s just the way I handle my finances.
All this bailout and stimulus means is either an inflated dollar, or tax increases eventually. The top 5% that is expected to see tax increases cannot bear all of this spending. It will hit every American in one way or another.
March 30th, 2009 at 1:27 pmgimme,
the logic is, unions have very little if anything to do with this problem. Your all for the break up of the UAW when they’ve given back to the Big 3 virtually everytime their contracts been renewed for the past dozen years or so.
How do you feel about the wall street, bank, insurance, mortgage bailout? I’d bet it’s not quite the same.
As for any benefits you get at your job, no matter what it is, any at all, any, any any. You have them thanks to a union.
Not only that, but in getting you those benefits many people have died in the past. I’d think you’d be more grateful.
March 30th, 2009 at 1:31 pmgimmegimme Says:
Is it really necessary for the personal attacks? In reality, I still have my job. I haven’t taken a paycut or anything else. I make six figures a year. OUCH! Rich, I already wrote that the big three should have made more fuel efficient models, so how is that argument valid against me. Fact is, a dollar is a dollar. If union workers weren’t sucking as many dollars, then companies would have more dollars. These companies needed to fix the problem with both solutions, not one or the other.
***
i have not personally attacked you
since i don’t know you personally.
i have merely pointed out the flaws
in your arguments. you can either learn
from them or not. the choice is yours.
following logic is not a moral imperative
but a physical one. however i am not your
doctor so i cannot force you to take your
medicine (nor would i force you to take it even
if i were, but that is another matter). the point is
this: you claimed you would make yourself “more
valuable” but, as of yet and empirically judging by
what you have posted here, you have not take the
slightest movement in that direction.
***
why?
:\
March 30th, 2009 at 1:31 pmI wonder why Japan has tax rates comparable to the US and can have all this social infrastructure?
http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2206.html
I guess it’s because they don’t have a $1 trillion a year military to support.
March 30th, 2009 at 1:32 pmgimmegimme Says:
I guess my “logic” should work the way the democrats’ does.
We are already in debt, so we need to spend MORE. That’s just the way I handle my finances.
***
wtf?
:)
March 30th, 2009 at 1:32 pmAlejandro Says:
I wonder why Japan has tax rates comparable to the US and can have all this social infrastructure?
http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2206.html
I guess it’s because they don’t have a $1 trillion a year military to support.
***
gg, look to alejandro.
logical thinking yields
logical results.
**
alejandro is making himself
“more valuable”.
why can’t you?
:\
March 30th, 2009 at 1:34 pmgimme,
You remind me of someone I know who blames unions for everything. All the trouble in the world, and lionizes Reagan. I’ve tried to explain to him how Reagan was a union buster, but that was something he was proud of. He didn’t care because when Reagan was governor of CA he put money in the prison system which allowed him to be hired as a prison guard.
Good thing too, he was injured on the job and because he belonged to the union he was pretty well taken care of.
Some people just can’t make the connection.
March 30th, 2009 at 1:38 pmI’m looking up some info on health care in Japan. It’s kind of a mixed system.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Health_care_in_Japan
There is employer backed health insurance mixed with a national health insurance.
So auto companies might just have something in the way of insurance benefits with its workers, but I haven’t found info on that yet.
March 30th, 2009 at 1:40 pmAlejandro,
I’m pretty sure in Japan if you have no insurance they don’t let you sit in an emergency room till you die.
Then come over and kick you to see if your still breathing.
March 30th, 2009 at 1:41 pmThis is weird.
March 30th, 2009 at 1:43 pm
Rich H Says:
gimme,
You remind me of someone I know who blames unions for everything. All the trouble in the world, and lionizes Reagan. I’ve tried to explain to him how Reagan was a union buster, but that was something he was proud of. He didn’t care because when Reagan was governor of CA he put money in the prison system which allowed him to be hired as a prison guard.
Good thing too, he was injured on the job and because he belonged to the union he was pretty well taken care of.
Some people just can’t make the connection.
***
great post rich,
but i’m sorry to say that
it’s probably wasted on gg.
lexicologist have described his kind
of mind as a “rubik’s cube without
color”. that is no matter how he
twists and turns it the results are
always the same.
:(
March 30th, 2009 at 1:48 pmRich H,
No one in Japan is allowed to go without health insurance. You are required to have it in one form or another, even if you are a foreign national living there.
March 30th, 2009 at 1:50 pmAlejandro Says:
Rich H,
No one in Japan is allowed to go without health insurance. You are required to have it in one form or another, even if you are a foreign national living there.
***
alejandro, rich,
do you think they know something we don’t?
:|
btw i would have invited gg to comment
but he appears to have left the discussion.
again.
:\
March 30th, 2009 at 1:53 pmIt seems most of the world knows something we don’t. I don’t really want to look it up again, but we’re 32nd or 42nd in health care and life expectancy among industrialized nations. And I believe we’re number 1 in cost.
So, according to gimme’s logic, because unions demand healthcare for their members, the cost of building a car would decrease if the union was busted and no healthcare was provided.
See, it not the cost of health care that’s a problem, it’s the big evil unions.
Where’d gimme go anyway?
March 30th, 2009 at 1:59 pmkilmeade is gonna get a pay cut…
March 30th, 2009 at 3:26 pmFor real news I watch the “Daily SHOW”, for fun, fantasies, and laughs I watch Fox (Fix) NEWS. But I don’t buy from companies that advertise on Fox.
March 30th, 2009 at 7:52 pmI like how everyone continues to be angry by my comments that use common sense long after I’ve left. By the way, the biggest problem with the economy is excessive debt. The majority of Americans took on too much debt until they reached the point where their income was spent and they could buy no more. Thus starts the downward spiral. Until everyone starts to live within his/her means these cycles will happen. Living within one’s means includes not going into unnecessary debt. The only way the economy is going to be fixed is by bottoming out and starting to climb again. Hopefully people will be more “CONSERVATIVE” with finances. It also didn’t help when the government got involved with the mortgage industry by way of Fannie and Freddie. So how do democrats want to fix that? More government intervention. I hate to say this, but the only way things are going to turn around is when they hit the bottom. Even if banks could loan, no one is buying right now because most are maxed out on credit. All this spending and bailout are only putting Americans on the hook for more unnecessary debt.
March 30th, 2009 at 11:27 pmgimmegimme Says:
Another punk whiner who loves to kiss rich butt and will do anything to make the rich richer and take money from the working class. What a putz
March 31st, 2009 at 6:16 amgimmegimme Says:
You first argument used NO common sense it was a baseless assertion and an attack on unions. You have decided to throw in with kissing ass. Fine. I prefer my union job which pays ME six figures and five weeks vacation a year and good benifits one of which is I have NEVER had to kiss anyones ass. ALL wealth created in an economy is done by the WORKERS. Giving THEM some power to get a fair share of the product of their labor seems to just rub the wrong way those congenitally obsessed with kissing the ass of power. Keep your nose brown.
March 31st, 2009 at 6:23 am