Imports and loss of jobs... When did it all start?  

As a retailer of electronic equipment in the 1960's through 1999 I could see it happening first hand.

We were dealers of Zenith, Motorola, Admiral, Hoffman and General Electric. We sold Zenith, Admiral and Hoffman transistor radios. The Hoffman was even powered by solar cells. They were high quality radios and our customers were happy with them. If one of them quit working our repair department could repair them at a very reasonable price, we couldn't even get parts for the other junk.

All of a sudden we began to see Sony transistor radios hit the market in the U.S. and several unknown brands were being sold at discount stores. Who was buying these cheap brands that were flooding the market? Well, it was "Joe the automaker" and others who worked in factories located nearby. They would get their paycheck and head for the discount stores and it wasn't long before we were no longer selling our quality product. It wasn't long before Motorola and the other companies no longer manufactured small transistor radios. Japan, and the other middle east companies now owned the market. We no longer sold small radios.

A close friend of mine was talked into buying one of the early Toyota cars that hit the U.S. He was an insurance agent and sold a large policy to a new Toyota dealer and he kind of felt obligated, so he bought one. It wasn't long before that thing was falling apart and was a piece of junk. He would take it back to the dealer for repairs and they never did straighten it out. He ended up taking a licking on it as he traded it in on a Dodge.

Well, before long the Toyota car was refined and Toyota began building a very good and dependable car and pickup truck. Before long they were selling like hot cakes, particularly on the West Coast.

The Japanese companies were supported by their government with their goal of getting a large share of the American market. The price was lower than the American car and the quality began to outdistance them.

What happened to the U.S. auto manufactured cars? Cost of production continued to raise and priced them out of the market and instead of building a car that the general public wanted to own, they stuck to building high ticket cars where there was a large margin of profit. After all, they had to make the stock holders and a stubborn board of directors happy. Well, the bubble has busted along with the companies.

I personally drive a Buick LeSabre and love the car, it gets good gas mileage and is a very dependable car, as the one before this one was. Before that I owned Pontiacs and Oldsmobiles. I hate to see GM be in the financial condition they are in. However, unless there are restrictions that will place controls on them to ensure that they will build hybrids and electric vehicles and stop producing the large gas guzzling SUV's, trucks and hummers (that are only statis symbols) I am against giving them our tax money, they call it a loan, but what if that doesn't work out.

The Union workers will have to settle for less and work to put their companies back on top. We were there at one time and there isn't any reason that we can't be again, if everyone will work towards the same goal.

No more outsourcing to foreign countries. No more rediculously large salaries and bonuses to CEO's and board members. They deserve very little until they wake up and get things back on the right track. This should be a wake up call for them.

If you work at a Ford, GM, or Chrysler plant you should be required to buy their product and not some piece of foreign iron just because it is cheaper. I know that Ford and GM employees get a nice discount when they purchase a new car. If the quality of the auto they are building doesn't come up to the foreign car, it's their fault.

I will now jump down off of my soapbox.