Originally Posted by porters

The bottom line is that business in America has changed. Businesses are not concerned about the employees, there is no longer a sense of loyalty between employer and employee anymore. As a result employees not longer have value and can be outsourced to China or India at will. Employees are exploited to the fullest extent possible as companies make you work more and more and try and pay you less and less. In the current America, a significant portion of the workforce feels they can't take paid vacation. And those are the lucky ones who actually have jobs.

In modern America, the attitude of exploitation has moved to the consumer as well. We promise you a warranty, but we will try and get out of honoring that warranty at every opportunity. Jeep does not care about customer loyalty, they do not care about retaining customers that have been with the brand forever. They are more worried about expanding the market base. New customers are more important that existing customers. It's all about making sales next quarter not about making sales 5 years from now. Long term planning in American business is missing and that's why things are the way they are. This is why countries with long term plans like China are kicking our butt. This is why the Italians own Jeep. Our American short sightedness has consequences.

Originally Posted by Chango

I got hooked in to the jeep game again by the J8. What a clever piece of advertising that was! A Jeep used by the military...any military ...creates a serious illustion of credibility to a vehicle that has been sorely lacking it at very low cost to Chrysler. Meanwhile, they can and will cut corners to make the most money possible with the least amount of cost on what they offer to us.

Originally Posted by goaterguy

In great part I do agree with this, but I am the first to accept that its not always the companies/businesses/the Man's fault. We as Americans are as much to blame, what do you expect when WE prefer cheap price over quality, disposablility over long term durability, when we are perfectly happy with a 69 cents hamburger, or taco but then complain that it's not real beef... Well no shit! (actually it is probably shit)

How about giving all our money to companies that import everything from China and always hunt for the cheapest instead of the best quality we can afford? All this in the process of screwing all the mom and pop stores that are trying to survive and maintain a decent standard of living?

Maybe we are outsourcing our jobs because our American youth won't even graduate from high school looking for the quick buck or trying to become the next superstar when we all know that's never going to happen. Yes, the youngsters want the high paying jobs with cushy offices but God forbid we ask them to get an education or actually work!

I work for a company that manufactures in the US and its still doing well in this economy so it can be done.

I'll get of my soap box before I start showing my age...