Is Detroit going down the tubes?
There is reason to worry, good reason. We've already lost 30 percent of the U.S. market. We've got to get our house in order. Maybe it's taking longer than it should, but I have no fear. We've restructured our companies, and we are getting more efficient. Our quality is soaring. Our costs are way down. I don't want to give you a commercial, but those very people who asked, "Are we going down the tubes?" are going to say, "My God, how did they get so well so quick?"
What about the high anxiety level among American workers?
I don't want to offer them comfort. I want to offer them jobs. We've got to build jobs. How about a $1,000 tax credit on buying a car? My critics say that's too self-serving. Well, the President suggested a $5,000 credit on a house. What the hell's the difference? Big, heavy-ticket items like cars and houses, with high labor content, will create jobs.
Some people feel that Japanese leaders have insulted U.S. labor and management.
I'm not a crybaby. But I'm not too tolerant of people yelling full-time that our workers are dumb or our executives greedy.
Is it time to limit the number of cars coming in from Japan?
Some kind of auto-import limits are necessary to get the country's overall trade deficit with Japan down. Remember, 75 percent of that deficit is in autos. And since the Japanese keep dragging their feet on opening their own markets, reducing their imports is a perfectly fair form of retaliation on our part under accepted free-trade principles.
Has the U.S. response been enough to meet or stop the "Japanese threat," or do we need more specific actions?
Well, the Japanese have had a "Buy Japanese" movement for 50 years. So I guess we're just catching up. The "Buy American" idea is really a grass-roots movement of many Americans who realize what unfair trade practices by the Japanese and others are doing to this country. I think it's a natural reaction. People
think they're being had. They're worried about their jobs.
The thing definitely has Japan worried. Have you noticed how their auto companies are spending millions on advertising trying to tell Americans there's no such thing as a Japanese car anymore? [Ed. note: Some Japanese cars are manufactured in the U.S., partly with American-made materials. Meanwhile, Chrysler's hot-selling Dodge Stealth is made entirely in Japan.] The Buy American movement shows that the American people are serious.
Why should a consumer bur an American car or other made-in-America products?
Because they are so damn good. And it will help the economy. The auto industry is 5 percent of the GNP. One of seven jobs in America is related to the auto industry. It's a big ripple industry. A car has some 12,000 parts. You've got stereo systems, compressors for air-conditioning. And we use more textiles than the furniture industry. So it creates all kinds of peripheral jobs.
What about the perception of poor American quality?
We've built some bad cars in the past. To the guy or gal who had a bad experience, we say, "Now try us. You'll have a good experience."
Saved by the Bell Reunion
The hookups, the meltdowns, the memoires
The case reveals what was really going on what they think of each other now!
