Automakers competiveness

We have previously posted about American automakers being a proxy for organized labor. Now we find the bashing of American automakers also falling into the "facts matter" realm. Part of General Motor's turnaround is based on a real reduction of labor costs for hourly workers, according to the Center for Automotive research. In fact, in 2008, the average wage for hourly workers at GM was almost a thousand dollars a year lower than Toyota's average wage. Salaried workers at GM, however, averaged over $40,000 a year more than salaried workers at foreign automakers. This information strongly suggests it is not labor costs subject to collective bargaining which cause GM to be at a competitive disadvantage.

And yes, facts matter

I recently was discussing the use of abject fabrication in political arguments, and its potential for long term skewing of political thought. Its damn near everywhere on the political front. Objective fact does matter. And conclusions premised on false predicates are very likely flawed. This poster takes a talk radio star to task for his misrepresentation of the Massey mining tragedy.

Facts matter

Columnist Leonard Pitts, Jr. spoke last night at Loyola Law School. His topic, facts matter. On this issue he is absolutely on target as we have previously blogged. The Times Picayune article is here.

Labor is the problem, huh?

Another "facts matter" example of making a anti-labor point with questionable facts and logic. This opinion piece blames General Motors and its political friends in Washington for Toyota's recent image bashing. While there may be a lot of reasons to blame the UAW for the decline of American carmakers, this connection just seems weird. Essentially the writer says the PR bloodbath Toyota has taken is fueled by tools of the UAW. The reality is Toyota made some flawed products, and as this article notes, there are plenty of deaths and lawsuits.