Well you being a kid and me having only owned 2 successful businesses and after selling them off at pretty great profit and having since worked for two large corporations for 7 and 12 years respectively... you obviously are the business wizard comparatively!
I have met many experienced idiots. I suppose the CEO of Bear Stearns, GM, Chrysler, Bank of America, and Country Wide, would all have said back in 2006 or 2007
"Well you being a kid, and me being CEO of a fortune five hundred company, with years of experience, and more money in my pocket than you are likely to earn in your life time... you obviously are the business wizard comparatively!"
Of course where are those CEOs now? Where's their years of experience now? Where's the arrogance now? Even Rick Wagoner who thought he was hot stuff getting that bailout deal done, where is the brilliance now?
Did you know that John Adams, the father of modern free-market capitalism, in his book "The Wealth of Nations" never had one positive word about business people? Not one positive word. He considered them largely ignorant, and rather idiotic about economics. They only know how to do their little tiny bit right, and normally nothing else.
I used to find that confusing, until I met so many liberal idiot business owners. I have actually watched business owners vote for people in local elections, that passed legislation hostile to their businesses. (I worked for one). Then act all shocked and surprised at it. Why? Cause being a business owner doesn't mean jack outside your business.
It's the net profit after all gross expenses. That includes all business materials & services, parts, costs of all buildings, utilities and maintenance manufacturing & corporate, transportation, Labor pay & benefits, Management pay & benefits, Executive compensation, benefits & perks and taxes.
So when GM says they are losing money on the production of a car, they really mean including Executive compensation and benefits?
That sounds plausible, if it were true. But it isn't. How do I know? The CEO and Chairmen at GM agreed to accept $1 a year salary if they got bailout money. Wagoner hasn't been paid a dime since September of last year. Ok.... well maybe a dime 
The point is, has profits suddenly shot up? Nope, their broke. The profit margin on the production of vehicles hasn't changed in the slightest, even with that massively reduced pay.
Ironically, the new CEO of GM, put in place by ObamaCo, refused to take $1 a year.
http://www.bloggingstocks.com/2009/03/31/new-gm-ceo-wont-cut-his-salary-to-1/
Plus your product has to be worth what you need to get out of it. If I'm selling 3 day old bananas and the guy across the street is selling fresh ripe bananas he can naturally get more for his bananas. I can still sell my bananas if I discount them but that cuts into my profit margin.
I'm really glad you brought this up because I was actually working in this very situation today helping my Mother.
Mom has a 1999 Lincoln Continental 79,000 miles and finally is ready to buy a new car. I live right down the road from a Lincoln/Mercury dealership so I took her there today.
On a new loaded 09 Lincoln MKS they were willing to give her $4500 off the sticker price of about $36,700 and give her $5000 for her trade. Total cost after tax, title, doc fee was just shy of $29K. The car was good but owning many great quality cars myself... that car was not great.
We then went to a Lexus Dealership. On a comparable class Lexus the ES350.
The BEST... AND I MEAN VERY BEST THEY WOULD DEAL was on a loaded 08 certified preowned 12K miles. The deal... they'd come down from sticker $33,990 to $32,900 and give her $3500 for her trade. After tax and title the OTD price... around $31,400. BUT this car was freakin AWESOME!!! It was like gliding on a magic carpet compared to the Lincoln.
09 new Lincoln MKS $29K OTD
08 Certified preowned Lexus ES350 $31,400 OTD
The Lincoln was what my Mom originally thought she wanted again... it was less expensive new... it was way more discounted... but it simply was not close in quality for the money.
Mom is buying the 08 Lexus ES350.
Whether you're the cool kid or not you should get this stuff... better quality sells at a better price point, period.
This is exactly why as The Economist so accurately described American car companies like GM have been loosing US market share big time.
Well, I'm not going to argue about subjective things with you, because... they are subjective. I've seen a few reviews where the Lincoln got higher marks. And others where it didn't, and many where they were about equal. That's largely subjective.
Let's say you are completely right, and the Lincoln is made cheaply. Again, why would a car manufacturer use cheaper materials? Because higher labor costs require cutting the cost of materials to off set that?
How about this... If management cost is the big problem, or part of the problem, are even a small but significant fraction of the problem, then we should be able to determine that by seeing if the unprofitable state is uniform over the entire company.... right?
It's not.
GM cars popular and profitable outside U.S.
What? How? How can GM cars be profitable outside the US, but not in the US? Don't they have the same expensive CEO over whole company? Why yes they do. GM CEO is over all those areas too. Yet they post profits, and US factories do not. Why? Same reason why the Chevy Aveo is profitable. It's not made by UAW employees.
It's made in Korea without UAW contracts, and thus has cheaper labor, and therefore lower production cost, and therefore makes a profit. Same with Chevy Europe, which posted a profit last year, and is on track to make a profit this year, even with a decline in sales. Same with GM China, which is posting larger sales, even with a lower profit margin because of smaller selling prices. Same with Australia's GM Holden (their version of Chevy) which is profitable.
Now how can GM post profits, all over the world, even with declining sales, except in one spot, the USA? This isn't that hard. I've mentioned it a dozen times on a dozen posts. Two words, first one starts with "L", and the second word is "cost". It's real simple. I know you can say it. All together now! LABOR COSTS!
Once again, that's the bottom line. That's the end of the story. There's nothing else to be said. The cost of labor is too high.
