In the April 1 (no fooling) episode of Mad Men, Governor Romney is called a clown. We’re talking about Michigan Governor George Romney, father of Mitt, a current Republican candidate for president.

Mad Men is loaded with harsh judgment, often distanced from fact or logic. The statement about George Romney may have been one such salvo. But Mitt, the son, is in a constant battle with competitor Rick Santorum for “foot in mouth” disease. Ironically, some of Mitt’s greatest gaffes have been related to the industry of which his father was a “captain” – the auto industry.

With the recent successes of the auto industry, the antiquated and archaic “solutions” that Romney has suggested over the past four years become more bizarre and at the least show Romney as a poor predictor. In April, 2012 we learned that in 2011, General Motors posted its largest profit ever, $7 billion.

Over the past two years,” America’s Big Three (GM,  Ford,  and  Chrysler) have added 15,000 more manufacturing jobs. Each of these jobs supports another nine jobs in the U.S. Workers at a number of plants are receiving profit-sharing bonuses of $7,000 for the success that they and their supervisors have had. But the success of the auto companies is possible only because of the direct involvement of the federal and other levels of government. As Massachusetts Democratic Senatorial candidate, Elizabeth Warren, has pointed out,

There is nobody in this country who got rich on his own. Nobody. You built a factory out there – good for you! But I want to be clear. You moved your goods to market on the roads the rest of us paid for. You hired workers the rest of us paid to education. You were safe in your factory because of police forces and fire forces that the rest of us paid for. You didn’t have to worry that marauding bands would come and seize everything at your factory, and hire someone to protect against this, because of the work the rest of us do.

Now look, you built a factory and it turned into something terrific, or a great idea – God bless. Keep a big hunk of it. But part of the underlying social contract is you take a hunk of that and pay forward for the next kid who comes along.

Romney continues to criticize the January 2009 $24.9 billion loan from the federal government to General Motors and Chrysler. Prior to the financial assistance supported by President Obama and passed by Congress, Romney penned an op-ed in The New York Times entitled “Let Detroit go Bankrupt.” He favored the private sector lending money to the auto industry but he was blind to the fact that banks and other financial institutions had virtually no money to lend in 2008-09 and that included his Bain Capital, the company that he headed for fifteen years, presumably creating numerous American jobs.

Romney is quick to criticize President Obama for rising gasoline prices. For a “thinker with vision and a global perspective,” he seems to ignore the enormous global increase in demand for petroleum products over the past several years. China and India alone are guzzling gasoline at unprecedented rates. American production of refined petroleum products is higher than it’s been in eight years. None of this keeps Romney from ignoring encouraging facts about the auto industry as they roll out almost on a day-by-day basis.

Mitt Romney has been criticized for being a “flip-flopper.” However, there are two sides to every coin. The other side of a “flip-flop” coin is an open mind and willingness to be influenced by facts; to integrate new information into one’s thinking. Because Mr. Romney has developed a persistent habit of denying that he has or is changing his mind, he short-circuits his ability to make a thoughtful, considered, deliberate change in opinion when the facts warrant such. If he can’t do that with regard to the industry that was his father’s business and to which he had a reasonable amount of exposure and presumably knowledge, then it is difficult to imagine him having the depth of thinking necessary for sound domestic thinking and secure international policies.

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The Chrysler assembly plant in Fenton always loomed large on my daily commute, especially in the mornings when the early sun reflected on its metal siding. Over 30-odd years, it was always there, like a piece of industrial art. When I first moved to St. Louis in the 1970s, it represented St. Louis as a sign of a thriving city.

Through the years, the display vehicles on the berms out front changed from vans to trucks and back again several times over. Times changed, but the place was always alive.

In July  2009, all that ended when Chrysler closed its St. Louis operations. For the next two years, a gigantic sign draped across the front announced, “For sale. 5 million SF.” It reflected the desperate hope that the property could be revitalized. Maybe an alternative energy industrial park. Perhaps a car plant for a European or Asian manufacturer.

But it was not to be. Equipment auctioned, facades dismantled, structural material carted off.

Then it was gone.

The post Photographer’s notebook: Elegy on a vanished Chrysler plant appeared first on Occasional Planet.

When our dependable Ford finally kicked the bucket a couple months ago, my husband and I went on a harried hunt for something that would meet our needs. The clock is ticking when you live in the suburbs without public transit or a vehicle and you need to get to work.

Like anyone who has little idea what they are doing, I did my research. I checked dealers out with the Better Business Bureau (BBB), read countless car reviews, contacted dozens of sellers, haggled over price. In the beginning, we visited car lots. When that proved too time-consuming for my overworked husband and the stress was testing my limits, my mom and step-dad volunteered to help.

After another week of desperate searching, I found a dealer in Ballwin who had a minivan that not only met my non-negotiable terms (price, seating), but exceeded my expectations. It was a single-owner, fully inspected, 7-passenger “wagon” with low mileage and a limited warranty. It had a Carfax report and was just under the suggested blue book value. Finally!

After making sure it was still available, I phoned my parents. The dealer was right down the road from them and I was minus a car. Did I mention I have awesome parents? They drove straight there, took the car for a test drive, went over the specifics with the salesman, and even cut a check to “save” it until I could come in to finalize the purchase. I was in business.

What follows is a consumer’s nightmare and a tale of caution.

If it seems too good to be true, it probably is. That’s what I learned the following day when, after waiting two hours for a rude salesman (first tip-off) to go over the paperwork with us, I drove my kinda new minivan off the lot. And it promptly broke down. That’s right. I was the relieved owner of a minivan for less than a day before the transmission suffered epic failure.

After a flurry of phone calls to my husband (I broke down, I’ll be late), to my mom (I broke down, my cell phone is dying, can you call the dealer?), and my insurance agent (I broke down, I may need service), I had the salesman on the phone. He assured me they would send a tow truck and that mechanical failures fell under the warranty. Furthermore, they would give me a loaner vehicle so I could get home to my kids. In a word, I’d be taken care of. Wonderful.

Several days later, I was on the phone with the salesman. I had questions. What was wrong with the minivan? How long would repairs take? “Don’t call us, we’ll call you” was the vague response. (second tip-off) It would be nearly 3 weeks before I heard back. The salesman confirmed the transmission failed, it was covered by the warranty, and he’d call when it was repaired. A month after the dramatic breakdown, I get the call: the minivan is ready for pick-up. No, wait. It’s not ready. Call back Monday.

Monday: I have waited in line at my local DMV for over an hour to license the minivan. I approach the counter, glad I’ve come prepared with a folder that contains all the necessary paperwork. “Sorry, ma’am, these inspections are expired,” I’m told. To her credit, the DMV employee is astounded I would be sold a vehicle with expired inspections. She suggests I contact the dealer right away.

After a few attempts to reach someone [anyone] at the dealer, I finally get the service manager on the phone. I have two options. I can drive 60 miles [round trip] to the dealer or take it somewhere locally and be reimbursed for the inspections. I can live with that.

But the rude salesman isn’t done with me. To add insult to injury he calls my mom the following day. She tells him I am frustrated. He proceeds to yell at her over the phone. I should be grateful, he says, they fixed the transmission despite the fact that I have no warranty. Wait, hold up. No warranty? What was that paper I signed? What inspired all those conversations about repairs falling under warranty?

Dismayed, I drag out the aforementioned folder. Buried in the paperwork I signed the day of purchase (and received weeks later in the mail), is the warranty. I am utterly flabbergasted to see that after I signed the warranty, someone drew a large ‘x’ through it and also put an ‘x’ in the No Warranty box. This is fraud and it is the final straw. At this point no one at the dealer is taking our calls or returning them. Nor were they responding to emails and postal letters. Not that they were overly great at communicating before then.

What I soon learned is how negligent the state of Missouri is to its consumers. We have a lemon law but it only applies to certain brand new vehicles under warranty. If you are the victim of a nefarious business, you really have three options. First, don’t waive your right to legal recourse by signing a document to that effect. I did and came to regret it. After the fact however, you can try to work it out with the business. Failing that, you can file formal complaints with the attorney general and/or the Better Business Bureau. Third, you can submit your review to every relevant website you can find online an hope other hapless victims don’t fall prey.

I chose to take all available routes and it led to a solution I can live with. A review my mother left on DealerRater was truly instrumental. Only certified dealers are listed on DealerRater and dealers risk losing certification from bad reviews. Much like the BBB, DealerRater acts as impartial arbitrator in these situations.

My friendly neighborhood mechanic also found a broken axle while reinspecting the minivan. So after being ignored, lied to, passed around, and otherwise being treated unprofessionally, we were handed off to the helpful service manager [who kept reminding me about that DealerRater review]. He repaired the axle, made sure I was reimbursed for the inspections, and promised he would make any future repairs that fell under the terms of that warranty I didn’t have.

The post Buying a lemon in business-friendly Missouri appeared first on Occasional Planet.

Toyota is recalling millions of cars–justifiably–but can we take a minute to look at some context, here? The Los Angeles Times reports that sudden acceleration in Toyota and Lexus vehicles have been blamed in 19 deaths and 815 crashes since 1999. Yes, it’s alarming to think that one’s Camry might accelerate unexpectedly, or that my Prius might be slow to slow me down because of a brake defect. I understand the worry, and my heart goes out to those who lost family members because of Toyota’s inattention to product safety. So, I’m not saying that Toyota shouldn’t be taken to task for the design, manufacturing and quality control flaws that have engendered this corporate crisis for the company.

But statistics published by Mothers Against Drunk Driving also say that 11,000+ people were killed in 2008 by either their own or someone else’s drunk driving. That’s a really alarming figure. But, gee, I don’t see anyone recalling all the beer cans and liquor bottles that contribute to that statistic. And while Congress is all a-tizzy over Toyota, and although there have been hearings on underage drinking, I’m not aware of any recent Congressional inquiries into the role that alcohol and beer producers and marketers play in the drunk driving massacre that takes place every year in America.

Annual statistics for gun-related deaths are equally alarming. Each year in the U.S., more than 30,000 deaths are attributable to guns. In my book, that’s mass murder. So, does Congress call for a recall of guns or rifles? Of course not. We can’t even get Congress to renew the ban on assault weapons. And these deaths aren’t caused by design flaws–they’re caused by using the product as directed.

Toyota, at least, is attempting to do the right thing, by fixing new cars currently on their sales lots and recalling the affected millions that are already on the road–even if they’re late in doing so. But, in light of the statistics, why are we not equally outraged at the gun manufacturers and marketers? In 2003, I wrote a letter to the editor of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, urging Missouri voters to reject a concealed-carry gun law. The only response I received was a handwritten, anonymous, threatening letter that was hand-deposited in my mailbox without a stamp or return address. [The concealed-carry initiative failed, but the Missouri legislature and the Missouri Supreme Court found a way around it. ]

Nor does there seem to be any point in “recalling” alcohol. Our culture loves its beer, wine and liquor too much for that. We expect alcohol at social events, wink at binge drinking and joke about drunk driving. Realistically, the only small step that I can envision is a European-like crackdown on drunk driving, in which first offenders lose their licenses and go to jail.

The one hopeful note–and it’s a big one–in my fantasy-recall scenario is cigarettes. Of course, the product itself has not been recalled. But the culture shift in America, which began with the Surgeon General’s Report in 1964,  has been heartening. The lesson from America’s move away from smoking is that, as a culture, we are capable of change. My question is: were we different in the 1960s and 1970s, more willing to listen to knowledgeable health authorities and distinguish between facts and fiction? Did we have more political will back then, to buck the manufacturers and lobbyists, and to act in the best interest of the greater society?

In today’s culture and political environment, I’m fairly certain that recalls of America’s current, favorite death-inducing products probably are not going to happen. I’m simply asking that, as Toyota takes the consumer and media hit, we stand back for just a minute or too and at least contemplate the bigger picture.

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