On Tue, 06 Dec 2005 16:07:17 -0500, Eugene Nine wrote:

Your confusing built/made and assembled. Cars and trucks are very complex
and the final assembly line simply bolts together a few sub assemblies that
are shipped to that plant. That final assembly is only a very small part
of the picture when you count the amount of people it takes to make such a
complex product. Add in all the accounts, project manager, supplier
managers, designers, engineers, technical writers, managers, QA testers,
etc, etc, etc and you begin to realize that the home country of the maker
is where the most of the wages are paid. So even though Ford and GM may
assemble vehicles in other countries they are still doing more work in the
US than any of the few that are assembling their cars in the us and
claiming them as American made.

In the nineties Clinton's trade negotiator, Mickey Kantor bashed the Japanese
for cheap Japanese imports. The Japanese and South Korea start building plants
in the USA and today, the Big two are selling fewer cars and even the ailing
Chrysler recovers under Mercedes Benz. We bashed the Chinese today and wondered
what installs for us in the near future.

..