What the hell is up with all the import nuthuggers on this site now . Its getting so farkin annoying I gotta sift thru all the Anti-GM crap on a GM enthusist site . Outside of the tech area's this site has really grown into a joke .

bb62, corvetteforum:
As an economist who has worked both inside and outside the auto industry, you should consider some of the following:

1. Because Toyota plant are highly automated, there is no way that any assembly facility would ever employ as many as 10,000 workers. You're overstating the requirement by a factor of about 3.
2. Assembling a vehicle inside the US adds relatively little value to the economy as a whole. Assembly costs add about 11% to the typical price of a vehicle. On the other hand, the engineering costs that were spent developing the vehicle add about 15% to the price of a vehicle. So what would you rather have in the US, $20 per hour jobs bolting together cars, or $40 per hour jobs designing them? What jobs would you rather have as a legacy for your children?
3. The remaining 6500 jobs (out of the 10K you initially referred to) are usually supplier jobs that are either already here (and thus no add to the overall US economy) or are transplanted (and managed) by non-Americans. Is that what you want?
4. Because a locally assembled vehicle from a foreign owned company typically includes about 50% American value (because of the myriad of parts usually shipped in from overseas) – it represents about half of a foreign built vehicle in its effect on the economy. If we are talking about a typical non-US based import car of about $20,000, because of how money flows through the economy (what an economist might call "turns"), leasing a car like that (with the assumption that you will lease a comparable Toyota throughout your life) puts one average American out of work PERMANENTLY. So if you buy a fully optioned American assembled Toyota truck in the $40K range – congratulations you just put one worker out of a job.
5. If GM (or Ford for that matter) can do the same thing in reverse by designing cars here and assembling them in countries like China – it keeps the high wage jobs HERE. Fiat was a mistake, but only from the perspective of hindsight. It may have been a good inroad to the Italian market (until Fiat crashed and burned in its own market).
6. While GM may or may not be dying, what is clear to me is that this penchant for buying foreign products and increasing the trade deficit beyond all reasonable means is having the effect of transporting capital out of this country to other countries. A budget deficit we can handle – it's money we owe ourselves (even if our children will be saddled with the debt). A trade deficit leaves us with nothing – all for the sake of instant gratification – a true prisoner's dilemma if you asked me.