The Engine Of Democracy-The Facts

The Engine Of Democracy Will Be Up Dec. 1st-The Engine Of Democracy
Visitors also will be able to see the impact of Detroit's automakers on their state as well as key facts and myth-busters concerning Detroit's automakers such as:


-- The automakers are requesting a bridge loan, not a bailout as Wall
Street has done. The companies need the loan because the U.S. credit
freeze has essentially closed capital markets and squeezed their cash
flow from operations that are being devastated by extremely low consumer
demand across the industry. This freeze is happening as the automakers
are in the midst of huge restructuring costs, heavy pension and health
care payments and massive-yet-crucial product and advanced technology
investments so that today's and tomorrow's vehicles are even safer and
more environmentally friendly.
-- GM, Ford and Chrysler make vehicles Americans want to buy. 50 percent of
the products sold in this country come from those companies. The
best-selling vehicle in the U.S. is a Ford; No. 2 is a GM product.
-- Motor vehicles and parts are the single largest export from the U.S.,
topping aerospace, medical equipment and communications.
-- According to J.D. Power, three of the top five brands for dependability
are American made: Buick, Cadillac and Mercury. The 2008 Chevy Malibu
is the highest ranked midsize car in initial quality. The 2008 Chevy
Silverado ranks highest in large truck quality. Ford quality is on par
with Toyota and Honda.
-- Ford has the most five-star safety rated vehicles in the industry and GM
has the same number of vehicles as Toyota that achieved the top safety
rating, according to the Institute for Highway Safety.
-- GM, Ford and Chrysler build fuel-efficient vehicles. GM has twice as
many models thatget 30 mpg or better than its nearest competitor. GM's
four new midsize crossover vehicles have best-in-class fuel economy. GM
has eight hybrids on the road today, with a total of 20 planned by 2012.
The 2-Mode Chevy Tahoe full-size SUV was named Green Car of the Year
last November. The new Ford Fusion Hybrid and Mercury Milan Hybrid beat
the Toyota Camry Hybrid by 6 miles per gallon. In minivans, Chrysler is
better than both Nissan and Toyota and basically tied with Honda.
-- GM, Ford and Chrysler have been restructuring their businesses over the
past few years that included the loss of tens of thousands of jobs, a
new labor contract with the UAW that will bring costs in line with
foreign competitors in this country, and productivity gains that have
put them on par with the competition. Ford was profitable in the first
quarter of 2008 before the economic crisis began and has been working
for two years to improve its balance sheet through aggressive
restructuring while accelerating the development of new, safe,
fuel-efficient and high quality products. GM has reduced structural
costs in North America by $9 billion since 2005, eliminated raises and
bonuses for executives and salaried employees, and aggressively
addressed its manufacturing footprint, shifting from truck and SUVs to
smaller cars and crossovers.
-- According to The Harbour Report, the manufacturing productivity bible of
the industry, GM has more plants leading their respective segments in
productivity than any other competitor, foreign or domestic.

'The Engine of Democracy' Coalition

'The Engine of Democracy' Coalition to Send Workers From 50 States to Washington to Support Auto Bridge Loans---The Engine Of Democracy

USNewswire/ -- The Engine Of Democracy, a coalition of organizations representing more than 6 million jobs related to the American automotive industry, today announced plans to send representatives from all 50 states and the District of Columbia to Washington, D.C., to show support for $25 billion in federal loans to General Motors Corp., Ford Motor Co. and Chrysler LLC.


Spearheaded by suppliers and dealers in all states, this effort shows the massive, nationwide support for the federal loans the automakers need to help ensure the national security of the United States, the continuation of a robust automotive manufacturing base and the economic well-being of the nation and its citizens.


"This is about line workers, parts suppliers, dealership mechanics, and hard working moms and dads earning a living for their families," said Carl Galeana, an automobile dealer in several states and a coalition organizer. "As Americans, we depend on the auto industry to drive our economy in these very tough times. The role it played in reinvigorating our economy after 9/11 is just one example. And please, let's not forget how this industry turned on a dime and became what President Roosevelt called 'The Arsenal of Democracy' during World War II."


On December 5, 2008, 51 people from the 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia who are directly or indirectly employed thanks to GM, Ford or Chrysler will gather outside the U.S. Capitol Building to tell their employment story and the impact of automakers on their locale. Each participant will be wearing a red, white and blue sport jersey with key data about the industry's impact on their state emblazoned on them.


"America's car companies play a crucial role in the nation's economic engine," said Neil DeKoker of the 400-member Original Equipment Suppliers Association. "Almost 4 percent of U.S. gross domestic product is auto-related and represents 10 percent of U.S. industrial production by value. Ford, GM and Chrysler account for more than 70 percent of U.S. production and support more than 6 million jobs across all 50 states and the District of Columbia."


According to Driving the Future: The New American Auto Industry by The Automotive Trade Policy Council, the U.S. auto industry invests $10 billion in this country in plants and equipment each year. In addition, the U.S.-based auto industry is second only to the semiconductor industry in R&D spending -- $12 billion last year alone, the study said.


A significant portion of that R&D money is spent developing alternative energy vehicles that will move the U.S. away from its dependence on oil. Without the work of GM, Ford and Chrysler, the U.S. could be forced to import critical technologies such as batteries, biofuel technology, advanced internal combustion engines and transmissions, hybrid systems, and fuel cells. That, in itself, has all the markings of a national security disaster.


The auto industry has one of the largest economic multipliers of any sector of the U.S. economy. Its growth or contraction can be detected in changes in the U.S. Gross Domestic Product. In many states, employment in automotive and automotive parts manufacturing ranks among the top three manufacturing industries, according to a recent report by the Center for Automotive Research (CAR).

Detroit-The Arsenal of Democracy

"We must be the great arsenal of democracy."

For us this is an emergency as serious as war itself. We must apply ourselves to our task with the same resolution, the same sense of urgency, the same spirit of patriotism and sacrifice as we would show were we at war." These are the words of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt spoken over the radio during one of his famous Fireside Chats on December 29, 1940. The term �Arsenal of Democracy� would soon become synonymous with the city of Detroit. Historians and military experts agree that city�s war production machine was a key factor in America�s victory in World War II. It started when F.D.R. appointed William �Big Bill� Knudsen, the president of General Motors, to oversee war production in 1940.


Less than a year later, Pearl Harbor was bombed and the United States declared war on Japan and Germany. Auto plants throughout Michigan would soon turn out tanks, artillery shells, carbines and machine guns. The government charged the auto companies with building 75 percent of all aircraft engines and nearly 80 percent of all tanks and tank parts for the war effort. The auto industry also provided more than 12 billion rounds of small arms ammunition and nearly six million guns.

Automotive historian Michael W. R. Davis recently wrote a book about this extraordinary moment in U.S. history�a story that reaches beyond Detroit�s borders. "General Motors (GM) is very big in Pontiac, Flint and Lansing, just for example," said Davis. "You had the ship building industry in Bay City, Michigan, all kinds of manufacturing in Grand Rapids and Muskegon�just to cite a few. Hundreds if not thousands of small shops around the region�tool and die shops, small manufacturing shops�were making parts for the war machine."

From 1940 to 1945, GM delivered defense materials valued at $12.3 billion. GM�s contribution spanned virtually every conceivable product from small ball bearings to massive tanks, naval ships, fighter planes, bombers, guns, cannons and projectiles.GM alone turned out 13,000 airplanes and one-fourth of all U.S. aircraft engines. One of the most amazing vehicles produced for World War II was an amphibious truck known as the �Duck�, derived from its GM nomenclature of DUKW. GM engineers, marine architects and army officers wanted to create a �hybrid� vehicle that was as equally comfortable on the water as well as the ground. The DUKW became a critical vehicle in the transportation of troops and equipment to the battlefield, as well as for carrying wounded ground forces back to hospital ships anchored offshore.

Willow Run Takes Flight

Charles Lindbergh called it the Grand Canyon of the mechanized world. He was referring to Willow Run, the largest aircraft plant in the world built in a small village near Ypsilanti. The Ford Willow Run plant assembled B-24 Liberator Bombers and at its peak employed more than 42,000 workers turning out 231 planes per month. "The aircraft industry could produce incredibly designed airplanes, but not for mass production as Detroit understands it," said Davis. "Detroit had the tool makers, the die makers, all of the suppliers for mass production." Still, the rapid growth of the plant was so great, Ford couldn�t keep up. In July of 1943, they hired 3,000 people in just one day. Housing and roads needed to be built to keep up with the influx of workers.


Many �were forced to live in temporary dorms, tents and trailers. Ford hired an unprecedented number of women for assembly line positions. Rose Will Monroe moved from Kentucky to Michigan during World War II to work at the Willow Run plant. Her name became synonymous with women�s contributions to the war effort: �Rosie the Riveter.�

In addition Ford Motor Company would produce Pratt & Whitney aircraft engines, thousands of military trucks and a funny new all-terrain vehicle with a slotted grille called the Jeep. Ford also harvested the abundant forests of the Upper Peninsula to build more than 4,000 CG-4A gliders during the war. The glider assembly plant was located in Kingsford, where Ford had been manufacturing wooden-sided station wagons. During peak production, 4,500 people worked around the clock in eight-hour shifts and turned out eight gliders per day. American glider pilots flew in the European, Pacific and China-Burma-India Theaters during World War II.

Detroit Tank Arsenal

On 113 acres of farmland in Warren, Chrysler built the nation�s largest defense plant, the Detroit Tank Arsenal. Author Michael W. R. Davis calls it an engineering miracle. "The War Department awarded the contract to Chrysler in August of 1940. Chrysler broke ground in just a farmer�s field early in September and actually had the first tank off the line seven months later." By December 1941, the plant had shipped its 500th tank. Production would increase to a total of five assembly lines and a year later, the tank arsenal set an all-time monthly production record by delivering 907 Sherman tanks. President Roosevelt visited the Detroit Tank Arsenal in 1942 and called it "an amazing demonstration of what can be done by the right organization, spirit and planning." In total, the auto industry delivered more than $50 billion worth of materials to the armed forces and accounted for 20 percent of America�s war production.

The nature of warfare has dramatically changed since U.S. troops stormed the beaches of Normandy, but Davis believes that Detroit is developing relevant technologies for modern defense applications. For instance, General Motors unveiled a driverless car recently at the Consumer Electronics Show. "I happen to be a national director of an educational organization called the Defense Orientation Conference Association and have been privy to many reviews by the various elements of the armed forces and it is very interested in high technology�unmanned war vessels and road vehicles, for example. There�s a lot of high technology that goes unrecognized in Detroit and by the auto industry, so I think that Detroit and Michigan, has much to offer that hasn�t been tapped."

Can History Repeat Itself?

On the site of the historic Detroit Tank Arsenal sits the headquarters of the Tank Automotive Research, Development and Engineering Center (TARDEC). As part of the current TARDEC organization, the National Automotive Center (NAC) is working with private industry to leverage commercial automotive technologies for military use. With more than 60 percent of U.S. automotive engineers living and working in Michigan, TARDEC has unmatched intellectual property to build the next generation of ground vehicle systems for defense support. Michigan has the research and development and manufacturing capabilities and strengths to aid the country once again. As President Roosevelt eloquently stated more than 65 years ago, it is amazing what can be done with spirit and planning.