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What's Bloomberg's agenda here? An article exactly like this one, graphically describing bloody car accidents from last week, could make the case that driving
by leereeves 10y ago
What's Bloomberg's agenda here?
An article exactly like this one, graphically describing bloody car accidents from last week, could make the case that driving comes with a heavy price.
Or an article detailing the aftermath of failed surgeries paid for by the ACA: "universal health care comes with a heavy price".
Terrifying anecdotes are provocative, but unenlightening.
- function_seven 10y agoThe article notes that safety precautions are routinely ignored. It also cites statistics in addition to the anecdotes. The agenda is to show that cheap manufacturing is maybe not worth the societal cost due to an injured workforce. We're supposed to be better than that.
- leereeves 10y agoThe article also mentions (briefly) that things are improving: > [OSHA] cited one year, 2010, when workers in Alabama parts plants had a 50 percent higher rate of illness and injury than the U.S. auto parts industry as a whole. That gap has narrowed, but the incidence of traumatic injuries in Alabama’s auto parts plants remains 9 percent higher than in Michigan’s and 8 percent higher than in Ohio’s. Down from 50% higher to 9% higher.
- function_seven 10y agoYou’re comparing different stats. The article should have been clearer, but here’s what they’re saying: In 2010, AL parts plants had 50% higher rate of illness and injury than the national rate. That gap has narrowed since. The incidence of traumatic injuries (a different category) in AL is still 9% higher than Michigan’s. Also: > In 2015 the chances of losing a finger or limb in an Alabama parts factory was double the amputation risk nationally for the industry, 65 percent higher than in Michigan and 33 percent above the rate in Ohio. (Emphasis mine). This article could do a much better job laying out the numbers, that’s for damn sure.
- allengeorge 10y agoI mean, there are stats in the article - specifically some that claim that the rate of injuries is substantially higher in the south than in Ohio/Michigan for example.
- leereeves 10y agoI mentioned Ohio/Michigan in my reply to another comment; here, I'd also like to point out that the stats aren't discussed impartially. For example: > Alabama has been trying on the nickname “New Detroit.” Its burgeoning auto parts industry employs 26,000 workers, who last year earned $1.3 billion in wages An average of $50,000 per year. Assuming that suspiciously round number is accurate, those are good wages in Alabama. Yet the author writes in the next paragraph: "Pay is low". Is that simply because the author lives in New York and can't imagine a place where $50,000/year buys a good life?
- abiox 10y agoaverages aren't all that interesting given how skewed salaries tend to be. i agree that (in general) 50k isn't so bad in alabama.
- Benjammer 10y ago>What's Bloomberg's agenda here? FUD
- whyenot 10y ago>FUD Could you elaborate on that a little? You are responding to an article containing hundreds of words and the best you can do is three letters? Why is it in Bloomberg's interest to spread fear, uncertainty, and doubt? Where is the article spreading uncertainty and doubt? I'm not seeing anything.
- leereeves 10y agoIt's obvious that the article is spreading fear. It's full of terrifying stories. Why is that in Bloomberg's interest? Great question. That's what I'm wondering.
- ecopoesis 10y agoFUD means fear, uncertainty, doubt. I don't think the point of the article was any of those: like most media I'm sure Bloomberg's interest was ad impressions. Which they got from me, and will probably continue to get from me because they publish interesting articles like this that inform of things I didn't know.
- leereeves 10y agoI don't think Bloomberg founded a news agency for the profit from ad impressions. News organizations have agendas, particularly when they share the name of a nationally known politician.
- ecopoesis 10y agoWhen Bloomberg was founded, Michael Bloomberg was a politician yet. He was a man trying to make money.
- 10y ago
- intopieces 10y agoWhat sort of enlightenment were you expecting that you did not find? That is to say, what is your agenda?
- leereeves 10y agoI can see how this story would play to Bloomberg's audience of wealthy professionals and would like to offer a different perspective. Having worked in that field, coming from a family that's worked in the field, I know it can be dangerous work. At least, the occasional carnage makes for a more graphic story than the health consequences of sitting at a desk for 40 years. That doesn't mean the jobs aren't appreciated, even enjoyed, or that blue collar workers (not Bloomberg's audience) would rather not have those jobs. Also, I'm genuinely curious why Bloomberg has taken up this story. Is it simply an attempt to hurt Trump (who has made restoring American manufacturing a big part of his platform)?
- walshemj 10y agoAnd the average auto worker probably thinks well its not like a "snake" in a steel rolling mill or a marsh gas explosion in a deep mine. A snake is where a red hot slab of steal comes off the rollers and flails around the factory floor.
- malandrew 10y agoIs this what you're talking about: http://imgur.com/7rP7q5r.gifv http://imgur.com/7rP7q5r.gifv
- intopieces 10y ago>Also, I'm genuinely curious why Bloomberg has taken up this story. To provide a counter to the idea that "bringing back manufacturing" will be a panacea to that which ails the middle class. I think the article is transparent in its agenda.
- leereeves 10y ago
- cft 10y agoTheir agenda is to unionize workers in Japanese and Korean auto plants in the US. The reason American car brands are not competitive with Japanese and Korean US-made cars is that the US-brands owned plants are unionized while Asians are not.
- chris11 10y agoDo you have any research to back that up? How much could someone save on a car if American car makers had Asian carmakers labor costs? I think American car manufacturers have bigger problems with their products.
- vinay427 10y agoI think they recognized that (finally), which is why they're offering more of their European or other international models in the US.
- dilemma 10y agoAmerican car brands are not competitive because they are poorly managed.
- rayiner 10y agoWhat agenda do you think a magazine owned by a billionaire targeted at Wall Street professionals has?
- ky3 10y agoThe hidden agenda is promoting more laws and regulations. It's like the lawyer who insists to you that "The more court cases we file, the more justice there is in the world." Lots of unsexy but well-paying jobs exist in regulation compliance in the USA. In fact it's a huge industry that has its share of tech startups with below average risks of coming up empty. Sure beats being treated like a robot.