You really need to drive the Flint Hills of Kansas. It's a pretty georgeous drive. Big sky, rolling hills, winding roads and little traffic.

Heh. That reminds me of a story I heard years ago...

I love a manual. Right up until I moved back to metro Dallas. And then being stuck in stop and go traffic on the highway royally sucks with a manual.

Does Ford still offer the Hip-Mom Minivan? (AKA Flex)

I don't disagree about the failure of mass transit to appeal to the average suburbanite.

It's one of those ugly catch 22's. No one rides because it doesn't go anywhere most users want to ride.... And nobody want's to expand it, because nobody rides it...

It's not so much the road infrastructure as the mass transit. I'm in metro Dallas, and we have nothing as massive (lane count wise) as I-75 north of I-285 in Marietta. But MARTA is a joke when you look at the rail system. (Not that DART is much better, but at least we have expansion plans.) I really don't…

I always liked the concept....

So fix the original gauges. It's not rocket science.

Ah. Sorry, I was trying to get you to throw off the party line and think actual independent thoughts about a possible solution beside the current crap that obviously isn't working.

Holy Crap! Where's the story?

It's totally a different manufacturing setting, but I've seen the "protections" that unions offer, collective bargaining, lead to a plant closing.

I'm not talking about creating a union in all but name, but creating a forum where all of the plant's employees (perhaps minus those in the "executive" level) can come together to discuss issues.

So, why does it have to be a "UNION"?

I'm not familiar with VW's usual management / labor process. What about it is illegal in the US?

Because people want to have somewhere to place your 2 bags of groceries....

Totally stolen from this site...

Or even this nightmare....

I know they're semi-related...

And this too.