I didn't know what to call this blog entry maybe Italian manufacturing goes way of Dodo or how a lack of leadership caused this mess?
It really comes down to the fact that the workers are the first to pay as we kill the manufacturing base in our industry. The Powersports manufacturing in America and in much of Europe has essentially been killed in the last decade. Many of these jobs have gone to Asia and will never come back.
This video just got uploaded and it shows the death of a brand as a manufacturer. A company that lasted three generations. So I have to rant about everything I see wrong in the business and our world.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n6wtGfYZRnI
Since I got into this business I have watched countless Italian, Spanish, and German brands come and go. Some have come back merely as brands made in Asia and frankly I'm tired of it. I've seen the same thing happen in America too many times already.
This is all related in a strange way, like an immune system that is out of control and is now attacking itself instead of working properly.
Malaguti has now closed its doors. This factory was bombed by the Nazis and later on they survived by running into the hills when the Amercans arrived to liberate Bologna. They stayed open, they manufactured during some of the worst times in Italy. They struggled and continued. To see them close is just a sad reflection of everything that has come to pass.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=doToyGMEFjs
It's like if Captain America really did wake up after sleeping for 70 plus years who would he fight? The Germans are now our best friends, would he take on the banks?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rW4YTqmoGIo
Can you imagine Captain America busting in a Bank and saying refinance this small business? or let these poor people stay in their homes? Just because he's Captain America it doesn't mean he's an ultra Capitalist.
Would he put on his shield and fight for American manufacturers? Last I checked my Marvel toys all say "Made in China" and Disney has no problem making all its licensed products there so I have no idea what Cappy America would do, but I'm sure he would be sad that a moped maker he helped liberate in Italy has now closed thanks to the world wide financial crisis.
Back in the 1940s Fleisher had Superman defending us against the Nazis for stealing our corporate secrets. He would prevent people's houses from being destroyed. Where is our Superman now? I would like to see Warner Brothers make a cartoon where Kal-El comes in and prevents someone from being evicted because their job got exported to India.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AKbhyoDqfwI
I thought it was funny at first, but maybe these people out in Wall Street have a point, if there is no money, no jobs, and nothing better to do? Turns out that guy in the picture getting run over by a scooter is actually a lawyer.
Here is someone who is educated, who went to school, and is there on the street willing to get run over for his cause. Maybe he's the Captain America of the modern age?
I just think they should be protesting in front of the White House not in front of Wall Street. Then again the White House is run by the people who used to run Wall Street so maybe we need two protests not one?
As I write this blog, many people my age are out protesting a lack of jobs in America, Obama, cronyism, a judicial system in bed with the banks that bypasses two different parties and Administrations. A foreclosure mess that will last another five years with robo-signers and fake lenders. Meanwhile nobody has really proposed clear answers as to how to revive American manufacturing. How do we get money back into the real world of employers "The American Small Business."
I have not seen one candidate talk about small business loans, helping put money in the job creators hands, or forcing banks to lend to manufacturers. The same situation has occurred in Europe where banks would rather sit on money than lend to small companies.
I just read that half of the $4 billion set aside for small business loans was actually used to repay TARP money instead of being given to small companies. Sounds highly illegal and against the spirit of the loan, but there were no provisions in the loan to the banks to force them to actually loan it. So maybe it wasn't done on purpose, but it sounds clear it just plain stupidity on our elected officials part. The same applies in the Powersports Industry. The companies that have money would rather hold onto it than to invest and rich families like the Malaguti family that holds close to 20 million in assets would rather keep 10 million in the bank than risk loosing more. So the first people to go are the workers. The video just breaks my heart.
We have lost the will to manufacture, compete, and take risks. I run a business everyday I see that you have to have will to wake up and compete against impossible odds, but you cannot dislike the competition.
At the same time I cannot blame China. If you had a billion people you need to keep working to prevent a another red revolution ( imagine a billion people protesting in Wall Street for food and jobs and you get the picture ) then you too would undervalue your currency, seek to undermine the manufacturing of other countries, and try a little population control. People forget the last time the Chinese revolted the streets of Shanghai were red in blood as the poor burned the rich as they addressed the inequality of life that existed. So can you really blame China for wanting the same things other countries have taken for granted? There is no easy answer here, but our world is approaching 7 billion people and if they don't have jobs I do not look forward to eating Soylent Green. There is no easy answer, but our leaders need to take some decisive action before anything crazy happens and it worries me that we won't.
America is the country that should be inspiring the world and instead we are depressing everyone by making TV shows like "Jersey Shore" our main exports. Our current president missed his Kennedy moment, he sold us on hope, but really didn't inspire any Space Race in manufacturing. Last time I checked we don't even have a Space Shuttle program anymore. You could apply for a loan to make a new Space vehicle, but more than likely you would get denied because of your credit score.
The same is happening in Italy and all over the world. Meanwhile the Powersports Industry that I started in is finished. Malaguti failed to reach any agreement to sell the brand while it had a higher value. The Malaguti family failed to take on a partner and found it easier to fire the employees in the hopes of coming back with fewer liabilities, lower costs, and eventually and more than likely making all the scooters in China with the Malaguti name.
What about the workers? What about the people who dedicated their lives to the brand? I represented them at one point and I am saddened by what I see.
In Miami alone Boston Scientific my neighbor pays outrageous bonuses to its upper management while closing the Miami assembly line this December. In the city of Doral half the manufacturers are gone, we are focused on exporters. The biggest companies now import flowers from Colombia full time. We make nothing.
These 3,500 jobs at Boston Scientific will never come back, they are all going to Costa Rica. Not one Miami Dade councilman, the mayor, or the governor have even said a word on it. All our good paying jobs ( even the high tech ones ) keep leaving. So what will we make in Florida? Even on the Space Coast thousands of engineers and NASA employees are being fired thanks to the death of the space program. Should they all go work at Disney? be bartenders and theme park guides? Maybe work on the beaches? What are they supposed to do when those fields are already crowded with lawyers and recent graduates who can't find jobs?
I try to buy as many American made goods as I can. I think there has to be a leveled playing field in the world. Our company pays taxes on the goods we import. I watch as many competitors hide parts inside of motorcycles and ship undeclared goods from China with little or no enforcement. The buyers don't care, why should they? They are just trying to survive. The banks after three years are still not lending, not refinancing, or helping anyone but themselves.
As we all struggle to survive, we should really ask ourselves who pays the ultimate price for greed. I understand Mr. Malaguti's desire to hold onto his money. At a certain point you have to cut your losses, but this is a failure of leadership. Leadership in the Western World, leadership of our elected local, regional, and national leaders. A failure in ourselves for we all thought we would be rich, reality stars, and barons based on rising housing prices. Clearly that's not the case.
I know president Obama inherited a mess, but he has taken no decisive action in making sure loans go out to small companies. The last decade has seen a boom and bust in both the car and motorcycle industry with thousands of dealerships closing across the country. He has not had a heavy hand on the banks or China. Meaning the pain will continue in America well into 2012.
Europe has had its share of pain as well in both cars and motorcycles. Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero of Spain has pandered to the Socialists and allowed his country to nose dive. There is little hope for Spain to be competitive in manufacturing. German manufacturers have always been about exports so they seem unaffected, meaning eventually the only quality scooters in Europe might be those made by BMW. That leaves us with the last in the region, the home of all motorcycling Italy. Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi is too busy with his Bunga Bunga parties to realize what his government has done. Italjet, Benelli, Paioli shocks and forks, Moto Morini, and even Minarelli is about to close. Italy wake up, more Vespa's are being made in Asia right now than in Italy.
What happens when the word scooter no longer means made in Italy?
It really comes down to the fact that the workers are the first to pay as we kill the manufacturing base in our industry. The Powersports manufacturing in America and in much of Europe has essentially been killed in the last decade. Many of these jobs have gone to Asia and will never come back.
This video just got uploaded and it shows the death of a brand as a manufacturer. A company that lasted three generations. So I have to rant about everything I see wrong in the business and our world.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n6wtGfYZRnI
Since I got into this business I have watched countless Italian, Spanish, and German brands come and go. Some have come back merely as brands made in Asia and frankly I'm tired of it. I've seen the same thing happen in America too many times already.
This is all related in a strange way, like an immune system that is out of control and is now attacking itself instead of working properly.
Malaguti has now closed its doors. This factory was bombed by the Nazis and later on they survived by running into the hills when the Amercans arrived to liberate Bologna. They stayed open, they manufactured during some of the worst times in Italy. They struggled and continued. To see them close is just a sad reflection of everything that has come to pass.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=doToyGMEFjs
It's like if Captain America really did wake up after sleeping for 70 plus years who would he fight? The Germans are now our best friends, would he take on the banks?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rW4YTqmoGIo
Can you imagine Captain America busting in a Bank and saying refinance this small business? or let these poor people stay in their homes? Just because he's Captain America it doesn't mean he's an ultra Capitalist.
Would he put on his shield and fight for American manufacturers? Last I checked my Marvel toys all say "Made in China" and Disney has no problem making all its licensed products there so I have no idea what Cappy America would do, but I'm sure he would be sad that a moped maker he helped liberate in Italy has now closed thanks to the world wide financial crisis.
Back in the 1940s Fleisher had Superman defending us against the Nazis for stealing our corporate secrets. He would prevent people's houses from being destroyed. Where is our Superman now? I would like to see Warner Brothers make a cartoon where Kal-El comes in and prevents someone from being evicted because their job got exported to India.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AKbhyoDqfwI
I thought it was funny at first, but maybe these people out in Wall Street have a point, if there is no money, no jobs, and nothing better to do? Turns out that guy in the picture getting run over by a scooter is actually a lawyer.Here is someone who is educated, who went to school, and is there on the street willing to get run over for his cause. Maybe he's the Captain America of the modern age?
I just think they should be protesting in front of the White House not in front of Wall Street. Then again the White House is run by the people who used to run Wall Street so maybe we need two protests not one?
As I write this blog, many people my age are out protesting a lack of jobs in America, Obama, cronyism, a judicial system in bed with the banks that bypasses two different parties and Administrations. A foreclosure mess that will last another five years with robo-signers and fake lenders. Meanwhile nobody has really proposed clear answers as to how to revive American manufacturing. How do we get money back into the real world of employers "The American Small Business."
I have not seen one candidate talk about small business loans, helping put money in the job creators hands, or forcing banks to lend to manufacturers. The same situation has occurred in Europe where banks would rather sit on money than lend to small companies.I just read that half of the $4 billion set aside for small business loans was actually used to repay TARP money instead of being given to small companies. Sounds highly illegal and against the spirit of the loan, but there were no provisions in the loan to the banks to force them to actually loan it. So maybe it wasn't done on purpose, but it sounds clear it just plain stupidity on our elected officials part. The same applies in the Powersports Industry. The companies that have money would rather hold onto it than to invest and rich families like the Malaguti family that holds close to 20 million in assets would rather keep 10 million in the bank than risk loosing more. So the first people to go are the workers. The video just breaks my heart.
We have lost the will to manufacture, compete, and take risks. I run a business everyday I see that you have to have will to wake up and compete against impossible odds, but you cannot dislike the competition.
At the same time I cannot blame China. If you had a billion people you need to keep working to prevent a another red revolution ( imagine a billion people protesting in Wall Street for food and jobs and you get the picture ) then you too would undervalue your currency, seek to undermine the manufacturing of other countries, and try a little population control. People forget the last time the Chinese revolted the streets of Shanghai were red in blood as the poor burned the rich as they addressed the inequality of life that existed. So can you really blame China for wanting the same things other countries have taken for granted? There is no easy answer here, but our world is approaching 7 billion people and if they don't have jobs I do not look forward to eating Soylent Green. There is no easy answer, but our leaders need to take some decisive action before anything crazy happens and it worries me that we won't.
America is the country that should be inspiring the world and instead we are depressing everyone by making TV shows like "Jersey Shore" our main exports. Our current president missed his Kennedy moment, he sold us on hope, but really didn't inspire any Space Race in manufacturing. Last time I checked we don't even have a Space Shuttle program anymore. You could apply for a loan to make a new Space vehicle, but more than likely you would get denied because of your credit score.
The same is happening in Italy and all over the world. Meanwhile the Powersports Industry that I started in is finished. Malaguti failed to reach any agreement to sell the brand while it had a higher value. The Malaguti family failed to take on a partner and found it easier to fire the employees in the hopes of coming back with fewer liabilities, lower costs, and eventually and more than likely making all the scooters in China with the Malaguti name.
What about the workers? What about the people who dedicated their lives to the brand? I represented them at one point and I am saddened by what I see.
In Miami alone Boston Scientific my neighbor pays outrageous bonuses to its upper management while closing the Miami assembly line this December. In the city of Doral half the manufacturers are gone, we are focused on exporters. The biggest companies now import flowers from Colombia full time. We make nothing.
These 3,500 jobs at Boston Scientific will never come back, they are all going to Costa Rica. Not one Miami Dade councilman, the mayor, or the governor have even said a word on it. All our good paying jobs ( even the high tech ones ) keep leaving. So what will we make in Florida? Even on the Space Coast thousands of engineers and NASA employees are being fired thanks to the death of the space program. Should they all go work at Disney? be bartenders and theme park guides? Maybe work on the beaches? What are they supposed to do when those fields are already crowded with lawyers and recent graduates who can't find jobs?
I try to buy as many American made goods as I can. I think there has to be a leveled playing field in the world. Our company pays taxes on the goods we import. I watch as many competitors hide parts inside of motorcycles and ship undeclared goods from China with little or no enforcement. The buyers don't care, why should they? They are just trying to survive. The banks after three years are still not lending, not refinancing, or helping anyone but themselves.
As we all struggle to survive, we should really ask ourselves who pays the ultimate price for greed. I understand Mr. Malaguti's desire to hold onto his money. At a certain point you have to cut your losses, but this is a failure of leadership. Leadership in the Western World, leadership of our elected local, regional, and national leaders. A failure in ourselves for we all thought we would be rich, reality stars, and barons based on rising housing prices. Clearly that's not the case.
I know president Obama inherited a mess, but he has taken no decisive action in making sure loans go out to small companies. The last decade has seen a boom and bust in both the car and motorcycle industry with thousands of dealerships closing across the country. He has not had a heavy hand on the banks or China. Meaning the pain will continue in America well into 2012.
Europe has had its share of pain as well in both cars and motorcycles. Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero of Spain has pandered to the Socialists and allowed his country to nose dive. There is little hope for Spain to be competitive in manufacturing. German manufacturers have always been about exports so they seem unaffected, meaning eventually the only quality scooters in Europe might be those made by BMW. That leaves us with the last in the region, the home of all motorcycling Italy. Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi is too busy with his Bunga Bunga parties to realize what his government has done. Italjet, Benelli, Paioli shocks and forks, Moto Morini, and even Minarelli is about to close. Italy wake up, more Vespa's are being made in Asia right now than in Italy.
What happens when the word scooter no longer means made in Italy?
If you have a Malaguti that still says made in Italy. Treasure it. It will be a rarity like an Italjet Dragster, Benelli Pepe, a Cagiva, even an old Ducati scooter. Soon there might be only one or two Italian motorcycle companies left as well. In Bologna all that stands now is Ducati. Italy in 1980 had over 80 companies making mopeds and scooters. As of today there is only 1 left, Piaggio Group now owns Aprilia, Derbi, Vespa, Piaggio and is the last manufacturer that actually makes scooters now in Italy. The future doesn't look to bright since they are trying to close the Derbi factory in Spain and the new Piaggio factories are all being opened in Asia.
For now the Malaguti is keeping a parts company open to supply parts for the thousands of units on the road, but its still one of the saddest stories I have seen on the death of Italian manufacturing.
Parts will still be imported into the USA for Malaguti by MRP http://www.mrp-speed.com
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