Now Dan Neil (LAT, 12/2), Robert Weissman (12/2), Michael Moore (12/3), and Ian Welsh (12/3) are all shouting the N-word.
But will anyone in Congress hear this? Or will the oversight of our investment into the automakers follow the TARP model?
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At least we can save one of the three.... still, I don't think that's going to be enough keep Michigan and Ohio blue for us... REID: Voting against us was never part of our arrangement! SPECTER: I am altering the deal! Pray I don't alter it any further! REID: This deal keeps getting worse all the time!
Ironically, I would have been one of the people who wanted one... loved the Alero... and I'd buy from a bankrupt GM, too... I prefer american cars.. I don't fit well in japanese cars.... REID: Voting against us was never part of our arrangement! SPECTER: I am altering the deal! Pray I don't alter it any further! REID: This deal keeps getting worse all the time!
Actually as far as I can tell the biggest problem with American carbuying habits right now is "Americans do not want to buy cars right now, because we are in a recession". I'm not sure how the government can change that. At one point recently it would have been pretty easy to convince people to buy new cars by making the cars electric or somehow affordably non-gas-dependent, but now gas is cheap again...
Meanwhile, Toyota and Honda get U.S. taxpayer funded plants in the South... no one complains about that... REID: Voting against us was never part of our arrangement! SPECTER: I am altering the deal! Pray I don't alter it any further! REID: This deal keeps getting worse all the time!
GM's underbelly was soft 'cos they were frontloading a lot of costs to get rid of their health and pension obligations that would have started in 2010.
This is a unique and temporary situation REID: Voting against us was never part of our arrangement! SPECTER: I am altering the deal! Pray I don't alter it any further! REID: This deal keeps getting worse all the time!
It's stupid, of course, but we are still getting over Reaganomics... REID: Voting against us was never part of our arrangement! SPECTER: I am altering the deal! Pray I don't alter it any further! REID: This deal keeps getting worse all the time!
Apple's factories are all outsourced
Apple corporate culture is extraordiarily hierarchical and secretive
It took Steve two decades to make a two-button mouse, simply because he didn't like two-button mice.
and
Steve doesn't look too healthy lately.
So, I"m for plain giving them the money and in exchange some preferred shares, voting shares and possibly giving the unions some corporate voting rights and some profit sharing.
There is so much that needs to be done and while outsourcing came up today, which was GREAT, the fact is we have very unfair trade agreements against the US auto industry.
Yes I know GM especially management is messed up and so on, but I think one should address the immediate emergency and then continue. NoSlaves.com The Economic Populist
EPI just released a study, which along with other facts manfrommiddletown blogged here.
Look at the unemployment maps and see if they do not scare the shit out of you.
EPI is a labor centric think tank and they simply do not release economic fiction in their studies and reports.
This kind of unemployment disaster projection is real folks. NoSlaves.com The Economic Populist
Bush's final gift to the country... REID: Voting against us was never part of our arrangement! SPECTER: I am altering the deal! Pray I don't alter it any further! REID: This deal keeps getting worse all the time!
I agree with you, Michigan keeps getting shit on constantly, but blame corporate media and the years of spin to break unions and try to act like one can simply go to college to escape horrific economic conditions and bad worker treatment, and somehow dis working people.
It's bullshit, there is no difference between blue collar and white collar. NoSlaves.com The Economic Populist
Unfortunately, it's a minority opinion...
And I guarantee you... if GM fails and we see the massive unemployment, the same people complaining about the potential bailout will then complain about, "Why didn't we DO something?"
Well, we had a chance, and we seem to be blowing it... REID: Voting against us was never part of our arrangement! SPECTER: I am altering the deal! Pray I don't alter it any further! REID: This deal keeps getting worse all the time!
GM says it needs $4 billion this month, or it goes into bankruptcy, and the same again in January.
GM won't break even until 2012, per http://online.wsj.com/article/...
around 2012. Mr. Henderson said GM believes its North American operations can break even by that year.
Conclusion: the bailout for GM will require $144 billion over the next three years. (And that's if you believe that GM has a handle on it's business plan.)
It's not a linear, never ending equation, not a valid set of assumptions. NoSlaves.com The Economic Populist
The US auto companies are completely mismanaged. THey have conceded whole segments of the market place to foreign competitors like station wagons. You cannot buy a station wagon from a US auto company - I know since I looked 3 yrs ago. Subaru, VW and Volvo sell over 500,000 wagons a year - that is a sizeable market to just abandon b/c there are quicker profits to be made on SUVs.
It seems like the US automakers go through near death experiences every 10-15 yrs. This time death seems like a real possibility which I hope will be avoided. However, well run organizations do not follow this up and down cycle and the auto companies need to show how they are going to pull themselves out of this cycle once and for all.
Also, while we are at it can we get rid of these ridiculous state franchise laws that force people to buy cars through a dealer. Talk about an outdated system. I'd be very happy to never set foot in a dealership again and purchasing a car on the Internet directly from the company and pick it up once it was ready.
If you buy these companies, you are still on the hook for all of their obigations - which is something I don't think More realizes. Nationalizing these companies is not chearper than bailing them out.
GM does make a wagon, they just don't sell it in America. I went to Chevy's United Kingdom website, not a single car averaged less than 30 mpg and depending on your definition of a wagon, they offer one in England. You will not recognize the names of these cars, nor do they resemble any car they sell here. Why is that? There are probably several reasons, but one is that they could sell SUV's in this country for a great profit.
In the early 1990s the Ford Taurus was the best selling car in the US regularly beating out the Honda Accord and Toyota Camry. Now those cars outsell American competition by miles.
The other thing is that the US car companies constantly change the name of models. They do nothing to build brand loyalty and equity. In the last 20 yrs, Chevy's large sedan has gone from Caprice to Lumina to Impala. In the 1980s, Chrysler put the LeBaron name on a different car almost yearly. Ford built brand equity in Taurus and then dumped it b/c some marketing moron thought all Ford car names should start with the letter F and then resurrected it.
Foreign car makers stick with brand names and build on them - Civic, Corolla, Camry, Accord, Maxima, C Class, 3 Series, etc have been around for decades.
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