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New York, 8:33 AM
Wed Nov 11
55 posts in the last 24 hours
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06/01/09
06/01/09
shareholders failed to oust management that was blind and deaf to the market
management failed in every possible way
labor is just that -- labor
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Hmmm, how about consumer igornance? Last I heard the Volt was a plug in hybrid.
06/01/09
The best classification is an extended range electric.
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"And the stubborn unions that crippled the industry refuse to negotiate in good faith, demanding crazy things like "equitable sacrifices from bondholders"
- why negotiate when they can have the administration come in and screw the bondholders by forcing them to take 29 cents on the dollar? This is one of the reasons people buy bonds; in the event of bankruptcy, they get paid out first. Do laws even matter anymore?
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GM has never been a auto-maker, it's a greedy short-thinking conglomerate. (I can say this coming from a GM-family.)
And now, the US government will be stuck with the bill for bailing out pensions. Great.
06/01/09
China, Russia, and India are emerging markets and will be larger markets than the U.S. soon. The point of business is continued expansion. Sometimes this involves risk. I sincerely doubt China would want to piss off the country who's debt and investments it owns by taking over a major industrial presence.
And I'm pretty sure they haven't been in DC's pockets for a while, if you notice the disparity between the treatments banks got and the treatment of the auto industry.
06/01/09
but hey! we can still hate on unions because those stupid working poors didn't go to college - who are they to try and get a piece of the pie?!
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06/01/09
What Pie? You don't get any pie. If you want some pie then you work for it, and you compete with other workers to keep your job. Not get someone to negotiate a nice employment package for you that pays even when you don't work. It has nothing to do with going to college, but more with unrealistic expectations of compensation that you might not deserve. The problem is that GM has negotiated itself into this mess, and union negotiate employee benefits have historically been a very large part of the reason for GM's downfall. So don't be talking like the innocent factory worker is getting screwed because he's being blamed for having too nice a benefits package, and it's not his fault because he should get one. Admit that the employees and their unions have helped kill the company they were working for by bleeding it to death (in the nicest way possible). Learn from your mistake, and figure out what you have to do to adapt and succeed in this constantly changing world, instead of relying on an unsustainable support system from a failing company, and making excuses to justify this faulty entitlement premise.
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And snarky here: "Ok, so, G.M. spends more than $1,000 per car manufactured on the entirely useless and stupid act of "providing health care to current and retired workers".
First of all, it was $2,000 per car differential. Second, workers retired after working 30 years at age 50-60 with nearly-full salary, gold-plated healthcare (no co-pay, full dental and eyecare) - for another 30 years. Give me a business model where THAT works.
Unions got a "job bank" where if you were fired - you still got paid in full. How about work rules, where the guy who works in a slow area can't be moved to a busy one, even though he could do the job?
management of GM was tone deaf, made horrible decisions, and deserves the bulk of the blame. But a union set up so it is rewarded more for going down with teh ship rather than trying to right it is also a problem.
I had a Pontiac that was in the shop 17 times in 2 years. Then I got a Honda. I have never bought American since - give Americans something WORTHY of purchase, and they will buy it.
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Automakers need to win buyer's over. Simply putting the onus on shoppers isn't going to do the trick.
06/01/09
And Honda's new insight will also be cheaper.
My problem with GM was that its cars were more expensive than identical imports. For example, the Toyota Matrix is the same damn exact car as the Pontiac Vibe. But the Vibe is more expensive. Not necessarily due to labor costs or whatever. But rather due to the fact that GM had to license the Vibe's design from Toyota (which has a nice revenue stream from licensing its designs to GM as well as its first and second generation hybrid technologies).
And before anyone goes blah blah rebate, the process of negotiating rebates and charge backs and whatever is so fucking stressful and such a mix bag in terms of effectively lowering a car's cost that I (and many people) will just buy the cheaper foreign car and just pass on the bullshit.
Also, GM make crappy cars for a long as time. Changing quality perception requires a big commitment from the manufacturer (See Hyundai).
06/01/09