Posted on 11/15/2005 11:39:48 AM PST by Flavius
Just keep the dividend coming.
if there's any company that has worked its way into earning bankruptcy, it's GM.
couldn't happen to a nicer company.
GM has been heading to bankruptcy for a long time, surprised it took this long, cannot believe wall street is surprised either, it been as obvious as the nose on one's face. Can't sell cars, can't fund pension, can't afford the health care on their "legacy" employees - thank you UAW for putting an American icon out of business - another dumbass union....
"What's good for GM is good for..."
Oh, wait a minute.
No wonder that nice GMC Sierra I looked at on Sunday was so deeply discounted. List price...over $40k, my price, without any negotiating, $32k. Too bad I'm in the process of buying another house and don't want any debt to screw up the process.
All the industrial giants signed deals with the big labor unions during their glory years that they no longer can afford to pay for. Airlines, steel, automobile industry.
If GM can shed some of its union rules and constraints via bankruptcy, it will be in healthier shape.
On the other hand, that still won't change the problem that they make lousy cars. Ford and GM invented the business, but they got fat and lazy, and the Japanese have come in and cleaned their clocks.
Finally, there's a real question whether free trade is workable. Maybe we need some tarriffs, painful as it would be to restore them at this point.
http://www.gm.com/company/corp_info/global_operations/asia_pacific/chin.html
seems china is doing well
Well sure, why wouldn't they? They paid good money to have that option. And the subtext of all this is that they want to do the same with health care.
"The Detroit-based company has been hammered by high labor costs and rising prices for raw materials like steel."
The UAW is murdering GM and at the same time committing suicide.
This has to be the primary reason. Of course the taxpayers are on the hook for some of the pension obligations via a federal agency.
My 2001 GMC extended cab Sierra listed for $39,000 + and I bought it new for < $32 K. The trouble is, GM has been selling them this way for quite a while.
they could not compete with the Japanesse with compact delivery vans sot hey got the DomocRAT congress to pass import tarriffs on them. They missed every single clue about quality in cars and lived on trucks and rental cars to save them. now it is all over. turn out the lights.
Sounds to me like you're describing government unions. Did you notice how they steam rollered over Arnold Schwarzenegger a few days ago?
There are huge unfunded pension liabilities for gubbermint workers on all levels. State county Federal. The taxpayer will be bled dry to pay them until they revolt
The Domestics used to laugh at how little market share they lost, dispite of their lousy quality and marginal service. They bet the farm on big, inefficient cars making up the difference.
BTW, all this talk about Health Care costs is bunk. According to their own inflated estimates, it adds $1500 to the total cost of a car. The Japanese likely pay more in worker payroll taxes to fund their National HC plan (which usually run about 8% of payroll or more on the employee contribution alone).
California proved about two weeks ago that you can be bankrupt and still keep spending like a drunken sailor.
GM has financial problems? Just double the price of the cars! No problem.
GM deserves this...
They treat their employees like dirt.
They treat their suppliers like dirt.
They treat their customers like dirt.
They treat their business partners like dirt.
There has never been - and never will be a company in the U.S. history with a more arrogant attitude.
The market has spoken.
Honda, Toyota, Nissan - all making money !!!!
Wonder how they do it?
I wouldn't put money into China on a bet. They have a record of repeated confiscations. The most recent run by foreign companies in China has been a fairly long one, but when the time is ripe the Chinese are almost certain to confiscate everything again.
"Honda, Toyota, Nissan - all making money !!!!
Wonder how they do it?"
by doing the exactly the opposite of what GM does?
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