too many people commentating on this don't seem to realise that (imo) the seeds of this demise were laid back in the 1970s with the 'chicken tax'. but we can debate that separately. Meanwhile, I'm still excited about the Chevy Volt as the true next gen car. I intend to buy stock in GM before this thing goes on sale. I still think its going to change everyone's game, and nobody has a vehicle in production for at least another 18 months behind GM that can do whats promised.
oh we do. we don't actually get control over it, we don't get dividends on it, and if its ever returned to profitability, we will never get the money its worth, and we can't decide when to sell it. The government does so on our behalf and keeps any money it might make. :unamused: We just have to pay for it.
pretty much. Which I don't think people would be nearly bothered as much by if it actually worked. Think about it. If the government was actually in a surplus? had a rainy day fund set aside instead of issuing notes and drawing debts to pay for everything? but the point is that it doesn't work of course. At least not with anyone in all of history thats been in charge...
Communism and socialism work awesome on paper, but the fact of the matter is that the leadership get power hungry and greedy and then it all falls apart. I am waiting for obama to declare himself president til the economic crisis is over.
All the paranoid Democrats thought Bush would do the same until the war on terrorism was over. Now it seems it is the paranoid Republicans turn. So far the only politicians I am aware of that wanted to extend term limits in a time of crisis have been Giuliani and Bloomberg. Both from NY so that should probably tell you something right there Do you think the gov't should have done nothing to help?
I believe that the government should have told the UAW to go f*ck themselves personally. If the big 3 would not have had to deal with the UAW all 3 of them would be doing just fine, and look at ford. They didnt take a penny and now they are doing pretty good out of all this. I was worried about bush doing that after 9/11, but after a period of time I lost that fear. Obama I do not have 1 bit of respect for due to how he talks about so much and says absolutely nothing, and if you listen to him for long enough you start to believe what he is saying. Then you actually go look at what he is doing with the congress and then you see what his real motives are. Plus I cant stand obama or bush's use of scare tactics having to do with war or the economy to push their policies. It pisses me off to no end. I voted for ron paul in the primiries and voted for the lesser evil in the main event. I hated both of the main front runners in this past presidentcail election.
Now that the UAW owns almost a 20% share of GM they will realize what a drain they are on themselves. Already to get that share of the company they have made quite a few concessions on things like cost of living adjustments, bonuses and health care. Who knows maybe this is really a back door way to remove there influence. I have never been a fan of unions. I worked at a ship yard and it was mandatory to join the steel workers union if you were full time. Fortunately for me it was only a part time job in the summers during college and I didn't have to pay the union dues.
I know chryslers got a couple of EVs on the horizon that will be volt competition. I dont know when they are planned for release.
Did you see a Chinese firm is buying Hummer? The People's Hum-Vee. WTF is the world coming to?!? America can not remain a superpower without a strong manufacturing industry. Everything has been moved off shore since Regan, and I only hope there is a way to get the US to actually produce something. I am not a fan of the UAW either. I love how all the foreign car manufacturers have assembly plants in the south to avoid all that BS. Obama can't overtly weaken the Unions since he owes a lot of his election to them, but they are a big reason US automakers have become increasingly uncompetitive in the past years IMHO. I'm hoping that maybe the new Cadillac CTS-V will drop in price because of all of this bankruptcy business...