one would hope that a company in that much of financial trouble wouldn't be wasting money that could be better spent elsewhere.
They weren't giving it away. It was an advertising deal and they decided not to continue it.
and, if you read the article, they figured out that they could get more provebial bang for their buck by advertising elsewhere. hence, money better spent elsewhere.
Sounds like the team of monkeys that runs GM might have made a rational decision. How bout that.
I just can't wait until their bonds aren't worth toilet paper, and they can't finance or service their debt in any meaningful way.
And then Toyota/Honda broadside them with a car that runs on Piss.
ahahahahahahaha!
Hopefully they save some assets for liquidation to pay SOME of their employers severance. Maybe then they won't be the economic burden they have become to the United States. So sad too, GM, bringing america down.
Toyota wont have any cars on the road if they keep up with their current number of recalls. And if I remember correctly GM just turned a quarterly profit of 891 million. It ain't much, but its a start atleast.
I don't know why everyone wants GM to go down. I mean why would you wish good hardworking people to the unemployment line?
RM wrote:
Toyota wont have any cars on the road if they keep up with their current number of recalls. And if I remember correctly GM just turned a quarterly profit of 891 million. It ain't much, but its a start atleast.
I don't know why everyone wants GM to go down. I mean why would you wish good hardworking people to the unemployment line?
I don't wish people to go to the unemployment line (which is sort of a silly thing to say anyway, they can just go out and get other jobs, unemployment is extremely low right now). The problem is that these U.S. car manufacturers have taken advantage of taxpayers in the past (like a 1.5 billion dollar bailout) and that they have been inefficient since then. The unions have screwed things up and the manufacturers have just really stunk it up.
I don't want to see people unemployed, but I also don't want to see resources used inefficiently.
If GM was spending $100 million freaking dollars per year on the US Olympic Team, then where the hell is this money?
Mad Men wrote:
If GM was spending $100 million freaking dollars per year on the US Olympic Team, then where the hell is this money?
Kojo Annan has most of it. Move along, nothing to be uncovered here.
kojo annan... champion of the O scandals... olympics and oil for food...
The problem with the U.S. automakers started years ago when the gov't allowed them to underfund their pension fund. They now have to pay those pensions making their cost per car much more than the imports and putting them at a competitive disadvantage.
A lot of companies have just given up and let the gov't take over paying the retirees much less than they were promised.
Don't depend on others for your retirement. you will always get screwed.
Mtn Dew wrote:
(like a 1.5 billion dollar bailout)
That was, of course, Chrysler, not GM. The government guaranteed loans made to Chrysler by investment firms. Chrysler paid the loans back ahead of schedule. No tax dollars ever left government coffers.
Just providing the facts.
While unions have definitely screwed things up over the years, management has also made plenty of mistakes. One of them was placating the unions when times were good with contracts and guarantees that created excessive problems when times were bad.
I forgot where I read it, but I recall Iacocca being interviewed and saying something along the lines of management being partially to blame for the current union troubles. Instead of dealing with them, they pushed it off until it was on someone else's watch.
If anything, things at GM seemed to be at their worst a couple of years ago. That was when you were seeing all the "Will GM survive" cover articles. They seem to have made some progress. I still don't know if I would buy an American car, but the quality level appears to have increased and they are priced at a discount relative to Japanese cars. Still, I think a lot of GM and Ford cars are ugly (new Mustang aside) and will probably go with a Japanese car.
Just as Bernard Lagat is the new face of American Distance Running, imported cars will become the new face of the American auto industry
5,000m powertrain coverage
If anything, things at GM seemed to be at their worst a couple of years ago. That was when you were seeing all the "Will GM survive" cover articles. They seem to have made some progress. I still don't know if I would buy an American car, but the quality level appears to have increased and they are priced at a discount relative to Japanese cars. Still, I think a lot of GM and Ford cars are ugly (new Mustang aside) and will probably go with a Japanese car.[/quote]
this same exact post could have been written 30 years ago.
nothing has changed. nothing.
Mtn Dew wrote:
The problem is that these U.S. car manufacturers have taken advantage of taxpayers in the past
I am struggling to think of a single industry that does not do the same things as the auto industry in that regards.
Well, governments appease the taxpayers and leave their messes for the next administration.
ronpaul2008 wrote:
I am struggling to think of a single industry that does not do the same things as the auto industry in that regards.
I can't think of one off the top of my head either, but I'm sure there are some. These bailouts and subsidies are not good for the U.S. economy, but they are an unfortunate reality since we have such an incredibly ignorant populace when it comes to economic issues.
Regarding Chrysler, the bailout was a bad move. They should have gone under. They received special treatment that wasn't available to individuals. It's wrong to do that. If Chrysler can't make it in the open market then those resources aren't being used effectively and ought to be moved somewhere else. All this gov't interference does is make the nation poorer overall.
because pretty much every industry does receive government assistance - whether it be local, state, or federal - i think a line has to be drawn between tax incentives and whatnot and outright "protection/propping up" of companies. the car companies and the airlines are probably two of the more egregious examples of this.