This whole GM suckage thing didn’t just happen overnight. It’s been a long time coming.
GM’s Timeline: A History of Greed and Failure
December 12, 2008 By View Comments
Your General Motors Car May Have Just Become a Collector’s Item: Bailout Dies in Senate
December 11, 2008 By View Comments
Bad news for the auto industry:
Senate Democrats and the White House failed to find 60 votes to end debate on a $14 billion auto bailout bill and bring it to a vote Thursday night, killing the measure for the year.
The 52-35 vote followed the collapse of negotiations between Senate Democrats and Republicans seeking a compromise.
“We have worked and worked and we can spend all night tonight, tomorrow, Saturday, and Sunday, and we’re not going to get to the finish line,” Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said on the Senate floor before the vote. “That’s just the way it is. There’s too much difference between the two sides.”
I’ve been urging the Senate to buyout, not bailout the auto industry. But it looks like even my sage advice won’t be able to save GM.
The collapse of negotiations could possibly doom General Motors to a bankruptcy and closure in the coming weeks, with Chrysler potentially following close behind.
What would be wrong with instead of letting GM collapse in on itself (thanks Richard Wagoner) why shouldn’t the federal government take them over, much like they did for Amtrak in 1970.
We saw the same thing happen in 1970 when the federal government took over what was then thePullman Company and federalize the national railroad system creating Amtrak. Amtrak is still alive today thanks to the government buyout. I won’t go as far as to say Amtrak is doing well, but it is the fucking railroad, it hasn’t been the preferred method of travel in like 80 years what do you expect.
I think given the right circumstance, a buyout would be a great thing, not just for GM, but for the country in general. Change the name from GM to AMC. Yeah, I said it. Bring back the American Motor Company but this time as a national automobile manufacturer owned by the people of the United States. Shave off millions of dollars in executive’s salaries as part of the budget cuts. Offer other smaller car companies that have been working on alternative-fuel vehicles the opportunity to come in and utelize the resources of the GM infrustructure. We would have the opportunity to create a national car company that manufactures quality, alternative-fuel vehicles that that are reliable and affordable to the middle-class Americans.
For Taxpayer’s Sake: Buyout Don’t Bailout General Motors, Ford and Chrysler
November 16, 2008 By View Comments
This $700 billion bailout is already starting to sound like a golden parachute to me. Something we were promised it would not be.
A few days ago I pointed out a few staggering statistics regarding GM, including among other things, how its stock price has plummeted from $60 per share to around $4 per share since Richard Wagoner took the helm as CEO in 2000. Not to mention the fact the company announced a third-quarter loss of 2.5 billion dollars.
Should this sort of incompetence be rewarded? Should the fact that American auto manufacturers have consistently, for the past 30 years, lagged behind foreign manufacturers in quality, fuel efficiency and pricing.
Even as experts predicted the coming rise in fuel prices, American auto makers continued to pump out SUVs with seemingly no concern for sustainability, the environment or the future.
I grew up in a family that never owned anything but GM cars. My Dad, who always owned a pickup would have rather walked than to have owned a foreign made truck. He was old school though. He was around when America was proud of the quality of cars they made.
I’m sure I will be attacked and promulgated with insults over this stance but I can’t be alone in my thoughts. This is in no way a reflection on the UAW. Their hard work and sweat that is the backbone of a huge part of what has made this country great. That being said, it cannot be a free pass for the people running the auto industry to allow it to become a dinosaur. To refuse set new emission standards and keep up with a dynamic, changing economy. Can you name more than one American made hybrid (or even one for that matter)?
We saw the same thing happen in 1970 when the federal government took over what was then the Pullman Company and federalize the national railroad system creating Amtrak. Amtrak is still alive today thanks to the government buyout. I won’t go as far as to say Amtrak is doing well but it is the fucking railroad, it hasn’t been the preferred method of travel in like 80 years what do you expect.
Please Congress, don’t bailout the auto industry, do not reward the incompetence of corporate America. Buy them out. Trim the fat of the incompetent executives running the show, employ more hard working Americans and make the American auto industry the leader in innovation and technology once again.
If the taxpayers are to be burdened with saving the auto industry from selfish, greedy and bungling suits that have driven it into the ground, the taxpayers should be rewarded with affordable, reliable cars and trucks that they can be proud of, that they in fact own a piece of.
No reward. No risk.
