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Re: One liners from the sales frontlines (back on topic).... [driver100]

by joel0622 on Fri Nov 14 13:09:14 PST 2008

Here is a pretty good article that was in todays Automotive News. The cost of GM's death Automotive News | November 14, 2008 - 12:28 pm EST If Congress thinks a bailout of General Motors is expensive, it should consider the cost of a GM failure. Let’s be clear. The alternative to government cash for GM is not a dreamy Chapter 11 filing, a reorganization that puts dealers and the UAW in their place, ensuring future success. No, even if GM could get debtor-in-possession financing to keep the lights on (which it can’t), Chapter 11 means a collapse of sales and a spiral into a Chapter 7 liquidation. GM’s 100,000 American jobs will die. Health care for a million Americans will be lost or at risk. Hundreds of GM’s 1,300 suppliers will die. Their collapse could take down Ford Motor Co. and Chrysler LLC, perhaps even North American transplants. Dealers in every county of America will close. The government will face greater unemployment, more Americans without health insurance and greater pension liabilities. Criticize Detroit 3 executives all you want. But the issue today is not whether GM should have closed Buick years ago, been tougher with the UAW or supported higher fuel economy standards. In the next two to four months, GM will run out of cash and turn out the lights. Only government money can prevent that. Every other alternative is fantasy. The $25 billion in loans that Congress approved to partially fund improvements in fuel economy? Irrelevant. Dead automakers do not invest in technology. The collapse of the global financial system has crushed the American car market, dried up revenues for the Detroit 3 and highlighted their weaknesses. Each of the Detroit 3 is in crisis. But Ford, which borrowed big two years ago and thus has more cash today, may skip a bailout and the strings attached. Cerberus, which bought Chrysler last year, doesn’t deserve money. Government cash might help sell Chrysler to a strategic owner. Some Detroit critics want their pound of flesh: Throw the bums out and install a government czar. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson won’t use any of his $700 billion bank bailout money to help manufacturers. In any case, he’d need a guarantee that a bailout would make Detroit “viable.” Well, nobody -- not even AIG -- is insuring guarantees for viability. The taxpayer needs protection and an upside. GM’s top management may need to go. Government-as-shareholder deserves a big voice. Those details can be worked out. The Detroit 3 CEOs and UAW President Ron Gettelfinger had better tell two critical congressional hearings next week what sacrifices they are prepared to make. But the stark fact remains: Absent a bailout, GM dies, and with it much of manufacturing in America. Congress needs to do the right thing -- now

Re: 50 billions to UAW workers? [fintail]

by lemko on Mon Nov 10 10:09:36 PST 2008

Same thing for cars. Automobiles were a rich man's plaything until Henry Ford came along and gave us the Model T. He also believed his workers should be paid enough to afford the cars they were building. Today, I doubt any of those Chinese assembly line workers make nearly enough to afford any of the products they're making. Those who have the gold make the rules, and they are demanding that the masses make do with less so they can preserved their ill-begotten stranglehold. Pretty soon the masses will have so little they'll believe they have nothing to lose anyway, so they'll turn on their corporate elitist masters. How ya fixed for blades?

Re: [hpowders]

by circlew on Sat Nov 08 12:43:54 PST 2008

Needless to say, I hope the government stands strong and doesn't give a cent to any of the US automakers. They have turned out inferior products for years. Now it's time to say sayonara. You know I agree 100% with you guys regarding free market. Here's what we voted for: WASHINGTON (AP) -- Democratic leaders in Congress asked the Bush administration on Saturday to provide more aid to the struggling auto industry, which is bleeding cash and jobs as sales have dropped to their lowest level in a quarter-century. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said in a letter to Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson that the administration should consider expanding the $700 billion bailout to include car companies. ''A healthy automobile manufacturing sector is essential to the restoration of financial market stability, the overall health of our economy, and the livelihood of the automobile sector's work force,'' they wrote. ''The economic downturn and the crisis in our financial markets further imperiled our domestic automobile industry and its work force.'' Please tell me this would not be a huge waste of cash and another government controlled industry. These people are not real leaders to cave in to madmen! Get aboard the Bailout Train...Next Stop: Government Health Care. Enjoy the ride! :mad: Regards, OW

no title

by thedemoguy on Wed Nov 05 06:49:43 PST 2008

Ford has a warranty report card so to speak, that the dealer gets for doing warranty work. If they do a lot of warranty work they get a bad grade so the dealer doesn't like to do it because it makes them look bad with ford.... The first thing that tells me is ford is looking for someone to pass the blame off to or get the dealer to find a way to get out of doing the warranty work. This is not the ford that once was, ford used to be a great company that would stand behind there trucks and cars 110% now I think they have a bunch of been counters running the show and that will be the end of ford down the line. To bad, ford was the greatest truck money could buy and now there just another failing part of history. Henry Ford is probably turning over in his grave.

Re: With the Big Three gone... [kernick]

by lemko on Wed Oct 29 11:27:42 PDT 2008

I don't think Gates, Buffett, Kerkorian, or any other billionaire of you're choice would be as reckless and self-destructive as to try to start-up a new auto company. The last guy who tried that was Henry Kaiser and we all know how well that worked out. Maybe I'd be stupid enough to try it if I had the capital, but I'd still call my company General Motors though it would only be manufacturing Cadillacs and Buicks - but they'd really be awesome Cadillacs and Buicks if they were manufactured to my standards. Oh, I'd have Chevrolets too, but they'd be more like the Impalas, Chevelles, Corvettes, and Camaros of old. My small high-quality car would be the Nova.

Al Gore has nerve

by gagrice on Thu Oct 23 07:43:03 PDT 2008

Temperature for speech breaks 125 year old record for low temperature. Dear Members of the Harvard Community, Although today's weather will hardly remind us of the serious problem that is global warming, today's event - the Harvard Sustainability Celebration, with a keynote address by former Vice President Al Gore - will go on, as scheduled, in Tercentenary Theatre with a program beginning at 4 p.m. We very much hope that you will attend and enjoy the festivities. Starting at 3 p.m., we will be serving hot cider and soup to keep everyone warm; please dress for our changeable New England weather. Henry Longfellow, onetime Harvard professor and longtime Cantabrigian, once remarked, "The best thing one can do when it's raining is to let it rain." We sincerely hope that, this afternoon, it won't rain. But even if it does, Harvard celebrates Sustainability with spirits undampened. Sincerely, The Sustainability Celebration Committee Office of the President http://www.green.harvard.edu/