[Dane]

Now there's a job every American will do, sit around and get paid for doing nothing.

[apackof2]

It gets boring real fast

[Graybeard58]

sit around and get paid for doing nothing.

That's my job! (retired)

[When do we get liberated?]

Yeah, few Mexicans on that end of the payroll

[VOA]

A company that loses $10 billion cannot afford 7,500 who don't work

LOL! GM deserves to die!
For having the daring to muscle in on the "good pay for no work" monopoly
held by Federal, state and local guvmints!

[rbg81]

I had heard about this before, but was sketchy on the details. Someone needs to take a blow torch to GM and its Unions. This is nuts for a company losing this much $$ to be tolerating this crap--it indicates a total lack of leadership on someone's part. The Union should be smart enough to recognize that they are the parasites killing the host. Maybe Receivership IS the only answer--a very sad commentary for a once great company and engine of American growth.

[NeoCaveman]

Yes, Americans are lazy.

That's a winning campaign slogan

/sarc

[Maceman]

But why wait until next year before dealing with this problem? GM executives do no one any good by prolonging this program that fails in so many ways.

Because right now negotiations are going on with UAW/Delphi/GM, and the jobs bank is only one of numerous issues on the table.

The UAW contract expires in 2007, and that will determine the timing of how things proceed.

[Random Access]

See the USA in your Subaru....

[Anti-Bubba182]

I did not Know about the jobs bank. It is impossible for me to have a lot of sympathy for the UAW membership.

I wonder if GM goes bankrupt, does that end the pensions of their retiriees?

[Harmless Teddy Bear]

Now there's a job every American will do, sit around and get paid for doing nothing.

That isn't exactly just. If that was true then unions would be growing in size rather then shrinking even as industry grows.

The problem is that a union is geared toward making sure the least productive keep their job.

The UAW has turned this into such a art form, to the point that other unions regard them with disgust.

[PLMerite]

GM needs to get into the sewer-cleaning business and put some of that "pool" to work. I wonder how many of them would quit?

[longtermmemmory]

seven thousand happy democrats.

[BW2221]

According to Edmunds, a company that provides automotive data, they are predicting that GM sales will be down by 11% from March 2005 and Ford will be down about 5%.

The Jobs Bank is only part of the problem. Much of it is the culture at GM and Ford. Executives are overpaid and constantly switched to different jobs. It doesn't matter if you leave a mess, it's someone else's problem.

Ford has another problem - its culture discourages risk-taking. Ford marketing people blindly follow the advice of J. Walter Thompson, the Ford Division's ad agency, no matter how foolish the advice is because at Ford "no one ever got fired for following the advice of J. Walter Thompson."

[Born Conservative]

Rush discussed this several weeks ago. IIRC, I believe that the other 2 in the "Big 3" automakers are also a part of this.

[hermgem]

What does the term featherbedding mean?
It's unionists with their high up political Democrat connections and media support that suck the lifeblood out of businesses.
We listened to Presidential campaigns when Gore and then Kerry lashed out at businesses to gain voters with this socialist me, me, me strain.