They need to go under and drag the union down with it.
Without bankruptcy, some UAW union guy is booking an extra 2 week vacation to Hawaii, purchasing a new ski-doo, reconsidering that vacation home, getting braces for the kids and putting an extra $200 down on the Lions.
As I just said on another thread.
How about developing cars that last longer than the average financing contract?
That is what attracts most to the “foreign” cars. As an insurance agent, you see a LOT older cars being insured that are Honda, Nissan and Toyota than you do Ford or Chevy.
Just a non-scientific observation.
I vote for bankrupcy; or for THEM finding theier own way out of the mess that THEY made for themselves.
Why the hell should my tax dollars go to pay for the ill-advised full-salaried, early retirement plan of some unionized bozo whom GM used to pay way too much money to tighten bumper bolts on Chevy Malibus?
Maybe they’re going to have to break some of the promises they made to their spoiled work-force.
Too bad, so sad. But I never benefited from their largesse with their unskilled workers and I see no reason why I should have to bear the burden of their failures.
And that goes for Ford and Chrysler too. $73 per hour for unskilled bolt tighteners... Sheesh.
They have to go Chapter 11, or their problems will just continue.
LET THEM GO BANKRUPT AND THE MARKET WILL DECIDE WHAT TO BUY, AND WHEN TO BUY IT.
Question for GM: Why so opposed to anyone getting a look at your books...?
Bailouts mean we've decided to be a socialist country. We're not talking about a slippery slope anymore. We're going off the cliff.
I think the deal is greased on both sides of the aisle.
for the Dems it’s the UAW, Nancy, Harry & Barry
for the Reps it’s Cerberus, Snow, and Quayle.
"Going bankrupt" may be what the US automakers need, however if the companies go out of business, that would be a real economic disaster. A bankruptcy will allow GM to reorganize, and renegotiate their agreements. If this is allowed, the #1 place where the remaining money that GM has MUST be allocated to pay off commitments to pensions and health benefits of workers. Say what you will, but the company agreed to those terms with the workers, who negotiated and later worked in good faith. It's wrong to just "steal" from those workers. At the same time, as a tax payer, we had damned well better not get saddled with the costs of those promises by a corrupt board at GM.
On the other hand, there's nothing wrong with the company having to renegotiate the terms of existing workers.
However, if GM were to shut its doors, that would be an economic disaster. Remember, we're not just talking about the production plants. We're talking about dealerships as well. And suppliers of parts, and their suppliers, all the way down the chain to raw materials. The reverberations of the failure of GM would be a real economic disaster.
Mark
Yea, this is not a special interest payoff.
This bail out would be for the unions and the workers with benefits most of us can’t imagine. What happens in a couple of months when they again can’t afford the union graft or the wages? A bailout several times a year? They should go bankrupt. The government money hasn’t helped AIG!
Have those workers given thought to how many of their wages and benefits could have been covered by the money the unions used to elect Obama. Call him, he may still have some of the $605 billion left to help with workers bills!
Let them go bankrupt. Let unions enjoy their President.
GM needs a new business model. A bailout won’t provide that.
“Bankruptcy vs. a Bailout”
Don’t worry, under Obamb, Pelousy, Reid, etc, we will likely have both.
This is all about union power.
Bailout = power for unions protected
Bankruptcy = POWER TO THE TAXPAYER.
say NO to the jobs pool.
“DETROIT — Momentum is building in Washington for a rescue package for the auto industry to head off a possible bankruptcy filing by General Motors, which is rapidly running low on cash.”
Seems like only 12-18 months ago (or was it even more recently?), that the possibility of a GM bankruptcy was raised right here of FR - and folks laughed it off. How could the backbone of American manufacturing go belly up?
Looks like “the impossible” has happened - and not only with GM.
I don’t see how the democrats can “fix” this by propping up a teetering colossus with bailouts. Ultimately, the bailouts will only prolong and perhaps exacerbate the mistakes that brought GM to where it is today. Perhaps in this case, an actual bankruptcy becomes the only real option, the only pathway from which the company can take the necessary actions from which to restructure itself.
However, “democratic logic” (an oxymoron) won’t permit this. Thus, we must have a “bailout”. Even worse, GM may end up as a government-owned corporation. Think Trabant writ large.
It’s not GM that will be bankrupted, but the taxpayers who will be forced to subsidize their [continuing] failure.
- John
Obama promised these folks the world but I guess he didn’t count on GM needing a bailout this soon. If Bush caves on this, they will hang it around his neck. If GM goes bankrupt, as I understand it, they can declare their union contracts null and void and THAT is what will hurt Obama in the long run.