General Motors to Invest $1 Billion in Brazil Operations -- Money to Come from U.S. Rescue Program

Latin American Herald Tribune ^ | November 22, 2008 | Russ Dallen

[Kaslin]

General Motors plans to invest $1 billion in Brazil to avoid the kind of problems the U.S. automaker is facing in its home market, said the beleaguered car maker.

According to the president of GM Brazil-Mercosur, Jaime Ardila, the funding will come from the package of financial aid that the manufacturer will receive from the U.S. government and will be used to "complete the renovation of the line of products up to 2012."

[hamburglar]

The REAL problem is the $73 per hour (including benefits) a UAW worker makes doing a job a monkey could do. (Robots do the tough jobs). Let GM in Michigan go belly up, screw the Unions. Build GM cars in Mexico ( maybe keeping illegals there) GM becomes an import. Big Deal. UNIONS KILLED DETROIT. (Job Bank = 15,000 UAW goons paid $100k per year to do NOTHING)

[rollo tomasi]

[norraad]

.saving jobs in Brazil....,

Ok, but what bugs me, it's the same old crap.

My father pointed out (he was associated w/R & D), that most of the "R & D" money since the 1950's was spent researching how cheaply stuff could be made and still roll, and even how to make things wear out in a fashion that would annoy consumers into buying yet another widgit.

In terms of greening your scene, wouldn't it have been better to build a good one in the first place?

As a kid one of the employees of the R & D dept. had a "test" 1957 Buick that never wore out and always looked new decades later.

Seeing that beauty every day and how proud the owner was of it left a strong impression on me.

I hope it's still in the family, I don't know, we moved away from there.

But, wouldn't that be something, if you could pass down a beautiful functional machine to your children.

Imagine all the other things we could do instead of being busy all the time manufacturing crap to replace the crap we just made a few years ago that wore out?

I know it's not the point of this thread, but maybe it's time to think about this.

[mnehring]

You notice none of the proposals are actually ways to make their businesses run more efficiently, reduce expenses, or make products that consumers would buy up in droves with good margins.. you know, things normal businesses think about.

GM and Ford fought like nails not to bring in Japanese Kaizen quality control & efficiency principles into their plants and resisted automation all to keep precious union jobs.

[Leisler]

What kind of tissue you want that on? Once the Big 3 get on the public teat, you would have a better chance of french kissing a pit bull.

A broke GM is GM/UAW problem.

GM on the American taxpayer's back, is our problem.

“He aint heavy, He's General Motors”

[Jeff Chandler]

GM once built a fine product

They still do, or perhpas I should say they do again. Their problem is not vehicle quality, it's union benefits. They're killing the company.

[Niuhuru]

It’s times like this when I understand where the socialists are coming from.

[mnehring]

GM and Ford make great products (for average consumers, not referring to the Hummer/Corvette/GT type products), the problem is, they can’t import them in the US. They are strictly EU models. The Ford Mondeo in the EU generally outperforms the BMW 3 series in tests, but the US version, the Contour, doesn’t have half the innovations.

[Leisler]

Like the teacher union, bad management didn't want quality control metrics. Just like thieves that are stealing from the store room never want inventories done.

Just like my Town more or less has a secret budget.

[bert]

Getting out of Michigan is a good thing. The state is a malaria infested swamp with all kinds of diseases that will kill business. Americans whining about saving jobs in Michigan are missing the point. The American jobs in Michigan are the problem.

[quadrant]

If one wants a definition of stupid, all one needs to do is look at the leadership of the UAW.

[monkeycard]

No bail out money for you!

[mnehring]

I hate to use the term, but they are afraid of ‘change’, specifically, positive change to improve processes, innovation, and standards. They are like the physics law of entropy, wanting to move to the lowest energy state.

[CRBDeuce]

To carry that a bit further....GM and Ford need to take a page out of Phillip Morris...which split into domestic MO and international PM. Then if ‘American’ lawyers/unions/Obama want to dig a hole and bury the domestic company, dig away!! At least the rest of the planet doesn’t have to put up with the ‘Party of Suicidal tendencies’!!!!

[mnehring]

The sad part is, with the President Elect and the Congress, I will bet dimes to dollars we will have a bailout. Might as well take advantage and buy up a lot of GM and Ford stock. (it is at record lows).. I am.. even if a bailout flies against everything I believe, I’ll be damned if I am not going to try to get my tax dollars back through the stock.

[Leisler]

What I described is a form of fascism, know as Corporatism. Both are forms of socialism.

[CRBDeuce]

how much can you sodomize an American taxpayer until he gets a vague notion that he's not getting a back massage

Good'n....we seem to find out every Nov. 4.

[70th Division]

Sorry, but I thought this was about American jobs. No, I am not pro union but we need to think about building jobs in America. The Big 3 will be profitable in foreign countries. They do not need our help there. They need our help here if they are willing to work with us.

[egannacht]

Find out where auto bailout money will go.

Where were the parts in your car made?

Hyperlink directs you to Cleveland Plain Dealer's auto content database that identifies where cars and trucks were made and what percentage of their parts were made in America or Canada, beginning with model year 1997.

[Leisler]

They are getting rewarded, life is good. No different than third generation welfare family.

Subsidize it and they will come