Posted on 12/03/2008 9:14:57 AM PST by Turret Gunner A20
By who? That would be General Motors. GM comes to Washington with absolutely no plan to weather the economic storm other than to grovel for taxpayer money. Do you get that? No plan! Nada! It's either hand over taxpayer funds or we're going to bail .. and if we bail we're taking the rest of the country with us. What arrogance!
The Big Three returned to Washington in their hybrid cars. They presented their plans in hopes that this will be enough to get them a government bailout. But guess what? There doesn't seem to be any really drastic changes. Their business models haven't really changed.
Their adhesion contracts with the unions are still in place. There aren't any secure plans to pay back the taxpayers other than creating a government oversight board. Oh yeah ... that makes me feel so good; a government oversight board. I feel better already. December 3, 2008 There is some talk about symbolic cuts. The CEO of GM and the CEO of Ford say that they will work for $1 a year if it means their companies get a taxpayer bailout. That's great. The problem isn't solved by paying CEOs a buck a year. The problem is solved by bring in some management talent that will make extremely difficult decisions and them paying them a gazillion dollars if they can pull their companies out of the fire without raping the taxpayers.
There is already a provision under our laws to take care of this mess. It's called Bankruptcy. Chapter 11 bankruptcy, to be more exact. Reorganization. The magic of bankruptcy is that all outstanding contracts that are making it difficult for these automakers to compete and survive would or could be cancelled --- and that includes the contracts with the United Auto Workers.
Nancy Pelosi is saying that bankruptcy is not an option. Why not? For the very reason I just set forth. Bankruptcy would not work well for the unions.
The capitalist system - free enterprise - has lifted more people out of poverty than any other economic system ever devised by man. Freedom works. And freedom means the freedom to fail if you don't live up to consumer expectations or if you allowed yourself to be drug into unprofitability by asinine union agreements and products the consumers just don't want.
My guess is that the only way these auto companies survive is if they have to fight their way through this without taxpayer help. A bailout is the easy way out for them. What a stupid idea it is to throw tens of billions of dollars at these companies only to have them declare bankruptcy down the road.
There's another idea floating around out there. Let's just take Ford, GM and Chrysler and combine them into one large auto company. Oh yeah .. that ought to work. Nothing like good old-fashioned competition to spruce up the marketplace.
And speaking of competition ... there is no way the Big Three can survive under their current agreement with the unions. These unions cannot be allowed to bring these automakers down. Get rid of them.
Or they can just retire with their golden parachutes.
What a scam!
Call Mitch McConnell and ask him. I suspect now that he is safely back in office for 6 six years, his spine will revert to its previous state of flaccidity.
I guess it would be interesting to note that if they get the “bailout” money, it would be useless if a number of citizens decided to not buy a new vehicle next year...Or maybe the year afterwards...
Of course with unforseen events like damages, total loss, and mechanical breakdowns of existing vehicles we own could change that somewhat...But why buy a vehicle from one of them???
If they get this handout, their “plan” they say is to re-tool, reorganize etc etc...We’ve heard this before, and all it ends up being is namechanges and other bait and switch programs...And in the end nothing really changes...
Bankruptcy would take the Unions down a notch or two, and the expensive entitlements driven by some arm-twisted agreements in the contracts would help the companies out by off-loading the “retired” workers who should have been saving for their retirement, instead of working the 20 and getting paid in full when they retire till they die...
Whoever got that deal passed is a genius...
Like I said, stop buying for the next year or two, and this will take care of itself...
Just my opinion...
I had no idea any of them got that much. I was thinking more around the order of $60,000 a year. Never did I think workers for American car companies got more than twice that.
If they are bailed out with unions intact, I say BOYCOTT !
ROFL! Excellent!
I think the workers get $29 per hour which equates to around $60,000 per year. When you load in the benefits and overtime it apparently comes to more than twice that.
In addition, when plants are idled for whatever reason, the workers draw 95% of their pay for staying home and watching Oprah. Senator Dodd recently commended the auto CEO’s at the hearing for being so benevolent regarding the 95% stipend.
(chuckle)
Thanks for the link.
Its not as if, if they didn't get bailed out they'd have no value, and just have to close up shop, and that would be all. Some other auto company could come along and buy them in a fire sale, and move on from there. They already have so much material to build from. They already have designs on the boards for the next few years. With all the buildings and tooling, the companies are good to go. They even have the man power there. Now whether the man power wants to stay might be a different thing.
Another company thats already building, successfully, in the US, could aquire all the assets of one or more of these companies, and apply their administrative policies to the assets, and they're good to go.
If people don't like that option? Tough! Its survival. The big 3 ran themselves into the ground. That includes the workers, shareholders, and management and board. Life is tough, learn to deal with it.
And Liberals thought they were winning.
It is sort of like soldiers overrunning a country only to find that there is very little left to take or eat.
And yes some of it is paid to guys in "job bank" who do nothing but sit on their thumbs and read the paper and complain about how rough it is for "working families" in America under Bush.
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