Government err General Motors
This is a marked departure from the past, truly breathtaking, and should send a chill through all Americans who believe in free enterprise. I worry that in one fell swoop we’ve lost our moral high ground throughout the global community as it relates to chastising other countries that use strong-arm tactics to invade on private property rights.
Meanwhile, staghounds notes the method to the madness:
The only thing that makes GM valuable at this price is that it is a ready made conduit, all set up. What for?
Delivering loyalty payments from “the government” to reliable voters. Buying new loyalty from stockholders. Buying gratitude from the workers kept on who aren’t paying their way. Patronage, from contracts and positions.
That, and an unrealistic pension/medical benefits scheme which, when it fails, can be “rescued”. Think of how thankful all those sick old people will be!
March 31st, 2009 at 9:52 am
That was the same Corker who was calling for the UAW workers to accept wage cuts and bring their pay in line with auto workers elsewhere.
Govt calling for workers to change their ways: good!
Govt calling for upper management to do same: AAARRRRRRRRRRRRRGHHHHHHH!!! Oh noezes!!! SOOOOOCCCCIIIIIIIAAAAAALLLLLIIISSSSMMMMMMM!!!!!!!!!!!
March 31st, 2009 at 9:58 am
There’s a pretty big difference between saying maybe you should look at your wage structure when an entity asks you to give it money and pressuring someone to resign.
March 31st, 2009 at 10:15 am
GM = Government Motors
March 31st, 2009 at 10:25 am
There is? It’s still just govt officials nosing around in what the company is doing and how it’s conducting business. Well I guess the difference is govt can’t fire all those labor types, there wouldn’t be a company anymore. The company will find another CEO…in fact, they did. He just gave a presser.
As I said in the other thread, I’m not really wild about all this corporate welfare and would rather see the money we’re spending on it given to consumers to let us pick the products we want to see survive. But you’re out of your gourd if you think the govt isn’t going to exert the same influence any private speculative entity would want to if it were swooping in as the capital angel. Knee capping VC outfits everywhere axe bad management all day long when they come in to save the day. Why on earth should it be any different when you’re using our collective credit card as your VC angel?
March 31st, 2009 at 11:29 am
You do realize, Sebastian, that a kneecapping VC outfit could have probably bought GM, lock, stock, and paintbooth, for less than the bailout funds.
None did.
We should perhaps be drawing a conclusion from that…
March 31st, 2009 at 11:29 am
I suppose it would mean more if the final product were viable in today’s market. Unfortunately, that’s not the case.
Remember this is the company that invented “planned obsolescence” back in the early ’80’s (and, as I recall, had to be bailed out back then, too.)
March 31st, 2009 at 11:40 am
The term “Planned Obsolescence” dates to the 1930s and was widely applied to Detroit in general by the late 1950s.
GM was not “bailed out” in the ’80s. Chrysler did receive federally-guaranteed private loans in 1979 and had them paid off in three years.
Please do more research on your talking points. If only there were some giant computer network that contained this information, and a way to type in your search query…
March 31st, 2009 at 11:41 am
Yeah, that’s kinda the point…in the end taxpayers are leveraged into buying something no sensible investor would buy. Instead of pumping money into a company that made a series of bad investments and didn’t make products the market really wants, they should be giving the money back to us to spend on products that actually do well in the market.
March 31st, 2009 at 12:43 pm
My bet: the unions win and the taxpayer loses.
March 31st, 2009 at 12:55 pm
So what product will Government Motors market now, will it be hardware or software? Patronage as in Government Motivators?
Remember it’s going to be based on the Chicago-model of political persuasion since that’s all they have to work-with, besides a huge cadre of connected union non-workers and pension recipients – an instant ACORN so to speak. Will GM become a phone-bank making calls…or a listening device?
March 31st, 2009 at 2:46 pm
My bet: The Government wins, and both the unions and the taxpayers lose.
March 31st, 2009 at 2:56 pm
The unions and the company have already lost quite a bit. Not sure what the govt is winning beyond the precedent that if you’re big enough not to fail they’re gonna be there for ya.
Too big to fail = too big to exist, and thus the consumer needs more choices.
March 31st, 2009 at 3:21 pm
Gives the quote (misquote actually) “What’s good for GM is good for the country” a whole new meaning.