The Sentinel

Detroit is Hemorrhaging

XeroJ,

I agree, let them fail. I was just making the point that according to GM itself it had only about 12 billion left. Of course that's operating cash. But even if the 100 billion dollar amount is true ( and I have no reason not to believe you), with inflation (and not the silly number the government trots out, but the one before the Clinton Admin. chose to NOT report the way it was for decades before in order to artificially keep all those Gov. funded liabilities based on inflation from eating up the budget while they were in power, which, of course, Bush the Stupid decided to keep as well) at 8.5% and health care inflation at 10-20%, that CD making 5% for GM is pretty much worthless.

Even when our Dollar was worth something, today 100 Billion won't buy you much.


On Nov 08 07:26 PM XeroJ. wrote:

> Also, with 5% or higher CD rates, that 100 billion will generate
> lots of interest and should last a long long time for them.

Detroit is Hemorrhaging

Now you have raised a very interesting point. No matter how you come down on the abortion issue, the fact remains that by Planned Parenthood's own numbers the number of babies aborted since 1973 here in America alone is 50 million.

So that means there are, right now, a whole lot less consumers who would be buying cars, (some of those America models), a whole lot of factory workers not making those cars, and a lot of people not alive to work in order to pay taxes in order to fund education, infrastructure, Social Security, Medicare, Medicade, etc. etc.

Oh...by the way....the highest percentage by far of aborted babies are black. Which means that if those babies had been carried to term, there would have been enough to vote for Gore, or Kerry or the first black President long before Obama.

Another economic irony.....all those Baby Boomers who aborted their children.....those children would now be alive to pay for their retirement. But now all we can hope for is amnesty for illegal immigrants. Which, by the way, there are 25 million in this country and if the word got out that amnesty was on the way, it has been estimated that at least two more family members at a minimum would try to run across the border in order to make the amnesty deadline. Which would swell their numbers up to .....hmmmm.....close to 50 million......around the number of children aborted since 1973.

Karma....it is a bitch.


On Nov 08 06:29 PM waynei wrote:

> Gov Granholm should propose that Michigan become the Abortion and
> Euthanasia Capital of the World! Now that we have a pro abortion
> president, house and senate with Granholm a hugh proponent of abortion/euthanasia-
> Michigan can lead the way and create thousands of jobs. Great location
> to draw teenage girls from Canada. Harvest those stem cells and market
> them to cure wrinkels and baldness.
> where others see crisis granholm sees opportunity
> waynei

Detroit is Hemorrhaging

Well, sickofthehype, the reason Toyota does build great cars in America was because of our dumb-ass Republican and Democratic CONgress giving the Japanese a break on tariffs on imported car sales by allowing them to build factories here in order to say that their Japanese designed, Japanese tooled parts that went into those cars were indeed American built cars and not subject to tariffs. It was also done to help the auto industry that was already showing declines along with a broader manufacturing base decline to retain American industrial workers from being laid off never to return.

Once again... a short-sighted, band-aid approach to solutions from our friendly, neighborhood Congress.

But then again...can't lay the blame entirely on them....after all.....they represent us.....do they not?

Detroit is Hemorrhaging

"America DOES produce great autos, it's just that Toyota is making them."

Ouch!


On Nov 08 05:55 PM sickofthehype wrote:

> When you build a POS for so many years in a row, and are REactive
> not PROactive, bad things happen.
>
> If American car co's were spending more time coming up w/ better
> products, they wouldn't be in this position.
>
> Not to mention, I owned a 1995 Chevy Tahoe 4X4. It came off the assembly
> line in MEXICO. Now I own a Toyota that came off the line in Indiana.
> America DOES produce great autos, it's just that Toyota is making
> them.

Detroit is Hemorrhaging

The only problem with that XeroJ is that they do not have the money to buy out their Union Contracts AND pay for pensions AND pay for health care for workers and retirees.


On Nov 08 06:00 PM XeroJ. wrote:

> GM & Ford must move to the Southern States where workers are
> friendly and no unions. Otherwise, NO CHANCE of Survival, Simple.

Detroit is Hemorrhaging

I'll just cut and paste a reply to a really "smart fellow" named "Gumby"....(Yep....Gum... who said the only problem that the automakers have is not enough shareholders and that you should call your broker now to buy these really cheap stocks.

Here it is.....

Yeah...right, Gumby.....why don't you just stick to acting in dumb stop-motion cartoons.

Shareholders smell dog crap in the US automakers, but it's very old, dried out, bleached white dog crap. Look at a 50 year time-line of profitability and market share, and you tell me if these these companies deserve life support from the government. This will be the SECOND TIME that Chrysler has had it chestnuts pulled from the fire by the Feds (Remember the 70's and Lee Iacocca?)....if the Feds decide to do anything....(Probably so, since there are Bush/Obama cronies in Cerebus that owns that piece of crap company).

Go ahead...root for a bailout. Throw even more money into rat hole. And then watch as these companies come right back to Uncle Sam begging for more dough....when it's so worthless from inflation and interest rates are so high that nobody can afford a car....even a piece of crap from GM or Ford or Chrysler.

Aaahhh....America..... where Capitalism rules......until Capitalists screw it up so badly they beg for Socialism to save it.

General Motors: Beginning the Endgame?

Yeah...right, Gumby.....why don't you just stick to acting in dumb stop-motion cartoons.

Shareholders smell dog crap in the US automakers, but it's very old, dried out, bleached white dog crap. Look at a 50 year time-line of profitability and market share, and you tell me if these these companies deserve life support from the government. This will be the SECOND TIME that Chrysler has had it chestnuts pulled from the fire by the Feds (Remember the 70's and Lee Iacocca?)....if the Feds decide to do anything....(Probably so, since there are Bush/Obama cronies in Cerebus that owns that piece of crap company).

Go ahead...root for a bailout. Throw even more money into rat hole. And then watch as these companies come right back to Uncle Sam begging for more dough....when it's so worthless from inflation and interest rates are so high that nobody can afford a car....even a piece of crap from GM or Ford or Chrysler.

Aaahhh....America..... where Capitalism rules......until Capitalists screw it up so badly they beg for Socialism to save it.


On Nov 08 03:00 PM Gumby wrote:

> yak yak yak yak blah blah blah !!!!!
> Right now, Ford is at $2 and GM is at $4
> A screaming bargain, arent they?
> quit analyzing and analyzing...
> Just call your broker, simple as that!
> GM and Ford is missing something... called shareholders!

When Will the Recession End?

To Socialism cannot compete!

While technically true that the globe can support much more tha 6 billion people, it is practically NOT true. Your comment that most impoverishment and hunger globally is due to repressive regimes is also technically true but your dismissing of the assumption that the planet cannot support that number shows you have a quasi-utopian view that if we could just get rid of repressive regimes things would be much better and the world could support more people. True enough....just show me where in history there was a period of time when there wasn't a preponderance of repressive regimes.

Otherwise, you have to deal with the facts at hand, not what you wish.


On Nov 06 05:22 PM Socialism cannot compete! wrote:

> @perceptions_now: Out of a very lengthy, rambling comment containing
> much speculation not backed by facts, I need to pick on one lie in
> particular:
>
> "Now, at over 6 Billion people, we are starting to exhaust the earth’s
> capacity to support human species."
>
> Absolutely false. The reason so many are malnourished in the world
> has MUCH more to do with the political regime they "live" under,
> not the lack of capability to produce enough food. Most people are
> not aware that the main reason for the population boom in the last
> century is simply that lifespans saw a big increase due to unprecedented
> advances in medicine -- vaccines, antibiotics, organ transplants,
> etc. Things unheard of before the 20th century. We are not likely
> to continue increasing life expectancies by the margin that we did
> so in the last century. The UN predicts increases to continue through
> about 2040 (with the pace of increase slowing), and then begin a
> population decline. Not because of food shortages or the inability
> of the Earth to support more people...but because citizens of industrialized
> countries are having fewer children. They are in school longer and
> marry later, delaying the start of family life.
>
> If anything, we will find ourselves in a situation where we do not
> have ENOUGH people in younger generations. This is *already* the
> case in many European countries, which are giving tax credits...and
> even one-time lump sum payments to couples when they have a child!!
> We are currently in a situation in the U.S. where Social Security
> and Medicare are increasingly underfunded due to the swell of retirees
> (with the boomers just starting!) vs. the smaller base of workers
> paying in!!
>
> Paul Ehrlich and his radical anti-birth associates have long since
> been discredited. Move along.

Economic and Financial Bad News

Gabe also stated: "Google my name and read my track record."

If I had any money in your fund (Thank God I do not) I would immediately pull out every last cent for that kind of remark on top of the monumentally silly Dow 20,000 quip.

Even the lowliest investor understands this statement on every prospectus...

"Past performance is NOT indicative of future results."

I call on everyone who has money invested with this character to immediately remove your assest to someone with a little more sanity.

Economic and Financial Bad News

Gabe stated: "The Dow is heading for 20,000 level in two years-period."

This is why we are warned by wise people not to indulge in crack.

This Time, We'll Learn the Lesson

Sigh....

Of course we will not learn. We are human beings. We are born into sin (if you want to take the spiritual side of looking at things) or we are born into stupidity and greed (if you want to take the cynical side of things.....I, for one, take both sides as equally true).

Look at the last 300 years of the banking system as we know it from the Bank of England to now. Look how many bubbles, panics, recessions, depressions, mania, etc. we have had. The generation that gets it in the neck is the one that learns. It's the stupid, greedy, sinful children and grandchildren of that generation who do not.....thus starting the whole sordid cycle over again.

The Wheel In The Sky keeps on turnin'....and eventually everything considered bad becomes good again....until reality bites in its harsh cosmic way.

How Will Shrinking Boomer Spending Affect the Economy?

cruise9806 sez: "With the amount of extra money pumped into the economy, baby boomers pensions will reduce in buying capacity. Future inflation is going to kill them. "

Correct. Also correct is the untold story of subsidization of this generation by the "Worst Generation". As Boomer socialization collapses as the U.S. embraces it with Gen 1 socialism from Bush the Stupid and Gen 2 socialism from Barack the Bolshevik, the (Complete) National Debt which stands at nearly 60 trillion dollars when you combine National Debt, Medicare, Social Security, Pensions, and VA benefits, will overwhelm the entire net worth of America which is @ 80 trillion...(that's counting just the entire net worth of the country if you sold off everything real such as land, businesses, mineral rights, savings, etc. and discounting all worthless paper values.)

The only thing we can do is to default now while we have a chance to control our destiny going forward. This will cause a calamity the likes the world has never seen. Riots will insue, insurrection against the government may happen. Governments worldwide would fail and war would be the norm. But better now at 60 trillion than at 80 or 100 or more. And better we tell every one who funds our debt to frag off before our debt holders tell us how America should be ordered.

Not that that is not happening in some fashion even now.

Why the CDS Market Didn't Fail

"So by all means fix the CDS market, and make it safer. But bear in mind, too, that people drive faster when they're wearing seatbelts."

First rule of inventing/using an analogy. Make sure that it is based in truth. And yours is not.

Secondly, what is true about your analogy is that if you do NOT wear your seatbelt you will get a ticket. Do this enough and you will lose your license. And even if you DO DRIVE FASTER while wearing your seatbelt you will ALSO get a ticket. And do this enough and you will ALSO LOSE YOUR LICENSE!

Why all this "regulation" concerning traffic laws? Because wearing your seatbelts minimizes your chance of serious injury and death. And limiting speeding also minimizes your chance of serious injury and death.

Both of which INCREASES OUR INSURANCE COST, even for those that DO wear their seatbelt and DO NOT speed.

So the better analogy using traffic memes would be that the riskiest investment schemes should be the most regulated because of the increased chance of not only a "CRASH" but increased "COST" to the innocent who also "DRIVE" on the "INVESTMENT HIGHWAY".