John D

Buyer Beware: 30 Biggest Bankruptcy Risks

More info we don't really need - like the movie said "If you have nothing nice to say ...don't say anything at all" - how about going back to the drawing board and find something POSITIVE + for the readers, I'm pretty sure that everyone has had enough of the bad news !!

GM and Chrysler Buyout Offers: Should Taxpayers Be Angry?

Not a good article ... it's bad enough that the government wants to try and show any business how they should be run (the very same government that paid watchdogs BIG money to mind the financial situation of the USA and failed miserably) Now you as well Robert ??? The taxpayers should be happy that the government is LENDING them the money to try and keep the jobs here in North America where they are drying up fast. There should however be STRICT RULES for Wall St that are even more stringent than those handed down to the auto sector - bonuses should be STOPPED and ACCOUNTABILITY for what has happened put in instead, if you or I took money and mislead those investors, lost all of the investor money would you give me more money or prosecute me for what I had done??

William Holstein on Why GM Matters

Finally some straight answers that are actually based on FACT - WELL DONE RICK!!!!

Let's Hope the Auto Bailout Has Failed for Good

It's really hard to believe that so many that want to see the North American economy fail so much that they are blind as to what the consequences are going to be - 1st the financial crisis - 2nd the credit crisis and strike 3 - failure to give the industry help to keep the economy rolling - Is it the company - the union or the government ....Hmmmm. Lets back up now if all of the high priced help in the government with all of their expertise could not see the financial crisis was going to hit the industrials - THEY LET THE USA DOWN - not to mention the tsunami that is rippling around the globe. They would rather see 3 million American families without a way to support their families (which is now 12 million Americans - 4 per family) instead of sucking it up - do the math and fix that which should never have gotten started in the 1st place - were there no flags or warnings that this was coming or did they just ignore it long enough to head to higher ground in Washington with their pensions and investments intact. Hmmmm??? It was not the fault of the employees and their families they were just trying to make a living, I guess the term "casualties of WAR" comes into place - TRILLIONs spent to protect the country from others and ZERO to protect it from itself.

GM and Chrysler: Why's Bankruptcy So Expensive?

Lets just suppose that there was not a CREDIT CRISIS right now and that everything was moving along .... North American auto companies were already well on the way to a leaner process - all 3 had a new agreement with the union to take the health care off their books - all 3 have raised the health care costs for salaried employees - all 3 have been downsizing (Big Time) before the financials screwed up and all 3 have changed the rules for their new hired salaried work force - they get 4% per year and you look after your own pension - no doubt this would have come up at the next contract talks as well ( I worked for GM 35 yrs and they always try it out on the salaried workforce 1st) - all 3 have made leaps and bounds in quality and productivity. They and all the tax payers would not be in any bind right now if it wasn't for the guys on Wall St that are still getting bonuses from the tax payer and you can bet the watch dogs from the Bush Admin who let this come about and failed to do their job by heading it off will still be getting their wages, bonuses and huge pensions.

Bankruptcy Could Reduce GM's Debt by 65%

Why is it that no-one wanted anything to do with GM Ford or Chrysler until the dam burst, the government stayed clear because "they don't get involved with private industry" now every senator from Maine to California are "experts in business" and think they know how to run a business the size of any one of these - when they sat on their duff and let the financial crisis take all of North America to it's knees. I still say that bankruptcy is not a viable option for the auto industry - are the customers going to run out and buy a car from them - I think not, are the suppliers going to line up to sell them parts without cash up front - probably not. Would I buy a car from them once the credit markets correct themselves (AND THE #1 SOURCE OF THIS WHOLE PROBLEM) that there is a very good chance of, I have driven GM my whole life and it's always been good to me. On another note while picking on the politicians - did they not know that when they signed these trade agreements that the Big3 overhead was higher because they were paying the health care instead of the government (that's gonna change real quick - more burden on the tax system) and as far as pensions go, all that money will come back into the economy BUT, in the future there will be no pensions guaranteed - they will give their employees 4% per year and you look after your own which combining the 2 relieves the auto sector from BILLIONS in future costs making them right up there with the lean Asian manufacturers that congress keeps POINTING out, oh by the way did you hear that Toyota - Honda - Nissan are all generating losses for 2008 and it's not looking pretty for 2009 as well, hmmm perhaps by letting them over supply North America the politicians didn't see this coming neither and they want to run the business Hhhmmmmm!! God Help Us!!

Is GM's Worker Buyout Offer Insulting?

Desperate times call for desperate measures - there was a larger offer on the table 6 months ago that any employee could have taken - their choice then & their choice now.

The 12 Most Important Cars of 2009

Even though GM gets critisism for having to many product lines there are many in their lineup that have good value, great resale and great gas mileage according to many (Impala, Malibu, Vibe, Silverado for a few) If anyone is out to buy a new car there is at least one from GM that would compare to just about any other product. That being said they will be forced into reducing their brands just to save money which will take some options away from the customer.
You also have to consider that buying from Detoit that it is a great way to make your investment as a taxpayer prosper and help the ailing economy by providing a proven 30% more jobs to the local economy and help out greatly in these desperate times for all.

William Holstein on Why GM Matters

I'm pretty sure that Fox must be upset because the auto companies have pulled ads to save $$ - so now they just go out of their way to stab at them and upset everyone involved - if they were the battery that GM is looking for in the Chevy Volt - Fox would definatley be the "negative" side of that battery!!


On Feb 22 11:57 AM babyray wrote:

> Thumbs up article!! Finally somebody who is not blinded by Fox News(The
> GOP Channel) It will be a sad day in America if we let this industry
> fail. It is the last great American Manufacturing business left.
> Be American!! Buy American!! Drive American!!

What Do We Need In 2009? More Failure

It's hard to believe that so many look at the auto industry as a bailout - duh - you should all be looking at it for what it is. The financial sector screwed up royally which Wall St & the government watchdogs all allowed to happen and all of the attention to the auto sector is nothing more than a "smoke & mirrors" show to distract the public. If anything the government allowed the financial sector to collapse - gave them $350 billion with NO accountability (bonuses ???), don't know where most of it went and the only thing that the auto industry did was to get caught in the middle of the credit crunch which they all rely on to sell their products. Wagner & the boys should not have been in Washington answering questions - the government should have been in Detroit telling them how they screwed it up so bad and instead of bonuses on Wall St. the attorney general should have been laying charges to those that abused the system enough to set off a crisis of GLOBAL proportions. If GM - Ford & Chrysler are in financial trouble it's only because of FREE trade instead of EQUAL trade which is another government funded blunder - "come & take ours jobs and profits - we're big enough to handle it - NOT" Hopefully a new government will take the bull by the horns and make changes to an unfair policy to allow the DUMPING of cars and many other products. Time to level the playing field!!

Economic Efficiency Cannot Be Calculated

CONSTRUCTE .... No doubt you must be involved in POLITICs you seem to write with the same arrogance as those speak of in congress. You think that the politicians could do a better job of running a corporations - and yet they have a hard time showing the discipline to do what is right for the country without letting their almighty emotions cloud there judgment. The GM, Ford & Chrysler fiasco was nothing more than SMOKE & MIRRORS to divert the attention away from the actual source of the problem ... politicians throw $700 billion at a problem that THEY never should have allowed to happen in the beginning and make the auto industry do a song & dance for a few billion in LOANs so that they can survive the CREDIT CRISIS - and you ask why they were so low on cash ... because the SAME politicians allowed the Asian car companies to dump cars here under FREE TRADE but had they have been doing their jobs properly would have been EQUAL TRADE where they take the same amount of cars to their countries but that didn't happen either. The auto companies no longer provide a set pension for new employees, they get 4% annually and they invest it how they see fit - they no longer provide health care, the union will look after it and when that dries up the government will need to take over (you forget the BILLIONs the tax payers saved when the Big 3 were paying for YOU) - it's nice to see how patriotic you and the other politicians are but I think you all should get out the Webster’s dictionary and look up the term PATROTIC again - I believe it has to do with looking after your OWN country.
If anything the politicians should be in Detroit doing a "Song & Dance" with how they neglected to do their job which lead to financial problems on a GLOBAL scale - that my friend is called ARROGANCE !!


On Dec 28 08:38 AM constructe wrote:

> As always almost 100% with you on your posts. With all the mass unpredictable
> Fed and Treasury moves it will be extraordinarily hard to determine
> the effects of any one or combination of actions taken by them. It's
> like treating a patient with a fever with flue shots, antibiotics,
> ritual bleeding, depessants to make them sleep, and and stimulants
> to wake them up. The cure is more likely to kill them than the disease.
>
>
> Thanks for the quote Confucius quote. High salaries for bailed out
> execs do make us all sick. Catapillar is still profitable and their
> execs took a voluntary pay cut. I'd be happy to bankrupt GM and put
> it under their management any day. The big question has always been,
> how do we replace the management without harming the business and
> industry. So far management's refusal to leave, cut their salary,
> or do anything else but hold their employees and companies hostage
> for taxpayers ransom has left no other option but bankruptcy to solve
> this issue.
>
> Poor GM and poor America who has to bail them out. I doubt it will
> solve anything. I didn't in the 70's. That's why they are still in
> this predicament 30 years later.
>
>
>

Say No to the Auto Industry Beggars

So you think it would be better to put 2.5 million more out of work because you think you could run a billion $$ corporation better than you can write??

GM Bailout Would Be Agony for Taxpayers

Burden on taxpayers?? If the auto industry does not get the same relief that the financials are getting - there is no use in bailing the financials out - In very simple terms - people need to have a JOB in order to make some MONEY to pay the TAXES to bail out the financials as well - if you bail out one and not the other - WHO is going to pay the TAXES to bail out just the financial sector?? therefore it would be usless to do only one. It's not just GM - Ford & Chrysler that are in financial trouble - it's the WHOLE country - they are just caught in it the same as everyone else - this is not the time to say the Big 3 don't run their businesses efficiently - look at the stocks - they are definatley not alone - EVERYONE in North America needs help now - and it's OUR job to pull together and do that - not to lay blame - Trillions on WAR in Iraq but not a few billion to FEED your OWN ?

Rating Obama's First 100 Days

He is rated high on my list - especially considering that given the state of the economy, the nation and the numerous areas in which he has been involved, he has managed to do a great job. There are not many right now that would like to be in his boots. He is obviously well respected about the globe, he is younger which allows him to have a whole different perspective of what needs to be done - right down to opening up to Cuba and breaking OLD trends!!

Crisis Strategy: Coping With Trillion Dollar Deficits

This is the same kind of 2nd guessing article that goes out of the way to create doom & gloom on the chance that if they are right they can say "I told you so" & if it doesn't pan out that way - no-one will ever refer back to it. If I was reporting anything right now it would looking at the upside of something as the news groups and newspapers are on the block today due to the drying up of advertising funds from the same companies that have been bashed - speculated - and reported on without ALL of the facts dries up. Perhaps its time to stop the speculating and start HELPING with some upside reporting instead of trying to make a bad situation even worse. Talk about BITING the HAND that FEEDS YOU !!