User 387439

GM Drives Hummer to China

Well, "It is . . . what it is!" Hummer hasn't been all that mush a money maker for GM. I have to agree, it is a little disconserting to think their will be cheap Chinese Hummers. They might buy more scrap tin cans and steel from our rusting bridges and drive iron prices up here for restored economy and profit! Let's look at the bright side. I hope

May Auto Sales: Better but Not Booming

Kudos To GM. . . WAY lower losses than expected in spite of negative naysayers are bashers! Kudos to the UAW for cooperation and being really constructive team members!

GM Has Been Bankrupt for Years

HE bit again! I knew he would. Cobra, you are such a "piece of work". I have my own computer (several actually) and have always made my own way, not ridden on "daddy's shirt tails" like you have. I am not sure you actually "run" a business as much as try to make it appear a business. And what about those "employees"? I bet your turn over is horrendous for whatever your "cost structure" indicates that wages and benefits(?) should be. Does it include your time online here writing drivel? With your personality and ego I can't imagine anyone wanting to work for you for you let alone with you.
Your experience with the union at Ford vs GM and Chrysler is all your own chose perception. Pay rates, benefits, etc was/is virtually the same at all of the Big 3. So obviously the union is not the reason for GM's plight for restructuring. The fact that workers still have many of benefits intact and retirees pension intact at all of the Big 3 is probably what really galls you. Oh well, you better hope your Wall St. investments in your 401K and IRA's increase some day. Obviously you don't get the point of all the corruption and raiding that went on to create this meltdown. It strikes to close to home for you , I suppose, and is more similar to the way you like to operate. You and Mad Hedge Hog don't have to keep tract of GM or Chrysler. If you like Ford, Honda, Toyota, etc go play over on those blogs. What a sickness you have to keep making yourself sick over something beyond your control. But then, I guess you just want something to complain about.

GM Has Been Bankrupt for Years

Oh and BTW , * ford * has a union called the UAW also. And they all run their own plants. Contracts have been the same for virtually all the Big 3 throughout the years. It's called "pattern bargaining". I relly don't think you know squat about how GM, Chrysler, or Ford runs their plants. You just got a few courtesy calls for some energy related jaw bumping and they all probably gave you the boot. You have no real insight to how an auto company runs let alone access to vital company business functions.
Like I said, if you don't like GM fine.
Go buy your * Fix_Or_Repair_Daily Fords * and move on. This isn't over and Ford is also likely to need financial help soon. But you don't like to hear that, do ya? :D

GM Has Been Bankrupt for Years

Ahhh..... music to my ears :) He bit and couldn't resist! LOL

GM Has Been Bankrupt for Years

Hey * * * " C O B R A 1 " * * * . . . blah, blah, blah. You got what you wanted GM filed BK and you are still belly aching. Go buy your Fix_Or_Repair_Daily Fords and get over it already. Gm is taking care of business the best it can after the Wall St. finance gurus created this bad business climate for everyone. Why don't you do something constructive and actually produce something instead of letting your few employees do all your work for you ( if you even have any real employees that will stay in your company over 6 mos.)
Ya know, it;s clear you don't like GM cars or the company so quit looking and it'll all be better for you. If you keep putting so much negative energy in your rants and meaningless posts, you won't have any mental energy left for constructive things. But then again, I guess you just like being the way you are riding your dad's shirt tails.

'What's Good for GM Is Good for America' Just Isn't True

Hey * * * " C O B R A 1 " * * * . . . blah, blah, blah. You got waht you wanted GM filed BK and you are still belly aching. Go buy your Fix_Or_Repair_Daily Fords and get over it already. Gm is taking care of business the best it can after the Wall St. finance gurus dreated this bad business climate for everyone. Why don't you do something constructive and actually produce something instead of letting your few employees do all your work for you ( if you even have any real employees that will stay in your company over 6 mos.)
Ya know, it;s clear you don't like GM cars or the company so quit looking and it'll all be better for you. If you keep putting so much negative energy in your rants and meaningless posts, you won't have any mental energy left for constructive things. But then again, I guess you just like being the way you are riding your dad's shirt tails.

'What's Good for GM Is Good for America' Just Isn't True

Well guys, you are so original. So GM files for BK and these "clowns" still have to bash. You guys got what you want. There is nothing at all constructive about your comments regarding this. And " Mad Hedge Hog Trader" has regurgitated the same thing, oh, I don't know how many times. LOL One can only hope you both have some critics in the wings that will be there to bash you when you are experiencing loss in your own petty endeavors. Meanwhile . . . go fly a couple kites. And Cobra. ... get off your daddy's computer and go do some work instead of skimming off the efforts of your employees . . . if you actually have any that want to stay with your bogus company.

'What's Good for GM Is Good for America' Just Isn't True

Well guys, you are so original. So GM files for BK and these "clowns" still have to bash. You guys got what you want. There is nothing at all constructive about your comments regarding this. And " Mad Hedge Hog Trader" has regurgitated the same thing, oh, I don't know how many times. LOL One can only hope you both have some critics in the wings that will be there to bash you when you are experiencing loss in your own petty endeavors. Meanwhile . . . go fly a couple kites. And Cobra. ... get off your daddy's computer and go do some work instead of skimming off the efforts of your employees . . . if you actually have any that want to stay with your bogus company.

GM and China: What Are They Thinking?

I agree with the above poster. Importing less than 20,000 units from China isn't a move to produce and import mass quantities of any consequence. It is part of the global scheme of things consisting of quotas for everything from CAFE, parts agreements, brand recognition, etc. Think global. The auto industry has become so complex and manufacturers so entwined the layman or average economic analyst can not accurately assess the reasons for specific trade actions.

What to Expect if GM Doesn't Learn from Chrysler

And, a PGBC pension is subject to several manipulations and would leave most of us with between 50 and 65% of what we are currently entitled to.

What to Expect if GM Doesn't Learn from Chrysler

Alan.. . I don't work for and have never worked for Chrysler. You just exemplified how poorly many people read and understand anything be it truth or another persons plight or point of view.

UAW: It Should Be Giving Up More

MDR said:
" The fact is, working on an assembly line in a car factory is no longer economically viable not because the company is mistreating employees, but because the job market places higher value on workers with a different skill set--and this skill set is not manual labor. Simply put, the enemy is not your employer, it's the market. "

Yes. I do believe that IS the problem. The job market has become too saturated with "service " oriented employers providing dubious benefit for what they sell or provide. The so called" market" has become skewed towards opportunistic business practices and those employees who look the other way while their company rapes the American public of their investments and saving. ( Lehman, AIG Citi Corp, etc) You can't reward a few with high pay and short others because you believe "they have little value". As I said before, with more people earning less money the level of consumerism will diminish and even those currently with jobs the "market " rewards will dwindle.

To Be a Ford Dealer

It surely is not the "end of the day" yet. I would hate to see Ford fail or even GM or Chrysler. As this economic catastrophe plays out, suppliers are yet on the brink. Even Toyota is suffering it's first huge losses in 37 years. I don't think we will see the full effects of this financial collapse till 2012 or beyond. It is being artificially propped up. In the next 6 mos. to 3 years, I think there will continue to be losses of well paying jobs and "new" jobs created at global wage scale. Consumers won't have the buying power they had for the last 50 years.
As result, the car companies won't have the continuous market the once enjoyed, including Ford.

UAW: It Should Be Giving Up More

I must concur that the authors credentials and very skewed "facts" destroy any credibility of his article. In addition, as other posters stated, this dentist is not immune to his own line of reasoning. I go to the dentist twice a year. My last visit was $173 for a routine checkup and cleaning. In my 45 minutes in the chair, the dental assistant spent most of that time. I saw the actual dentist for a total of about 2 1/2 minutes by my watch. So most of the "labor" for that visit got handled for less than the $14/hr the dental assistant gets paid ( yes, I asked and have asked many times when I visit).
That being said, I understand there is overhead in a dental office. The receptionists ($10/hr? ), the rent for the office, utilities, utensils, office cleaning, record keeping, and magazines. After the dentist saw me for his 2 1/2 minutes; the dental assistant finished up with me and I saw the dentist relaxing with one of his golf magazines in a side office cubicle. At any rate, the rationale for this kind of article is futile, and merits no real purpose. As others have said how many people will be going regularly to the dentist if they keep losing health benefits? I know so called successful college educated MBA's, IT professionals, and other business professionals who don't go to the dentist regularly simply because of the cost and/or their insurance is absent for dental care and they wince at paying so much for routine dental care. Now that is a personal choice, but it does illustrate what I think is the crux of the real problem here: Costs for all kinds of services, utilities, energy, etc have gotten out of hand while middle men, HMO's, etc have made profits out of the health care industry and other service areas. Look at the Haliburton scandals and worse.
The truth is that anyone making less than $18 an hour today has no real buying power, let alone the means for paying into a 401K, paying his/her own health care cost ( or escalated copays). In most areas of this country $36K - $38K/ yr won't even get you into a decent car to take to work or use for your family; not to mention decent housing. At this pay, forget about seeing the USA in your Chevrolet. I've grown up and lived to see a dwindling, greedy economy that rewards swindlers and opportunists on Wall street, building up a higher and higher proportion of "well to do" people working as middle men to skim huge profits out of the so called service sector; be it investment management, HMOs, communications, computer operations, and other technological and financial entities that didn't exist years ago. All this begs the question: "How are we really better off than we were 50 years ago?"
The problems we have now in this economy are systemic and have compounded over the last 30+ years. Most citizens in other countries realize the value of their industrial and manufacturing base and don't harbor jealousies of what laborers get for compensation. The whole global economy is now out of balance. High levels of consumerism can not be maintained with disproportionate share of monies. Years ago, a 5% - 8% rate of return on an investment was considered desirable and stable. This was considered both a reasonable and desirable rate of return on investments. Greed in the finance and housing industry led us here, along with obscene profits in the oil industry and CEOs compensation packages. Deriding and criticizing laborers in the auto industry is misplaced anger at best, and class prejudice at worst.