Is GM going bankrupt?

[Ted Striker]

Originally posted by Q Cubed
Unions have their place, Ted. It's just too often, some unions refuse to take a hit for the team, and thus contribute to a company's downfall. *coughUnitedcough*

This doesn't mean management gets off scott-free, since often times, they're the ones who helped drive the company into such dire straits, but.

Personally I have never liked unions because situations where they take advantage and cause undue pain. For example the dock workers in the LA Harbor that are making minimum of 80K a year, and their supervisors up to 150K. Yet they decided to shut down the entire west coast shipping lines and screw the whole economy.

Then there is also the tradition of racketeering and organized crime getting involved, though this is not so much of a problem nowadays. Unions also have a nice problem of intimidating everyone who wants to work.

ON THE OTHER HAND, I think the "knee jerk" reaction built into contemporary business thinking has gone too far to the point of being perverted.

Labor is unfairly blamed for alot of company woes. Litreally, they are just doing their jobs. Managers are the ones who make the decisions. Other ideas such as process and quality control are overlooked.

Anybody who has seen a GM car for the past 20 years knows exactly how bad they suck. The Saturn brand was supposed to solve alot of these problems, with their emphasis on flexibility, yet they have never gotten there.

You have people like Carly from HP, who got a 48 million dollar package after getting FIRED. How many workers at Compaq or HP were given generous packages when they were fired? There was also a recent case of a guy who gave his wife 2 billion in stock right before he got forced out.

The best companies are obviously those that take care of their workers without having unions around.

[Colonâ„¢]

You are contra Bush. You are pro labour unions.

Go live in France Ted.

[Ted Striker]

Contra Bush

Oui, oui

[Ted Striker]

Interesting stat some lady just gave on Tavis Smiley:

60% of the GM and Ford workforce is obese

10% of them have diabetes

She said this would be a push to bring more health awareness into schools because medical costs were affecting big businesses.

Which seems to be the only damn thing people respond to anymore, is big business needs.

I think she was being optimistic though.

[Colonâ„¢]

Did I already mention you should move to France?

[Ted Striker]

[Saras]

Yea man, and buy a MEGANE

We call it Lunochod, Russians would understand

[Provost Harrison]

I hate the shape of those new Meganes, horrible.

I used to have a Peugeot 106...most unreliable piece of sh*t I've ever had. I now have a Nissan Almera...not a spot of trouble so far...

[Dinner]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/4484777.stm

Toyota is fearful that trouble at the US automakers will result in a trade backlash against Japanese automakers like it did in the 1980's. Toyota is suggesting that the Japanese voluntarily hold their market share down in order to prevent political action.

[Dinner]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/4484101.stm

GM also announced that 2 million full sized trucks from the Chevrolet, GMC, and Hummer brands were being recalled because of a handful of cases where the seatbelts did not work properly.

GM is losing market share as truck sales weaken in the face of rising gas prices. I hate to admite it but the problem is GM's management. They were told over an over that oil prices would not remain low forever and that they should try to improve their car lineup but instead they barely kept their car business on life support and plowed all of their money into large trucks and SUVs. Now sales are shifting towards cars and GM doesn't have a decent design to sell. That's just bad management and everyone knew this would happen sooner or later.

Don't even get me started about how the management gave rediculous agreements to the unions. They have to pay their workers even if their workers don't work. Find another blue colar job that does that.

[JohnT]

Good article, Oerdin. One hopes that the American auto industry would take the breather (if, in fact, it is offered) to help operations, as opposed to 1982-85, when all they did was raise prices.

Business Week (or Fortune) has an article about how GM is betting the bank on hydrogen cars, spending over $10 billion on R&D by 2007 on the issue.

[Ted Striker]

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[Sikander]

Originally posted by Lancer
"You bought a RAV4?

...

My condolensces."

I kinda like it, for around town which is 99.99% of our driving.

Besides, it's cute.

I bet that 4 wheel drive comes in real handy around town. Well worth the extra weight.

[Sikander]

Originally posted by DAVOUT
The GM case is a good example of american manufacturing deficiencies. And this is not due to underestimated foreign currencies, nor to abnormal subsidies made by foreign economies, but only to american failures. The PIB will soon be made only by retail trade, banking, insurance, lawyers, and the military industry (manufacturing and services). Hard to imagine how the trade deficit could decrease.

Well these days the problems aren't manufacturing deficiencies per se, but design deficiencies hand in hand with a labor cost structure that makes it almost impossible to compete internationally.

[Sikander]

Originally posted by Atahualpa


Rav4 is a great car!

Good one!