GM Declares Bankruptcy

[Wezil]

"I've met the people and the people are stupid."

I hear you. I think we are straying ino a different debate however.

[Dinner]

A Chinese company supposedly wants to buy Hummer but no word yet about Saab, Saturn, or Pontiac. I'd love to see them all saved but Saab hasn't made money in decades (Sorry Swedes but your #2 automaker looks cooked), Pontiac isn't a stand alone concern as every model is shared with other GM brands, while Saturn doesn't really bring much to the table either. A foreigner might be interested in Saturn though since their cars are midsized (not really small) so they might sell over seas and someone might be interested in the brand name and dealer network. There aren't a whole lot of bones to pick though nor does Saturn have a long and storied history so it might not be worth anything.

[rah]

Saturn did have really high owner brand loyalty. That always has value. How much? Who knows.

[Rufus T. Firefly]

I just want to say that I speculated in some thread or another, ages ago, that the Chinese would soon end up buying a bankrupt US car company, and I was dismissed out of hand (which is fine, because I cheerfully admit I know jack **** about business and economics). But the Chinese Hummer deal is making me feel vindicated, if only in a broken-clock right-twice-a-day sort of way.

[Imran Siddiqui]

That's dumb. Frontwards and backwards. As a box of rocks.

QFT.

[DinoDoc]

Since I'm now part owner of GM, can I file a motion to have Ron Gettelfinger fired for his part in running my new company into the ground given the fate of Rick Wagoner?

[Seeker]

"The only way to save GM is to kill GM. Saving our precious industrial infrastructure, though, is another matter and must be a top priority. If we allow the shutting down and tearing down of our auto plants, we will sorely wish we still had them ..."

If you totally ignore the context and the rest of the authors stuff, this part makes a lot of sense.

[notyoueither]

I was reminded of a scene from Dr. Strangelove while reading that bit.

[Dinner]

Increasing the gas tax also makes a huge amount of sense.

[DanS]

Increasing the gas tax by $2/gallon is dumb.

[DanS]

"The only way to save GM is to kill GM. Saving our precious industrial infrastructure, though, is another matter and must be a top priority. If we allow the shutting down and tearing down of our auto plants, we will sorely wish we still had them ..."

If you totally ignore the context and the rest of the authors stuff, this part makes a lot of sense.

No it doesn't. It most often makes sense to build new to suit. Don't get caught in sentimentality.

[Asher]

Building new is also good for the economy.

Frankly, new companies have weaker unions to deal with which means we can see more automated production. It'd need mostly new plants anyway.

And I doubt anyone's going to bulldoze these plants any time soon. They'll just be mothballed.

Michael Moore's an idiot.

[DinoDoc]

This is such bull ****ing ****:

GM to become more discreet

NEW YORK -- A day after filing for a bankruptcy reorganization that will be largely financed by U.S. taxpayers, General Motors Corp. said the private automaker that emerges from Chapter 11 expects to release less financial information to the public.

"As a privately held company, it's likely we're not going to disclose information except to the shareholders," Ray Young, GM chief financial officer, said Tuesday.

http://www.freep.com/article/20090603/BUSINESS01/906030336/1002

Where in God's name do they get they gall to even say with straight face that they are a private company anymore? They go begging to Uncle Sugardaddy to save them from thier own stupidity and bad decisions and in his "infinite wisdom" gives them billions of our money to save them in return for a majority ownership stake in the company. No, I'm sorry you stupid ****ers. You lost all right to the term private company the second you ****ing accepted the money.

[BlackCat]

Increasing the gas tax by $2/gallon is dumb.

Why ? Switching from old fashioned gasguzzlers to more efficient cars would actually make it cheaper to drive and the state gets a nice new tax.

[Dinner]

Increasing the gas tax by $2/gallon is dumb.

It's a great idea. It will greatly decrease consumption, it will change how we build cities (no more endless sprawl), it would slash oil imports which are our single largest import, it is just an all around great idea.