gm this week had a very successful introduction of new stock.they successfully issued and sold over 400 MILLION shares of the stuff, one third more than originally planned.
they even got back their old original ticker symbol.
of course if you have any old gm stock, it doesn't do you any good.
it's a successful comeback because government bailed them out.
they cut about one fourth of their work force.
we want to see the folks still working at gm keep their jobs.
most of us aren't very happy with the way it came down.
the company, under wagoneer made some big promises to the union that just didn't make sense.
they said that, if they cllosed plants, they would continue to pay people.
about 10 years ago the unions rightly became more concerned with job security than raises.
the company, not expecting hard times, promised to pay workers if their plants were closed, but didn't plan for it financially.
if times become so bad that plants close, chances are the company wont have the money to pay those not working.
one warning sign that i see that gm is using the same auditing company that got them in this mess in the first place. something tells me that the government and this auditor may be keeping inaccurate financial books.
the government bailed them out, but also splashed them.
when the company promised to take care of most of the workers medical care, no one could have anticipated health care costs rising 12 or 15% a year for 20 years. why would it?
if cars increased in price like medical costs no one could afford to own one.
my question is, why didn't the company and union realize much sooner that the health care benefit costs were unsustainable. the train didnt derail in one day.
the workers gave up raises 10 years ago for what they thought was job security;it's not their fault.
gm doesn't have the market cornered on poor business decisions. they closed the most efficient automobile plant in the world, a taurus plant, in new jersey.
the gm management stayed out of touch with the workers.
their main headquarter had a special key that let company officials go straight to the bottom so that they didn't have to face the rabble or share an elevator with them.
they said that had too many brands, but they had customer loyalty.
oldsmobile was the oldest brand in the automobile business.
there were lots of people who bought a new olds every 3 years, or more often.
there was brand recognition once. olds cutlass, for 5 years, was the top selling name plate.
gm told allof their olds dealers that they needed to upgrade their dealerships 2 or 3 million dollars per dealership.
the very next year, gm dropped the olds line. gm complained about having to settle with the olds dealers.
automakers today are making less than they did 25 years ago. a $20/hr. autoworker was common in the 1970s. now, many make $15/hr.
why are cars that were $6,000 in the 70s, $25,000 or more?
last year, there were about 35 labor hours in a car. thwere are less labor hours in a car than 1970, the labor is cheaper, but where is the money we pay for a car?
somebodies caused this gm place to lose billions and billions of dollars of shareholder money, vendor money and union money. many of them are still at work at gm.
now they are back on track, and that's great, but there are a lot of carcasses along the way that gm stepped over. dont you think that ford cut better deals for itself by threatening bankruptcy?
aren't you surprised that investors may be throwing good money after bad?
gm for years had some big issues and kept kicking the can down the road.
the guys in charge were just like the politicians of today.
they didn't want to take the tough medicine.
to get some peace with the union, they began paying people NOT to make cars.
once they go to where a decision had to be made, we taxpayers didnt get stuck like i thought we would.
will we ever get fully paid back?
probably not.
our total bill for gm unemployment is something like $319 billion.
now, businesses that didnt lay off workers will see their unemployment fees balloon.
at some point, doesnt the peoples' contribution to save one place become too bleeping much.
now these guys are going to keep getting big salaries and start paying big dividends, but not to us folks who got stiffed in the first place.
this is just way too much money to save one company.
for gm to come out this clean when everybody else was stiffed just isnt right.
we just keep throwing money at people who have the political edge.
we do need to have cars built in the united states.
2 of the things obama wanted were to get rid of the hummer,
and the volt may be a good idea, but it should still be in the concept phase.
for political reasons, the volt was rushed to market.
the motor in the volt doesn't drive the car, but charges the battery to run the car.
the range on these cars is 40 miles; then it needs a 12 hour charge, using electricity made by mostly burning dirty hated coal.
having the battery run the car is very efficient; that's how a locomotive works. it's a very small little engine. the old concept of direct drive isn't that good.
they didn't want to take the tough medicine.
to get some peace with the union, they began paying people NOT to make cars.
once they go to where a decision had to be made, we taxpayers didnt get stuck like i thought we would.
will we ever get fully paid back?
probably not.
our total bill for gm unemployment is something like $319 billion.
now, businesses that didnt lay off workers will see their unemployment fees balloon.
at some point, doesnt the peoples' contribution to save one place become too bleeping much.
now these guys are going to keep getting big salaries and start paying big dividends, but not to us folks who got stiffed in the first place.
this is just way too much money to save one company.
for gm to come out this clean when everybody else was stiffed just isnt right.
we just keep throwing money at people who have the political edge.
we do need to have cars built in the united states.
2 of the things obama wanted were to get rid of the hummer,
and the volt may be a good idea, but it should still be in the concept phase.
for political reasons, the volt was rushed to market.
the motor in the volt doesn't drive the car, but charges the battery to run the car.
the range on these cars is 40 miles; then it needs a 12 hour charge, using electricity made by mostly burning dirty hated coal.
having the battery run the car is very efficient; that's how a locomotive works. it's a very small little engine. the old concept of direct drive isn't that good.
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