In The News

Actually it's much worse than has been reported. I have it on a very reliable source (dealer owner) that the "letters" went out this week to GM dealers. There will be around 30 franchises closed here in the area. Some big, some small, no quarantees to anyone. My source has been a top tier dealer since 1970, and with GM since the late 50s. and he has no guarantees.

For the GM bankruptcy, here's what is shaping up to AVOID bankruptcy.

1) 50 % Gov't ownership
2) 39% Union ownership - in exchange for debts owed to retirement fund
3) 10% Bond Holders and debtors - in exchange for current debts
4) 1% for all stock holders
5) Then - all shares will be "reverse swapped" 100 to 1.
So every 100 shares will get one new share.

Think it's going to work?

No FN Way. Example - today the former head of GM sold 81,000 shares of his personal stock at 1.61 each - netting him 130,000 ! That's not millions that 130K - about the price of a restored 1967 Mustang GT 500. HA ! WTF Moment !?!

Moe, Larry & Curly could have come up with a better plan.

GM will be bankrupt by the end of the month (June 1st) and then all bets (debts) are off. Dealers will still close, employees still laid off, suppliers locally and nationally immediately shuttered without benefits, factories closed, debts written off, advertising halted, financing (are you kidding?) and cars sales virtually halted.

As for Chrysler - Fugetaboudit ! Fiat is financing their deal 100% just like InBev did with AB. How's that workin for ya?!? They will not be saving jobs - they'll be cutting. The Fenton plants will not re-open ever. If you're brave enough to by a 2011 Mopar - god help ya. These guys are on a crash coarse to sell us green cars about 1/2 the size of the VW bug - interested? Yep, that's what I thought. But the hedge fund that owned Chrysler will report a profit.

Sorry for my rant, but a large portion of my business has always been automotive. Think about all of the people this effects outside of autoworkers and dealers. The parts suppliers, shop suppliers, restaurants, advertising agancies, newspapers, media outlets, delivery drivers, even the lot washers, web photographers, programmers, bank financing people over-the-road truckers, rail lines, shipping companies - I could go on and on and on ! Hundreds if not thousands of people outside of each dealership will be impacted.

Chaa Chaa Change.
 
My opinion is re-write many state laws, allow the manufacturers to sell directly to the public. HUGE majority of states at this point do not allow this(better than 80%). How many of us would be upset to go to one lot that sells each manufacturers cars? I say have a single location say in KC, Stl, & Columbia for the state. What would the cars sell for if the entire dealer network is gone?:rolleyes:

But then again, as I tell my wife, the world would be much different if I was king for a day:eek:
 
You mean like the old Ma Bell, or the utility companies ? Sorry can't drink that kool aid. As much as everybody like to dis "the middleman" it really is the foundation of the economy.

But - after it's all said and done - the dealerships will just be window dressing anyway - the govt will own the factories (meaning you'll own the factories). So, it's basically the same thing you're describing.
 
So, what if the plan was to:

- Eliminate all company bonuses
- Cut pay by 1/3, at least.
- Cut the dealer network to small underperforming dealers
- Cut staff (management)
- Reduce work week - Remember the days when you had to order your car and wait for it? Reduce the work week, less cars produced, less cars on a lot somewhere.

I really don't like this idea of the gov't owning a car manufacturer. Is there any history of this happening before? Who then is watching leadership of the new gov't owned company? What a mess.
 
Our goverment, while still structured as the best in the world, has never worked with our money well. As a business, it's run terribly. The goverment isn't in business as it should be and shouldn't be getting involved in private business. It leads to too much conflict of interest. That and then too few people are controlling too much. That's why the original colonists left England and came here. The problem is there are no "New World" to go to anymore, so we have to roll up our sleeves and clean up the house that we messed up and put the goverment back where it should be, working FOR us instead of AGAINST us. We never should have bailed these yahoos out and all the current administration is using the current crisis as a means to try and take control of everything and blame the previous administration. It really pisses me off when I think of what they are doing.:mad:
 
Every area of the economy that Obama has touched...has failed...with one very notable exception:

SalesmanoftheYearl.png


Welcome to CHANGE....!
 
GM to Export cars FROM China to US

That's Right FROM China to the US. You'll pay for it via bailouts. You're GM jobs will go to China.
I love my GMC Truck - but if this happens - I would never buy another GM product ever again.

In The News ...

SHANGHAI – General Motors Corp. plans to begin exports of vehicles made in China to the United States within two years, ramping up sales to more than 50,000 by 2014, reports said Wednesday.

A spokeswoman for GM in China did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the reports, which were said to be based on a company recovery plan given to U.S. lawmakers.

GM intends to sell 17,335 made-in-China passenger cars in the U.S. market by 2011, the Shanghai Securities News and other reports said. By 2014 exports would triple to more than 51,000, it said.

The main focus would be on exporting small cars similar to the Chevrolet Spark, the reports said.

If true, GM could end up becoming the first automaker to begin exporting to the U.S. from China: previously announced plans by Chinese manufacturers to crack the U.S. market have so far fizzled.
 
And any sensible law maker would take offence to this and tax GM's imports to the max to make them pay dearly for exporting U.S. jobs. :mad: Really? This is being considered? Well Ford doesn't sell an Avalanche, but they will be at the top of my list next time. :rolleyes:
 
Think about Ma Bell. Split up by Gov regs only to get hammered. Then after each branch of the split up company fails its allowed to repurchase companies that used to be part of Bell:confused: My point was over 40 states do not allow auto manufacturers to sell directly to the public. How much fat is tacked on to the price we pay due to the dealer network??

Lets face it Capitalism works because it allows for tremendous success BUT it also comes with incredible failure. While it is horrible to watch and it sucks worse being a part of it, we can't let the gov become a business owner. That is truly a model for failure.
 
This is just plain sad. I read about the GM-China importing at the end of last week on our internal company daily news briefing (regarding other automakers).

Say what you want about the govrenment, I don't blame them. They didn't make the bad decisions and poor choices that led GM and Chrysler to the point they are at today. IIRC, the big three all flew to DC begging for a bailout last year when 'W' was still in office and a deal was struck before the changing of the administration...to help them through the end of the year...or have we all forgotten this?

Honda is facing these same challenges with the economy. Their philosophy was 360 degree analysis on how to reduce waste, cut costs, restrict growth, and slow down production across the board to minimize the impact to the workers and management. After all other measures were exhausted, then workers took a cut in pay of 2%. Myself included (happened before I started). We are shutting down the assembly lines for an extra week this summer. And we also just intoduced the least expensive hybrid on the market. Gas prices are going up, so sales are also doing well.

Chrysler doesn't have one fuel efficient car in it's lineup that is worth crap. GM is doing better, but they have or had way too many similar models that dilute the market. The one cutting edge brand they have they are selling off? Bad decisions and bad management.

Ford was smart when they kicked Bill Ford to the curb and brought in Alan Mulany from Boeing. It's the only US brand I have enjoyed owning of late.

Oh Well, what do I know? I work for a Japanese owned company, that does it's R&D and assembly in America?
 
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Chrysler dealers

They are getting it stuck to them all inventory is theirs after deline no more programs to help sell they also are stuck with parts inventory. Must sell vehicles will be sold as used unless dealer files then banks will be stuck with parts and vehicles. Hopefully with plants down other dealers will purchase these units.
 
Chrysler announced today a partnership with Tesla motors to build electric cars. That could be very interesting as long as they don't make the batteries in Korea.
 
Obviously the writing is on the wall, but as of yesterday the union had not been told yet that Fenton is closing. I don't know of anyone that is holding out hope, but you never know. It will take Michigan 1 year to tool a plant to built the trucks Fenton puts out.

Now tell me this, there is also talk of BUILDING a plant in Michigan to house the trucks Fenton is building, please someone tell me those in charge are not that dumb:confused:
 
The DOW topped 8,900 today! Apparently our recent spending at Lynch Hummer is really helping :D
 
AP story

WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama's treasury secretary on Sunday said he cannot rule out higher taxes to help tame an exploding budget deficit and his chief economic adviser would not dismiss raising them on middle-class Americans as part of a health care overhaul.

As the White House sought to balance campaign rhetoric with governing, officials appeared willing to extend unemployment benefits. With former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan saying he is "pretty sure we've already seen the bottom" of the recession, Obama aides sought to defend the economic stimulus and calm a jittery public.

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and National Economic Council Director Larry Summers both sidestepped questions on Obama's intentions about taxes. Geithner said the White House was not ready to rule out a tax hike to lower the federal deficit; Summers said Obama's proposed health care overhaul needs funding from somewhere.
"There is a lot that can happen over time," Summer said, adding that the administration believes "it is never a good idea to absolutely rule things out, no matter what."

'We have to bring those deficits down'
During his presidential campaign, Obama repeatedly vowed "you will not see any of your taxes increase one single dime." But the simple reality remains that his ambitious overhaul of how Americans receive health care — promised without increasing the federal deficit — must be paid for.

"If we want an economy that's going to grow in the future, people have to understand we have to bring those deficits down. And it's going to be difficult, hard for us to do. And the path to that is through health care reform," Geithner said. "We're not at the point yet where we're going to make a judgment about what it's going to take."

Selling that proposal, however, has proved tricky

"Most private forecasters — and let's use their judgment — suggest you're going to see unemployment start to come down maybe beginning in the second half of next year," Geithner said, adding those same economists predict positive growth during the second half of this year.

At the same time, Geithner and other administration officials are contemplating how to ask Congress to extend — again — unemployment benefits for the millions of Americans who have lost their jobs in recent months. The proposal drew measured support from Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C.

"We need to take care of those who are unemployed, but we also need to make sure they get jobs," he said.

'We were teetering for a while'
Those jobs, though, are still elusive. Greenspan said the economy is slowly coming back.

"Collapse, I think, is now off the table. We were teetering for a while," he said.

Greenspan said he doesn't think the Federal Reserve should be considering raising interest rates to ward off inflation, although he added that the Fed will have to rein in credit and raise rates at some point.

Obama's opponent for the presidency, Sen. John McCain, questioned whether the administration's actions will prove beneficial for the country.
 
The middle class are the only people they can raise taxes on. The uber-rich have moved their money or otherwise secured it. The companies they own will simply charge more for their products and services to cover their tax burden. The poor don't pay taxes - so you're left with the middle class who by they way are still struggling. This is the warning shot across the bow of the middle class. Redistribution of wealth is not a right-wing cook concept it's become a reality. It is the very change that was voted for.
 
Gov. Quinn originally fought raising IL. State inc. Tx. Now it appears he's caving in. :(:eek::(:mad: This whole things sucks. There is lots of blame to be passed around here & not all of it should be dumped in any one person's lap. Don't forget the biggest part of the blame for our current mess IMHO is wall street/bankers/lender's greed.
 
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