Blackmailing Obama already? Nov. 5 (Bloomberg) -- General Motors Corp., hammered by the worst auto market in 25 years, needs U.S. aid because ``time is very short'' to stop its collapse, says Roger Altman, the former Treasury official advising GM in merger talks with Chrysler LLC. http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601109&sid=a3VYXICU5_MM&refer=home
It is a travesty that GM management can collude with the UAW to maintain bloated payrolls to blackmail their way into handouts. By their actions both GM management and union leadership have amply demonstrated they are not interested in competing in any meaningful sense - so give them their wish and let them die already.
GM is doing fine oversea. This is just a ploy to offload union and pension obligation. Since all the financial's hands are in the cookie jar, why not us too? I am sure other industries are jealous of the special treatment that financial and auto industries are getting. So, someone else is bound to ask for bailout too.
Someone?!? How about damn near everyone! Better get in line to loot the treasury before it's all gone. When the new congress gets together and Obama moves into the Whitehouse, there'll one long, long, winding line of lobbyists asking for money on one side of the Whitehouse. And on the other side will be a line of people stretching out of the District asking for handouts. You can bet everyone from apple farmers to xmas tree growers are getting groups together to ask for bailouts. There's no sense in waiting for the new guys to tide into town, the current feds are just as delighted to shovel it out as the next batch. And we can look forward to yearly "rebate" checks to everybody in the country (even folks who don't pay taxes). Free Money! Woo hoo!
this is exactly what is wrong with the direction american capitalism has taken in the past 50 years and accentuated in the last 20 yrs. the financial interests of shareholders and management are not the same at all. management gets its overpaid salaries while remaining employed. shareholders lose out.
GM told congress today that the loan it seeks is a "bridge" to better times. Looks like that "bridge to nowhere" didn't go away after all.
We have enough foreign automobile manufacturers in the U.S. that are doing fine. I see no reason why we have to loan money to GM. They are a failed global company that can sell off pieces of its empire.