The Greatest Counterpunching President in History. Trump threatens to cut all GM subsidies New York (CNN Business)President Donald Trump threatened on Tuesday to cut all General Motors subsidies after the automaker announced thousands of jobs cuts. "Very disappointed with General Motors and their CEO, Mary Barra, for closing plants in Ohio, Michigan and Maryland," Trump tweeted. "We are now looking at cutting all @GM subsidies, including for electric cars." GM (GM) stock declined nearly 3% and fell to session lows on the comments. Trump's threat came a day after GM announced plans to cut 14,000 jobs and shut five facilities in North America. GM said the moves are designed to prepare the company for a future of driverless and electric vehicles. GM is also responding to a consumer shift away from sedans in favor of trucks and SUVs. White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow said at Tuesday's White House press briefing that he met with Barra on Monday to talk about the layoffs. "It's a great disappointment, obviously," he said.
(((***GM got a $157 million in tax cut benefits***))) https://investor.gm.com/static-files/8d51e91f-9008-4208-a61e-aed1ef925fef
Trump got played? Perhaps, but GM has been playing the entire government for years and years. I also remember Moore not having much of a problem with the bailouts GM received. Frankly, at the time neither did I, but my position was and still is, of you're going to bailout the financial terrorists at the banks, then you have to bail all others out as well. Bottom line, these corporations are never held to account for their bullshit. Neither Trump nor the government should be telling GM how to run their business, UNLESS, they take government money. They have, so they become the government bitch. Michael Moore has broken down how he believes President Donald Trump got “played” by General Motors, which this week announced it was cutting up to 14,000 jobs in North America. On Tuesday’s broadcast of MSNBC’s “All In With Chris Hayes,” the documentary filmmaker said the automaker was “doing what it’s always done” — which he claimed was going back on earlier promises to create jobs in exchange for tax breaks and abatements. “That’s the thing about Trump. He doesn’t understand how he’s been played by GM,” said Moore, whose 1989 film “Roger & Me” centered on GM’s axing of roles in Flint, Michigan. Moore said Trump’s indignation at the job losses “sounds right” but that the president “should know better.” He then expounded on Trump’s complicated relationship with big business. “I’ve wondered in these two years why corporate America and Wall Street have been kind of quiet about Trump, because he has never been one of them,” Moore said. “To corporate America, to Wall Street, Trump’s been the trailer trash of the millionaire class. They never let him into their club, their exclusive high-end club.” “You’re such a fool, Trump. You’ve been played again by these people who’ve never liked you,” he added.
The Friday morning MAGA. __________________________________ Fiat Chrysler to Open New Assembly Factory in Detroit Auto maker plans to make a sport-utility vehicle at the new factory Jeep Wranglers moving along an assembly line at the Chrysler Jeep Assembly plant in Toledo, Ohio, on Nov. 16. Photo: rebecca cook/Reuters 84 Comments By Christina Rogersand Adrienne Roberts Updated Dec. 6, 2018 9:39 p.m. ET Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV plans to open a new vehicle factory in Detroit, according to people briefed on the plan, the first new U.S. assembly plant to be built by a major domestic car maker in at least a decade. The Italian-American auto maker plans to make a sport-utility vehicle at the new factory as part of its efforts to expand its iconic Jeep brand, the people said. Fiat Chrysler has said it would roll out more truck and SUV models in the U.S. as the company responds to a sharp consumer shift away from passenger cars in recent years. The move comes as General Motors Co. Chief Executive Mary Barra was on Capitol Hill Thursday, meeting with lawmakers upset about the auto maker’s plans to end production at assembly plants in Ohio and Michigan. President Trump and other elected officials also have blasted GM for the cuts, which will result in up to 6,700 factory layoffs. GM is cutting another 8,100 salaried workers. The factories GM plans to idle are making slow-selling sedan lines. Fiat Chrysler, which eliminated nearly all of its car lines a year ago, has much less empty factory space in the U.S. Many of its truck and SUV plants operate around the clock making popular models like the Jeep Wrangler and Cherokee, and its Ram truck. In a five-year plan laid out to investors in June, Fiat Chrysler disclosed plans to add several SUV models to Jeep’s lineup, including a small SUV and a larger version of the Grand Cherokee—while also reviving the Wagoneer and Grand Wagoneer nameplates, which had been dormant for decades. Assembly plants are typically major employers, hiring several thousand workers on multiple shifts, and can take up to two years to construct and cost about $1 billion. The new factory would be one of the first major moves under new Chief Executive Mike Manley, who took over for longtime CEO Sergio Marchionne this summer. Mr. Marchionne died in July. Prior to taking the top job, Mr. Manley ran the company’s iconic Jeep sport-utility brand, helping to expand its lineup of models and boost sales globally. The new assembly operation also marks a reversal for the company, which under Mr. Marchionne, had been resistant to adding more bricks-and-mortar factory space after closing plants during its 2009 bankruptcy restructuring. However, the U.S. car market boomed following the 2007-09 recession and consumer demand for its pickups and sport-utility models soared amid low gasoline prices. In that time, several foreign car makers announced plans to build new factories in North America to serve the U.S. market, while Ford Motor Co. and GM have added onto existing plants to build more models. But Fiat Chrysler has continued to max out its existing factory space. The auto maker’s plant utilization—a measure of its output versus its production limit—is 92%, according to forecasting firm LMC Automotive. That is far higher than the 81% rate at Ford and 72% at GM. Fiat Chrysler’s U.S. sales have climbed in 2018, even as the broader market plateaued. Through November, the auto maker’s U.S. sales are up 8%, driven by high demand for its trucks and SUVs. Since even before his election, Mr. Trump has pressed auto makers to produce more vehicles domestically to create more U.S. jobs, criticizing Ford and GM in the past for building cars in Mexico. During a meeting with the global auto executives in May, Mr. Trump praised Mr. Marchionne for the company’s plans to move some truck production from Mexico to Michigan. “Right now, he’s my favorite man in the room,” Mr. Trump said. Write to Christina Rogers at christina.rogers@wsj.com and Adrienne Roberts at Adrienne.Roberts@wsj.com