The german government does not pay for it getting euro from thin air. It pays for it from the money it receives from taxes. The difference being: there, rich people and corporations do pay taxes.
And where do you think the government is getting its money???? Just because it is paid by the government does not mean it comes from nowhere. I wonder how the US government while not providing 80% of social benefits to its people is 9 trillion in debt while Germany is doing so well. All this wonderful raw capitalism and this is the end result??? GM begging for 25 billion to survive?
Not really. I bought an 87 Jeep Cherokee new, kept it a couple of years, then sold it to a friend of mine. I ran in to this friend last year after not seeing him for awhile, and he said he had just totalled the Jeep after spinning out on black ice on a bridge. He had kept it all those years, so the vehicle was what, 20 years old? He said he never had a problem with it and it was the best vehicle he'd ever owned. So go figure.
Why is GM failing so bad? here's the answer... this is the beginning of the end. If you have read DeLorean's On a Clear Day... you wouldn't buy another GM either. <img src=http://elitetrader.com/vb/attachment.php?s=&postid=2181120 width=800>
How did we get to the point where someone with a pension is viewed as greedy? Since when did a regular joe-worker lose the right to collectively bargain for and gain the benefit of recieving part of his income after retirement, instead of on his weekly cheque? Time was a pension was a pretty run of the mill, standard benefit that merely exchanged somebody's lifelong committment to one employer for a steady cheque in retirement. Boring stuff. A pension is deferred income. The reason that this notion is all of a sudden viewed as evil, is because the vast majority of workers either a) don't have one, but wish they did b) have a piss poor 401(k) that they don't put enough money into or c) don't have anything saved at all. Its jealousy! The for-profit American healthcare industry holds much of the blame for the plight of american manufacturing.
I don't think anyone is saying that people who get a pension from GM are greedy. It is the UAW (and most unions). (Edit: and dealers, and executives) Every time these companies made ANY money; you had the UAW licking their lips for 'contract' renegotiation. And many times it was a put a gun to the companies head type of negotiation. There are way too many dealers. The dealers are literally trying to destroy each other. The dealers have way to much power. We won't even get into the parts 'suppliers.' many are just spin-offs from the ugly beast. Now that the companies are losing money it is time for 'all' of THEM to pay up. NOT everyone else. Maybe we should start picketing outside the automakers against supporting them? Wait we won't get any strike pay... Unions served their purpose. This country wouldn't have ever been as great as it was without them. They are now outdated organizations that try to socialize their respective shareholders.
I had a Cadillac CTS-v... and without word of a lie... it was a hunk of junk. Went to the Acural TL briefly and then to a Honda Odyssey. Lovin' Homer the Odyssey most.
Yes, except for the fact that the total hourly compensation for a GM (hourly) employee (including health care and pension requirement) is $73/hr. Toyota's is $48/hr. I don't have the German numbers but either way... the math is simple....
You mean to state that all those factories in Mexico and Canada and the rest of the world is costing GM $73/hr per worker? Maybe if you include all the salaries of the fat cats with the CEO leading the way and a plethora of middle, upper management who take in 6 figure salaries and know absolutely nothing about business and cars. A standard pay in a GM factory south of the border is $10 A DAY.