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6/2/2009
Venting. "We" are supposed to manage GM?
Obama what $50 billion is making sacrifices so our children can grow up in an America that still builds cars. I was incredulous. (Transcript of Obama's yesterday morning's "GM" speech)
So I'm confident that the steps I'm announcing today will mark the end of an old GM, and the beginning of a new GM; a new GM that can produce the high-quality, safe, and fuel-efficient cars of tomorrow; that can lead America towards an energy independent future; and that is once more a symbol of America's success.
But I want to be honest with you. Building a leaner GM will come at a cost. It will take a painful toll on many Americans who have relied on General Motors throughout the generations. So I want to say a word directly to all the men and women watching today, wondering what all of this will mean as far as their own lives are concerned.
I know you've already seen more than your fair share of hard times. We saw 400,000 jobs lost in the auto industry in the year before this restructuring even began. I will not pretend the hard times are over. Difficult days lie ahead. More jobs will be lost. More plants will close. More dealerships will shut their doors, and so will many parts suppliers.
But I want you to know that what you're doing is making a sacrifice for the next generation -- a sacrifice you may not have chose to make, but a sacrifice you were nevertheless called to make so that your children and all of our children can grow up in an America that still makes things; that still builds cars; that still strives for a better future. I was shocked to hear his words. And I was further shocked to hear the fumbling of press secretary Robert Gibbs later in the day when he was asked details about how this whole business is supposed to be pulled off.
Mara Liasson – and several others – quizzed Gibbs about the government’s readiness to take on the management of GM. Over and over, Gibbs couldn’t answer the questions. He was clueless. Absolutely clueless. Who will serve on the board? Will it be executives experienced in the auto industry? No. What makes you think GM will change when it hasn’t in the past? We know what it takes – or something like that. “We.” Can you believe it? “We.” Over and over, Gibbs said “we.” I was dumbfounded.
(GM even has a new web site! GMReinvention.com. Oh geez. How many different ways can you tell me you’re going to be reinvented? If you couldn’t reinvent yourself in the last 20 years, how is it that you’re going to reinvent yourself now? Obama and the UAW will help you?)
Liasson had a particular question she wasn’t getting an answer to – I’m paraphrasing here – What if making a profit for the taxpayers – and what GM wants or needs – are two different things? Gibbs absolutely couldn’t picture it. Reporters tried examples – like if the omnipresent “we” wanted to produce tiny green cars, but Americans wanted Hummers. No one said it, but I thought the question was what happens when the UAW wants something – well, everything – and carbuyers and the American taxpayers simply can’t afford it? What happens then?
Gibbs absolutely was out of his league yesterday. As are the “we that wants to save the world for our children, just so they can grow up in an America that still makes things. Geeez.
Jo Egelhoff, FoxPolitics.net
COMMENTS
I agree. We certainly don't want the Washington political establishment running a U.S. corporation. That should be left to the obscenely compensated idiots who ran GM into the ground. GM, like most of the banking industry, should have been left to go bankrupt last fall and government could be focused on finding ways to tax the heck out of the incompetent business execs who ran away with hundreds of millions in compensation over the years in order to pay for all the unemployed.
Dennis (Tue Jun 02 08:05:41 2009)
GMs execs were certainly not worth what they were making, but if they had worked for nothing GM would still be right where they are. They had, and still have, two major problems. The first being that they cannot afford their workforce, the contract negotiation of 2007 included increased health care benefits and a pay increase of almost $14,000 for the average UAW worker. It also included a payment of almost 30 billion dollars into a fund for improved health care benefits for retired workers. One has to wonder how future negotiations will work with the unions acting as owners while at the same time representing the workers.
Compounding that handicap is the fact that they are required to build cars that they cannot sell at a profit. In order to sell larger vehicles they have to balance them out with smaller cars to meet their CAFE standards. They cant just offer the smaller cars, they have to sell them. People dont want them, so they are forced to reduce the price untill they will sell, which means selling them at a loss. This problem has been made significantly worse as Obama cancelled 11 out of GMs 20 profitable vehicle lines.
Recent changes in CAFE requirements will remove light trucks,SUVs, and large cars from the market altogether. I predicted this move, as it was the most obvious way to remove the competition that Ford would otherwise have been able to provide.
It's a mess, the utter disregard for bankruptcy laws, and secured investments will do unimaginable damage to the business climate. There are suits being brought by the state of Indiana on behalf of some of their retirement funds that were invested in Chrysler, and I have heard rumors of a class action suit being brought by Ford against the federal government. I'll be watching, but I am not optomistic.
David Martin (Wed Jun 03 21:50:37 2009)
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