This could be the start of a good thing for the US auto industry by reducing costs and being more competitive globally.
Read up on it here: Auto News: Breaking Car News and First Drive Reports - The Car Connection
Sadly, I don’t think this will surprise anyone.
A couple of interesting things that I’ve read about GM lately:
-
They have such a huge wad of cash that they can survive for decades losing the hundreds of millions that they are.
-
GM is building more and more cars in Canada (more cars are now built in Ontario than Michigan). I never understood this before since wages are typically higher in Canada. The answer is GM’s healthcare costs are far less in Canada because of socialized healthcare. Pension costs are also lower.
So the answer to old Industrial America’s woes, is the same answer for all the un-insured and under-insured Americans: universal healthcare.
Surviving on tons of cash for decades while losing hundreds of millions? wow.
I understand that GM is contractually obliged to bail out Delphi - that should cost $6Billion, and. I thought that they had no cash reserves because 1. they are just above junk bond status and 2.that whole ‘employee price’ sale…? If Dephi goes down it’d be up to the government to bail GM out (like Crystler).
Does anyone think the UAW will cave to the $10/hr demand?
universal healthcare? Better for beaurocrats maybe, not so much for the sick. Then again, wait long enough in line for care and you won’t be sick anymore. Just dead.
If GM does have a wad of cash the only place it could be coming from is GMAC financing because thats the ONLY profitable division and it’s been that way for a while. They lose money on every vehicle they make.
Forbes has had a lot of articles about GM betting everything on hydrogen but I just don’t see that happening. No infrastructure and not enough producers, plus hydrogen is a net energy loser requiring more electrical power to make it than you get back out.
Considering everything available on them I’d say the govt bailout is definately in their future.
I guess poor healthcare is why the average life expectancy and infant mortality rates are higher in Canada (and most other industrialized countries) than the US. Oh, and they spend something like half the amount of money per capita than the US. What a bargain!
Business Week was saying that the UAW was the problem too, something I don’t like to admit. If GM files bankruptcy, it would force the unions back to negociation. With GM bankrupt, the unions would have their backs to wall to save whatever jobs they could.
I think it just poor management over the years. They should renegociate some old golden parachutes at the same time as negociating with the UAW.
the unions are in even deeper shit than that, when the AFL-CIO split, the new federation under Hoffa has said they will not focus on anyone whose industry can move off-shore. meaning manufacturing is out and health/child care is now where organized labor will push.
Henry Ford had to pay his people enough to afford the cars they built…
Posted: Mon Oct 10, 2005 3:15 pm Post subject:
I guess poor healthcare is why the average life expectancy and infant mortality rates are higher in Canada (and most other industrialized countries) than the US. Oh, and they spend something like half the amount of money per capita than the US. What a bargain!
A couple of statistics hardly illustrate accurately the dynamics of a complex system. Surely you considered the improvements in fetal medicine that make it possible for a fetus to survive into early newborn period who would have otherwise died before delivery? Probably not. Another factor is high US homicide and accident rates compared to other countries. You might also want to consider waiting times for tests and treatments. As recently as 1997, the wait time in Canada for an MRI averaged 150 days, in the US, 3. About 75% of all new drugs are developed and first used in the US, and the US continues to lead the world in research and development of pharmaceuticals. I found some of this info at Mandatory Health Insurance Now!
It goes to show that just a few statistics don’t do much in the way of making a case for state run healthcare. Unless, of course, your goal has more to do with empowering the super-state than helping people.
Yeah, in Oceania, we are all bolshevik nazis. Oh, it’s time for the two minute hate, I have to go!
Yeah, your right, nothing to be worried about. Silly me.
If GM says that healthcare benefits and pension costs are the difference, then they must be lying, n’est pas? Of course they will move to where it’s cheaper… like an India for automobiles.
If the state has no place in this, then the feds should not have bailed out Chrysler and certainly not GM if it comes to it.
But of course, people always want the gov to help them when they can’t help themselves… and for the gov to stay out of their way when they think they can do it themselves. Sad but true about humanity… a false sense that society is somehow not dependent on the interconnections between individuals.
But seriously, why do you guys persist? If you live where you choose, it’s nobody’s place to question you and no business of yours about the (forced) choices others have made.
:)ensen.
Some interesting articles that surfaced recently:
http://www.awb.org/cgi-bin/absolutenm/templates/?a=990&z=10
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20051009/bs_nm/autos_delphi_bankruptcy_dc
http://money.cnn.com/2005/10/10/news/delphi_gm/index.htm
http://money.cnn.com/2005/10/08/news/fortune500/delphi_bankrupt/index.htm
http://money.cnn.com/2005/10/10/news/fortune500/gm_outlook/index.htm
It’s oh so nice to hear that once again the top people got majors boosts to thier severance packages before slashing everyone else - not that I’m surprised.
There are a lot of rumors now that GM might also file for bankruptcy within the next week - but I’m not betting on anything yet. The new law that makes filing more difficult and requires companies and individuals to pay back more of their debts goes into effect on the 17th of this month, thats one reason Delphi just filed, fourth quarter numbers sucked and they were facing the deadline.
Here’s a good quote:
The Troy, Michigan-based company has struggled since it was spun off from former parent General Motors Corp. (NYSE:GM - news) in 1999, posting net losses of $741 million in the first half of 2005 alone. It had sought financing from GM and sharp cuts in wages and benefits from the United Auto Workers union to restructure unprofitable U.S. operations.
The Chapter 11 filing for reorganization potentially allows steep cuts in wages, benefits and jobs to go forward without the UAW’s approval, marking a big setback for the trade union. The filing is also likely to deepen financial woes at GM, which shares many of the problems that drove Delphi into Chapter 11.
Delphi 's filing listed assets of $17.1 billion as of August 31 and debts totaling $22.17 billion. It had revenue of $28.6 billion in 2004, including $12.7 billion from GM in North America.
like all large us companies they are just useing chap 11 to gave them room to manuver. they will still keep running a bussiness like the all the big US airlines. no woory maybe a year or 2 they will come back out of it.