Quote:
Originally Posted by JoeT
GM's current problems have nothing to do with the Obama government. It's fate has been sealed for a long time.
Not only GM, but the auto unions, Congress, and the American culture in general all contributed to this day, not Non-Patriot Communist Terrorist as many cave-dwellers will have you believe. All refused for many years to accept reality and remodel GM, and Chrysler, into the companies they needed to be to compete in the global 21st century market place.
GM wouldn't accept that the hard decisions needed to be made for decades. The unions wouldn't accept job, plant and benefit cuts to protect the greater good of their members. The elected representatives, more interested in protecting their own interests rather than of the nations, hampered any attempts at real reform in the past. And generally the American public, use to the US being the biggest and best at everything their nation does, were not ready to accept the USA's changing place in the world, and if you did you were probably concidered a Non-Patriot Communist Terrorist.
That is just my view from one of the best managed nations on earth that is also the home of GM's best managed company. I also believe that the Obama government is doing the best it can with what it has to help GM survive and prosper into the future. It's not nice, but it's reality and we all need to accept that.
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As a former GM employee (back in the late 1980's), I couldn't agree with you more. This needed to happen. GM is going to be a fierce competitor going forward.
This company will emerge from Bankruptcy with about 10% of it's debt load, none of its legacy costs and a break even point in the US at a market of 10MM cars. As the economy gets better, as it has been, and the credit markets get better, this company is poised to be extremely profitable.
If I were going to have to compete with GM in the marketplace once this is done, I'd be very worried. They have extremely competent engineers and some of the best product produced anywhere. They know how to make money making cars in the US as well, they just couldn't make it work with the overhang of debt they had to carry. Toyota is already having issues with red ink. Don't be surprised if they get into hot water with GM and Ford beating them at their own game.