GM's management is floundering around trying to figure out how to get

out of the fix they are in. Their entire game is coming apart and the old remedies are no longer working.The days of neglect are coming home to roost.

Even though they blame their ills on the retirees benefits and their current health costs, what has caused a tsunami in their business is that their products just don't capture the imagination of the public.They are just one among many and probably bring up the rear among all the car companies in existence.

With the kind of people occupying the top echelon of their corporation, their chances of getting back into the game are even dimmer because these accountants and financial wizards just don't enjoy making cars and don't want to sweat out the details of design or manufacturing that is needed.

These guys ( Rick Waggoner, John Devine ) are going to take GM over the cliff blaming their workers and retirees for their myopia.

It will be when big business finally says throws in the towel regard health care and demands the Federal Government take over as the single payer like many other sane countries.

their current health costs
Someday, somehow our government is going to have to take on the Medical industry and do the big "S"...socialize it!
Companies can't afford it and individuals can't afford it. It's a shame too because that means a whole lot money going into the pockets of our elected officials is going to go missing...shit I hate that for them!:toast:

What caused GM's ills is this: lack of innovation (due to conservative's communism for corporations) and cheap materials (designs are good but Mexico uses cheap materials to make it cheaper despite the fact car prices are never lowered).

So now they want to take $6 billion out of a fund to pay for current and future retiree healthcare which would either make them pay the difference or lower their healthcare. Soon they may cut pensions so they can give the CEO a raise and still lose sales. My dad retired from Gm and will not buy anything new from them again over this. I won't buy from American car companies since Toyota, Honda, et al hire more Americans than GM and Ford.

Gm needs to stop being afraid of competition and innovate again. Without innovation, capitalism fails.

http://www.uaw.org/solidarity/index.cfm

Here's an excerpt from a article saying something far different

"As the Detroit News article boldly pointed out, GM has 82 major plants in the United States, while Toyota, Honda and Nissan combined have only 24. GM has more American salaried workers than Toyota has total American workers. With 194,000 employees in America, even after hard times, General Motors still employs six times as many Americans as Toyota, seven times as many as Honda, and 12 times as many as Nissan. As Business Week pointed out in 2002 (the last data I have seen on the subject), each auto-assembly job created by an American company also creates 6.9 other American jobs, where each auto-assembly job created by a foreign company creates only 5.5 other American jobs. This is true simply because American automobile companies get more of their parts from America.

And what about those foreign transplant factories? A 1995 United Auto Workers study concluded that these foreign automobile companies operating in the United States caused at least 500,000 Americans to lose their jobs. I would hate to think of what that total is today.

The new May 9, 2005 issue of Business Week details how GM contributes to the pockets of their assembly workers to the tune of $8.7 billion a year and either directly or indirectly supports the employment of 900,000 Americans. Business Week also claims it is "undeniable" that what is bad for GM is bad for America, pointing to a 54-day strike in 1998 that cut that quarter’s economic growth for the entire country a whole percentage point."

<http://www.howtobuyamerican.com/bamw/bamw-050507-gm.shtml>

Today, Honda has a presence in all 50 states, its investment has reached $4.8 billion. Honda's plants, facilities, and authorized dealerships employ more than 120,000 Americans. Plus, the new facility in Alabama will provide jobs for 1,500 more Americans once it reaches full production.
http://www.autointell.com/asian_companies/honda_motor/honda.htm

As a former Detroit Metro resident, I'd hate to see GM and Ford get screwed like this but even UAW is having a hard time keeping jobs here or having the jobs disappear altogether.
http://www.uaw.org/solidarity/05/0605/feature05.cfm
http://www.uaw.org/solidarity/rnews/05/q1/r1a/r1a_01.cfm
http://www.uaw.org/solidarity/rnews/r1a/01/r1aq2_1.html

It's not all roses even when GM/Ford does hire people. Local Corvette plant only hires temps with no chance of a full time permanent job. Retirees can't even recommend people for it and will only give applications to current employees to give to people. Many people in MI have lost their jobs from GM/Ford. I did tech support with a guy that lost his house and worked for the Big 3 in 3 years. UAW has to fight just to keep basic healthcare for members and their families. The number of Americans hired is secondary compared to the pay, benefits, and job security a Japanese company can provide.

Here's what Business Week says about GM employment:<http://www.howtobuyamerican.com/bamw/bamw-050507-gm.shtml>

The new May 9, 2005 issue of Business Week details how GM contributes to the pockets of their assembly workers to the tune of $8.7 billion a year and either directly or indirectly supports the employment of 900,000 Americans. Business Week also claims it is "undeniable" that what is bad for GM is bad for America, pointing to a 54-day strike in 1998 that cut that quarter’s economic growth for the entire country a whole percentage point.

As a person who used to make a living working on advertising in Detroit,I can tell you that the ad biz just dried right up in 2000. The last major push I can remember around here was the Chevy "Like a Rock" campaign. It sucked, but at least it was a campaign.
My graphics company just squeaks along with minority (not us, we subcontract from minority companies) set-aside work.
I had to go out and get a (low pay at first) job just for the medical benefits 2 years ago.
Without all the smoke and mirrors, people don't get dazzled enough to NEED a particular car. And now, locals can't afford new cars.

and fuck with good ones like the camero.

GM is run by idiots.