Quote:
Originally Posted by The_Blur
We could teach GM to fish if only our public officials knew how to run a business. You know as well as I do that elected officials are basically Americans who win popularity contests—I mean elections—based on political affiliation, name recognition, and a little bit of policy. They don't know how to run a big company, so we can only hope that professionals who have done this all their lives can do a better job.
I like your idea of a tax deferment.  That could make an enormous difference. I don't like the idea of printing money. That's part of what got the Weimar Republic in trouble after WWI. It creates enormous amounts of inflation.
I strongly believe that we need to support large American companies that dominate the market if the US intends to stay a dominant economic power. GM is one of the largest. If another enormous car company pops up and a market crisis hits the world, I'll support protecting that company in the face of a depression.
I understand your frustration with the GM of the 1980s. I feel that period of time is a large black streak on GM history. Fortunately, the same executives that "don't know how to keep" their jobs are the ones that designed critically acclaimed cars like the Malibu. They know what they're doing. This market crisis prevented that from shining through. If this crisis happened in 2011, then we would have seen the successful profit from this year, next year, and the year after that; GM taking back the number 1 spot from Toyota under positive market conditions; successful product releases, including the Volt, Cruze, and Camaro; cost reduction in 2010; working within EPA and CAFE regulations. GM is doing its job. For us to accept government involvement in industry at all, we would be hypocrites to reject government loans to companies that keep America running. I guarantee you that GM can get through this with great success if we just help a little bit. We'd be doing a whole lot less than the rest of the world, if that makes anyone feel better. |
Man I hope you're right. I completely agree that GM has some desirable cars in the pipeline. If Wagoner just published some sort of comprehensive plan saying "we'll be doing this, we'll be cutting x line, we'll reduce platforms to ____" etc. I'd feel a lot better about it. New cars will help, but there are deep problems here.
On top of that, anything Barney Frank puts in writing is bound to be a disaster. How that man came to be in charge of the House Finance Committee is a mystery to me. And that's not a political statement, I mean Barney Frank as an individual does not understand the subject on which he is in charge.