Most of you who visit here frequently know that I have little confidence in the two major political parties. Frankly, to me it's tweedle-dee, tweedle dum, with the emphasis on dum.
On the way home from the Red Wings game last night we heard that the President of the United States "asked" GM head Rick Waggoner to step down. That would mean that now the government is in charge of most large banks, insurance companies and now the nation's largest automaker.
The only thing spookier than the current auto company leadership is the thought that the next leadership of the company would be the federal government. But that's where we are.
My biggest question is why the government hands over hundreds of billions and potentially trillions of dollars to the financial sector without a whisper of a plan or controls and yet when GM needs a "loan" to get them over a difficult time they are required to jump through months of hoops and still aren't there.
I'm not one to throw around the "socialist" label too freely, but as we head to a situation where banks, insurance companies, some of our largest manufacturing companies and potentially medical coverage are under government control, you'll have to tell me what that is called, if not socialist.
Since September when President Bush started this mess I have been on record as totally opposing these continued "bail-outs" and I think the results, so far, have proven me right. The money has disappeared down a very large rat hole and no recovery is yet in sight.
At least they should apply the same standards to GM as they did to AIG, which is basically, none.
I more suspect that the current grab for control of GM may be a larger attempt to force the car company to build cars that look like shoe boxes, top out at a speed of 45 mph and run on grass clippings and landfill waste, In other words, cars no one wants or will buy.
Ford is probably thanking its lucky stars that it never started down the federal gift plan.
Even though I didn't vote for Obama (remember I 'wasted' my vote on Nader) I had high hopes. Those hopes have gotten much lower.
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6 comments:
They will make Gettelfinger step down, too, won't they? And put someone else in charge of the UAW.
Won't they?
I mean, he has his fingers in all three failing pies, right?
"I more suspect that the current grab for control of GM may be a larger attempt to force the car company to build cars that look like shoe boxes, top out at a speed of 45 mph and run on grass clippings and landfill waste, In other words, cars no one wants or will buy.
Ford is probably thanking its lucky stars that it never started down the federal gift plan."
Well said, Jim. That's always been Pelosi/Reid/Obama game plan. It may take a couple years, but maybe the Supreme Court will stop this madness in the same way it did during FDR's first term and in Truman's steel seizure case.
Obama should order management to meet with line workers and encourage the line workers--without any repercussions--to be candid with management about what needs to be done. No more dog and pony shoes.
Maybe the Big Three should follow the Toyota model. I understand Toyota's management works closely with its workers, listens carefully, finds out what's wrong and works to get it fixed.
That's a model that would work for just about any business, newspapers included.
isn't that the truth
While I cast a wary eye toward bigger government, I think the administration is perfectly within bounds to dictate some terms of the loan.
The company doesn't like it? They don't get the loan.
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