An icon of post-industrial American might hit rock bottom today and the fallout will affect all of us.
General Motors, which was the largest industrial conglomeration on the planet not long ago, is now in bankruptcy and will now struggle to find its place in a very changed world.
The automobile industry was responsible for 17 percent of Canadian economic activity as recently as two years ago but is now fading quickly.
Looks like the gov'ts will be calling the shots and that's never a good thing. That's our tax money going down the toilet.
GM and Ford and Chrysler for that matter will never be able to compete with the Japanese and German vehicles. We need to let those American companies die peacefully and move on.
Continuing to pump billions of dollars into failing, outdated businesses is bad practice no matter how you look at it.
Well, it was for a century but got trapped into paying its 3rd and 4th liners too much.
That's about it, between the unions and the craptacular health care "system" in the US where it costs companies huge sums of $ to provide what the government should (like in Canada), it's a no win situation.
There also was a time where the American automobiles were the best on the market, at this point it time they maybe competitive, but they aren't the front runners anymore.
A lack of vision, a poor business climate in the US, and more competition is what brought about the demise of GM as we currently know it. It can be salvaged, but better quality and the US government helping to level the playing field in terms of benefits would be a great start IMO.
I stopped buying American cars 20 years ago. They were always worst than most imports and I was sick of them breaking down so often. GM and Chrysler deserve to go bankrupt for their arrogance. Too bad so many people will lose their jobs and our economy will be hurt though.
Ah yes. The original innovator of planned obsolescence going bankrupt. The irony is palpable. I'm sure many of you will think twice about buying another disposable American vehicle.
So long and good riddance. Capitalization is based on letting the losers lose and winners win.
On the plus side, we can all feel rest assured that Canada will now own 12% of a bankrupt company, while the US will take on 60%. Nationalized industry? I thought this was a free market.
I make a living off this business and am sorry it has had to come to this but am worried it is the government going to be calling the shots as they usually pander to interest groups and really experts at making companies leaner and more efficient but the alternative was just not acceptable.
An icon of post-industrial American might hit rock bottom today and the fallout will affect all of us.
General Motors, which was the largest industrial conglomeration on the planet not long ago, is now in bankruptcy and will now struggle to find its place in a very changed world.
The automobile industry was responsible for 17 percent of Canadian economic activity as recently as two years ago but is now fading quickly.
Many companies come out of bankruptcy or receivership stronger once they've gotten out of their debt problems. GM is also restructuring their labour contracts to be more competitive and they've got $50 billion in backing from the U.S. government. This has been a death spiral for ten years, at least.
To be honest, if you look at the Fortune 50 or the Dow 30 you will see half of the companies don't even exist decade to decade.
Toyota and Honda will end up building more plants in North America, which by the way had more American content than vehicles built by Ford, Chrysler, and GM anyway.
Life goes on. Change happens.
edit: DSF, maybe you should edit the thread title to "End of Poorly Run Company". Just a thought.
The number of cars produced will go down as supply is so much greater than demand, so there will be an inevitable hit to peoples jobs. But there will still be a market for cars, and Toyota and Honda have factories in North America that have decent hourly wages (last I heard, on average 50$ an hour compared to 55$ at Ford -although the actual hourly wage is lower in both cases).
Why is this thread called "End of the Innocence"? What is innocent about GM? Shouldn't it be called "End of the Unable to Make a Decent Product and Pandered to the Unions for Too Long Ineptitude"?
Judging by your join date you came late last summer. Just as a heads up, this board gets a lot more liberal in the off-season in terms of making OT threads. Nothing crazy, but it's allowed. It's only in the season do we have a go to OT thread.
Like most guys I love my car and what not. The problem with most US car makers is the fact they are 20 years behind the times of what is needed for cars and other vehicles.
A buddy of mine owns a dealership in Florida and he started changing his business plan about ten years ago, when he realized that peple wanted better fual economy and they were worried about going green, This guy made a mint in the 80/90's in the car field but he saw that demands where chaniging. Even on pick up trucks and what people wanted.
At the end of the day it is a large correction in the business structure of a business that did not chamge with the times.
__________________
Joy of being an oiler fan--watching the team play worse then AHL teams. Guess the oiler brass is already on the golf course
I assume there are lots of Obama supporters here so yo guys may as well see who is driving the GM restructure bus - a 31 year old with zero business or auto industry experience. Anyone hoping for anything positive out of this fiasco is drinking the Obama koolaid.
I assume there are lots of Obama supporters here so yo guys may as well see who is driving the GM restructure bus - a 31 year old with zero business or auto industry experience. Anyone hoping for anything positive out of this fiasco is drinking the Obama koolaid.
20 years from now, Obama will be remembered as the worst President since Carter.
CHANGE
__________________ http://afterthegreenlight.blogspot.com
TheSpecialist - MacT thinks he was that good of a hockey player when in actuality he was no better then a Louie Debrusk.
I assume there are lots of Obama supporters here so yo guys may as well see who is driving the GM restructure bus - a 31 year old with zero business or auto industry experience. Anyone hoping for anything positive out of this fiasco is drinking the Obama koolaid.
20 years from now, Obama will be remembered as the worst President since Carter.
Well I am certainly not a supporter of Obama and I hope your sentiment is premature but I'm afraid that you might be right. I don't like a lot of the things that he is trying to do, especially being a Canadian here in the US. The Buy American provision in the stimulus package is costing Canadian companies business + jobs. Furthermore, with the restructuring that he is running with the auto companies - I think the Canadian auto industry is more likely to take a larger hit than the US counterparts through layoffs and plant closings. A government + union owning a car company is a recipe for disaster. All you need to do is look at the British auto industry for an example. They tried the same thing in the 70s. Now they have nothing left.
In terms of GM specifically, sure the union is part of the problem. When you are getting paid more than your competitors, namely Honda and Toyota plants here in the US, it doesn't help. Plus they don't have the retiree costs that the Big 3 do. But that is only part of the problem. Recently management really was chasing short term profits (building SUVs and trucks) at the expense of turning out a good product. Furthermore, some of their lineup decisions were just nuts IMO. Why build the Aztec, the HHR and the SSR. I just don't see that as being a good business decision. GM had way too many brands and would let some just whither on the vine at the expense of others. No money to Oldsmobile at the expense of Saturn. Then when they had Saturn up a running they stopped putting money into them so they could concentrate on Buick. No real plan back in the 90s and early this decade IMO.
Now unfortunately, I think a lot of the GM products are actually good vehicles. They have a long warranty, longer than a lot of other companies, which speak to a higher quality product. The new Malibu, crossover line (Outlook, etc...), Cadillac line up, is a step in the right direction but it is just too little, too late as the saying goes.
I assume there are lots of Obama supporters here so yo guys may as well see who is driving the GM restructure bus - a 31 year old with zero business or auto industry experience. Anyone hoping for anything positive out of this fiasco is drinking the Obama koolaid.
Looks like the gov'ts will be calling the shots and that's never a good thing. That's our tax money going down the toilet.
GM and Ford and Chrysler for that matter will never be able to compete with the Japanese and German vehicles. We need to let those American companies die peacefully and move on.
Continuing to pump billions of dollars into failing, outdated businesses is bad practice no matter how you look at it.
I think it's a bit premature to say that. There's no doubt that the Big Three are reaping what they sowed for many years, but Ford in particular appears to be going in the right direction.
