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General Motors released its third quarter results and announced it lost $4.2 billion. The NY Times says the automaker is "closer to running out of cash," as GM said, "G.M.’s estimated liquidity during the remainder of 2008 will approach the minimal level necessary to operate its business.” GM has suspended merger talks with Chrysler and will concentrate on ways to stop the bleeding, like cutting white-collar jobs and other restructuring. The Big Three automakers--GM, Ford, and Chrysler--and the United Auto Workers union are hoping the federal government will help bail out the auto industry. In other auto-related news, gas prices are down in the region.
GM is "Closer to Running Out of Money"
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not exactly NY news, but it's one more reason to hate hamas terrorists and the fascists in their mid
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The UAW will never admit that it's part of the problem. It will stubbornly hold out for its members until the big three finally collapse under the weight of unreasonable wage and pension demands.
Good move bringing back the Camaro. I'm sure that'll be a hot seller with $3/gallon gas.
I hope they go out of business. They need to get their shit together and build more fuel efficient/alternative fueld cars. Oh wait, they're in bed with the oil companies. They get fucked while the oil companies continue to make shit loads of money.
I'm sure this has nothing to do with their refusal to diversify out of SUV's, produce decent hybrid vehicles, or design anything that wasn't about 5 years behind the rest of the auto industry. If one industry deserves to fail, it's the American auto industry.
UAW? They're less to blame then GM making cars that people don't want to buy.
IMO, they should start firing from the Top.
It is absurd to point the finger simply at the unions. This is a national, institutional problem. The reality is that a manufacturing job does nto provide enough income to support an American household. This is linked to healthcare costs, food costs, etc. The union works to (artificially) inflate these wages to provide adequate means of living.
That said, from an economic perspective, we're going to see many, many companies fold in the coming months. We've already seen banks go under, we've seen retail go under, and now we'll see the last manufacturing jobs in the US go under.
Not only do US car makers produce crappy products, they locked themselves into destructive labor agreements and pension obligations. They should hav been allowed to fail decades ago but the government cant afford to lose the tax revenue and the politicians, especially when pressured by big business and labor unions, cant afford to lose the votes.
My gut feeling: If you think the Wall Street bailout was big, wait for this one to shake out.
Spirit your argument kind of ignores reality. In the last GM contract, UAW made a big compromise on retiree health care.
American industry in general has been failing for so long... Everywhere you look, somebody else is doing it better elsewhere -cars, tvs, buildings, airplanes... computers might be designed here, but everything is done abroad. No wonder we're in this shit...
Services? yeah, banking... riiight...
No vision, no foresight, producing garbage products that people don't want to buy, saddled with enormous retiree pension and health care plans -- no surprise they are about to collapse.
GM has been producing cars of equal quality to the Japanese for the last few years now. If you look at quality reports they beat a few and fall behind a few. But its perception that matters, which shows on this board. Everyone complains about GM and SUVs, but gleefully overlooks Tundras, Tacomahas, Landcruisers, LX430, and other huge beats driving down the road. But I forget, its only our own industry pushing these things, right? Sheesh.
Yay, more corporate welfare!
The Hummer was the beginning of the end for GM. Hope they get the Merger
They better not bail them out, maybe Honda should buy them.
These companies have been managed horribly, but I think one could make a strong argument that they are more deserving of a bailout than the banks, based on the gargantuan number of workers who would be affected. If any of the big three were to shutter, not only would their tens of thousands of employees be out of work, but many of their thousands of parts suppliers would also be forced to shut down. Job losses would reach many hundreds of thousands. The Federal government would be forced to take over the pensions and benefits of their retirees. A pre-emptive bailout is painful, but the alternative is a lot worse.
The personal automobile -- what kind of destruction can it not wreak?
Kissel is right (#11). The autophobes are anti-car, yet claim to know the most about them!
The irony is, GM is leading (of the major auto producers) the charge to bring Plug-In Hybrid Electric vehicles (namely the "Volt") to the marketplace.
Kissel-
There was an article in the Times a couple weeks ago about this very issue. We know that all auto companies have SUVs but the problem is that GM literally based their entire well-being on the fate of the SUV. Other companies do have SUVs, but they are only a small part of a much bigger picture for companies like Toyota and Honda.
Quick quiz for those REALLY looking for answers about the problem with the American manufacturing (and other) industry. . .
1) How many of us spend from 30-60 minutes per work day looking at websites such as this, reducing the amount of work we perform?
2) How many of us would be furious if our pay was lowered on a pro-rated basis for the time spent not working?
3) How many of us would complain if our employers implemented some mechanism of measuring our work product (output) and gave quotas for acceptable levels?
Be honest with yourselves.
There's only one way to remain to remain competitive and that's to compete. . . which feels just like hard work.
1) I do
2) I freelance. The more I work, the more I earn...
3) no complaints
I agree with you. what this country needs is hard workers...
#5
That's the problem. They built the cars Americans wanted to buy: hulking, thirsty, dirty behemoths, while lobbying to hamstring efficiency and emission requirements and promoting protectionism.
The industry prepared for the false future that oil, and the credit to buy their crap-products, would always be cheap.
The US is still doing airplanes just fine.
Our automakers are truly ridiculous though, but not without hope. The Chevy Volt is a great concept, now we just need to bring the damn thing to market. If GM can focus more energy and effort into forward-thinking cars, they will be OK. They can also kill off about half of their brands (Buick, Pontiac) and maybe start a new brand which has less of a history of, um, lameness.
They are failing because they make shitty quality products aimed at the consumerism driven americans that have to change their cars every 2 years.
Have you looked carefully at a Ford Explorer? They have way too much plastic in my opinion, and they charge a hefty price.
When I see american manufactured cars I don't associated them with "quality" that's all I'm saying. Japanese are making them better, I don't blame people for not wanting to buy GMs or Fords. You wanna sell more, how about better manufacturing, design and performance?
A lot of people are looking for fuel economy, and the american cars are failing big time on that as well.
What the heck is the matter with people here? Have they become sheep that just follow the leader? Where did I write that the UAW was the sole cause of this? The article mentioned that the UAW was one of the parties pushing for a bailout. In that circumstance, it's eminently fair to point out that they are partly to blame for this. And their taking one step back at the last negotiation hardly compensates for the 50 steps forward they've taken over the decades. Sorry, no sympathy.
[6] The reality is that a manufacturing job does nto provide enough income to support an American household. This is linked to healthcare costs, food costs, etc. The union works to (artificially) inflate these wages to provide adequate means of living.
Yet somehow, non-union workers at Toyota, Nissan, Honda and other plants seem to be doing well enough. If a job doesn't pay enough, then don't take it. If you're desperate enough to take it, don't complain. That's how the free market works.
[17] The irony is, GM is leading (of the major auto producers) the charge to bring Plug-In Hybrid Electric vehicles (namely the "Volt") to the marketplace.
The irony is GM was the producer that killed off the perfectly usable EV1 by not marketing it then ran all existing EV1s through the crusher even though lessees were clamoring to buy them. Payback's a bitch.
The Big Three got two product cycles behind the rest of the world. Their pigheadedness on fuel economy coupled with the fact that they rode the highly profitable light trucks and SUVs way beyond their shelf life left them hobbled with no way out. Even if they get a bailout, they are still 2-5 years away from having the kind of product lineup that car buyers want. They chased the past and now they are gone. Let go of them.
Oh, and the UAW will now demand their union benefits from the taxpayers. I have a hard time sympathizing with an assembly line worker that earns $100,000 a year.