Thursday, November 26, 2009

Nation

Bankruptcy Looms for Chrysler and General Motors

Ford posts a big loss but says it has the cash, for now, to keep going

Posted April 24, 2009

Reader Comments

A Way to Prevent Bankruptcy

"We might still be able to compete..using an emergency tactic, where labor and business can agree to minimize wages and benefits "up-front". They could agree to "backload" ....by setting a much larger predetermined profitsharing level, say 50%." Standardize design like Volkswagon did from one year to the next, and make repairwork ergonomically easy and efficient.

But most importantly, allow the manufacturer a tax credit for profitsharing. Allow them a 60% tax credit on every dollar returned to workers, on a regular basis. This would also be a built-in stimulus for the economy.

For a more detailed treatise on the tax credit for profitsharing see www.profitsharinguprising.com it is free online for all to see.

We should encourage all businesses and industry, workers and owners alike to join the profit-sharing uprising.

Race to bottom

Most industries that have offered good benefits and pay to the majority of their employees have already suffered the fate that GM looks foward to. This trend is bound to spread. Healthcare and pension costs make any legacy business uncompetitive with rivals that do not operate with these costs. The standard of living for the majority of people in this country has been going down for years and this trend will continue. Free market capitalism only works for those at the very top of the income distribution.

General Motors

Problem with GM is simply the market. It is not like Wal-Mart where giving up eating is an option. Like housing purchasing a car is a major investment. That is something that can be avoided in an economic crash. The government involvement is likely to make GM situation worse. Oddly, the government claims it is trying to save jobs but from what it is doing to GM only increases joblessness. I don't see GM surviving because of government decisions. Still we can always buy Japanese cars. On the other hand the government acting in its normal ineffective fashion going up the down staircase.

General Motors' Probloem

The reason GM is in trouble, is their pricing. The labor rate of the workers building them is tooooooo high!!! Who can afford them? I don't make 30 bucks an hour. Their product has to be affordable for a succesful business to succeed. Another problem they have is the styling of their cars, there is none! They all look alike, a tapered wedge from the side-view. And what ever happened to the concept of putting chrome on a car?? If the average wage earner in this country can't afford their cars, then they are doomed. The UAW is arrogant, greedy,and completely out-ot-touch! I have 2 sons who would gladly work for 10 dollars an hour to build your cars. And I am sure there are hundrends of thousands of other people in this country who would gladly do the same.

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