GM Warns It May Fail Without Billions More in Aid

Reader Comments
Back to article

So GM needs additional capital to keep its factories running. We cant aford to loose them as a manufacturer and employer. No solution is easy. But it has to be fair to the american taxpayer. 1 - Canada and Mexico need to bail out their own factories. 2 - UAW employees and retirees need to take a significant paycut, eliminate the job bank and rules, unemployment benefits just like the rest of us, not gauranteed income. Health insurance reduced for existing employees and eliminated for retirees. No pension etc until age 65 like the rest of us. The best jobs if you have a job are the Post Office, Teachers, and UAW workers. If labor contracts were competitive there would be more union labor. They are not and it has created a non-union advantage. Pay a fair wage not an entitlement.

dmack of MN 11:56AM March 06, 2009

Who does GM think they are kidding when they say bankruptcy would hurt sales because no one know the future of GM or the value of a GM car warranty. How stupid do they think we are. Right now, no one knows what will happen to GM. At least with bankruptcy, we know for sure they will survive and get bondholders and labor and everyone else to back off because a bankruptcy judge will have the power to cram down anything holding them back. What everyone wants is a “New GM,” and bankruptcy does just that. In addition, how hard would it be for the feds to insure that in case of total meltdown that the feds will stand behind private warranties. There is a big private warranty business in the US that can ensure confidence. The only way to remake GM is bankruptcy, so the longer we wit, the more time and money we waste for no reason. The unions, bondholders and others are just going to be looking out for “me first” unless a bankruptcy judge is there to day what is what.

Akaz1234 of CA 6:34PM March 05, 2009

Sub prime lending and asset back securities took out the entire world. Toyota is asking for money from Japan so clearly no one is immune. Didn't Toyota make the cars people want to buy?
This isn't about the cars we make or what people want. People wanted our cars when they had money. This is a result of the financial disaster.
Honestly, GM, Ford, all make very efficient vehicles. They also make inefficient ones. People chose to buy what they did so if you think they sold too many inefficient ones it's only because they were building what people wanted. Anyway, lets put that to bed.
More bad press GM does NOT deserve: Electric cars were not killed, they were still born. Billions of research public and private and batteries are still a long way off from being ready to take the reins from engines. They are closer but not ready. Therefore it does not stand to reason that an electric car in 1996 could have been viable. In fact, GM lost millions on the EV1. I thought we wanted them to viable... right? Can't build money losing electric vehicles and be viable in this climate.
Anyway, they are asking for loans they can't get from the financial sector, which should be doing this, but can't and caused the whole mess in the first place. They should get these loans. As mentioned, at least automakers put people to work. Financial industries have comparatively few employees vs. the capital they process but got billions. If our government has to put money somewhere to help the ordinary person, automakers are a great place to start.

Frank of IL 4:39PM March 05, 2009

Forget about Al Gore and "Green" technology for now. No way this will make GM profitable. The Volt, General Motor's so called revolutionary vehicle, is nothing more than a glorified golf cart which will almost certainly cost more than most people can afford and will be useless as a family/work vehicle.
The only way GM can survive is to produce vehicles in the size and style the average American can/will buy, including great big gas guzzlers!

John Marshall of MS 3:09PM March 05, 2009

Where and when will we stop? I got mad enough to do a song about it....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Llq1UQsYVcY

jhubcap of GA 2:42PM March 05, 2009

Why is it that GM is getting torn a new one over requesting bailout funds when the financial sector that caused all this mess essentially got a blank check delivered swiftly to them on a velvet pillow at bended knee?
Let's be real here. GM, like the rest of the big three are definitely paying for a litany of mistakes. They fought mass transit tooth and nail, they killed the electric car and they laughed and did nothing when foreign automakers came to our shores.
However, they are taking corrective steps to adjust their firms to the realities of today. Unions have made massive slashes in wages and benefits - the gravy train that previous workers rode for years is over. New hires at GM on the line are making less than $20/hr now. Executives do need to slash their pay and bonuses - failure cannot be rewarded.
It is important to recognize, however, that GM - though late to the game - is investing massive amounts of energy and resources into the vehicles of the future, whether we are talking ethanol, hydrogen, electric and others.
The financial firms and banks that were "too big to fail" received tons of money they were supposed to lend out and help the rest of us maintain access to credit. Instead, big banks bought up other banks and executives in the very firms that screwed us took vacations and bonuses. No one is chewing them out. No one is saying "let them fail."
The American auto industry is paying for its mistakes but it still has potential to help us in the future with better vehicles. If the auto industry is allowed to retool with federal guidance and strict benchmarks and requirements to pay back the loans (and yes, the money they received was LOANS, not a gift), our country will benefit in the long run.
The financial firms, though they got aid money too, are doing NOTHING SIGNIFICANT to change the way they do business. They never learned to control their greed after the great depression and there are no signs that they are learning to correct their business models now. At least the American auto industry is making the concessions they need to correct the way they do business. Granted there is a lot they still need to do, but it can be done and we should allow it to happen. I'm not saying give them a free ride. Make them work - make them change! But do not let them die.
If we can throw almost a trillion dollars at our banks just for them to line their own pockets with it, with almost NO FREAKING STRINGS ATTACHED, we can lend money (that has SIGNIFICANT RESTRICTIONS and guidelines) to our automakers, who helped build the American middle class, not to mention the Sherman tanks that drove fascism back across the Rhine.
We don't owe this to the American auto industry, but that is not why I say we do this. I say we bail them out because in the long run it is better for us. We are all in this together; how can we as Americans lift up some while letting others sink?

Jordan of MI 1:54PM March 05, 2009

While re-reading these blogs, I see most of you are really sick of this "bail-out" thing. Seems like good money after bad.
PS. where is my other blog? Am not ashamed to sign my name: Betty J. Barnes-Ramona-California

bzbzbtzy of CA 12:58PM March 05, 2009

The problem with restructuring is that many people will end up losing their jobs. OK .. that might fix the company problem but then we got another problem with all these suddenly unemployed workers. YES it is a very hard decision and it is a catch 22, no fix is a good fix, so what should happen is the following:
1. No American Vehicles should be sold in the US unless it is made in the US. Forget China and India
2. Establish regulations for vehicle energy consumption and weight and size just like there is regulations for everything else in this world. A car company should not be making huge-gas-guzzlers just because they can.
3. Pay cuts all around for every employee including CEO's and the gods of the auto industry (20% - 25%), why beucase we all have toys of at least 20% to 25% that we can live without at least until we are all back on our feet

islim of MI 12:56PM March 05, 2009

Gereral Motors has had all the time in the world to produce a car that can run on gasoline as well as electrity...but they did nothing,nothing and nothing,now they want the taxpayers to keep them alive till they learn how to build a hybrid.....Like Humty Dumty they sat on the wall too much and too high for their own good....and for the good of are nation too....they did not take care of their responsibility to the american car driver.....and what you hear in our little city is "What Goes Around, Comes Around".....Cordially....

Steve Roisman of CA 12:51PM March 05, 2009

GM shot itself in the foot when its stupid executives went to Washington, tin cup in hand, trying to get in on the bail-out swill. Better these vastly overpriced boobs had turned GM's resources in to making tin cups and other useful products now being manufactured in China, and told the unions, stockholders and each other that happy days were over.

Lew Warden of CA 12:51PM March 05, 2009