My plan to save General Motors. Could this possibly work???

[mrbigstuff]

well, if a certain former president had his way, the SS mess would be all that much worse. remember, we still have to take care of the elderly, retirement account of whatever type - or not.

[3d]

Geez... you guys are a total buzzkill.

[macphanatic]

Doc wrote:
Who'd insure against the write-offs? AIG?

Note that AIG's insurance business is not only financially sound, but they have a huge surplus. The bailout was for the non-insurance side of the business (ie: mortgage backed securities, etc). In fact, the AIG property and casualty insurance companies may be the most financially sound insurance companies out there.

[Seacrest]

macphanatic wrote:
[quote=Doc]
Who'd insure against the write-offs? AIG?

Note that AIG's insurance business is not only financially sound, but they have a huge surplus. The bailout was for the non-insurance side of the business (ie: mortgage backed securities, etc). In fact, the AIG property and casualty insurance companies may be the most financially sound insurance companies out there.
"Aside from that, Mrs. Kennedy, how was your day?"

[WHiiP]

Doc wrote:
[quote=weapon]
Gm needs to go into (and will) bankruptcy so they can break the union.

You cannot be competitive in todays market paying $70/hour plus healthcare and full lifetime pensions for someone who rivits a door handle all day.

That's been debunked. Line-workers average under $40k.

The problem is not with present salaries and benefits, which are at or below industry standards.

The problem is with the mismanagement of funds set aside for the health and retirement benefits of former employees. Because the money set aside was inadequate and much of it was squandered to pay off the managers who mismanaged it, they ended up with something akin to a Ponzi scheme with present contributions going right into the pockets of past employees. That digs them ever deeper into debt as more retirees pour into the system.


There is absolutely NO DOUBT that GM has been mismanaged for many years, going back to at least the early '70s. But, ALL along the way the UNION was there helping rob GM of any opportunity to be productive or competitive. Greed was on both sides of the street in this Industry! ! ! ! ! ! !

[Grateful11]

They need to quit making so many different models. Take for example
the Chevy truck is available as an LS, LT1, LT2, LT3, LTZ, and SS or at least
it was the last time I looked. That's way too many different models, too
many different molds to make for interior and exterior parts and too many parts
to keep up with. Then get rid of Pontiac, GMC, and Saturn.

[macphanatic]

Many companies have under-funded pension plans. Many of them failed to plan on retirees living more than 7-10 years after retirement as was common 40 years ago.

[Buckeye_Sean]

Doc wrote:
[quote=weapon]
Gm needs to go into (and will) bankruptcy so they can break the union.

You cannot be competitive in todays market paying $70/hour plus healthcare and full lifetime pensions for someone who rivits a door handle all day.

That's been debunked. Line-workers average under $40k.
I believe what was stated was a bit mis-interpreted. It was recently reported that it COSTS GM $70/hr. on average for each worker's pay AND benefit package. (The cost of an employee to the company isn't only in their salary.)

I too believe that forcing the auto companies into bankruptcy and busting the unions is the only way to fix them. Can't remain globally competitive when you're paying employees 2x-3x as much as anyone else doing the same job elsewhere in the world.

[weapon]

Oops that is what I meant. Got a little excited and fubed it. Thanks for the clarification Buckeye_Sean.

[tenders]

MikeF wrote:
For those mechanically inclined, they could offer a build-it-yourself kit (bypassing the production line worker mark-up tax). You buy a car and get a shipping container delivered to your front door that has all the car parts, but not assembled. An instruction book tells you how to put it together (better yet, a youtube video of what needs to be done). All for $5K or something...

This was VERY funny. An original idea? I can imagine a whole documentary series or even a Michael Moore movie on this.