The Conservative Cave
Current Events => General Discussion => Topic started by: CactusCarlos on July 30, 2012, 08:37:14 PM
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http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2012/07/30/GM-in-turmoil?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+BreitbartFeed+%28Breitbart+Feed%29
Remember that vaunted General Motors recovery ushered in by President Obama’s bold bailout program?
Well, not so much.
In June 2009, GM filed for Obama-managed bankruptcy, costing the taxpayer some $50 billion. The vast majority of that cash was never paid back by GM. In November 2010, GM issued a new initial public offering at a price of $33 per share. Today, GM stock is trading at approximately $19.36, down about 40% from its initial price.
And the executive turmoil in the company is reaching fever pitch. Opel, a majority-owned subsidiary of GM, dumped CEO Karl-Friedrich Stracke about two weeks ago. GM Vice Chairman Steve Girsky replaced him. Analysts immediately claimed, “GM appeared to be panicking as the change comes so soon after a turnaround plan for the struggling Opel was approved and a replacement was not named.†Another analyst stated, “The timing of today’s announcement bodes poorly for the condition of GM’s European business.†Then, Opel’s new design chief Dave Lyon was thrown out of the building before even beginning his job. Within the week, global marketing honcho Joel Ewanick got tossed.
Edmunds says that GM’s growth in the month of July will be essentially flat. GM is losing domestic market share at a rapid rate. From January to April 2012, GM lost 11% of its market share – about 300,000 vehicles of market share. Cadillac was down almost 25%.
Remember that big GM boom? It’s a lie. Obama may have bailed out GM, but he didn’t bail out the taxpayer – and in the long run, GM won’t be a viable business just because the government cut it a check.
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I went out of my way to not buy a GM product when car shopping last year. I don't think I was the only one.
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I should have known something like this was afoot. If GM was doing well the owebumaManiaMedia would be trumpeting it. So the fact that they're not should have tipped me off.
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I don't plan on buying another GM product ever again. If I need another daily driver, I'm buying another Camry or Solara.
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I don't plan on buying another GM product ever again. If I need another daily driver, I'm buying another Camry or Solara.
After a lifetime of driving Lincoln Town Cars and Mercury Grand Marquis I decided to tone it down (I don't drive much anymore). I bought a Kia Soul and I really like it.
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I went from Saturn to VW.
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After a lifetime of driving Lincoln Town Cars and Mercury Grand Marquis I decided to tone it down (I don't drive much anymore). I bought a Kia Soul and I really like it.
That is what my daughter has. What color is yours?
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I have my eye on a Lincoln Town Car... I had a co-worker with one. It sure was luxurious. But I also want an air-cooled VW Beetle, a Ford Fairlane, and a Jaguar XJS.
I'd need another driveway.
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That is what my daughter has. What color is yours?
Titanium (silver ::) )
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I went from Saturn to VW.
A lateral move. :-)
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I have my eye on a Lincoln Town Car... I had a co-worker with one. It sure was luxurious. But I also want an air-cooled VW Beetle, a Ford Fairlane, and a Jaguar XJS.
I'd need another driveway.
It's our hope and dreams that make us feel alive.
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My neighbor bought a GM pickup in May 2012, it was a leftover brand new 2011 Avalanche. MSRP was $48k. Using his late father's employee discount plus all the cash back offers he got it for under $24k.
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No wonder GM and the economy is in the shitter. The CEO of GM announced 70% of vehicles made will come from China. Our bailout money is being used in helping Chinese workers rather than American workers. Immelt is an Obama economic advisor along with a senile old fart Buffett who is upside down on his GM stock purchases.
I have said before and I will say it again, the Volt will sink GM. GM is losing market share to the Japs. However, one the biggest problems for the automakers is high unemployment, a stagnant economy and a lack of confidence. .
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If GM was doing well the owebumaManiaMedia would be trumpeting it. So the fact that they're not should have tipped me off.
Oh they are - I tried to find the commercial I've been seeing lately but they go on and on about having the best year yet. It's disgusting really.
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I read somewhere that most of what they sold this year was sold to the Feds. It would be interesting to see what the govt. has been buying during this admin.
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I read somewhere that most of what they sold this year was sold to the Feds. It would be interesting to see what the govt. has been buying during this admin.
I'd like to comparable electric bills from government buildings before and after all the Volts were sold.
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Stuart Varney was on F&F yesterday and said that the vast majority of loans made for GM vehicles were sub-prime loans. Isn't that what got us in trouble with the housing market? I really don't understand all of the details; but Varney said that these loans were very risky.
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I feel bad for GM, not. Government Motors can go out of business for all I care.
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No hearts, flowers and tears here. GM should have gone under to begin with.
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A lateral move. :-)
Hey Now. :-*
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I am disappointed in some of the commentary on this. The Ham Handed (aka Pork to Union Thugs) tactics of the Obumbler administration with regard to the GM bailout should not be used as a bludgeon against GM in general. If GM had been allowed to go through a normal re-organization bankruptcy process things might have turned out different. Chrysler too is going to face some difficulties although I hear it turned a profit I am also aware Fiat is not doing so hot (what do we do there??).
What irritates me is not GM the company but the devastation reeked upon the dealerships and bond holders. We have a prohibition against the establishment of a state religion; neither should the government be vested in choosing winners and losers in private industry. There should be no Government Motors, a state run car company. I blame Obumbler and Greedy Unionists for the debacle, twice over on the Greedy Trade Unionists as they first caused the problem, then rushed in to rape the corpse. A pox on them, when the pensions fail let 'em eat their ill gotten and worthless stock certificates. :argh:
I still own a GM vehicle because it suits my need. I will not cut off my nose to spite my face at this point. Not buying GM because of the actions of Obumbler and the unions doesn't make sense to many people. To those whom it does I say good luck with your campaign.
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We don't buy GM for many other reasons than those. We have a real bad taste in our mouths with the GM lemons we're had in the past.
Never again.
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And despite their financial woes, they seem to still have money to throw around
GM INVESTS $600 MILLION IN ENGLISH SOCCER TEAM
http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2012/07/30/GM-invests-600-million-in-english-soccer-team?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+BreitbartFeed+%28Breitbart+Feed%29
Yes, General Motors really is giving $600 million to an English soccer club. Actually, as the team involved, Manchester United, is the most valuable team in sports, an investment in the club wouldn't be a bad idea, considering how everything else is going at General Motors. No, the $600 million GM is giving to Man United over the next 7 years is a sponsorship deal. In return, Man United will wear "Chevrolet" on their jerseys and GM will be able to call itself Man United's "global automobile partner." It will immediately have the edge with all those consumers who look to their favorite soccer club for car buying advice.
There is a very good reason government shouldn't bailout failing companies with buckets of taxpayer money. The money simply allows them to keep on making the disastrous decisions that got them to be a failing company in the first place. At least straight-up bankruptcy would have probably rooted out the kind of people who would think spending $60-70 million a year to have your logo on a soccer jersey was a swell idea.
The other problem with people whose pockets have been lined with lots of taxpayer cash is that they will overspend on their crazy ideas. Man United's current sponsor, AON, an insurance company was spending around $30 million a year to have their logo on the players' jerseys. So, they are throwing around twice the cash to advertise a brand that has almost no sales in Britain.
Note: Before AON, Man United's sponsor was AIG. See how that worked out.
Can we please stop bailing out failing companies? General Motors has moved from a tragedy to a farce.
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We don't buy GM for many other reasons than those. We have a real bad taste in our mouths with the GM lemons we're had in the past.
Never again.
THIS!
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We don't buy GM for many other reasons than those. We have a real bad taste in our mouths with the GM lemons we're had in the past.
Never again.
Me too. Had my fair share. Time to move on.
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Screwing the bondholders to benefit the unions, then turning over a huge share of the ownership to the unions, can't possibly turn out well. The unions learned nothing from this exercise except that the Obama administration has their backs, but that can't make this pig fly.
I've only bought a new car a couple of times in my life, and don't expect to ever get another, in my experience they haven't proven any more trouble-free than a carefully-inspected used car (Though fixing the problems may be covered by warranty, I still lose use of the vehicle for just as long, and the work has to be done at a servicing dealership which would be pretty damned inconvenient for a GM product where I am), and they cost vastly more. Ridiculously expensive, really. So, it would be silly for me to say I'll never buy another new GM product, since I'm pretty unlikely to buy ANY new automotive product from a dealership.
I'd still consider a used GM product...well, one with a standard transmission. GM engines seem to be a whole lot more long-lived than their automatic transmissions.
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My brother works for a dealership group that has outlets here where I am, in the Greenwich CT area, and the West Palm Beach FL area. 19 dealerships in all. He recently got a promotion, and one of his new duties is to track the flow of every dollar in the group--and spot trends, etc. He also is privy to a whole bunch of info about just how good the various makes they sell, are in the real world. His wife drives a Toyota Sienna minivan; he drives a Subaru Forester; my parents drive two different Toyotas; and my wife and I drive two different Toyotas. There's a reason that none of us will get a GM product, even though they do sell them in a dealership or two. Toyota and Subaru just make better stuff, for the applications that we use them for. Now, the stigma of driving a "Government Motors" product is added to that.
ETA: By buying an '09 RAV that had 47,000+ miles on it, I saved damn near $8,000 over a brand-new one. I'll put a whole bunch of miles on it--I want it to get to 200,000 miles, at least.
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I went out of my way to not buy a GM product when car shopping last year. I don't think I was the only one.
Bingo.
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When GM showed up at the congressional hearing in their private planes begging for money to pay off their unions, I gave up on them. They want to have a business that is run by the union (which is the cause of the mess they are in), then they aren't getting my business.
Note: Up till that hearing, I was a die hard GM fan. Not anymore. For now on I am sticking with Ford, and BMW thank you.
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Rather than pay down their debt to us taxpayers, GM's record annual profits of $400 million was distributed to union employees to the tune of $7,000 each. What a rip off.
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Rather than pay down their debt to us taxpayers, GM's record annual profits of $400 million was distributed to union employees to the tune of $7,000 each. What a rip off.
How else is owebuma going to pay off his supporters ?
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Rather than pay down their debt to us taxpayers, GM's record annual profits of $400 million was distributed to union employees to the tune of $7,000 each. What a rip off.
Not to mention when they went public again, the unions got first dips on the IPO.
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Cadillac was down almost 25%.
Which is sad because their CTS is a really well made and shit-hot car. But one model won't save GM.
And it's also why when I go looking for a full-sized truck after the Jeep is paid off, it's going to be Ford as first choice, Dodge second. Chevy/GMC won't fit into my decision, nor will Toyota based on my horrible experience with them.
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Quote from: Lacarnut on Today at 10:56:18 am
Rather than pay down their debt to us taxpayers, GM's record annual profits of $400 million was distributed to union employees to the tune of $7,000 each. What a rip off.
How else is owebuma going to pay off his supporters ?
I think the expectation was those union people would funnel some of that money back to Obama and the DNC.
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I'm personally tired of seeing the unions drive any automaker out of business because they think the company should be giving away freebies and not making cars. When 5k of the vehicles price tag is there to cover the health care of some union good that makes anywhere from $20-$60+ per hour and they can't pay for their own insurance or health cost then that company doesn't deserve anyones business.
When I had my 1992 Camaro, the Camaro was sold at a base price of around 12-13k when the 1993 model came out the base price was 10K more and the car only got a design change but the cars size and options didn't radically change and neither did its performance. The unions are destroying the big 3 and it's time the car makers do what Winsconsin did and tell the union thugs to go pound sand.
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Have only owned Fords in my life -- well, except for the '79 Civic I bought from my SIL when I graduated college in '85. I still wish I could fill the tank for a 5 spot like I could with that Honda :bawl: