Letter from General Motors President

[Gary C.]

NCRS President Vito Cimilluca requested the following letter from General Motors be posted and that NCRS fully supports General Motors in this endeavor.

"Dear Employee,





www.gmfactsandfiction.com to obtain further information on the auto industry and GM.Support for the domestic auto industry will contribute to a stronger economy, save millions of jobs, and establish U.S. manufacturing and technology leadership in the global marketplace. As an employee, you have a lot at stake and continue to be one of our most effective and passionate voices. I know GM can count on you to have your voice heard.

Thank you for your urgent action and ongoing support.

Troy Clarke
President
GM North America"

[Andy F.]

Re: Letter from General Motors President

No thanks. If I contact my congressman, it will be to vote against a bail out for the automakers. Probably the single best thing for thier survival is to let them go bankrupt and force real reform. The bailout will only put off the inevitabe, while giving the government more control over what is produced and costing the American public more...

[Dick W.]

Re: Letter from General Motors President

Andy, I suggest that you read the editorial from Automotive News that I posted. I think that it will maybe change your mind.

[Duke W.]

Re: Letter from General Motors President

GM has done a good job of making its internal operations as efficient at possible, but the two bookends - the UAW and dealer system - are squeezing the life out of the US auto industry, and this business model is unsustainable.

GM's average labor cost is $78/hour versus about $48/hour for the Japanese transplants. If GM has to lay off labor they go to a "job bank" where they continue to earn full pay and benefits doing nothing for MONTHS!

Should taxpayers support this?

At the other end you have a system that places months of production in finished inventory that dealers have to finance. It's too expensive for GM to lay people off, so they just keep building vehicles and shove them down dealers' throats. There are currently about 4 million unsold new vehicles. At an average invoice of $20k that's 80 BILLION DOLLARS that has to be financed! And you wonder why dealers are going out of business at unprecedented rates?

For the last 30 years our "prosperity" has been "financed" by an ever increasing mountain of debt. Every downturn is patched up with bandaids that form the foundation for the next recession. The Rx for too much debt is more debt! At some point this mountain of paper will collapse. In fact, it has already started.

GM is the current most visible symptom of a systemic disease that can no longer be patched up. Who is going to bail out the taxpayer when the US Treasury can no longer sell debt?

I would support taxpayer assistance if GM, the UAW, and dealers will come up with a competitive and sustainable business model, but I will doubt that will happen. The politicians won't touch the unions that got them elected.

I don't put it outside the realm of possiblity that something equivalent to the depression is coming, and the more businesses, states, counties, cities, and individuals we "bail out" the sooner it will come and the harder it will be for everyone!

Duke

[Bill M.]

Re: Letter from General Motors President

Its something how white colar crooks are always bailed out whether for losing all of our money or embezzelment. At the end of the day they have generated money by scewing around with old ladies savings and have produced nothing. at least at a GM a car rolls out the door. and don't tell me the cars are junk i have owned at least a dozen new cars and truck in the last 30 years and NO complaints.

Bill

[Andy F.]

Re: Letter from General Motors President

I read it. Sorry it did not move me to change my mind. The problem with GM is they are too large and have too many different products competing for the same consumer's dollar. Why does Pontiac, Buick, Saturn, and Chevrolet all have to have a mid-sized SUV...why is any make other than Chevrolet in the SUV business? The unions have driven GM and the other manufacturers to where they find themselves today. Unions and their congressional puppets put pressure on the industry to keep obsolete lines open for the sake of jobs. Yes you can also point fingers to executives too, but bowing to the unions is the primary cause of the current situation. I know there are a number of UAW members in the NCRS, and I am probably not winning any friends with this post. Unions did have their place back in the first several decades of the last century, but not today. Did you know that GM is the largest purchaser of Viagra? $17M per year per UAW union "healthcare" deal.

Just a few minutes ago there was a story on the news regarding the bailout. I think it was Nancy Pilosi they were quoting saying something to the effect that the automakers need to make cars "smaller, lighter, more fuel efficient, GREEN, and CUTE". Do you think Corvette will survive congress meddling into the business of the automakers? I say let them make the tough decisions and restructure the business on their own.

[Erv M.]

Re: Letter from General Motors President

Duke, you are on point. Their business model does not work and repeating the same will produce the same results at even greater losses. Our bankruptcy laws in this country are rediculous as companies are allowed to shed debt, someone takes the loss, and becomes the low cost producer spiraling the entire industry downward.

On the other hand allowing GM to dissolve will create a financial burden on our nation.

Within lies the mystery.

[Ken A.]

Re: Letter from General Motors President

Andy, I suggest that you read the editorial from Automotive News that I posted. I think that it will maybe change your mind.

As you know GM is the largest purchaser of prescription drugs in the world for their UAW "partners". GM spends over 17 million dollars/year on Viagra!!! But, the white collar employees do not have the same plan & get less benefits.
Do you really want to bail out the UAW? Because the majority of the money will go to current & retired UAW employees. I say "Rise up & throw the scoundrals out & to heck with thier blue pills." Who is going to pay for MY health care? ME!!!!!!!!!!

[Joe M.]

Re: Leave politics out of this forum

This forum is not the place to play politics. NCRS members can read the newspapers and make their own decisions regarding who gets bailed out and who does not. Please stick to what this forum was designed for.

[Timothy B.]

Re: Letter from General Motors President

I have not made up my mind about GM and the bail out, it seems catistrophic for the country if they fail. On the other hand, the goverment throwing money at a problem that will just get worse is not good. What good is 25 billion now if they need 25 billion more next year and nothing changes.

No good leadership in Congress starting from a long time ago and now the end result. Letting the market get flooded with imported products and making American companies compete while taxes, unions, goverment regulations etc. out of control.

Sadly, I agree with Duke's last paragraph and I am scared we are just sliding off the end with no bottom in sight. And just think, Wall Street Bonuses!!!

Lets just talk about our cars, it's too depressing.

[Stuart F.]

Re: Letter from General Motors President

Tim;

I agree. Cars are a better topic. If I loose my GM pension, oh well, it's just another betrayal. I'm used to that. Spent nearly 10 years in SEA trying to do what I thought was right and had congress tell me it wasn't. We taught the ARVN how to fight our way, made them dependent on us, then we took away their Ammo. Lots of my friends (Asian and American) died as a result (including their families) - Betrayed!
Lost my promised retirement health care - Betrayed!
Loose my promised pension - Betrayal! Only this time I'm going to take out what's left of my 401K (before Nancy gets it) and I'm going to reinvest it, you guessed it, in AMMO!

Sleep well tonight. Everything will be OK!

Stu Fox

[Ian G.]

Re: Letter from General Motors President

It might be tough love, but the role a downturn, recession, depression -- what have you -- plays is to weed out the weak businesses and make the remaining ones, leaner, meaner and more profitable. If GM collapses, another car maker will take its place and grow to even greater heights.

And Joe, see my other post. This thread was staretd by the moderators. They are the ones that decide what thread topics are appropriate for the TDB, but I agree we should have some subforums here for general interest topics -- like want ads and economic discussions and even defending one's home with an automatic rifle like Stu wants to do :P

[Stuart F.]

Re: Letter from General Motors President

Ian;

Actually I was thinking more in terms of defending my Vette from when Nancy and Harry send their henchmen to try and take it away to comply with some stipulation that all cars of a certain age must be destroyed in order for any bail out plan to be put into effect. Of course they will be replaced with some people's car (wonder if we can hop those suckers up and get away with it?).

Oh yes; it will be part and parcel of rescinding the 2nd amendment as well. Just a little dry humor.



Stu Fox

[Ian G.]

Re: Letter from General Motors President

Yeah I'll send a letter to nancy myself, if she tries to take away my vette befre I can even get it on the road again -- me being from the bay area. I think bailing out every bloated old company that sticks out its palm is the last thing we should do. I would be amenable to a loan however, but not a hand-out. An example of slippery-slope socialism you were worried about -- which was campaign propoganda I might add

[Dennis C.]

Re: Letter from General Motors President

A lot of good points were made in the posts above, but the underlinning problem remains - without significant restructuring of the auto industry and a change to the way business is conducted GM and other auto companies will eventually fail with or without a bail out package.

How do we get that point across.........

Regards,

Dennis