Letter from General Motors President

[Rick S.]

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

Stu,
Maybe Nancy and Harry believe, plus not forget Bill Clinton, that everyone should be entitled to owning a Corvette. Also, lets give them a 0% loan and no credit check so they can have a daily driver Corvette and live in a house they could never afford. Only in America!
Rick

[Ian G.]

Re: Letter from General Motors President

Hey I'm a beneficiary of those great days! I was just smart enough (or conservative enough?) to get a 30 year instead of an ARM.

[Stuart F.]

Re: Letter from General Motors President

I liked those days too. We moved from Illinois to Florida, and in the process, sold our new home up there and, for $2000. more, picked up a 1000 sq. ft. here. A few weeks later, they had lotteries going for people who wanted to buy in our development and the paper value of our house nearly doubled. In our development of 117 homes, half have since gone through foreclosure and we have new neighbors moving in every day, just like back then (2004). Our HOA is owed over $23,000 in unpaid dues and they still complain if I don't cut my grass every week! We have about a half dozen abandoned homes and many more out on rental (and those people do so well taking care of the properties)! Now too, houses of the same basic plan as ours are selling for significantly less than what we paid (all in the space of 4 years). WOW! Whats going to happen in the next 4 years?

Stu Fox

[Martin T.]

Re: Letter from General Motors President

Stu, I spoke with the manager of a real estate investment company two days ago. We were wondering about the private cost of funds for jumbo loans. Apparently the current formula is not to loan more than 60% of current value (understand that in many cases current value may be based upon quick sale value which may be approximately 80% of market). The underlying idea of 60% is two-fold: one is the debtor is not likely to walk from 40% down, two is the idea of homes depreciating another 20% and building in a safe guard.
Regarding this G.M. bailout: I go along with the idea of a loan with strings attached. The execs need to have their necks on the line. Big reward usually means big risk. Golden parachutes must disappear for execs that do not produce (sorry, business must be business). Too many dead beats on the gravy train. The government cannot correct the mistakes made by a bunch of ineffecient, self consumed, head in the sand premadonas. Time to pay up and time to pay personally. AIG is a good example of what government bailout money does.
No one wants G.M. or Ford to fail. So put your heads together. Talk to cutting edge companies (Tesla?) See if you can come up with a business plan that works then approach perhaps the public and see if the public wants to provide venture capital if needed. The auto industry can probably go in a less petroleum dependent direction. Remember 700 billion a year goes toward foreign oil and even a third less flowing into the hands of OPEC nations would have a tremedous positive effect on our current economic condition.

[Rick S.]

Re: Letter from General Motors President

In the final analysis we still need cars to conduct our daily business, be it work, pleasure, vacation or whatever. Who do we prefer to provide those cars? Honda, Nissan, Toyota, etc. or American manufacturers, ie: GM, Ford & Chrysler? On my several visits to my son in Calif it appears the majority of the left coast prefers the foreign manufacturers. Being a lifetime Detroit area resident, I prefer the Big Three but I appear to be in the loyal minority. I also noted that the ethnic makeup of the left coast (SF Bay Area) is very different than the Detroit area which I believe does not have the same allegiance to the Big Three. I do not suggest that the folks on the left coast are wrong but many do not have long time connections to the Big Three. Just my .02 on the condition of the automotive world and who we should support, American or foreign automotive manufacturers. I say support the Big Three and American manufacturers. The foreign manufacturers employ many American workers but I believe they send their profits back to their home country.
Rick

[Stuart F.]

Re: Letter from General Motors President

I recall the last figures I heard were; Toyota provides the means of support to some 38,000 people. Gm alone does the same for 1.3 Million! Being a GM retiree, of course I will always be loyal to them. My sons are inclined to stray into a Toyota or Honda now and then, and I remind them about where the paycheck came from that provided them support while they grew up and put them through college. They hate to hear that. Only foreign car I ever owned was given to me by my Dad (Mazda) as a trade for a new Cavalier I gave him, and I had the pleasure of junking it.

Stu Fox

[Ian G.]

Re: Letter from General Motors President

My uncle is in construction, 50 years old, used to buy nothing but American. He recently bought a Acura SUV, because he got tired of his GM SUV breaking down. I got my first taste of Ford quality when my friend's Cavalaier needed a new transmission after only two years off the lot. That's what made my decision to buy japanese and I've never had a problem in 10 years of owning two Toyota Celicas. Quality trumps loyalty to a national company. They are still just corporations and need their profits and will Can you faster than your head can spin when profits are down and cut your pensions to cut costs and sell you an exploding truck if it suits them. I can understand you being loyal to GM having worked for them all those years, likewise I'm loyal to Sears and buy all my tools and appliances from them, since I worked for them all during college and trust them. I trust that a Toyota or a Honda will give me trouble-free service. I can't say the same about Ford or GM. And I know that Ford & GM supposedly has better quality now (GM? not so sure), but I've been buying Japanese since I was 18 -- why stop now?

[Gary C.]

Re: Letter from General Motors President

Thread closed - it was meant to be informative about GM's current state and their plight - not political! Gary....