Go Away GM

[joemd11]

Ya, who cares if GM goes belly up! Our economy is doing fine and will easily absorb a few hundred thousand more in the unemployment lines. We can just raise taxes on those still working and then open some more food pantries for the jobless auto-workers. The countries infrastructure is solid and shouldn't even notice the loss to the tax base.
I'm not implying that the company should not be held accountable for its actions, I guess I just don't understand why people can be so flippant concerning the demise of a once great company and major employer. Maybe we should ask the TBN members who get a paycheck from GM what their career plans are after the company tanks?

 

[CobyRupert]

I don't buy into the argument: "This is bad, this is rotten, that's the way it's always been, we're dependent on it, change is scary." If that's the case, we'd still be bowing to the Queen (or in this case a General -"The General is dead! Long live the General!" ) That's the same argument we heard from Wall Street (Too big to fail, too big too jail, "We'll wreck your economy if you try" blackmail crap) and from war hawks back in 2009: "Well, we can't withdraw from Iraq, it'll hurt our economy." (aka: "Not killing would be bad!") Which if you think about it, is similar to GM putting a 57 cent ignition switch ahead of dead Americans.
So warped. How far we've fallen.

 

[tcreeley]

GM is good for the US- jobs. GM is a capitalist company- more profit for less. That is why we need regs- to keep capitalist companies in line.
I've owned two chevy pickups- nice trucks, rugged. We are wasting money on foreign governments -Israel, Egypt, Ukraine. Why should we care if GM gets a helping hand?

 

[ultrarunner]

To be honest I wish Chevrolet would break away from GM and stand alone selling nothing but trucks and suv's. I agree that the trucks have been behind Ford since around 2004. The reason I keep going back to them is because I have a good friend who's a salesman and always gets me a smoking deal and the service department has always been great. I get spoiled because I'll go to another dealer and not get near the same treatment and get mad.

Chevrolet has some other bright spots like the Corvette and even the Camaro

 

[jerrybob]

I heard that GM considered installing a swing out table mounted to the dash that you could rest your keys on while driving. As an upgrade......city folks could add a cell phone holder and country folks could add a beer can holder.:laughing:

 

[Hiltz]

I don't think any company knowingly builds something that will injure or kill someone, but when it happens they all try to protect their interest. That is why we have courts and lawyers to prey upon the injured and make more money on the deal than the injured party, but that is just my opinion.

If you did a little research I think you will find plenty of instances where the car company's waited years before fixing major problems they knew were faulty. Seems the bean counters and lawyers weigh what would be more expensive. Fix the car or pay out lawsuits. The heck with peoples safety. What a way to run a business.

 

[oldpilgrim]

its based on whether or not they can sell cars at a profit. When they can't they will go under.

Remember when GM couldn't make cars at a profit couple of years ago? They're still here.

 

[KennyG]

Remember when GM couldn't make cars at a profit couple of years ago? They're still here.

If I recall the only thing that kept them going was profit from GMAC the finance company.

 

[FatTire]

They have

I was going to short the stock at the onset of the news (as a ME who worked for Caterpillar controls group) I could tell it was going to be a big deal. But Ive been shocked to see that the stock has barely dropped when toyota took a 33% hit on the floor mat throttle BS. Never occurred to me that GM (new) would simply just shirk billions in responsibility. But in hindsite I dont see why i was surprised, Its just the latest example of BIG money screwing over the rest of us.

I think you're right on the "BIG money" screw job. I'm a capitalist. Capitalism is the parent of innovation and efficiency in the market. However, the trend toward ever larger corporations is a real problem. They have too much political influence, and too little regard for their customers. Theoretically there should be some alignment between the interests of stock holders and customers, but that link seems to be broken. Maybe that's because most stock is held in huge mutual funds where the owners (average people like many of us) barely even know what they own in their retirement accounts, etc. And "big money" really is not the same as "free speech" no matter what the guys in the black robes say.

I don't have a solution to offer, but the problem seems sorta obvious. Sorry if I have offended anyone.

 

[Verticaltrx]

Maybe I missed it, but when the cars 'shut off' was the ignition switch just going to the off position or to the lock position?

If it were going to lock then that is really bad and I can understand all the crashes. If it was just killing the motor I partly blame the motorist for not paying attention and not knowing how to handle a basic emergency situation. Regardless, not a good situation, GM definitely hasn't handled it like they should have.