General Motors CEO - We Would Have Gone Under With Romney

[knapplc]

LINK

 

"Did President Obama save General Motors?" Reynolds asked

 

 

"Without the money, without the funding, it would have been very problematic," said Akerson. "At the risk of alienating a whole lot of potential customers, I would say the Obama administration did a good job."

 

Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney and other critics have argued the bailout was unnecessary, and that the regular bankruptcy process would have made GM and Chrysler stronger companies.

 

"Would that have happened?" Reynolds asked.

 

"Not in my opinion," asked Akerson. "It would have been in bankruptcy for years and I think you could have written off this company, this industry and this country."

 

On Thursday, GM announced 47,500 blue collar workers in the U.S. will each get a profit-sharing checks next month -- checks of approximately $7,000 a piece.

[Ziggy]

Hum, well first of all, Bush started the GM bail out, second, do you think the CEO of GM might be a little biased toward Obama. Oh no never. And lastly, why are the so called blue collar or white collar workers of GM getting profit sharing checks when they still owe the American taxpayer money.

[HSKR]

A story from Feb 16th? What the hell?

[krc1995]

I can see why the people of Michigan are certainly appreciative of the bailout. I just hope that some of those jobs that the green car movement promised, materialize.

[Conga3]

The bailout began with Bush. I blame him, not Obama. Obama simply made it worse by not treating the bailout like a bankruptcy, and forcing a "reset" of all the crazy deals the unions were receiving.

 

A union is a "collective bargaining" group of employees, with the intentions of protecting employees from bottom-line decisions made by the employers...yet their demands over time bloat like any bureaucracy.

 

In reality, a union that goes unchecked will become a tumor that consumes its host. The result is predictable... a business model that fails to generate profit due to a burden of costs on the company that its competitors don't have.

 

The "check" that must be employed is the companies ability to simply fire the unionized employees that demand too much making it impossible to run a profitable business.

 

If a company can't fire the union employees because of political pressure..etc.., and the union brings the company down..then neither deserve to exist in a free country.

 

The bankruptcy route was the last available "check" on the union to retract its parasitic demands on the auto companies.

 

Obama simply made the short term decision to put off bankruptcy using taxpayer money under the guise of "saving jobs" and an "American industry".

 

GM still either needs to go bankrupt, forcing a restructure of the union/company relationship...or it will continue to be a state sponsored "jobs program".

[BigRedBuster]

Let me ask you this...why is GM special?

 

Why did Obama and the government swoop in and save GM?

 

I know many companies that have gone out of business in the last 4 years without a speck of help from the government. Those companies together employ one heck of a lot more people than GM does. Why did the government save GM and not these other companies?

[Undone]

A union is a "collective bargaining" group of employees, with the intentions of protecting employees from bottom-line decisions made by the employers...yet their demands over time bloat like any bureaucracy.

 

This is as concise of a tagline for modern day American unions as you'll ever find, well said. Their demands over time bloat like any bureaucracy - exactly.

 

In my opinion, the best way to start any sort of discussion on GM is to do your dead-level best to take the partisan battle out of it and simply ask yourself "Are the actions of these titan unions actually sensible?"

 

The bailout itself is more of a "what are your economic principles" type of question.

[ZRod]

Let me ask you this...why is GM special?

 

Why did Obama and the government swoop in and save GM?

 

I know many companies that have gone out of business in the last 4 years without a speck of help from the government. Those companies together employ one heck of a lot more people than GM does. Why did the government save GM and not these other companies?

You mean Bush and Obama?

 

Does a single one of those other companies span multiple markets and industries like GM does? This wasn't just about GM and their employees, you talking about jobs from their suppliers too. Think about what goes into a car steel, rubber, hoses, wiring, computers, leather/cloth, lights, airbags, oil, coolant, and many other things. That doesn't even include dealers and service centers around the country that would close when GM pulls their name off the building. The ripple effect could have been massive.

[BigRedBuster]

Hmmm....too big to fail. I love it.

 

When entire industries of small contractors or business owners go under, it adds up to be very similar to GM.

[ZRod]

I don't dispute that, but how are you going to save each individual small business? Whether you and I like it or not the fact is some corporations have become too big to fail, because if they do we are all going to be hurting big time. But funny how the tables have turned, back in the day J.P. Morgan bailout the government now the government has bailed out his company. Neither decision is popular, but the country survived.

[Comish]

Let me ask you this...why is GM special?

 

Why did Obama and the government swoop in and save GM?

 

I know many companies that have gone out of business in the last 4 years without a speck of help from the government. Those companies together employ one heck of a lot more people than GM does. Why did the government save GM and not these other companies?

You mean Bush and Obama?

 

Does a single one of those other companies span multiple markets and industries like GM does? This wasn't just about GM and their employees, you talking about jobs from their suppliers too. Think about what goes into a car steel, rubber, hoses, wiring, computers, leather/cloth, lights, airbags, oil, coolant, and many other things. That doesn't even include dealers and service centers around the country that would close when GM pulls their name off the building. The ripple effect could have been massive.

Aren't the Delphi employees upset that they were not granted some protections under the deal (honestly, I don't know the entire story enough to state an opinion), but I seem to remember certain segments of the auto supply market being left to fend for themselves at the expense of saving more union jobs. Perhaps someone can offer the cliff notes version of the Delphi rancor.....?

[Ziggy]

Let me ask you this...why is GM special?

 

Why did Obama and the government swoop in and save GM?

 

I know many companies that have gone out of business in the last 4 years without a speck of help from the government. Those companies together employ one heck of a lot more people than GM does. Why did the government save GM and not these other companies?

You mean Bush and Obama?

 

Does a single one of those other companies span multiple markets and industries like GM does? This wasn't just about GM and their employees, you talking about jobs from their suppliers too. Think about what goes into a car steel, rubber, hoses, wiring, computers, leather/cloth, lights, airbags, oil, coolant, and many other things. That doesn't even include dealers and service centers around the country that would close when GM pulls their name off the building. The ripple effect could have been massive.

 

I doubt all of the GM brand would have just vanished into thin air. Plenty of private investors would buy up the pieces and continue on. Only the least profitable parts would have gone down the drain. The people who would lose jobs, are people who were unwillingness to work for fair wages and produce parts at a fair cost. And no Knapp I do not have any sources or links.

[lo country]

Sure did look out for them........

 

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/10/31/auto-industry-touted-by-obama-still-rubs-some-industry-retirees-wrong-way/

[knapplc]

So we should have dumped even more money into the bailout? These conservative opinions keep waffling. First there was too much money given to the auto industry. Now there's not enough. Which is it?

[BigRedBuster]

Wow....flew right over your had.