Comments on: Comedy at Bloomberg

By: Steynian 342 « Free Canuckistan!

Steynian 342 « Free Canuckistan! — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 18:04:28 +0000

[...] to Congressional legislation, but directly from the White House”; Comedy at Bloomberg: “GM is now in effect a US government subsidiary” …. (pw, [...]

By: Christie Davies

Christie Davies — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 19:25:35 +0000

Back in Nixon’s time I was already writing ” What’s bad for General Motors is good for the USA”
Nixon artificially held the price of gas down and did not allow the free market to operate because it would damage GM, already a dinosaur.
Britain had British Leyland motors, with lousy management,poor workers and over-powerful unions.
The British government threw tax-payers money at it in vain. Does that sound familiar?
I had shares in the company but I would have been willing to see it sold to the Japanese for $5 at an early stage
Do you remember when Galbraith said big corporations like GM were so big and powerful that they were immune from market forces?

By: Roger’s Rules » “Tectonic change,” Barack Obama, and You

Roger’s Rules » “Tectonic change,” Barack Obama, and You — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 12:59:38 +0000

[...] of nescience: “people familiar with situation did not say why Wagoner is leaving.” As I noted at the time, it wasn’t difficult to come up with reasons the GM board might wish to bid [...]

By: heathermc

heathermc — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 06:49:57 +0000

Two Drudge headlines work so well together: Top GM honcho quits at behest of Obama, because the company is broke (again);
and
Obama the Magnificent heads to Europe with an entourage of FIVE HUNDRED courtiers. I guess that if a government goes broke, it is different from when a company goes broke???
(OK OK, the government has a printing press… )

By: ehunter

ehunter — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 06:10:46 +0000

What I am curious about is..exactly what did
GM tell the Govt was going to happen otherwise?
And what did those handing out the money believe was going to happen, and exactly how far did they have to go to fetch those delusions?

By: gaetano catelli

gaetano catelli — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 02:21:07 +0000

re: “That’s how our economic system clears the deck.”

it has long been known that the global auto industry suffers from capacity vastly in excess of demand, and that even in the best of times, too many players result in “Big Three” profit margins of only 2-3%. and now, with India getting into the act, forget about it.

but, shouldn’t we avoid doing anything that might ‘sink the ship’ at the present moment, now that the ship has hit an iceberg of frozen credit — before we “clear the deck”?

By: David Thomson

David Thomson — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 00:33:53 +0000

Don’t blame me. I have been saying all along that GM should have gone bankrupt. That’s how our economic system clears the deck. Government interference in the marketplace has only made things far worse. Oh well, what’s 17 billion dollars between friends?

By: John S. Ford

John S. Ford — Sun, 29 Mar 2009 23:52:49 +0000

Is this what we’ve come to? Now the POTUS makes decisions previously thought the province of GM’s Board of Directors and shareholders?

I know one thing that’s not “too big to fail” and that’s the United States’ free market system.

By: Gaffe Prices

Gaffe Prices — Sun, 29 Mar 2009 23:14:08 +0000

When I look at that graph, I can’t wait til the journalist jargon starts saying that “while things may not be that much better, they surely aren’t that much worse (flatline). This is the situation we have stabilized.

By: vb

vb — Sun, 29 Mar 2009 22:24:23 +0000

This ties into Merkel too. She has been catching flack for not solving the Opel problem, which, of course, she can’t do till she knows what GM’s plans are.