R.I.P. General Motors (1931-2006)

Sorry, I meant presidential candidate.

 

True but when SS is upside down (2014-2016) and they are not getting
an EXTRA $200 billion from the surplus (maybe as soon as 2008-2010)
that solvency is in serious trouible
Medicare is already upside down.

You are talkking about the bonds, not the surplus.

The real problem os we may end up in a depression by 2016. Nobody
wants to talk about the impact of 73 million boomers cashing in their
IRSAs and 401ks on the stock market. You also have an overvalued real
estate market that people have planned to cashin in on for their
retirement. All of that "paper profit"could dissapear as quickly as it
did in 1929.

How many people can live off of "investments" (monery making money)
The real question is, can the economy be robust enough to support 73
million nonproductive boomers who want to live better in retrirement
than they did when they were working and still have enough for the
folks who are working to have a decent standard of living?

I bet it will be more like "throw momma from the train"

 

Low quality low-priced cars.

I used to own a Cavalier.

Might be a good commuter car for the wife, but in the long run it proved to
be a piece of junk.

Same can be said of my '95 'Tour

my '86 Renault 5 was more reliable

--

(\_ _/)
(='.'=) This is Bunny. Copy and paste bunny into your
(")_(") signature to help him gain world domination.

 

There is a "slimmed down" version of K-Mart but they sure closed a ton
of stores (as did WT Grant at first). They totally pulled out from
here, (Austin, TX), about four years ago by closing a half dozen stores.

My view is that the whole country is living in a house of cards of
overextended credit and sooner or later, it's all going to collapse.
Those of us who have no debt will probably survive OK but the
remainder... Will probably be screwed.

JT

 

Ol' Barry was right on a number of issues including national defense policy(s).

But I, as a young first time voter casting an absentee ballot from a
certain southeastern Asian country opted for LBJ who everyone with two
brain cells to rub together had a "better" plan such as:


1. "Guns and Butter," which was a form of having and eating your cake.

2. "The Great Society," which is largely responsible for the mess we're in.


And that's only for starters. Of all the native Texans that I know
here, virtually all agree that he was one of the biggest crooks the
state ever produced.

JT

(Who's few remaining goals include pissing on the ol' buzzard's grave!)

 

It made sense for Damlier to do that because they produced no
lower-priced models, but the Japanese car makers already have several
models that compete with those from GM. So I say only smaller Japanese
car makers that have little market recognition in the US or that don't
have a full line of models will consider taking over GM, but I still
don't rule out a takeover by parts maker Magna Int. or Hyundai.

 

The irony is that Cingular is now part of the new AT&T LOL


mike

 

Yes, my 2004 Saturn Vue has a Honda-Acura 3.5l V-6. Great engine. The GM
engine that it replaced was not all that bad, but the Honda engine is
smoother and puts out 50 more hp.

--
PC Paul
89 PC800
77 R100RS

Trip pics at: http://photos.yahoo.com/paul1cart

"To educate a man in mind and not in morals is to educate a menace to
society" - Theodore Roosevelt

 

I would see a big obstacle with a Asian automaker purchasing the
assets/liabilities of GM based on fixed union contracts. The whole
culture on how Asian businesses operate flies in the face of such a takeover.

JT

 

Cingular is 60% owned by SBC (er, the "new" at&t) and 40% by Southern
Bell which incidentally is the "new" at&t's next target for acquisition.
The deal should be completed by the end of the year.

JT

 

The critics were right about one thing. They said, if you vote for
Goldwater we will have a war in Vietnam.
I voted for Goldwater and we had a war in Vietnam.
I guess it was my fault.

If we had listened to Goldwater I would have about 5 million bucks in
my 401K (or whatever the private plan would have been called) based on
my side of FICA fort 40 years and there still would have been enough
money to pay off my parent's SS until they died. (from a fraction of
the the employer's side)

It is too late now. The boomers are going to start collecting in about
500 days.

 

If old AU-H2O had become president, we would be living in a MUCH
different world!

--
PC Paul
89 PC800
77 R100RS

Trip pics at: http://photos.yahoo.com/paul1cart

"To educate a man in mind and not in morals is to educate a menace to
society" - Theodore Roosevelt

 

Looking back (always easy to do), I appears that MacAuther, Goldwater,
LeMay etc were right while Truman, Eisenhower, LBJ (and all successors
except for Reagan) were dead wrong...

Oh well, I think that I'll take a nap as I beat the "boomers" in
collecting SS by a few years!

JT

 

JT,
They would probably close down all of those factories and lay-off all of
the workers. They would build factories in foreign countries such as
Mexico--I think that GM already does that. I know for a fact that lots of
cars are manufactured
in Mexico. The car companies do it due to avoid paying "union" wages.
Jason

 

But solar energy is considered renewable, because you can get more tomorrow
without additonal resources.

Excellent idea. Unfortunately, even with nuclear power, there are no free
watts availble in the power grid.

Jeff

 

Total profit = profit per car X volume. If a company is losing money on each
car it sells, it will lose even more if it sells more vehicles.

Your statement doesn't make sense.

Jeff

 

What did you expect from one of the loonies that want to see so many
American worker loose their jobs? Especially the loonies that think the
vehicles buy are better, yet millions more Americans buy the GM vehicles
they obviously believe
are better. Every buyer is free to spend their money wherever they choose
and far more Americans choose GM, Ford and Chrysler over any import.


mike hunt

 

What the heck are you talking about (in the realm of auto sales)?

None of the brands that are seriously kicking Big-three butt are made in
"low wage" countries. The Japanese brands are mostly made in the U.S. or in
Japan where prevailing wages (high) are paid. The European brands are (with
the exception of VW which does manufacture a good part of it's U.S.offerings
in Mexico) made in the U.S. or in Europe where prevailing wages (in Europe
mostly BIG wages/benefits) are paid.

The single notable exception is the few Korean brands and even they are
building plants in the U.S. where UAW-level wages are paid.

GM's problem is too much capacity, largely mediocre designs of mediocre
reliability, too high legacy costs, costly UAW contracts (beyond the wage
package), and huge legacy costs. You can argue that the loss of market share
and excess capacity result is partially as a result of very capable
competition, but the rest is all self-inflicted.

You also need to remember that all those successful import brands are
involved in spirited competition, not just against our Big Three, but
against each other. If anything, more so, because while a Toyota customer
will not likely consider a US branded car, he will consider a Nissan or a
Honda or a Subaru or a Euro import if he wants to spend too much.

 

You can hear the president of GM on public radio's "Market Place" program on
many public radio programs, airdate: 4/5/06.

The program should be available on 4/6/06 at www.soundmoney.org. Click on
the marketplace tab.

Jeff

 

You got 'em Mike. And that's why GM and Ford and DC are on easy street and
Rick Wagoner sleeps like a baby each night.

Oh wait, they are supposed to be in the business of making money, not just
pushing iron out the door with little or no profit (because they need to
bribe their customers so much to buy almost anything they make). Ah, a minor
point.

Nevertheless, as you rightly point out, for argument sake the only thing
that really matters is just total vehicle sales numbers which clearly define
which are the best brands and vehicles.