Your opinion; should we let GM die? Yes or no.

[Stephan_K]

For the love of money... How else ?!

[Asheville Native]

If a company cannot make it on its own, then it should fail. Happens to 10's of thousands of small business, which combined have as much impact as one big bloated greedy corporation that can't keep it own house in order. The poor management is the root cause of GM's problems, but like everyone else in this country, accepting blame is not on their radar, so they blame everyone except themselves.

[BankREO]

Originally Posted by Humanoid

Letting GM die is likely to cost more than keeping it going, although they should probably be allowed to go bankrupt. One of GMs biggest problems are the unions and legacy costs.

We see eye to eye on this Humanoid, I do believe if anything we should bailout at this time, its companies that provide many many jobs (thats not to say small businesses should not get assistance). I also agree, they should have an orderly bankruptcy so they can address some of these legacy costs. If we are going to help them, then we should make them viable or we should let them go to be bought.

[12GO]

This brings up an interesting question. Should we have let the poorly run banks fail if we let the car companies fail? Why is it ok to give 750+ Billion to bankers but not 15 billion to car companies that employ hundreds of thousands of people?
Remember too that most of the issues facing these car companies is unrealistic requirements by the government, (treehugger nonsense requirements for tailpipe emissions, crash standards, and the 25 months for the gov. to give an ok to produce an American car co. vehicle so they can never get a vehicle to market quick enough for changing taste of buyers) very bad marketing, (would someone fire Fords lame ad makers already!) and the open borders on the imported crap shipped in that helped put them in this position. As far as the bs about the union jobs costing them, that's pure made up idiot talk by people who do not have much understanding of the car business. Now on retired benefits, yes, they do have more than say fire them before they retire toyoda & honda will ever have. But they also should take care of people who broke their bodies down on the assembly lines for 30+ years too for the benefit of that company.

[bbkaren]

Originally Posted by 12GO

This brings up an interesting question. Should we have let the poorly run banks fail if we let the car companies fail? Why is it ok to give 750+ Billion to bankers but not 15 billion to car companies that employ hundreds of thousands of people?...

Many of us agree with you. We knew that one bailout would lead to others, and others. To the point where, at some time, we'd have to say "stop".

Unfortunately, there's no rhyme or reason with regard to who's next in line when they finally do stop bailing out.

[pennel]

Yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!111

[antredd]

Originally Posted by Humanoid

Letting GM die is likely to cost more than keeping it going, although they should probably be allowed to go bankrupt. One of GMs biggest problems are the unions and legacy costs.

I don't think that it's the unions that are hurting GM. I think that is what they want us to believe.

GM, like all American Car makers, need to stop making crappy AND FUNNY DESIGNED cars. THAT'S THEIR PROBLEM.

When I saw the new Malibu, I said, WOW!, I would buy that car. It's stylish, and from what I heard, it's a well made car and runs and rides very quietly as well. If GM IS STILL IN BUSINESS, and after I have reached 200,000 miles on my 2000 Toyota CAMRY, that has about 160,000 miles on it now, I am buying a Malibu. I just hope that the Malibu lasts about 8-10 years as my 2000 Camry. That would be the true test.

[jimmyP]

The product has improved pretty well. I also like the Malibu, the Ford Fusion, and some of the smaller SUV's. The unions wages are not really an issue as the number of hours that go into building a car continue to go down. Union work rules do hurt quite a bit as they require a lot of extra expense due to the multitude of job classifications. But overall, the management of these companies is very poor, too many bad decisions (Saab, Jaguar,Land Rover, Hummer et al) that have taken valuable resources away from the real business at hand. I hope they can find a way to stand on their own but I am doubtful.

[12GO]

Between the new malibu and the Ford Fusion, I see no reason to not buy them. My nieces have them, and as much as I hate wrong wheel drive cars, I am impressed with how well these 2 are built. I have another niece that has a camery, and after riding in and driving all of them, I told her to get rid of that trap. The new Malibu and the Fusion is both getting better mpg and have more power than the other one's camery too. All 3 are 08-09 models. (the fusion is the 08)

[tprestamo]

Don't be fooled, the Malibu is a sucky weak car! GM should be let to die. They now claim that the VOLT is a good investment, at +-$39,000.00 the car goes 400 miles on a tank of gas, heck! you can do that with a Honda and they got smaller tanks! there is a company out there ( no name) that makes a full electric that goes 300 miles on one charge! a full size sedan sits 5 adults and 2 kids. with all amenities and it only cost $49,000.00 but for $9,000.00 more you have to put ZERO gas in the car. now that is getting rid of oil dependency. Let GM die and let people really thinking of changing the auto industry be prosperous.