GM still hasn't learned

[MI-Roger]

So I did a little internet sleuthing today to determine the viability of GM's pension plans and the ratio between GM-UAW Retirees and active workers.

In 2016 there were nearly 10 times as many GM-UAW retirees as active US workers.

The pension plan is underfunded by $20 Billion or so, GM increased the expected return on the plans investments to almost 7% for 2018, and the plan is exempt from PBGC oversight as result of negotiations during their 2009 bankruptcy.

The current plant idlings will reduce active workers significantly, as well as simultaneously increasing the number of retirees. A perfect storm to annihilate retirements for middle aged GM-UAW workers.

[Johnhw2]

GM did this all by themselves. GM decided to give generous pensions to workers and to guarantee them work or pay for not working. They failed to see the changes coming.....others did see them

GM built cars which were not as reliable as Asian models coming to compete and they lost out. They are chasing the Asian on quality now but chasing the leader means you are a follower and behind all the time. Is this leading from behind?

The Fed gov did not screw them any more than their competitors with regs. High fuel costs did not damage them more than others. Guessing carbon based fueld was disappointing and being wrong about it did not hurt GM more than their competition.

Go look in the mirror GM and you will see the cause of your end, then bailout and now signs of failing again.

[GreggT]

Originally Posted by Johnhw2

One way to go out of business is to slowly shut down your production which is unprofitable until you have nothing left. That way if our fed gov decides to bail them out again maybe it wont take as much cash that has to be borrowed since they spend more than they get in record tax revenues.

Another problem that no corporation seems to get, when you back off your production, your overhead needs to be reduced a corresponding amount. You can't keep axing the Indians, your Chiefs have to go too!

[oldtrader]

Lets look at the facts.

1: Car sales have steadily declining for 5 years, and truck sales have soared. Trucks include pickups, SUVs and crossovers.

2: Truck salesin 5 years have gone from equal to cars, to 2 trucks for every car sold.

3; It would cost billions of dollars to develop the next model as auto sales require, and by the time ready to market, it may never be possible to even recover development costs, let alone make a profit. It makes sense to quit developing a product that will probably loose money.

https://hedgescompany.com/blog/2018/...g-automobiles/

When the market for any product dies off for certain items and soars for another, companies have quit making the loser product and increases production of hot selling products. It is now happening in the auto industry, as they switch from dying products to ones that will be profitable.