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So....what do the naysayer's have to say now? Was the Obama administration right or wrong?
Amazing what giving away tens of billions of free taxpayer money can do for the bottom line, eh? We should be getting the damn cars free, from GM. BTW, how's that volt selling? Like hotcakes?
91% may be employed, but it is with little-to-no increase in cost of living coupled with increase in medical and other kinds of insurance (on top of increasing everything else). No. 91% of the employed people are not buying cars at record levels in the US. Something is skewing those sales stats. Probably similar to what the Government did with the Chevy Volt.
Is all of the 91% bought a new car, they would have sold over 100 million in US alone.
Well, you don't have to believe the stats if you don't want to.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Finn_Jarber
Is all of the 91% bought a new car, they would have sold over 100 million in US alone.
Well, you don't have to believe the stats if you don't want to.
BS confirmed: The link below clearly states that they are "on track to be profitable in 2011" - but the profit has not yet been confirmed. They are selling those cars practically at cost to just make sales (overseas). They are projecting profits that they have not made yet. We'll see. Furthermore, these are not record sales or profits. Just the highest since 1999. All three haven't even been profitable (combined) since 2004. From the basement, it is easy to go higher. Detroit automakers are (finally!) making profits - Jan. 5, 2012
BS confirmed: The link below clearly states that they are "on track to be profitable in 2011" - but the profit has not yet been confirmed. They are selling those cars practically at cost to just make sales (overseas). They are projecting profits that they have not made yet. We'll see. Furthermore, these are not record sales or profits. Just the highest since 1999. All three haven't even been profitable (combined) since 2004. From the basement, it is easy to go higher. Detroit automakers are (finally!) making profits - Jan. 5, 2012
I don't think anyone said anything about breaking records. It says it was the first year since 2004 they made a profit. GM profit rose 26% to $6.1 billion
Quote:
Jan. 5 (Bloomberg) -- General Motors Co., Ford Motor Co., and Chrysler Group LLC finished 2011 stronger than analysts predicted, as annual U.S. auto sales reached 12.8 million in the best year since 2008, when GM and Chrysler sought U.S. bailouts.
Auto sales increased as consumer confidence reached an eight-month high in December, and carmakers aired holiday ads and continued promotions started in November. The U.S. automakers rallied in 2011, two years after GM and Chrysler emerged from U.S.-backed bankruptcies. GM also reclaimed the top spot in world vehicle sales from Toyota Motor Corp
Last edited by Finn_Jarber; 01-05-2012 at 10:22 AM..
Ford did not take any government money. This does not mean that they were not in similar financial straits. Instead they sold assets and borrowed an extremely large sum of money against their remaining assets in iffy long term loans. This will affect their profit margins for years to come. Another dip could mean disaster there.
GM took the cash as offered up by the all helpful and big spending Mr Obama and it was a superior move. They still have the bulk of their assets after paying back the loan. It was Obama's "government knows better" idea to buy into GM stock. Not the greatest move there.
Chrysler simply got bailout number two from the Italians.
Not sure who wins long term...
the reason ford leveraged just about everything they owned is because alan mullally saw what was going on in the industry, and made the necessary arraignments to get cash in the bank so that ford could weather the coming storm. mullally also restructured fords management to make it leaner and more responsive to what the customers wanted. he also restructured fords engineering and design departments to get new products out quicker than normal.
at this time ford has paid back more than 50% of the $23 billion it had borrowed, and because ford has leaned out the company, they are making more money on less sales than gm is. at this time ford is in a better financial position than gm is in.
Quote:
Originally Posted by PullMyFinger
Obama did the right thing with the GM bailout at the risk of his own popularity and reputation. That is called leadership and integrity, something the GOP is bankrupt in.
first it was bush that bailed out gm, and even that didnt work as gm filed for bankruptcy reorganization, which then let obama step in with a prepackaged bankruptcy so that he could STEAL gm from the stock and bond holders and screw them out of billions, so that obama could then give a substantial portion of gm to the UAW to pay them back for supporting obamas campaign.
what should have happened is that gm should have gone through reorganization, during which the courts would have forced gm to reorganize the management structure much like ford did on their own, and that way gm would have come out of bankruptcy a leaner and more efficient company, and the stock and bond holders would not have been screwed by the government.
I don't know about all that. My point is that the stats telling us that GM has had record sales during a time where unemployment is at the highest since the great depression (not equal to) - I have to raise the BS flag on it.
Then I must point to your misinformed idea of "record sales". So, let us look at a news item on the subject. Which of the numbers is your idea of "record sales" based on? If you're looking at the title which speaks of global sales, then your premise of using US unemployment rate is invalid. Having visited three countries in 2011, I can see that GM had a good chance revival.
BTW, at 9%, the Unemployment Rate is actually no longer worst since the Great Depression. We actually saw over 10% in unemployment rate for nearly a year during the third and fourth year of Reagan in office. It is just that we'd never lost 8.8 million jobs in a short span of two years and a negative job growth in private sector over a decade.
Amazing what giving away tens of billions of free taxpayer money can do for the bottom line, eh? We should be getting the damn cars free, from GM. BTW, how's that volt selling? Like hotcakes?
The money was a loan, with interest, and is being paid back right now.
This is far from the first time the government has helped out major American industries with similar loans. GM has made a big deal about paying their loans way ahead of schedule.
Chrysler was bailed out by a loan in the 80's, and came back while paying off the loan in full. Defense contractors have also gotten bailouts and have repaid them the same way.
Funny how both times we had a bubble-filled "gilded age" produced by supply-side economics (such as the 1920s and 1997-2007), we immediately followed with the Great Depression and, now, the "Great Recession," which if it weren't for TARP and the stimulus, would be another depression.
According to that argument Ford or Toyota aren't selling any cars either, but they are. GM sold more cars to China than to US. Also, if 9% are unemployed, then 91% are working and buying cars.
Does it make sense now?
91% is working? What about those on Welfare or Social Security, you know, that percentage of the population not looking for work
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We should be getting the damn cars free, from GM. 
BTW, how's that volt selling? Like hotcakes? 
