This article is the epitome of why the U.S. government should have let GM fail.
http://money.cnn.com/2011/06/07/news/companies/gm_gas_tax_hike/index.htm?hpt=hp_t2
Dan Akerson is a clueless moron, as are the American auto industry executives in general. I can’t even imagine that an executive would come up with this idea, let alone back it with his company’s name in tow.
One thing is for sure....You would never hear the executives of Honda, Toyota, Nissan, Hyundai, or Kia making this type of idiotic embarrassing recommendation. They found a way to clobber the U.S. auto makers at their own game decades ago, and still do. They don't need to mess with gas prices to succeed. I can only imagine them laughing when they saw this headline.....
I resent the fact that I would need to pay higher gas prices to make up for the mistakes of the stupid GM executives that have been in place over the decades. I also resent the fact that my tax dollars went to helping with the GM bailout in the first place, which will eventually fail...it's only a matter of time. Historically, auto company bailouts have not worked here or in other countries.
This has nothing to do with the U.S. auto workers. I whole-heartedly support the American auto workers and what they do, I just don't support the stupid companies they work for.
Do you want to rescue the American auto industry and save the auto workers' jobs at the same time? Do it this way:
- Let GM fail.
- Provide labor and financial incentives for the Japanese and Korean manufacturers to come over to the U.S. (more than they already are).
- Lease them our auto factories so that we can keep American jobs here.
- Have the U.S. auto workers building high quality efficient foreign cars that don't need artificially inflated gas prices to survive.
- Everyone ends up happy.
John, you sound like you've been following this topic and are probably aware of the many implications of GM failing so I won't go into that here. With that said I agree with much of what you wrote here. It is an embarrassing day when a US auto executive makes statements like this. I feel as though many executives at a range of US companies in challenging industries don't understand why the US is being brutalized in the industrial works. Why doesn't someone talk about smashing the crippling US labor unions instead of trying to save GM. Just doing that would probably save GM on its own. Raising gas prices to force people to buy more efficient cars is crazy.
ReplyDeleteHi Raymond.
ReplyDeleteThanks for reading and posting on my blog.
You open up a much broader topic than I intended here, but yes, I agree that the labor unions have really killed the US auto industry and other industries as well.
It's definitely a complicated topic, and to answer your opening comment, yes...I'm definitely aware of the implications of GM failing. The rippling affects would be huge, but I think by bailing them out we're just avoiding the inevitable. It's a poor company that makes poor cars (relatively speaking, compare to its competition).
There's an old saying that says: "As GM goes, the country goes". I think that's what a lot of people were afraid of, and that's why the government ultimately stepped in to save GM...because the U.S. economy in general just couldn't handle a massive hit like GM and its associated ancillary businesses going under.
I guess my major complaint is that the company still has stupid management in place, as evidenced by this latest statement from them. If they saved the company and then put someone in place who had a clue what was going on and how to make and market good cars, that would be one thing. Sadly, I think this GM bailout will be a missed opportunity.
Thanks again for posting.
John