My Flag Flies Everyday
I am almost over the election. I haven’t blogged because the need to do so dried up when BO won. This week, however, I have to speak my piece on the latest of Uncle Sam’s idiotic moves. Why do we want to bail out GM? This car company has consistently thrown poor quality, and reliability at us in the name of “Made in the USA.” The same goes for the UAW. I tried my best to hold out by buying American for many years. I owned an Oldsmobile Intrigue for eight years. It was without a doubt, the best GM car I ever owned. I bragged about it’s reliability and performance. I tried in vane to get my kids to buy “American.” No amount of reason or guilt worked. Two of my kids don’t even know that there are cars made in America that are not Honda or Toyota. They grew up on Honda, and Toyota. They are brand faithful. At the same time I was bragging about my Intrigue with 110,000 miles on it, my daughter bragged about her Honda with 180,000. All she ever did was change oil, and put brakes, tires and gas in it. At 111,000 miles my Intrigue crapped out. It leaked fluid into the cyclinders and locked the engine tight. After I spent $1800 to replace a leaking intake manifold, I learned on the I-net that GM cars are notorious for this failure. They have had the problem for years, but have never taken any steps to fix it.
The US car companies, management and the UAW, have let the Japs take them down. Now GM wants the tax payer to bail them out. The argument is that if they are allowed to go bankrupt, many thousands of jobs will be lost, thus fueling the recession.
The truth is that filing for bankruptcy will not be a loss of jobs. They can go on making crappy cars as is their usual business. The difference is that they won’t get any “free money,” from the taxpayer.
A few years ago, GM divested itself of a division called Delphi. Delphi makes electrical systems for GM and other car companies. GM gave Delphi as much pension debt as they could. Eventually, Delphi filed for chapter eleven. They couldn’t make a profit with all the baggage GM dumped on them. I know, because I am a stockholder. Want to know what happens to the stockholder when a company files for bankruptcy? The old shares become worthless, meaning the stockholder loses his investment. GM didn’t give a hoot about losing Delphi, it became Delphi’s problem. Even though Delphi filed for bankruptcy, it has continued to operate for several years. They keep on shipping orders. They even entertained the purchase of another electronics company. How can a business that is in bankruptcy buy another company?
What GM is afraid of is all it’s incompetent managers losing their options and bonuses paid in stock.
The capitalistic system rewards companies that can design, make, and sell useful products that buyers want. GM does not do any of these things. They design cars that have a shorter life than their competitors, their designs are ugly, and they are made by the most unproductive union in the world, i.e. the UAW.
If we reward GM and the UAW with a government bailout, we are indeed nuts. Let the system work, we’ll all be better off for it. We won’t have to worry about BO turning the country socialist. WE will hand a socialist government to him on a silver platter.
Filed under: Election, family, Government, Manufacturing, Motivation, politics, Uncategorized | Tagged: bailout, Bankruptcy, Barack Obama, capitalism, Delphi, General Motors, Honda, Japanese, Made In The USA, Oldsmobile, productivity, Recession, Toyota, Uncle Sam, Unions, United Auto Workers |
the clouds toll away from each other, and the sun shines brightly onto your face….you’ve finally seen the light.
I agree. As un-American as it sounds, I hope that GM goes down in flames. It’s a free market out there. Cars are not cheap, but GM makes them that way. I couldn’t agree more with your statements regarding GM. For being as ingenuitive as we say we are in the US, GM certainly isn’t. The only thing they know how to do is change their body styles from ugly to uglier, not concentrating on reliability, innovation and structure.
I did own 1 American car, a Jeep Grand Cherokee 4×4. I was never at the dealer so many times in my life. Big issues, small issues, the car just kept breaking. The air conditioning, cargo cover, dashboard controls, etc. I was also back for manufacturer recalls for emergency brake, brakes, rotors, air conditioning, etc…(can’t even remember all of them) I now own 2 Toyotas (both nearing 100,000 miles) and a Nissan (28,000 miles) I was only at the dealership 1 time for all three cars, and that’s when I purchased my new Toyota and drove it home. The others were bought used from a private party.
If GM was so worried about failing, why didn’t they attempt to raise the bar? Create a car that people would want to buy, not settle for. Innovation or Comfort?
I think this is what America needs. We’ve been #1 in all respects of life for so long, I think people are taking things for granted. If GM closes down, it will be a stark slap in the face to American companies to wake up, clean their glasses, and take a look around. Other countries are developing quickly, as are their manufacturing and technology; they are hungry. Here in the US, GM isn’t hungry, but rather bloated.
I think the the fat CEO’s at GM are only worried about 1 thing, their bonus.
Even though I drive foreign cars, I still love this country. That’s the beauty of living here, freedom of choice. And soon, there will be 3 less choices.
“The weak ones fall, and the strong carry on”
— Tom Petty
mj
Hello. I was reading someone elses blog and saw you on their blogroll. Would you be interested in exchanging blog roll links? If so, feel free to email me.
Thanks.