Friday, November 14, 2008
BAILOUT?
No one has asked me yet but when they do, I will have an opinion.
It is dissimilar to Kevin Drum's.
I think it is probably moot because the Republicans (they have regained their upper case "R" since they lost the election) will not support it.
So weird. The Republicans used to be the pro-business guys.
I think the answer is CH. 11 with the government doing the DIP (Debtor in Posession) financing.
Chapter 7 requires total liquidation. Not good.
It is a tough question.
If we bailed them out, I am first in line to tell you that they are totally fucked up.
I used to train in GM and it was the worst. Sinecures. Entitlement. Resistance to change of any kind.
They are the people who brought you global warming. The ones who paid to rip up the trolley tracks in LA and so on.
Right bastards, GM.
And the unions. My loved one tells me that the reason they have to build big cars is that the cost of labor is so high it is the only way that they can get the incremental value up to ask a high price. High enough to pay the unions.
The list is endless.
Now I have to admit that I have never, ever been a GM man.
I have had one Ford (a 1952 sedan) and, today, we have all Chrysler products.
But mostly I have bought German (Volkswagen and Audi) and Swedish (SAAB).
When we moved here there was no SAAB dealer (I write it the old way) and so we got a Jeep. And then a 1984 LeBaron which we still have. Both. And finally a Sebring because we like Chrysler service here and we always rented the car. It looks and feels as close to the SAAB convertible as we could get.
I am wandering.
Well, not really.
I don't want to bail out Ford or Chrysler either.
They are bloated and over the hill.
I think a Chapter 11 would be cleansing. Purifying.
It would give the government a chance to help out and make some demands. Obama's economic plan for building new 100 mpg cars. And so on.
So let 'em go.
No one is going to be buying a car in the next few years anyway.
And take all the unbought Hummers and put them in a gigantic pile at GM headquarters as a monument to stupidity and greed. A symbol of the total mismanagement of the auto industry if there ever was one.
Labels: Administration Obama, auto accidents, automobiles, business
