What do you think about GM?

[Rootball]

Robin'sBrood :

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The health care field... so far.

I know tons of people who are going to India for surgeries, esp joint replacement. Better level of care and better technology for 20% of the cost, and the hospitals are run like 4 star hotels. If I need any surgery its the first place Id go.​

 

[Robin'sBrood]

^ Not if you need emergency surgery.

 

[luvarabhorses]

I support Obama 110% and what he is trying to do. People that are worried about socialized health care already have good health care. 35 million of us don't. My Mom has to come up with $2,000 every three weeks to stay alive taking Zeloda for advanced breast cancer.

Someone in another post nailed it on the head about people and what boils down to PRIDE. It used to be a sin, but now it is the American way. The biggest house, the biggest SUV, the best of everything (they think). People don't know how to shop at Goodwill, go to yardsales, buy used etc... My good friend is having a FIT about the price of cigarettes in Arkansas, and in another breath talks about her concerns about her health.

Only in this way to I support the Republicans, we are a nation of mostly idiots and only the most humble survive.

GM was run so poorly I don't see how it could stay competitive.

 

[Boyd]

it was competitive until the government screwed up the economy. They created the housing crisis, which in turn affected the banks. Banks go broke or won't lend money, people don't buy cars. Pretty easy to follow.

The thing about Obama I dislike is he wants gas at 4$/gal so we will buy greener cars (according to his secretary of finance on cnn the other day), putting a 39% inheritance tax in place, and raising the tax on gas. Put that all together thats how we are going to balance the budget, pay off 2 wars and this bailout.

If I were you, and supportive of him 110%, I'd figure out how to leave the house and your $$$ to your kids a different way......... because over a third of it will be gone........... pooooooooooofffffffffff



PS, wasn't one of the reasons the revolutionary war fought was over a 3% income tax from england? I'll have to double check that.. but thats where we get taxation without representation. Every radio and TV station out there took polls. A Resounding 85% was against the bailouts........ they did it anyways....... Taxation without Representation right? right??????????

Big Government now owns the Banking Sector (which owns housing), Insurance (which controls a part of stock market with the banking industry) and now the largest industrial base in the US.......... Isn't this just like socialism? Curious.

 

[yotetrapper]

Not sure about the 3% income tax, but know a large part of the unrest that caused the Revolution was over the Stamp Tax. It required a stamp to be placed on most all documents to make them "legal". That stamp was taxed. That was one of the main causes of the revolution, along with other taxes, such as, most memorably, the one on tea.

 

[mjdtexan]

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¿Um, what is that?

 

[luvarabhorses]

I don't think it was ever competitive. i can't quote numbers, but for a very long time, an enormous chunk of their profits goes to supporting retirees. My Uncle worked their for 5 years in 1962, got into a car wreck and retired on disability from GM. He's in his 70's now still collecting. Love my Uncle but... Have you ever thought about how the Japanese and Chinese buy our scrap metal, send it in big boats back to Japan, China, Korea, etc.. and can re-smelt, rehab it back into usable metal, make it into automobiles, put it back on a boat, and ship it all the way back to the US.....and then make a profit...big profits.
I worked for a big pharmaceutical company. The waste was incredible, and people were not used efficiently. There was no communication between pharm companys on what worked and didn't work so drug trials were repeated at the cost of millions of dollars with the accepted idea that that chemical compound may have already been tried and failed somewhere else. I don't know the solution to that, drug companies want each other to fail and are extremely competitive and guarded. It may sound trite, but when you've spent the whole day decapitating hamsters to look at their lungs for a possible new asthma drug, you wonder if there isn't a better way.
I drive a Prius. I bought it in 2001 when gas was still around a $1. People thought it was stupid. I'd have a hard time seeing it in the parking garage amongst all the SUV's. There are situations where people need oversize vehicles, i have a horse trailer and need a 1 ton truck to pull it, but for status or being so fat you can't fit in a normal car are not good reasons. I hope those people pay $10 a gallon. When you travel overseas, you see that people have been paying $5 a gallon for gas for a very very long time. I can't say Mass Transit is much of an option in Arkansas, but in most countries mass transit is unbelievably efficient.
You can argue that if we don't have unlimited access to cheap gasoline the price of everything will skyrocket. But ask yourself, next time you by asparagus from Chile, why don't we act more self sufficient in our production of food stuff in this country?

 

[balticbabe]

GM was in trouble long before the recession. Here's an article from 2007 dealing with GM's declining market share. http://www.forbes.com/2007/01/01/gm-market-share-oped-cz_jf_0102flint.html GM went from 46% in 1980 to 35.0% in 1991 to 24.7% in 2004.

This 2005 article predicts GM's bankruptcy. http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/05_19/b3932001_mz001.htm

People still buy cars just not as many from GM. I blame the GM executives, not the government or the GM employees. GM's cars until recently have been dull and they still have uncomfortable seats.

 

[beak]

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I'm not going to worry about the inheritance tax too much. I'll never have 2 million to leave my kids. That is what you have to have to be subject to an estate tax. Higher gas is the only way the nation will ever switch to greener cars. I don't like the ripple effect though. They need to figure out a way to tax people wasting gas. No idea how they could do it effectively and fairly though. 85% of right wing conservatives who represent about 40% of the nation. As Yo says it was stamp tax and the tax on tea that started the rebellion that lead to the revolution. The recession was caused by the housing as well as the repeal of the law that separated banks from investment firms. So far the stimulus seems to be working. The bailouts were a shameful waste of money. I expected Bush to do it but I'm surprised Obama allowed it to continue. With all the money the gov gave to the banks and investment companies they should be running them. Obviously they are not. The same old crooks are doing the same old things. I wish candidates for any office had to rely solely on govt funds. No private contributions at all. Our elected offices would be a lot more honest.

 

[mjdtexan]

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Please finish that thought so I can tell what you meant. Sometimes we think faster than we type and forget part of the sentence. I do it all the time



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He did a whole lot more than let it continue



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Our government should not run a single company. We also should not bail any companies out. I had one of my companies fail once. I couldnt compete with the illegals. I didnt get a bail out. Where is the justice in that?



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We are in complete agreement on that. There is another reason private money should not be used for campaigns. Just look how the UAW got rewarded and how GE is about to be rewarded. Public money would end all of that. Both sides do it. I aint pickin on the Left side.

Mjd