GM credit rating reduced to junk bonds...they propose cutting insurance

[ariellyn]

of employess to increase profits.

If they'd make cars worth buying, they wouldn't have a problem. I won't be buying any GM cars that's for sure.

[markus]

1. Healthcare will be for the US what the USSR's military industrial complex

was to the Soviet sytem.

It is going to drag the country down to ruin.

I heard perhaps a year ago on the American Public Radio financial news program (spacing name)that GM won't consider opening a plant in the U.S. unless the local/state government is willing to pony up the difference in cost between operating in the US and in Canada. The difference? Health care costs.

GM just needs to come out and say it: we need a single payer health system.

[carnie_sf]

12. Actually

I would think our military-industrial complex will be to us what the USSR's military-industrial complex was to them, since our's currently consumes something like half the federal budget.

[sasquatch]

2. I bet if they told Bush to lower oil prices they wouldn't have these prob-

lems.

The only thing GM and Ford would have to do is tell the Bush Crime Family that it's going to have its employees vote for democrats and they'd be down to $1.25 a gallon all over the country.

[Wilms]

3. Let's see what GM's top dogs took home over the last 15 years.

There's the healthcare $.

[Nite Owl]

4. This has such a familiar ring to it

Same as this administration: Sorry folks, money is gone now we have to cut the programs that you all need.

[stillcool]

5. Maybe somebody could explain .....

Wasn't Michael Moore's 'Down-size this' mostly about the auto industry in Michigan?

Hasn't the auto industry turned into a finance industry?

[Ernesto]

6. Try "Roger and Me" if you want to learn about GM from Mike.

It was his 1st film. I was showing it to my students years ago.
PS My wife picks up her new Prius tomorrow...........

[ariellyn]

13. About financing...they also reported (Today Show) that financing

at low rates (zero interest) is a thing of the past. Tighten your belts folks, we are about to hit rocky waters.

[gulfcoastliberal]

7. GM Managements' legacy is one of sheer incompetence

I feel sorry for the workers, but the management of GM has always been out of touch with reality but they've managed to scrape along. No longer. Depending on hulking SUVs for profits while Toyota and Honda produce hybrids that people are wait-listing for is just one example. Meanwhile Wagoner and Lutz and the rest of the corporate suite will still pay themselves millions in undeserved bonuses as they tell the line employees to sacrifice.

[Tux]

8. Link?

We need a link. My dad retired from Gm and I'd hate to see him lose his health insurance. He'd be pissed if this is true. Need evidence for it though.

[CoffeeCat]

9. GM is so full of shineola...

GM relied too much on big-honkin' SUVs and light trucks to drive sales--for years. They didn't make much else worthy of purchasing.

Now that people are buying fewer of these gas guzzlers, their profits are sliding into the ditch.

They have absolutely NO alternative to the cash-cow SUVs they were cranking out on the assembly line. No creative alternatives. Nothing innovative or exciting.

They raped the environment and allowed Americans to be rolling pigs on the highways--tearing up the environment and driving up the demand for natural resources. GM fed the pigs. Now the pigs want a healthier alternative. GM has no solution.

Their position is to blame the cost of health care for their workers?

What a bunch of punks. What a bunch of moronic failures.

Their business model is no longer working! This has nothing to do with health insurance. They need to innovate and devise creative solutions. How about some cool, well-made smaller sporty cars? How about some hybrids? How about trying something daring--like revamping the station wagon or building a car that is more compact, but fits several people comfortably?

Damn!!! Is the little guy going to be blamed for and suffer as a result of every stupid decision made by today's politicians and CEOs?

Quit scapegoatting middle-class America!! We're not your problem. Your business model is the problem!!

[ariellyn]

11. So true about the business model. GM mirrors most American

companies.

They were failing twenty years ago, they adopted Deming's quality methods like their asian competition but, they abandoned the concept.

The Japanese and foreign competitors business models are quality based. Therefore, people continue to rely (product reliability is a key quality concept) on cars from foreign countries.

Newsflash to GM and other American companies: Quality is not a fad--it's a competitive advantage.

[carnie_sf]

10. That's been their strategy for the last 30 years

when in doubt, screw the workers. Glad to see it's working out so well for them.