This has gone beyond ridiculous.

A bunch of billionaire boys who don't give a crap about cars, GM, or America are rushing headlong into this because, hey, why not? If there's money to be had from the government, might as well have it! If there's money to be had from a competitor, might as well have it!

Never mind the economy, the financial crisis, the perception gap, or the buttholes cheering on the sidelines that the evil US car companies might finally go under, and happily telling every one of their sappy-*** friends and neighbors how wonderful their import is, and how it doesn't matter if you buy American anymore.

Because, after all, if it all comes crashing down, it doesn't really matter. They can get jobs working at Del Monte or Monsanto or (insert name of larger, manager-led, don't-give-a-crap-about-the-next-quarter company here). Hell, they'll probably fail upwards into even better-paying jobs, so those $100K parties they throw every weekend won't have to be cut back at all.

This disgusts me. It disgusts me that we have been trained into thinking that modern business is so complex that only a handful of supermen can run it. The reality is that 95% of the solutions that GM REALLY needs to look at are obvious to anyone with a little bit of common sense:

Too many damn brands.
Too much product duplication.
Too poor a job communicating the quality of their new cars.
Too damn tentative in getting good stuff out in the market.
Too damn slow in responding to market needs and conditions.

Like. Frigging. Duh.

Get rid of the management. Rout the bureaucracy. Burn the brands. Find the people who still have the spirit to think beyond next quarter. Find the people who truly love cars. Find the spark again, whatever it takes. Renaming. Bankruptcy. Whatever. It's essential you rebuild from a solid foundation, with a contract that "Every car we build will be recognizably and unarguably the best in its class, and it will be the best choice for you." And communicate it in ways that the average Camry owner can't avoid, or rationalize away, or belittle, or laugh off.

Sorry for the rant. I am just . . . a little beyond disgusted with all of this.

 

I agree with you.............
It seems Ford is the only company not begging out as loud
as GM is.........
Since Toyota has been making cars in this country for over 20 years,They
should be getting part of this bailout also...........

 

So much for the government providing aid to make the merger work...

"US Treasury not negotiating aid for GM merger"
http://www.reuters.com/article/rbssC...29572120081030
Either GM and Cerberus make the deal work on their own, or Chrysler is going to have to go to someone else (Nissan-Renault?), or fold.

 

GM needs to buy GMAC back from Cerberus not trade for Chrysler from Cerberus! Chrysler may die, but at least GM would be able to give loans on it's cars again on their own terms.

 

I read alot, usually keep up on things, and I know a couple of people.

 

Pick your poison...

- $700B bailout for the banks.
- $10B/month for the Iraqi war/occupation, which will total $3 trillion or more.
- $30B for the 3 domestic automakers in total - an industry which employs 10% of America's workforce!!!

I'm glad the previous administration got their priorities right and didn't lose sight of the country's biggest issues.