If GM declares bankruptcy...

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I hope this does not happen, as the above story suggests many Americans would not consider GM if they ever go bankrupt.

 

After our experience with the wife's '84 Pontiac (crapped out after <40K miles), both of us would rather walk than buy any car from Garbage Motors! (Can you tell I voted with the majority for option #2?)

And if GM does go bankrupt, it will be a Ch. 11 reorganization, not a Ch. 7 liquidation (though for obvious reasons I'd prefer the latter).

 

Just speaking for all the people I personally work with and the Saturn Corporation and all the the Many-Many-Many Companies that work with and supply parts and accessories of all kinds to G/M we all had better say a "Prayer" for ourselves and G/M that they don't go under.

If they do alot of us will soon follow on a scale that will be "Unbeliveable" to the American Public. If the American Public thought it was a mess when the Feds. helped out Chrysler when they were going under. Believe me if everyone thought that was a mess, they have not seen anything like what would take place to the U.S.A. and the economy of this country if G/M would go under and all the support companies to follow.

Very-Sad

Sincerely;

Terry

BTW; Believe me this situation would be to Horrible to Imagine (IMO).

 

Here we go again. Always the dire warnings that the demise of {insert broken-down company here} will cause TEOTWAWKI*. Then the company goes under, life goes on and TEOTWAWKI somehow doesn't happen.

There is no such thing as a business that's too big to fail. Thousands of companies, both big and small, are interred in the Great Business Graveyard. Some of them (Packard, Studebaker, Hudson, Pierce-Arrow, DeLorean) made cars. Upon their deaths, the remaining companies made other cars. The same will happen in the unlikely event GM dies. Do you really think vast chasms will open up in the ground and swallow up all those plants? What will happen is that one or more surviving carmakers (Toyota and/or Honda, if we're lucky) will buy them for pennies on the dollar, retool them and make better cars with more productive (i.e., non-union) workers. As for those former GM parts suppliers, they will simply sell to the new owners -- provided they can improve their product quality (those that can't or won't will join GM & Delphi in the graveyard).

Similarly, other airlines took up the slack when Eastern, Braniff, etc. closed. The same is happening now that Independence Air is dead, and will happen again if Delta can't crawl out of its self-created muck.

Does anyone really miss Woolworth? Montgomery Ward? Service Merchandise? All were big retailers that folded; now people shop elsewhere. Down here there used to be a chain of home improvement stores called Scotty's; they couldn't compete with Lowe's & Home Depot, and recently shut down. I have yet to hear anyone weeping over Scotty's. If the Winn-Dixie grocery chain goes under, people will simply buy their food at other stores (which they're already doing, which is why WD is crumbling in the 1st place!).

As for Chrysler, I recently learned it was bailed out for military reasons. Back then it was the sole manufacturer of certain hardware (tanks and/or tank parts, IIRC) that were essential to the Cold War effort. Hence the need to keep Chrysler afloat. Fortunately for the taxpayers, the big 1980s economic boom was just starting and Lee Iacocca knew how to make cars. Now the economy is slowing, the pointy-hairs running GM couldn't find sand on the beach , and the federal govt. is so deep in hock it couldn't bail out Sam Drucker's General Store.

IMHO Cramer has it right. GM needs to do a pre-packaged Ch. 11 filing ASAP to insure its long-term survival. If that happens, my GM put options will hit the jackpot just as those on Delphi, Delta & NW Airlines did last year (the common stock will be wiped out upon emergence) and I'll make out nicely along with the other bears. Otherwise, GM will slowly fade into oblivion, and I'll mourn its demise about as much as I mourned that of the Soviet Union -- while still making out nicely.

"Even in the worst of times, someone turns a profit." -- Ferengi Rule of Acqusition #162

*The End Of The World As We Know It

 

I don't think that many would care if the situation was: GM folds - it's employee's work for Ford or Chrysler. When the dust clears, the American economy is no worse off.

The concern of many people here is American auto jobs lost to overseas competition will not be recovered to the extent as if it was an Amercan competitor. It's also the reason I get angry about American auto excutives not wanting to change.

 

Thats what we all should Love about living here in the Good Old U.S.A.

All, whats that, We all can and do have the right to Voice our Opinions.

Freedom

Terry

 

Two of my favorite cars are GM ... but neither of them are made anymore. The first was a 1975 Pontiac GrandVille convertible 455. The second was a 98-0X Pontiac Firebird Trans Am SLP Firehawk. So as of a couple years ago I would have considered them, but not anymore. There are no vehicles in thier line up that speak to me, that spark any interest or desire. As far as jobs go, I don't wish for them to go under, but otherwise I don't care. If those jobs fall, there is a new market coming up with hydrogen, possible biofuels, etc., and the other makers will need to build more to make up for the ones they do sell. That might mean more Honda, Toyota, etc plants in the Americas. So good luck to them if they can get the right state of mind ... if not, then all good things must come to an end sometime ... and usually there is a rebirth in other areas.

 

I agree, Delta Flyer, about the primary concern being for American jobs, and I also get angry when the American companies keep their heads in the sand. Still, there are other concerns, and if we want the American businesses to change, the threat of jobs going overseas is a big motivator.

As for tanstaafl 14's comments, I think you're right about the teotwawki point and so on, but your description is very big picture, and it misses the details of all the small tragedies associated with any particular large business failure. No, the world doesn't end, but people lose their jobs and their families are stressed, poorer, without health insurance, etc., and in the short term it can be terrible. If we actually tried to live by the Ferengi Rules of Acquisition, this would be a more hostile and depressing world.