{"id":3830,"date":"2008-12-17T10:11:06","date_gmt":"2008-12-17T15:11:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/?p=3830"},"modified":"2008-12-17T10:11:06","modified_gmt":"2008-12-17T15:11:06","slug":"american-cars-dont-fall-apart-any-more-but-their-makers-arguments-still-do","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/?p=3830","title":{"rendered":"American Cars Don’t Fall Apart Any More But Their Makers’ Arguments Still Do"},"content":{"rendered":"

Rick Wagoner, CEO and G.W. share the same fate as their careers wind down.<\/p>\n

They are both on the wrong side of public opinion. Bush is also on the wrong side of the aisle.<\/p>\n

Good for GM, Good for America?<\/a><\/p>\n

The Washington Post<\/a> reports that its poll finds 55% of Americans oppose the Detroit handout, while only 42% support it. Democrats have become the party of corporate welfare, with 52% supporting the bailout; majorities of Republicans (69%) and independents (57%) are opposed.<\/p>\n

Most surprising finding: “Union households are no more apt than those without a union member to favor the plan, 44 percent compared with 42 percent.” The United Auto Workers wants government money so as to protect the work rules and artificially high emoluments that have helped make Detroit uncompetitive.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Wagoner argues that without a bailout, GM will have to go Chapter “Belly Up” and won’t survive it. At the same time Bush is circumventing a Republican filibuster and overwhelming public opinion to open up the TARP checkbook for the Big Three; two of which don’t need the money; one of which has resorted to begging.<\/p>\n

We keep hearing the argument, originally put forward last month by Rick Wagoner, GM’s delightfully named CEO, that people won’t buy cars from companies that have filed bankruptcy, for fear that parts and service will become unavailable. Are consumers really so stupid that they would have more confidence in a company that goes on welfare to support an unsustainable business model than in one that is being restructured through bankruptcy court?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

It turns out the Unions aren’t as pro-bailout and foreign competitors may be more<\/em> pro-bailout than one would imagine.<\/p>\n

One major problem is that Japanese carmakers in the United States share many of the same parts suppliers. If a Detroit automaker were to collapse, suppliers would likely follow, setting off a chain reaction that could wreak havoc for Japanese production in a vital market.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

More broadly, the U.S. crisis could lead to huge job losses and further weaken consumer spending, especially for big-ticket items such as automobiles. Together, the three big American automakers employ 239,000 workers in the United States.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I have teetered back and forth on this issue. Not unlike the unfolding of the financial system crisis, the more time that elapses, urgency fades in favor of clarity, and the more prized clear-headed thinkers become.<\/p>\n

Let GM file bankruptcy. Let Cerberus feed their child so we don’t have to. Let Ford Navigate the waters unfettered by bailout dollars and the restrictions they would entail.<\/p>\n

Let capitalism do what capitalism does: make stronger companies.<\/p>\n

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Rick Wagoner, CEO and G.W. share the same fate as their careers wind down. They are both on the wrong side of public opinion. Bush is also on the wrong side of the aisle. Good for GM, Good for America? The Washington Post reports that its poll finds 55% of Americans oppose the Detroit handout, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":228,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[57,68],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3830","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-economy-and-the-market","category-capitalism-v-socialism"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3830","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/228"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3830"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3830\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3830"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3830"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3830"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}