Greed Killed GM

Yep, greed killed General Motors. Greed from all sides is the real down fall of a once great automaker. The name may still be there, but it will defiantly will never be the same. The chapter 11 filling will give the federal government 60% ownership of the company. Yes, I said 60% ownership and that in my mind at least, is everything against what capitalism means. The definition of Capitalism: an economic system in which investment in and ownership of the means of production, distribution, and exchange of wealth is made and maintained chiefly by private individuals or corporations, esp. as contrasted to cooperatively or state-owned means of wealth.
My question is this, who's next for the Government to take over? Is this the first step to Socialism? Scary huh? Well it scares me. I guess this is what happens when greed comes from all sides.

No one is free from shame in this. GM's management have given themselves large salaries and over the top severance packages. I understand that with great power comes great responsibility, but it should also come with consequences when things go wrong. Not millions of dollars in your pocket when you have f@%ked up. I know it's not only the auto executives that do this, but when it effects the masses it's not only wrong but boarder line criminal. The first piece of the puzzle of their own demise.

No one is free from shame. The Unions have slowly ruined what Unions used to stand for. In case we've forgotten, Unions came into play when companies took advantage of workers. Long hours, very little pay, no health care and just brutal working conditions. Over time Unions have done themselves and their members in and put people out on the street. They've done this by over pricing themselves. This drove some companies to outsource to other countries. One more piece of the puzzle to the down fall of one of the biggest companies in the US.

No one is free from shame. Our government is now sticking their hands into private enterprise. People complain that the government can't fix the simplest thing in our country, what makes them think that they can fix a private company. They may say it's to help the people, but GM is closing 14 plants and doing away with over 2,000 dealerships. GM was also talking about importing a new compact car line from China. How is this going to help the people? Our government have given billions to this one company and now that company is going to use it pay workers from over seas. Oh yah, that money that was given was yours and mine. If that's not a kick in the junk, I don't know what is. This includes the GM employees who are going to loose their jobs.

I do have one question about our government having the controlling power over GM. Does this mean the GM workers are now government workers? Will they get the same benefits as postal workers? Can they retire in 20 years with a fat pension? Just something to think about.

So in closing, in my mind no one is free from shame in this. From the executives who over pay themselves, the Unions who over priced their labor and our government who took over a private company and took our money to pay workers from other countries to build cars for us, which we had no say so about were our money went.

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Comment by HonRevJoWazzoo on July 5, 2009 at 1:12pm: Jesus Christ. GM was STOOPID. And paying people GROSS as much as 40 $ = $70 per hour to sit home on their ass was dumb. Joe, wrt to buying a car - who gives a rats' rear that GM didn't offer what you wanted. Hell - I wanted Lotus Esprits and Ferarri GTB 308 s but whoa is me - no American auto company made them. So I had to settle for a Toyota Tacoma pickup. Given that you are from Madrid Spain why do you care?

Comment by Joe on June 3, 2009 at 5:24am: The problem has always been unexciting and boring products, in my opinion. Many years ago, I used to work at a GM-related company, and as employees, we could buy GM cars at a substantial discount. Well, I really wanted to take advantage of this opportunity to save money, but I couldn´t find a single GM model that I really wanted to own. So I didn´t, and bought a car from anther car manufacturer which was much more exciting for me. This is a short and true story that illustrates why GM went belly up, IMHO.

Comment by Roxanne on June 3, 2009 at 3:05am: Anywhere where private enterprise has been killed, or destroyed and Socialism substituted at our government is seeking is destorying the principles of our Constitution, our principles and the foundation. We now have "Government Motorors", bailouts, and not enforcing the law.
Whenever any business has destroyed a system, free market, or another person or person take over the company. What do you expect with Obama!!!

Comment by Paul Bennett on June 2, 2009 at 6:08am: They'll have to put obama i jaol ionflux.

Comment by IonFlux on June 2, 2009 at 5:15am: and i hope they enforce the law and put this people in jail

Comment by IonFlux on June 2, 2009 at 5:10am: naa i think they got shipped over seas and the gov say the bailout and over sea is bailing them out
its bye bye gm what think about that

Comment by Pedro Remedios on June 2, 2009 at 4:29am: USA doesn't deserve all the heat they're getting! It's like the entire country is corrupt. And I thought unions were phased off in USA :O Here in Europe unions are very commonplace!

Comment by Paul Bennett on June 1, 2009 at 9:48pm: soon the government of the US will own GM and the whoole country, that's the way your country is going, the governemnts going to own everything, that's why the US is going bankrupt. big brother etc. Now you can scream and shout at me all you want about how much you think this sounds like a conspiracy but i think that's the future not only for the US but for the world. NWO will come about once the world is bankrupt and economically crushed enough the people behind obama will take over. Obama is probbably a smoke screen/puppet for these powerful people.

Comment by Cookenstein on June 1, 2009 at 8:55pm: What stands out in this post to me more than anything else is the Unions. I will certainly agree the CEOs on down the line have been over paid for years at GM, but I really think it is the greed of the unions that have screwed this company.

There are many back stories to support this, and you notice that nationwide Unions as a whole are shrinking, because they are an albatross on big companies ability to stay lean and productively grow. I have watched it on a much smaller scale in hotels for years.
The initial premise of unions many years ago was a great idea and was needed, but the term "greed" has destroyed it too, and all of the foolish companies that go this route. Great post!!

Comment by Mark D. on June 1, 2009 at 10:14am: Yes it is unsetlling, the auto worker looses his/her job they go home and try to figure out how they are going to pay the bills. While the excecutives that looses their job goes home (a 7 bedroom/ 4 bathroom "cottage") with a couple million dollar severance package.

I am sorry that you have to deal with the same types of things.