I actually have a solution. GM, Ford and Chrysler can negotiate with the big oil companies, who have made hundreds of billions in profits the past few years, for their bailout. GM was a gift from god to the oil companies, amazing.
The foreign companies have similar retiree benefits as well. The problem is that they only been in business for such few years that the number of their retirees is a thousand or so not the 100s of thousands that the big 3 have.
No they don't. The big 3 are the product of a bygone era, that only they don't know is bygone. The big 3 has what is called a defined benefit pension plan. Toyota and most modern firms have a defined contribution plan. Huge difference. GM can't move to anything like this because the UAW blocks it.
Almost nobody has benefits like GM, free healthcare for life, stuff like that.
I agree that we as a nation have to face facts, but those facts include that the elderly demographic in the USA is the wealthiest demographic in the nation, not the poorest (children are the poorest). People on the GM retiree rolls and people working at GM are doing BETTER than the nation as a whole. Those retirees at GM knew GM was on shaky ground 30 years ago, and these same people are seeing huge returns from their medicare and social security buy-ins, something the current generation will not see.
Glad you brought up Bush and deficits, how much did it cost the American taxpayer to pay for that GM corporate welfare of a $100K tax cut to buy only the hugest gas guzzlers?
Here's what I think the answer is. Create govt sponsored universal healthcare at a cost of 8% of GDP like Germany, which is half of what it costs the USA now. Pay for this with the existing medicare funding and the retirement of the bush tax cuts. Roll the autoworkers retirees into this plan, and remove them from the GM cost structure. Cancel GM defined benefit retirement plans and move to defined contribution like Toyota. Cancel about half of GMs product line- Pontiac and those and lay off a lot of staff. The UAW would never go for this though, even though most of the nation would jump for joy with a retirement plan like this- because it would represent a significant cut to a GM workers retirement. The UAW thinks GM has no management problems and the entire issue is the credit crisis and nobody at GM is to blame. The denial is astounding. |
