Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Strategies & Market Trends : The Residential Real Estate Crash Index -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: XoFruitCake who wrote (171067)	12/13/2008 9:11:13 AM
From: Think4Yourself	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 306849

"And while GM will fund the VEBA at the start of 2008, it will continue paying for retiree health care through the end of 2009, at an estimated cost of $5.4 billion, giving the vehicle a couple of years to earn returns on the GM funding." Very few people on the street realize the above has happened, and all of the uninformed comments on this thread about the legacy costs a few weeks ago proves it. The comments about the low quality also demonstrates how uninformed the public is, even though the quality information is out there for all to read. Surveys on non-owner perceptions of quality and surveys on owner perceptions of quality are totally disconnected. The legacy cost issue is really the crux of the financial crisis for GM, something neither political party wants to bring up in public. The Democrats don't want you to know how much money is flowing from the automakers to the pension funds at a time like this. The Republicans don't want you to know that they want to F' the unions. If Wall Street greed and government incompetence hadn't totally collapsed the credit markets then the automakers wouldn't be in this mess. They would have continued to struggle for the next year as they funded the program, and then emerged highly competitive in 2010. This is why they were asking for a BRIDGE LOAN to get them through 2009. Political motivations and complete ignorance by the public quickly changed the concept from a loan to a bailout, but it's still a loan that is being discussed. People are talking how the automakers are going to need to come back for more money if they are given a $14B loan. DUH, REALLY? They asked for 25B to get them through the year and I don't thing the length of the year has changed recently. The government messed around and screwed things up so much that now even $25B might not be enough. This is not to say the automakers are blameless. They made a lot of mistakes, an awful lot of mistakes. They were in the process of fixing the big ones when this all blew up. I see several very good things that have come out of this. 1. The automotive managements and the unions have both been smacked upside the head. That was a very good thing, and much needed. Hopefully it will be awhile before the arrogance comes back. 2. The public has become more informed, and some may have put aside old perceptions about American built cars. If one in ten people takes an honest look at the stuff coming out next fall then things will get better. 3. People have become more aware of how pathetic Congress is, especially the Senate. It is going to be much harder for the banksters to continue getting free handouts. People will be screaming if Congress tries to appropriate the other half of the TARP. Now if only the people would start to realize that the foreign automakers are already subsidized by their governments. That is probably too much to ask.