The Plan

A number of folks out there are asking what should be done with GM in regards to the bailout they and Ford & Chrsler are begging for.

These questions are only being seriously asked because these companies got “Too Big to Fail” and have so many employees that entire voting blocks will be effected for generations depending on which party does the “Saving”.

Like GM employees, I also work for a multinational corporation, though with only 1/5 the number of employees, and with only about 2/3 of those 50,000 employees being unionized. However, because we are of lesser size, the only worry the average citizen would have if my employer was about to go under would be how quickly would a replacement be able to get the trash off the ground so that that your local burg doesn’t start to reek.

And it is with that sentiment that I say, let GM fail. Let Ford fail. And let Chrysler fail. If your business plan cannot get you through “tough times” then it suck and you deserve to fail.

However, that will not happen. Not in a hundred years will that happen. Anyone who says it will is not living in reality. Especially not when there are UAW jobs “at stake” and the Democrats are in power. But the companies should not get anything more than a “bailout loan”.
So here is my “realistic” plan: They’ll get money from the fed, but they need to do what the fed says. Hopefully the fed will say “You need to trim the fat” (because all three automakers need to do exactly that). But even this won’t be painless.

Firstly, any company that takes the “loan” has to show proof that their employee’s, via their union, have agreed to make concessions in regards to pay and benefits.

The average non-UAW forklift driver in MI makes $45K in total wages & benefits. The average UAW forklift driver gets nearly $100K. It is not the taxpayer’s job to make sure UAW employees can live in Grosse Point and/or afford the payments on their boat. This is sink or swim time: Either they take a temporary pay cut or they can have a permanent one.

GM owns control of thirteen different automobile manufacturing companies. They need to sell some of them. Even at fire sale prices. They need to shut down more of them.

They share WuLing with the SAIC and they need to dump that. The Chinese love their Buicks (prizing them like yuppies prize Mercedes and BMW’s). Sell Buick to the SAIC. They’re rubbish Chevy cars that no one in their right mind should spend the extra cash to buy. Let the ChiComs have them.

Daewoo goes back to the Koreans. An even more rubbish car that no one in the US bought.

Opel goes back to the Germans. Might as well sell them Snob, oops, I mean Saab, too.

Holden goes back to Aussie control. The UK is sucking wind, so they might ask them if they want Vauxhall.

So now that GM is only left with GMC, Chevrolet, Pontiac, Cadillac, Corvette, Saturn.

Stop building GMC’s. Useless waste of time. 85% of GM built trucks and SUV’s sold are Chevy’s anyhow.

The Hummer is an even bigger penile extension than the Corvette. Stop. Right now. Shut that line down. It’s a fucking Tahoe or Blazer made to look “tough”. Melt the unfinished ones down. The raw steel is nearly worth more as scrap than what it’d be listed at on the showroom anyhow.

Chevy needs to stop building cars that compete with Pontiac. Or vice versa. Period. Whichever badge loses that battle (Pontiac) needs to stop making cars that compete with Saturn. Yes, that probably means The Chief goes down the path of Oldsmobile, but that wasn’t such a bad thing, really.

Corvette and Cadillac are treading water and they’ll be OK.

Same thing goes for Ford. Stop making Mercs. Lincoln will be OK if this happens. They also need to sell off their share of Mazda like they did with Jag and Range Rover. It isn’t like Mazda hasn’t been asking for it back. They also need to ditch Volvo. I don’t care to whom. Probably the VW Group.

Chrysler needs to stop making Chyrslers for a while, send that cash to Dodge, and then focus on churning out as many Jeeps as possible.

This wouldn’t be easy. Though I think that it could be done within four to six months, with help by the appropriate government agencies.

Why be so harsh, you may ask? Because I’ve read about what the UK did with the “saving” of the British automotive industry through the British Leyland nationalization debacle. This Wiki entry has many words about it, but leaves out huge chunks on the labor troubles they had.

Essentially, the workers were unhappy with their wages and, knowing they had the government’s purse strings handy, were constantly acting like children at their Trades Union’s behest, and striking for a day or two here, a week or two there, screwing everyone in the country in the process.

And if you thought the quality of GM, Ford and Chrysler cars is shitty, you’ve never owned a BL built turd.

There. Everyone is unhappy, yet everything is trimmed and, barring a nuke going off, will survive to pay back their loans.

Can I has one of those CEO bonuses now?