Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Lemons, Layoffs & Lobbying~ Oh my!

Yahoo News reports:
"General Motors Corp. started firing 1,600 white-collar workers Monday, continuing its effort to slash costs and qualify for more government loans on the same day it revealed it spent $2.8 million in the first three months of this year to lobby federal lawmakers.

GM spent $2.8 million in the first quarter lobbying the U.S. government on a range of issues, including the economic stimulus package, and environmental, consumer safety and health issues.

GM's lobbying costs fell 15 percent from the $3.3 million it spent in the fourth quarter of 2008, but they rose from the $2.7 million GM spent in the third quarter.

Chrysler LLC, which got a $4 billion loan, and parent company Cerberus Capital Management LP together spent $1.1 million lobbying during the first three months of this year, according to filings. That's down about 50 percent from what the two spent during the last three months of 2008.

GM has said it will eliminate 47,000 jobs worldwide by the end of 2009, but the cuts may go even deeper as the company moves toward its deadline. CEO Fritz Henderson has said the automaker will close more factories beyond five announced in February. The factories to be closed have not yet been identified. "

I'm so tired of all this circling, GM really needs to file for bankruptcy. 

They need forced reorganization & they need it NOW. 

Their ads are pathetic-- put on our "rally caps"?

Forget the rally caps-- bring on the affordable electric & hybrid cars. 

They still don't get it!

3 comments:

Fran said...

As gas prices begin to soar again, the vehicle manufacturers that will stay afloat are the ones who keep up with consumer needs. I keep hearing about *Peak Oil*, and how at some point very soon, oil prices will not come back down.... they will go up & stay up.
Between environmental concerns, and economic hard times, it does not take a genius to figure out what is in demand right now... an affordable sipper.
Not in 5 or more years either. Dust off the EV1 engineering files & once again make the electric cars that were so popular. The battery technology of 10 years ago would meet the needs of 90% of people's driving habits. Better battery technology exists today.
The honeymoon w big oil is over!
Deliver something people really really want.
If the gvmnt is going to help GM, than give a fantastic rebate on the purchase of an earth friendly vehicle that pulls the plug on foreign oil dependency.

enigma4ever said...

yeah 40,000 VOLT ? are they kidding ?

Fran said...

not only $40k for their car-- but in 5 or more years!!!
By then Toyota will have already captured the market with their electric vehicle & we are already seeing the SMART cars on the road.
Mr. Ramblings saw one parked & the owner let him sit in it & check it out.
He said it was comfortable & the seats were high up- more than the Toyota Corolla, for instance.

Does GM think the guvmnt will tide them over for 5 more years?