GM- Now " Government Motors"

It is impossible to conceive that GM could be more poorly run then it has been.

Somebody had to call them on that, and the government did so.

At least somebody has the guts to tell them they are FU'd.

I wish the taxpayers the best of luck with their new investment.

I got to listen to Fritz's news conference this morning and I can tell you the room was dead silent while he went through the list of plants that are to be closed. Thank God we were not one of the plants to be closed. The Pontiac plants are only 45 mins away from my plant. Orion about the same. Seven plants in Michigan wow what a blow.
Jeff

Very sorry to hear about this... we knew it was coming. I'm glad you are doing OK. As a GM guy and as an American I am truly saddened that it came to this. My best wishes to you your co-workers and your family.

Very, very sad story but imagine how bad it would have been if there was no one to step up and help. Would have been a total catastrophe for our economy.

Everything I’ve read from reliable news agencies and heard our President say is that GM will be managed by a board of directors and not by our government.

The economy is looking better and better every day thank goodness, and I think so far they have done marvelous job of turning a horrible mess around. Happy days are here again and GM will come back!

Mike

As tempting as it is to wallow into the mire and muck of politics I'll have to restrain myself and wish those who are effected the best of luck.

So how did GM end up filing bankruptcy in NY?

GM bankruptcy forever linked to Harlem dealership


Automotive News
June 1, 2009 - 1:00 pm ET

NEW YORK (Reuters) -- General Motors' bankruptcy will forever be tied to one dealership in an often-ignored neighborhood due to the quirks of U.S. bankruptcy law.

Before GM filed its historic bankruptcy today, Chevrolet-Saturn of Harlem made its own Chapter 11 filing. The dealership's move gave the automaker legal access to its preferred bankruptcy court in Manhattan.

Normally a Detroit-based company such as GM would file in Michigan or Delaware, where it is incorporated. The only way for it to file in New York would be through a subsidiary that did most of its business in New York or was incorporated in the state.

Court papers appear to describe a car dealer that sold significantly more corporate bonds than Camaros, running up $40 billion of debts and obligations to unions.

Rather than try to pinpoint the financial state of the dealership, GM simply listed its own consolidated creditors and assets with the affiliate, which is typical in such a case, said Greg Werkheiser, a bankruptcy lawyer with Morris, Nichols, Arsht & Tunnell in Wilmington, Del.

Once the attorneys handling the GM bankruptcy decided they wanted to file the case in Manhattan, known for its expertise and speed in handling huge bankruptcies such as Enron and WorldCom, they needed to find a way to bring it to Broadway.

The technique has been used before. Chicago-based General Growth Properties, the second-largest mall owner in the United States, recently used its South Street Seaport unit in New York to file for bankruptcy in Manhattan.

The problem for GM: of the 174 affiliates listed in its annual report, none appear to satisfy the requirements for a New York filing. That's where the Harlem dealership came in.

The dealership on Second Avenue in East Harlem opened a few years ago with much fanfare as an investment in a minority-owned business in a struggling neighborhood.

However, the franchise did not work out as planned and GM took it over, becoming a rare company-owned store that the automaker planned to run until another franchisee could be found.

As the government's deadline for GM to restructure neared, the dealership became something far more valuable: a way to file for bankruptcy in Manhattan.

This morning, the dealership was open and showed no signs it had filed for bankruptcy, with employees walking through a showroom stocked with vehicles including Saturn Aura sedans and Cadillac Escalades.

A man who said he was the owner, but declined to further identify himself, told Reuters that he had no comment on the bankruptcy

“Everything I’ve read from reliable news agencies and heard our President say is that GM will be managed by a board of directors and not by our government.

The economy is looking better and better every day thank goodness, and I think so far they have done marvelous job of turning a horrible mess around. Happy days are here again and GM will come back! “


A board of directors from where? With what background?


I love you Mike, and I know that you are a child of the 60’s. But it is time to take off the rose colored glasses. This government with any involvement with any industry is a disaster.

This is nothing more than the continuation of nationalizing US businesses.

Welcome to socialism in the USA.
Jeff

quote:

However, the franchise did not work out as planned and GM took it over, becoming a rare company-owned store that the automaker planned to run until another franchisee could be found.

Opening a GM car dealership is not unlike any other franschise, the company maintains controlling interest for several years until the business is on its feet and running. Along the way if the business struggles the company never releases control. According to GM's website 20% of its dealerships are company owned.
Jeff

While this forum is really not the place to discuss political views, I can't let this one slide, given the comments that have been made on this thread.

The folks on this forum are a microcosm of our society, with views on either side of an issue. However, many of these views are not supported by 5,000 years of history, with millions of folks unable to "get it".

Thinking that the government with any vested interest in a private company, let alone 60% ownership, will not dictate what it will and will not do is naive. To believe otherwise is tantamount to sticking ones head in the sand.

By not recognizing the fact that when the government gets involved in any private concern, and for that matter any concern (SS, Medicare, food stamps, Amtrak, etc.), that in the long run it will turn into a bloated, inefficient, non-competitive, bankrupt entity, and enslaving its citizens to a life of dependency doesn't change what has been proven over the course of humankind.

Yes, there is a place for government, but not as a player, only as a protector - a protector of our rights of life (defense), liberty (individual), and the pursuit (not entitlement) of happiness (minimization of barriers to success).

Any astute student of history knows this. Only those that are blinded by style versus substance, freebies at the expense of others, and jealousy of those that have achieved success will succumb to the empty promises bureaucrats make to gain votes and stay in power.

I don't think anybody would objectively think that the actions by our government have stopped the increase in unemployment as "promised" by the current administration. The current administration tries to portray that a decrease in the rate of unemployment is a turnaround. Such talk and that a lessening in the rate of decline in the gdp is typical government blather to support an ever increasing government interference in the "bill paying" private sector.

It is a shame that about 50% of the voting population now have a vested interest in milking the productive sectors of our economy.

Our government interference in the natural cleansing inherent in a free market system has always led eventually to more pain and suffering for those it attempts to save, and more expense to the productive members of our society who pay for all the unproductive overhead of a government.

" It is the duty of the patriot to protect his country from his government "
-- Thomas Paine

"I have sworn upon the altar of God, eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man."
-- Thomas Jefferson (Author of the Declaration of Independence of the United States)

"I place economy among the first and most important virtues, and public debt as the greatest of dangers. To preserve our independence, we must not let our rulers load us with perpetual debt."
-- Thomas Jefferson

"When the government fears the people, you have liberty.
When the people fear the government, you have Tyranny."
-- Thomas Jefferson

OOPS - Well said!!!

A government big enough to give you everything you want is a government big enough to take from you everything you have.
Gerald R. Ford

Oops - so obviously you are against any public bailout funds? Including the bank bailouts?

OOPS, 6 years and only your second post, thanks for your very well said post!
Jeff

Well said OPPS.

I see that you are in Atlanta. I hope to meet you someday for further political education. I tend to be on the emotional side of this issue.

Do you now or have you ever owned a Pantera? You are not one of those right wing radicals that descend through vast number of forums in a stealth mode!

OPPS well said except ...

" Thinking that the government with any vested interest in a private company, let alone 60% ownership, will not dictate what it will and will not do is naive. To believe otherwise is tantamount to sticking ones head in the sand."

They gave the banks and Insurance Co's BILLIONS with no conditions ... soon after the bonuses and partys started... but all the rest the Gov insists on managing ? What I dont get is why ? And all the money they promised lower Manahattan ...we are still holding our breath.

The Gov is fearing the people ..thats why the increase in gun control ..

Ron

A number of the guys at Donut Derelicts have recently showed up at the Donut Shop with brand new GM and Chrysler cars. One guy even bought one of the Pontiac high performance sedans. I’ve never been so proud of them, real Americans helping Americans!

Mike

Great news about GM getting through bankruptcy quickly. If I didn’t have a garage full of Ford powered machines I’d order up a new Corvette or Camaro ASAP. Nothing could be more American than driving the Heartbeat of America!

Mike

Here's one my favorite quotes...

If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, go home from us in peace. We ask not your counsels or your arms. Crouch down and lick the hands which feed you. May your chains set lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen; Samual Adams, Patriot

quote:

Originally posted by PLT-1:
Here's one my favorite quotes...

If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, go home from us in peace. We ask not your counsels or your arms. Crouch down and lick the hands which feed you. May your chains set lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen; Samual Adams, Patriot

Exactly, Samuel Adams was right on! A 427 Z06 corvette will liberate you and set you free! And there will be some disgusting tire licking by the spectators but you can learn to live with it.

Mike

...The Government bailed out AIG, with Billions of Our Taxpayer Dollars; because AIG 'Holds' the Retirement Trusts for all of the Congressmen (and Women) and Senetors, as well as others! When I enlisted into the Military Many years ago, at age seventeen; I swore an oath to "Defend the Constitution of These United States of America from ALL Enemys, Fereign and DOMESTIC!". Do You think we have any Domestic Enemys to our Constitution? And last year when all of this was coming down; I went out and purchased a Brand-New 2009 Ford Mustang! And Ford is one of the Few Companies NOT scrambling for a 'Hand-Out'!...

quote:

The Gov is fearing the people ..that's why the increase in gun control ..

I am always amazed at the "right to bear arms" crowd when they use the - "We need our unfettered right to collect unlimited weapons in order to be ready to defend the US from internal tyranny" argument.

If you think unrestricted gun ownership would prevent the US government from kicking your ass, you might want to take a look at Iraq and Afghanistan.

All the pistols and hunting rifles you can stuff into your gun safe won't hold up too well from a circling un-manned, fully armed RC drone weapons platform.

I've watched Red Dawn more than once, too, but in the real world of today's military-industrial complex armament overkill, all the total population of the NRA members would just be a small wart on any internal, or external, attack on our country.

Flame suit on.

Larry

quote:

Originally posted by MARLIN JACK:
And last year when all of this was coming down; I went out and purchased a Brand-New 2009 Ford Mustang! And Ford is one of the Few Companies NOT scrambling for a 'Hand-Out'!...

Me too!! And a 07 in 07!

Mike

...Exactly Larry!! I always Thought You were a kind of 'Lay-Down and die' kind of guy! You know, Throw your hands up and surrender; and then die! I flew over 200 Aerial Combat Missions in Vietnam, behind an M-60 Machine Gun; as a Gunship Doorgunner. Life expectentcy, 3 Minutes. What I learned was: There is NOTHING that flys, that can't be shot down with the proper weapon. NOBODY out-guns America! NOBODY!! And the Most Leathal Weapon on the Battlefield is a 'Well Aimed Bullet!!' Period! Now go back and stick Your head in the Sand! 'WE' Don't need or want Your kind of 'Passive NoN Patriot'. Laughing Now! I know You think You 'Control' this Forum, I don't much give a Mother Crap!! I'am too busy 'Taking My Country Back!! So how's that Flame suit holding up? Burns Huh! Don't Fart!...

quote:

So how's that Flame suit holding up?

Just fine.

Larry