There is an excellent report in the Wall Street Journal. I recommend you read it. Here's the link. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124277530070436823.html
I'll give you the shortened version, but please look at the story on the link. It's an excellent report and easy to read even if you're not in business.
In 1913, the government thought that they were being overcharged for the steel plating on warships. They decided to go into the steel business saying that they could save 30% costs in the steel. They built the steel plant. It was completed (over budget naturally), and actually went into production. Unfortunately, the war had been over for three years before it opened. They had one production run. The cost was twice as much as their competitors, the American business. They shut their doors and never opened again.
Now we have the takeover of General Motors. It's now owned by The United States of America, the Canadian government and the union. The investors in GM have been shut out. Stock has been wiped out and bondholders were forced to take nearly a 75% loss.
Obama has said he doesn't want to be in the car business and he doesn't want to be in the financial services business. So why is he in them?
There is good news however. We will now find out which runs a business better. The government or the American people. Ford did not take the bailout, and did not file bankruptcy. GM and Chrysler have accepted both. Ford is even stepping up production.
Government does want into the car business. They just entered it. They want into the health car business. Their track record? Medicare, which is full of waste, fraud and abuse. They want into the financial services business. Their track record? Social Security, which is dying a slow death and will be operating in the red in 7 short years and broke in 2037. Everyone born from 1973 on, is going to be very ticked off at their parents for wasting all of that money put into the social security system.
Remember last September and October when everyone said that the car companies can't be allowed to go into bankruptcy because nobody would buy a car from a car company that was bankrupt? What changed? I'm afraid that the government will force everyone to buy one of their cars.
What of the retired GM worker? Excuse me, the retired General Motors worker, not the Government Motors worker. They put years into their craft only to have the government take it over and now their retirement is dependent on what some crackpot in Washington DC decides to do to boost his election chances in the next term.
The recent retirees had their rough patch back in the early 80's. They made a car that didn't have the quality and they were being beaten by the Japanese upstarts that were making a better vehicle than the Americans were. But they didn't give up. They came back and made the best cars in the world. Do you really think you're going to get quality from someone receiving a government check every two weeks? I should be careful saying something like that if a liberal is reading this, because their answer will be yes.
This will also change our driving habits. Government Motors will be making cars made of a substance similar to cardboard and it will only be the size of a go-cart. We'll have to be careful and be certain that if we hit a bump in the road, to look in the rearview mirror to be certain we didn't run over a Government Motors made car.
This is a sad day for America. 2/3 of the Auto Industry has been taken over by the Obama Administration. He even admitted that this wasn't going to work well. That more jobs will be lost, more plants will be closing, never to reopen and more dealerships will be shutting their doors.
When a man/woman opens a business, they are upbeat, proud, anxious to get to work to make their business grow. They are full of optimism. But when the government takes over a business, they are not optimistic. They predict doom and gloom for a long time to come.
Mr. Obama, if you don't want to get into the Car business and the finance business, here's a suggestion for you. It's really simple. 'DON'T! You will not be able to compete with the American worker, nor the American spirit of entrepreneurial enterprise. You're doomed to failure just as the government was in 1913 when they decided they could do it better and proved that they couldn't.
I wonder, does this mean that the liberals will now turn their hatred towards Ford for daring to succeed?
You're comments are welcome.
Brett
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