General Motors CEO - Rick Wagoner Resigns..

[goof2]

Originally Posted by Destitute

Hasn't it already died, and the government is giving it a second chance at life? If it wasn't for taxpayer money, GM would already be in bankruptcy.

I didn't realize the government was making product decisions, rather than just financial/organizational ones.

If they had died the American taxpayer would not already be $17+ billion in the hole. If the government is just going to keep these companies on life support with taxpayer money, while setting conditions that make the companies incapable of recovery I wish they would just let them fail now.

The financial/organizational decisions are directly tied to product decisions. The previously mentioned Chrysler/Fiat merger is a prime example. Apparently the administration feels that Fiat will magically be able to make their cars pass American emissions and crash testing while convincing Americans they want to spend $15k+ on a small 3 or 5 door hatchback with a 75 horsepower engine. I'm sure Americans will be happy to go along, even though the Honda Fit and Toyota Yaris are similarly sized, have more power, are the same price or less, and have better reliability reputations than Fiat.

If my guess is right though it doesn't really matter. I suspect the Obama administration is trying to drive GM and Chrysler into bankruptcy so they can get rid of their labor contracts. The difficulty is they are trying to do it on the sly, putting all the weight on management. If the administration just came out and said that one of the big problems with Detroit was crippling labor agreements you would see Obama's approval rating drop by 10% or more. Instead, the administration has decided to throw the future of hundreds of thousands of GM and Chrysler employees, as well as their suppliers and those employees in to turmoil in an (I believe futile) attempt to save the approval rating.