tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7723107545282807528.post6756316686911933226..comments2023-08-18T07:16:24.794-04:00Comments on CanadianSense: GM Repaying Loans Ahead of ScheduleCanadianSensehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01010880162544507668noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7723107545282807528.post-51405734380953195322010-04-21T01:07:47.913-04:002010-04-21T01:07:47.913-04:00More bailout requests are coming; we'll never ...More bailout requests are coming; we'll never see a dime:<br /><br />http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2010/04/gm-more-troubles-coming-down-the-road/38603/<br /><br />Key points<br /><br />GAO notes the complicated role played by the federal government, which guaranteed those pensions and now owns GM and Chrysler. GM and Chrysler bought union peace by overpromising pension benefits, knowing that the taxpayers stood behind those promises. Now what should the government do, take it out on the auto workers or hit the taxpayers to benefit the auto workers? Your elected officials will have little difficulty making this decision, invariably hitting future taxpayers to benefit favored constituents, like the auto workers.<br /><br />and<br /><br /><b>Of course, you have to dig into the numbers to find the bad news, like the $56.4b in "cost of sales," or the $700m interest cost, or the 48 percent North American capacity utilization in 2009, or the 16.3 percent US car market share.</b><br /><br />Make no mistake, these companies are still on life support. The CBO expects that the lion's share of the government's losses on TARP will come, not from anything the Bush administration did, but from the Obama administration's decision to bail out the automakers and to a lesser extent, its bailout of homeowners. It seems that a big chunk of our cost may come from picking up the gold plated pensions . . . "Cadillac Plans", if you will . . . of the automakers. And lest you think I'm picking on unions over management, it was management that used the UAW as a prop to extract these gargantuan sums from the pockets of innocent taxpayers.Thucydideshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09828932214842106266noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7723107545282807528.post-13215037892460372732010-04-20T13:29:41.151-04:002010-04-20T13:29:41.151-04:00GM will surely benefit from the hit taken by the T...GM will surely benefit from the hit taken by the Toyota brand.The_Icemanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16887740772649135851noreply@blogger.com