On December 31st, 2008 I posted a sarcastic (and hopefully not too offensive) post about how GM’s Rick Wagoner could very well have been Jesus. In that I offered this little prediction:
- Rick (at least his job) will likely be killed by foreigners (the same ones who have been persecuting “his people” for years)…
- …and it will happen in the spring (end of Q1 2009)…
Well the end of Q1 2009 is March 31st and today March 30th Rick Wagoner resigned from GM. DAMN, I missed it by 1 day…
Now I’m ready to double down. GM goes into a pre-arranged bankruptcy by the end of May 2009.
Please make sure to reread some of my other GM commentary:
Its Time to Demote the General (from November 10th, 2008) in which I say (as a casual aside) that the AIG bailout will get larger and yet still fail (WOO-HOO, two-for-two)
An expose (of sorts) showing that many “Japanese” cars are actually more “American” than those made by GM, Ford or that company that begins with a “C”.
A humorous look at how GM can save not just auto industry but also retailers and home owners.
And, of course, the original is Rick Jesus article
One final thought:
Chrysler is already a Japanese company. Afterall who else but the Japanese would partner first with the Germans (Mercedes-Benz) and then the Italians (Fiat) in what will turn out to be a failed effort for world (economic) domination.
Thanks for listening. Do us all a favor and please buy cars made in America (by Toyota, maybe Ford).
How about avoiding automaker bankruptcies with a FED incentive plan like the one below. I have emailed it Geithner and Obama and to influential members of the media. With a few tweaks here and there this plan will work! You can help spread the word.
A FEDERAL GOVERNMENT INCENTIVE PLAN TO ENCOURAGE AUTO SALES
+ This program will apply only to GM, Chrysler and Ford
+ It will begin on June 1, 2009 and end on May 30, 2012
+ If an individual purchases a new car from one the above, the FED will pay one half of the purchase price directly to the dealer as a down payment
+ The purchaser may use the value of a trade-in to add to the down payment and/or finance the remaining cost of the car through a low cost FED loan
+ The loan must be paid off over a period of three years
+ If the buyer fails to make his loan payments and the car is repossessed, the dealer may retain the FED down payment and sell the car as used to a new buyer with none of the above benefits
+ Buyers of any make or model or any special equipment who will be able to buy a car at half its ticket price should react in the many thousands
+ Auto companies and dealers should reap big profits and will not need bail out money from the FED. Instead the FED will bail out the Big Three through the American Car Buyer where the money is better used.
While I applaud the thought process I’m not sure why the government should be hurting other US auto workers to support dying companies. I own a Toyota Camry (and I used to work for General Motors) and that was made right in Kentucky and is better for the environment. Your plan encourages people to favor certain US auto plants over others. Oh and my Toyota has more “domestic content” then a Ford Mustang which means it paid for more US workers salaries. As a result you have actually funded fewer US workers than you would if customers were not incented to go for a subset of the car manufacturers. Additionally you are encouraging the purchasing of less environmentally friendly vehicles so there is both a short-term and long-term effect.
See this story http://watchingmarcitz.com/2008/11/11/how-foreign-is-an-american-car/
Also if the government has to incent you to buy a car maybe what the market is saying is that these cars aren’t worth buying without a bribe. And while they might work in the short term the incentive will eventually have to go away and when it does sales will plummet again and therefore we would have only “fooled” the market for a short period of time and delayed the inevitable.
I don’t, as a taxpayer, want to see my money being spent on a car I wouldn’t buy in the first place made worse by the fact that I don’t even get to drive it.
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