Comments on: General Motors deserves to die.

By: *daniel

*daniel — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 15:27:43 +0000

Sure.

As long as you use the line about monkeys, apes, and gorillas.

(I kid, I kid, you may copy and paste what you like.)

By: Roger

Roger — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 13:58:49 +0000

I’m thinking of copying some of this stuff into an email to my senators. Is that cool?

By: GFMorris.com » links for 2008-11-14

GFMorris.com » links for 2008-11-14 — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 02:30:32 +0000

[...] Elsewhere in Dreams » Blog Archive » General Motors deserves to die. I can't believe Dan even had to ask. (tags: gfmorris_comment) [...]

By: Geof F. Morris

Geof F. Morris — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 23:54:47 +0000

Provincialism. Unions.

By: *daniel

*daniel — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 18:40:44 +0000

That’s one thing I’ve never understood with the Big Three. If health care costs are such a big deal in the US, why not move more of your production and assembly to Ontario? We’ve got public health care here.

By: Geof F. Morris

Geof F. Morris — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 18:08:14 +0000

I agree that it needs to be punitive.

I also think that the Feds should just say, “Okay, we’re going to commit to buy a bunch of vehicles from you, Detroit. Gas-electric hybrids. Plug-in hybrids. That’s it. We’re not buying anything unsustainable over the next four years. Build it, and we will buy.” And if all of government went to that, the market would be big enough for Detroit to re-tool, and then the problem’s largely solved.

Then the rest of the problem comes when Obama pushes through a more nationalized health-care system, driving away one of Detroit’s big cost bogeys.

By: daniel

daniel — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 15:31:56 +0000

I see it from both sides really. I think GM richly deserved consignment to the dust heap of history. But I also know the absolute devastation that would ensue if a company that large went under.

What the government really should be doing is loaning them the money with some gigantic strings attached. Make sure, for instance, that this money is going to research into hybrid/plug-in/greener vehicles. Make sure GM starts re-tooling in order to sell what people want to buy.

The government then needs to make sure that the regulatory environment favours those cars and not gas-guzzling SUVs. Make buying an SUV or a car with bad fuel economy a punitive experience in order to really capture its economic and environmental consequences. Those people that need an SUV should of course be able to opt out of this, but so few people actually need an SUV.

By: david

david — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 21:38:23 +0000

i agree. businesses which cannot run themselves properly have to die. and it frustrates me so much that they’re only propped up, merely delaying their inevitable collapse.