Tuesday, November 18, 2008

The "Big Three" and how it effects you and me



OK, so I promised some other than politics post but I ve been working out plans and considering my future. As some of you may know I am an employee of General Motors as a sculptor and as some of my previous post mentions I do not like Government intervention into business, mostly because they don t have a great grasp on things. However the fact that there is little support of LOANing 25 billion to the automakers is making me a bit perplexed. How is it that the government will hand over close to a TRILLION dollars to the banks and will not LOAN 25 billion to 3 automakers. Here is my theory. What do the automakers represent .... working class americans, Unions, and the old american pride. Banks represent .... the elite. There are great misconceptions of the american auto industry by the masses these days as americans remember the crappy cars of late 70s to the mid 90s and they are pissed that there home grown automakers made crappy cars (It takes a long time to wear a negative or a positive perception off in the auto industry). however that was when they started to begin with legacy costs of retirees, started trying to compete with foriegn imports and the whole globalization of the industry, and hence had to start to rely on big SUVs for there profits. Partially because that is what the people wanted. If you want to get on the "Green" tip check out GM Responsibility Reports. After reading it I realized even my perception was tainted to some extent in that regard. If you want to talk about quality then you should take a look at how General Motors has rated in quality the past few years. We have been a company on the rebound and making cars that people are starting to notice and have the desire to purchase. I can tell you that since I have started my career here that has been a huge shift in quality, thinking and execution. I thought I would share a video in regards to the Big Three Crisis seeing the bought and paid for media, and government are not endorsing. In fact they are strongly opposed. Again I am not for government intervention into business (and even more so against business intervention of government) but I am for Freedom and power of the people. If the nearly Trillion dollar bailout didn t go to the banks I would probably be singing a different tune. If this Loan does not pass I feel it will be a huge power grab for the elites and hence another huge punch in the gut of the already financially abused american people.

Numbers
239,000 Direct Employees of the Big Three
775,000 Retirees dependent on Health Care and Pensions
973,693 Supplier Jobs
740,000 Dealer related jobs.

Thats gonna have one hell of a trickle down effect If Any of the big three fail.