That's what happens when you put finance guys in charge of everything. They only look at the profit-and-loss columns.

GM is not unique in this. It's been going on all over the U.S. economy since the Regan years.

THIS is why this country is so messed up.

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The author speaks about GM reducing its workforce like they have a choice, or something. Auto sales used to be 16 million a year. GM, before we let all the foreign manufacturers in, had over a 50% market share. So when auto sales fall below 10 million and GM's market share is around 20 percent, does anybody in their right mind think they DON'T have to downsize to the market? Fifty percent of 16 million is 8 million GM cars sold a year. Twenty percent of 10 million is 2 million GM cars sold a year. Don't quite need as many employees right now, do they?

I hope the author will proclaim all the job hirings at GM, when car sales return back to 16 million a year.

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turning a profit and creating value in a company.. A concept that seem very foreign to the auto industry in America!

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What is, is.
The proof is in the pudding.
500 hp Caddies
Muscle Cars,
Hummers and
Lear Jets
That’s G.M.
Sounds like someone is reliving their Youth and paying Huge Salaries to do it.
The Chinese Market, new factories and workers
G.M.’s Newest Factory is being built in Brazil.
They shelved the EV-1 in 1994 And
Now their preaching The VOLT is going to save them?
Too little,
TOO LATE!
THE CORPORATIONS have failed us.
Capitalistic Greed has failed us.
What do a Bunch of Silver Spooned?
Ivy Leagued,
RICH kids
Know about what you and I need?
When the game they play is:
Who dies with the most toys, Wins!
Kind of shallow if you ask me.
Where does that leave you?
Holding the dirty end of the stick.
Leaves little room for you, your health, your family needs and your concerns.
Everyone must bow down to;
The God of Corporate GREED!
The largest transfer of WEALTH in the history of MANKIND.
From you to the Corporate Executives:
No shots were fired,
No Banks were Robbed and
No Wars were fought.
Now, that’s what I call High CRIME and Misdemeanors.
Many TRILLIONS of DOLLARS!
Many MILLIONS of MILLIONS of Dollars being

Sucked from your savings account into
The Black Hole of Corpirate GREED!
Hey, Do you hear that sound?
The sound of your money being
“Flushed down the toilet?”
Billions for what?
Leading us to disaster.
Does that deserve a Bonus?
Everyone else gets fired while they get a raise.
That seems very unfair.

Time to take matters into your own hands.
For thousands of years we lived in an Agricultural based Society.
The Robber Barons lured us into the cities with
Tales of riches and Golden opportunities.
Now, they have abandoned us in ruin.

We have to go back to the land.
Take control of our lives.
Become Self sufficient, Self reliant and more
Efficient.
Do you really trust Mono-Saint-Co to feed you?
With mutated TERMI NATOR Genes?

Join the Micro-Democracy Revolution.
It’s a grass roots movement that starts in your own backyard.
Plant a Victory Garden.
Use that garage full of tools to build something, anything to help
Invent our way out of this mess.
It’ll take hard work, a lot of elbow grease and a little American Ingenuity
But, we can do it!
We can do it together.
We’ve done it before and we can do it again.
We’ll all be better off for it.
You’ve got a pair of hands!
Use them to:
Build a better home, garden and community.
Put up some solar cells and or a wind mill.
Kick King Coal right in the Ass!
Kick the Grid.
It’s an Albatross.
Of the past.
Of Corporate Dependence.

P.S. Every community needs a
“Emergency Catastrophic Relief Center” where you can get food, water, seeds, hand tools, medical supplies, fuel, cloths, bedding, shelter and building materials in case of an Emergency.
Enough with the Guns already:
Bullets are inedible and make very poor paddles.
Ones enough!
Remember KATRINA!
Vow to never get caught with our pants down again.

Go Organic
Go Local
Go GREEN

Survive and Prosper!

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things have been changing on the streets around here...

beyond new car dealer lots jammed to the gills with no customers around, auctions not making minimum bid so used cars sit and rust into puddles of their own... ads to sell are piling up with no buyers...

have seen a huge resurgence of cars from the 60's and 70's on the road lately... no, it's not just car show season, but people seem to be making a statement with the oldies...

got nosey and commented on a beautiful old caprice (not restored, just in good shape) the other day and the owner told me he junked his newer car (2007) and went back to what he had in the garage... he said his new car in comparison was pure trash, sick of every little thing that goes wrong needing $1,000.00 repairs, not covered by warranty of course...

know why the oldie now??? he can work on it himself and it doesn't have computer everything, gets just as good mileage as his newer car and is better made!!!

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And if we don't start learning to grow our own food again, etc. people are going to be in a very bad position. It is oil that allowed corporations to destroy the small farmer and create these massive animal and plant farms, which in turn has allowed us to severly over-populate this planet. The U.S. represent a mere 5% of the world's population, yet we're using up 25% of the world's resources.
Even at our current level of population growth, by the middle to end of this century, every person--if the land were divided equally--would be reduced to a square meter of space. So, population growth must reach zero.

And it will. As the age of oil ends, and the US without any real plan for replacing it--due to the fact that oil companies have stiffled R&D on alternative fuels and fuel-efficient automobiles (it was the oil companies pressuring all car companies to keep fuel efficiency down. We could easily build a car that gets 100 MTAG)for ages. We should have begun developing and perfecting alterative fuels and altering our infrastructure to support these new vehicles. We could have done it comfortably within the almost 40 years of warning we got when American oil production peaked in the mid 70s! Now, we do not have alternative energies developed to a point where they can effectively replace oil. As bad as the burning of oil has turned out to be, there is no energy source that even comes close to matching the low cost production with the high-yeild energy of oil. One gallon of gas will off-set 250 hours of man power.

And it's not so much about transportation as it is about food! We no longer grow most of the food we eat. Agribusiness is now defined as "using land to turn petroleum-oil-into food." And this is completely true. As oil runs out, it will no longer be economical to ship food around the world. It won't be economical to ship all the other things we import, either, and with no manufacturing base left, we are going to be in real trouble.

But instead of beginning a Manhattan-Project scale program to deal with these problems, instead we are beginning to wage resource wars to try to keep the dream of oil alive. Iraq could probably be considered the first of 21st century 'resource wars.' Anyone that doesn't believe we went there for oil, and for strategic military position from which to launch further resource wars, are fooling themselves. We were given about 4 different reasons for invading Iraq and every one was a lie. It was always about oil. But no matter how much oil we confiscate, there is still a finite amount left, and it is steadily decreasing as the population continues to increase. We now use up in a day more oil than we used up in a year, previously. They say we have 500 years of coal left, but again, that figure was calculated without accounting for coal production growth, or for continued population growth. If someone tells you, say, that world population is growing at 2% per year (it's actually less than that currently), that sounds like a small amount, right? Well, here's how you find the doubling time: you take the percentage growth rate and divide it into 70. (70 is found by multiplying 100 times the natural logarithm of 2). So, if population is growing at 2% per year, that means it is doubling every 35 years. If it were at 1%, it would be every 70 years, etc. When these numbers are plugged back in, it yeilds a number closer to 50 years of coal left. I based this specific information on a series of videos I watched of a Professor Emeritus of Physics explaining this math and its implications on YOUTUBE videos the poster calls "The Most Important Video You Will Ever See," but it's actual title is something more like :'exponential growth, population, and peak oil.

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understood what is happening at General Motors right now back in 1921. I reccomend page 62.

So much of the time internal General Motors politics does the thinking that real thinking is left by the wayside. Lets consider one of decision reached in the last few days. They are discontinuing the Pontiac Vibe. I had presumed they would keep NUMMI open and simply rebadge the Vibe as a Chevrolet. The NUMMI plant in Fremont California made the Chevy Nova in the 80s, the Chevy-GEO Prism in the 90's and the Vibe since 2003. What is really goofy about this is what you learn from Consumer Reports. The Vibe is the most reliable car built by General Motors. It is head and shoulders above everthing else as far as reliability is concerned. It's gas mileage is one of the best and it sells well. Its sales rose steadily during the gas crunch. So obviously it is the one to discontinue. Who does their thinking? They keep a whole mess of dogs and get rid of their best one. The management at General Motors has not improved.

That is because 14th floor is a consortium. If one dies, retires, or gets forced out another one just like him steps up and takes over. Then the incompetence continues.

I can promise you I do not have any stock in General Motors. I'm not that stupid. I have friends and family members that have worked on GM production lines that have supplied me with a full supply of horror stories.

Now for the other side of the story. General Motors has had fabulously talented persons in their employ. So seldom did they get the chance to show their talent. For example the Buick Grand National still is sought. The Syclone pickup and the GMC Typhoon have seldom dropped under 10,000. They are all collectors items.

Corvette has gradually climbed from joke to a polished performers. The first Corvette was a pushrod Chevy six with side draft carburettors and a two speed automatic. It was performance free and a ladies car. It would have died if not for the dedication of one engineer. It does appear that they intend to keep Corvette.

General Motors, in 1968, stood toe to toe with the whole world for reliabilty. Prior to that they and the whole U. S. automobile industry led the whole world for reliability. In 1968 the Volkswagen Beetle and the Chevrolet Caprice had almost identical warranty histories. After that things started to go down hill. Why did management let reliability slide?

The Japanese learned that the U S buyer saw reliability as quality. They went to work. They haven't let up.

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