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Monday, March 30, 2009

Now Down

The DOW fell 254 and the S&P lost 28.

We saw it coming this morning with the anticipated Obama get tough with GM and Chrysler speech.

The reactions seem fair. Its hard to believe that these companies will be something different in the future. We've been waiting for a line of decent fuel efficient cars for a long time. We shall see...

The White House: GM & Chrysler
"In this context, my administration will offer General Motors adequate working capital over the next 60 days. And during this time, my team will be working closely with GM to produce a better business plan. They must ask themselves: Have they consolidated enough unprofitable brands? Have they cleaned up their balance sheets, or are they still saddled with so much debt that they can’t make future investments? Above all, have they created a credible model for how not only to survive, but to succeed in this competitive global market?"

...Chrysler needs a partner to remain viable. Recently, Chrysler reached out and found what could be a potential partner -- the international car company Fiat, where the current management team has executed an impressive turnaround. Fiat is prepared to transfer its cutting-edge technology to Chrysler and, after working closely with my team, has committed to build -- building new fuel-efficient cars and engines right here in the United States. We've also secured an agreement that will ensure that Chrysler repays taxpayers for any new investments that are made before Fiat is allowed to take a majority ownership stake in Chrysler.
Reuters: Frustrated Americans cheer Obama's tough auto moves
Stephen Hess, a presidential scholar at the Brookings Institution, said...he (Obama) could succeed because he seemed to have a good "internal gyroscope" on reading the mood of the public.

3 comments:

Glynn Kalara said...

Let's see if he follows through? GM is run by an extremely arrogant bunch. My guess is that GM's top Mgrs. have already pocketed the 13 bil. bailout $$ and will now try to grab even more and then and only then go belly up and dump everything else on the Taxpayers. These Big Corp. types only give a shit about themselves. They'll bankrupt a 100 yr. old Company for break feast and then coolly go for a round of golf in the afternoon, then lobster dinner and maybe a flight to the summer home for break feast the next day. If this was France 1791 these bastards would have already had their heads in a basket.

Jim Sande said...

Its quite true, there's a lot of me first attitude coming through.

I take it for granted that not just GM's bailout money, but all bailout money is going to get flagrantly stolen and some of it will be used as intended. Its a matter of the proportions.

Glynn Kalara said...

The Gov't will imprison u for 20 yrs. for stealing a loaf of bread. But if u steal billions they'll turn their heads and then reward you with even more for stealing it. They'll call it supporting Free Enterprise with a wink and a nod and a% of that graft will then flow back to the pols. It's called corruption.