My friend, who works for GM in Michigan told me today that before the year

[KlatooBNikto]

is out GM plans to lay off one-third of its entire work force.That is nearly 100,000 people, folks. Imagine the hardship,dislocation and the sheer suffering it imposes on people. With that many people being thrown out of work, can the rest of our economy absorb them? Even the suppliers to GM are going to be hard hit.This is when somebody has to ask GW what he proposes to do for us? Start another war?

[no_hypocrisy]

1. 100,000? That's an invitation for riots.

When they closed the Flint plant (Roger and Me), the city died. Geez, I can't imagine 1/3 of the workforce.

[ikojo]

35. No, riots wont happen because Americans

have been conditioned to expect and accept layoffs as being good for the company. There is woefully little or no class based education. Everyone in this country thinks that if only they work hard enough they can be CEO.

What will happen is there will be an increase in suicides (anger turned inward), divorce, spousal and child abuse, drug and alcohol abuse. People will not connect these things with job and wage loss however.

Yes, GM leaving Flint, MI caused the town to wither but there were no riots of the dispossessed in Flint and there won't be any across the US when the residual effects of well paid UAW members losing their jobs begin to take place.

[solinvictus]

40. I was thinking of Flint as well...

"Roger and Me" was a great study of the economic effects a company can have on an area when they choose to shut down. M. Moore covered the downward spiral of crime, poverty, and hopelessness as these people lost their livelihood.

[nadinbrzezinski]

44. The misery index is not high enough

they have been careful to keep it under the critical numbers

Once it goes over those critical numbers you will see riots.

Once it goes over the other set of critical numbers you may see a revooution

[AP]

62. As long as we have McDonalds and ESPN there will be no riots.

Bread and circus -- that's what you need to keep people from caring too much.

[ikojo]

103. Before there is a "revolution" in this country, the government

will jail those they believe are the ring leaders. If that is not successful, the Democrats will do as they did in the 1930s when there was a fear of a socialist revolution or uprising in the US; they will steal ideas and claim them as their own (a la many of the New Deal programs).

I don't ever expect to see Americans rising up about anything not related to entertainment or sports.

[Mich Otter]

86. Riots won't happen because

Riots won't happen because American workers have been indoctrinated to believe that if our unemployment runs out, and we still don't have a job, it is because of our own failings.

[Name removed]

48. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Gannon Man Date]

70. Only 10,640

Not that it's an insignificant number, but the 100k is way overstated.

See my replies 68 and 69 for details.

(edited for speeling)

[susanna]

88. Michigan already has one of the highest

unemployment rates (versus the national average) of any state.

I'm thinking that this number is related to their not-so-noticed announcement last week that the Pontiac and Buick divisions are being discussed as being dropped from GM's lineup. That would effectively put a lot of people out of work here in the Motor City.

I'm not sure it's 100,000, but it isn't small potatoes either... :-(

[mhr]

2. The Beginning Of The Second Great Depression

Unemployed here for 60 Months!

I already know how to live cheap.

[TnDem]

52. sixty months?

There is no possible way that a person could not find some sort of gainful employment in 60 months. I could find a job in sub-saharan Africa in that period of time...No offense, but what gives?

[mhr]

59. Send Me A PM With Your Email Address And I Will Share My Resume

I have shared it with several DUers and they all have the same response, disbelief - too much college and senior level experience.

The problem is that I am overqualified and too old. That is a deadly combination in this job market. And the experts all agree that the job market is not what it is touted to be - see links below.
------

"Overall, this level of (job) creation represents the worst job performance since the Bureau of Labor Statistics began collecting monthly jobs data in 1939 (at the end of the Great Depression)."

http://www.jobwatch.org/

"In the previous five expansionary economic cycles the average increase in employment over the first 39 months was 10.1%. In the current cycle the increase is 1.5%.

If employment had climbed by 10.1 % since November 2001, we would have added 13.2 million jobs instead of the 1.9 million actually reported. That’s a difference of 11.3 million jobs."

http://www.comstockfunds.com/screenprint.cfm?newsletterid=1165

GM's looming labor cuts will only make the situation worse!

[LoganW]

91. Why not remove some of it?

"The problem is that I am overqualified"

Make your resume present you as less than overqualified.

[mhr]

96. Hi Logan, I Have Already Dumbed It Down Significantly

The problem is when you have managed money, projects, and people it is hard to disguise that information.

[kevinmc]

3. I hope your friend is wrong.....

I hate Republicans.

[katinmn]

6. No, he's right. It was in the news this past week

but got buried because of the Schiavo issue.

The layoffs are managers' jobs, also. Better paying jobs that won't be replaced.

http://www.ktbs.com/news-detail.html?cityid=1&hid=25862
Financial analysts say the layoffs could be as steep as 28% --that's more than 90,000 of GM's 323,000 employees.

[Gannon Man Date]

69. Check your article again

28% of MANAGERS. That's only 10,000 jobs. Also see my reply #68. You are overstating these figures by 10 times.

[katinmn]

80. I did, and it's correct. 28% of 323,000 = 90,000

Financial analysts say the layoffs could be as steep as 28% --that's more than 90,000 of GM's 323,000 employees.

[politicat]

87. Quote from the text in the link above:

A local spokesperson for the plant says there will be very little impact at the Shreveport plant. She describes the effect as a handful of salaried employees. GM corporate officials say the cuts will be worldwide throughout the company. Financial analysts say the layoffs could be as steep as 28% --that's more than 90,000 of GM's 323,000 employees.

Spokesman Robert Herta says voluntary cuts are happening right now. Some employees are being asked to take early retirement and those slated for retirement are simply not being replaced.


Note some words: Worldwide, effects a handful of salaried employees at each site, and they're doing voluntary cuts and hiring freezes now.

90,000 world wide, when GM has about 20% of its worldwide workforce in the US means that a maximum of 18,000 would be affected, and depending on how many can take early retirement and not be replaced, that number should drop by about half.

It's bad, but it's not impossible. If retirement can be an option, people will do okay.

[dbt]

4. I like the way you are keeping an eye on GM, Klatoo.

Do you participate in the daily Stock Market Watch thread over in LBN?

[KlatooBNikto]

5. I have served in the automotive supplier base for a long time.I used to

own a company that supplied parts to Ford. The industry, its people and its fortunes have been a lifetime hobby of mine.Sad to see it in such dire straits.

[5thGenDemocrat]

53. Good for you, Klatoo

Living in Saginaw (35 miles north of Flint), I'm kind of an amateur historian on the auto industry myself.
My buddy Mike B, who works second shift at the Delphi plant here (19 years seniority), says it's a move to cut the wages and require the union guys to pay a bigger share of their health insurance. He adds that he thinks it's going to happen, too.
He makes about $26/hr and personally would work for less if he had to. But he's single, no kids. It's a tough time on the horizon for the UAW and for the domestic automakers, something folks around here have grown accustomed to.
John
Fortunately, Saginaw is also a big medical center or we'd be completely hosed.

[CoffeeAnnan]

73. I know, Saginaw, Flint, Lansing and Kalamazoo areas very well.

Have many friends from years ago.Very sad turn of events for all of us who were part of that automotive age.

[Applepie]

83. With the Budget cuts

to health care and Medicaid the medical fields are going to feel it too.

[conflictgirl]

97. I'm in Bay City

And I grew up in Saginaw. My dad works for Powertrain here in Bay City. If they lay off a lot of people my dad's going to be in rough shape. The economy is so bad around here already.

[PassingFair]

56. I used to work for an OEM sales office here in Detroit.

There was SO much graft going on in those days....I could tell you stories!

[CoffeeAnnan]

74. You are right. I know a lot about that too. May be when I come over to

Ann Arbor area we can have a couple of drinks and reminesce.Before they close down everything!

[5thGenDemocrat]

93. Come to FUNDAY here in Saginaw on June 18 (see below)

I'll introduce you to Mike B his own damned self and spring for the beer and food to boot.
John
"Boot" might be the wrong word in this case, but I hope you can come, anyhow.

[globalvillage]

7. Sure, why not?

We could make up a story about Japan. They probly caused Terri to lapse into a PVS or planted porn mags at Neverland. These are the news stories that really matter, so no need to connect them to a catastrophic event. Then we could bomb the crap out of them and a few days later, voila! (oops, French, sorry), Mission Accomplished, reopen the GM plants! Brilliant!
Actually, we'll be lucky if the layoffs hit the major media outlets. Who cares about 100,000+ peoples lives when there are evil doers plotting the ruination of the new holy land?

[Wright Patman]

50. Just misspell it "viola"

from now on. That makes it look more Italian. A lot of people think it's spelled that way anyhow.

I've also seen it spelled phonetically by many as "wa la."

[globalvillage]

77. But that makes it look like...

...we plan to bomb them with violas, which would be weird, as cellos are much heavier.

[sbj405]

8. As a Michigan native, I can tell you about the ripple effect

For every autoworker laid off, the lay offs roll down. Suppliers and distributors lose jobs. People can't afford to go out to eat, restaurants close.

[KlatooBNikto]

9. Not to mention foreclosures, depression of housing values.

[sbj405]

Yep. Isn't Kmart also moving the HQs since buying Sears?

[PassingFair]

55. KMart headquarters have fallen below

2,000 in staff. Long ago. The headquarters building is an empty husk.

[elehhhhna]

98. KMart deserves it. Filthy stores packed with crap,

[flyarm]

42. andwhy do you think they just passed the brankrupsty law???

and also the michigan reps signed it into law..they knew this was coming..they are systematcally destroying the middle class...where do you think they will get the cheap labor to go work in iraq??? or in a soldiers uniform?? for the coming wars in syria and iran??
do remember the rodney king riots in L.A. tough..that was at the end of the reagan bush regimes...that riot wasn't about rodney king..rodney king was just the excuse for a middle to lower class that was ignored and supressed and frusrated and depressed..

and it was manipulated by g h *...and the people were fed up!!

people were simply fooled into thinking it was about rodney king...he was just the excuse..the real reason was blacks and latinos and asians out of work..with no hope left!

the homelessness had risen to astronmical numbers...people living in cars..and begging for food...
and here we are again...and these are the same damn fools who voted for this again..those who had the least!

fly

[MichiganVote]

10. Michigan is in big trouble...goodby Granholm

[KlatooBNikto]

11. I do not think Jennifer Granholm had anything to do with it.

[RaleighNCDUer]

17. Of course not, but something like this shakes the political tree

and politicians fall. Her opponants will acccuse her of causing it, while her supporters will wonder if there was anything she might have done to prevent it.

Remember, only republicans are immune to public anger.

[MichiganVote]

38. Never said she did, but politics is politics

[Snotcicles]

Engler is the one that set this up

That fat creepy bastard.
He took care of the Insurance Co. though before he left.

[flyarm]

43. well remember it was wilson and the repubs that screwed calif..

and left calif in so much debt..but grey davis took the fall...for more of the repub bullshit of raisning the debt...hell arnie just paid $50,000.00 to build a stage to tell the people how he is going to cut costs!!

yep 50 thousand smackers to build a stage to sell his cost cutting to the fools who voted him in!!

fly

[ScreamingMeemie]

64. The 2nd tier layoffs began four years ago...and the numbers are already

far more staggering. It's a backward ripple and GM is getting hit last. :hi:

[Pepperbelly]

12. Remember Roger and Me?

This doesn't surprise me at all.

100K laid fired while the CEO and other accomplices enjoy their Golden Parachutes.

Ought to fucking be Golden Showers the bastards get!

[Catch22Dem]

13. I'll start chuggin some beers to get mine ready

I'll eat some asparagus too...get it nice and stinky. HAHAHA

[Junkdrawer]

16. Pet or Meat ?

[screembloodymurder]

14. That's worldwide

not just the USA.

[KlatooBNikto]

15. That is true.But their major problem is that their core North American

operations are not making any money because their products are just not moving. I hope they do something to correct their product lines.

[tsuki]

24. Does anyone have the US figures?

[BlueEyedSon]

18. Peak oil means it's not just a temporary "soft patch"

This is just the beginning of an economic upheaval.

[KlatooBNikto]

19. Ironically, if GM and/or Ford go under ,Peak Oil may not be relevant.

We can all ride a Segway Scooter or even better start riding a bionic horse ( my favorite solution). Ahorse that can go at 75 MPH on a bag of oats is the trick.Better still, like Pegasus she should be able to fly. Right after the Kentucky Derby, of course.

[BlueEyedSon]

21. What percent of cars are imports?

US cars are not selling, the biz model is not competitive, or the companies are mismanaged. What do you think the CEO makes? How much of their budget is health care (which would be zero if it were nationalized)?

[KlatooBNikto]

23. Right now, if you include German, Japanese and Korean vehicles,

they will be around 40% is my guess. If GM goes under, or even pulls back, Toyota will stand to gain the most followed by Honda and Nissan and Hyundai.The dam will break when the Chinese enter the market in the next two to three years,followed by India and others. The commoditization of the auto has begun.Profits are going to be hard to come by in a cutthroat market.

GM and Ford can be helped if our crazy Republicans support a national health care plan. That way the health insurance burden can be lifted from our corporations. Given the mindset of these crazies, that is not in the cards.

[screembloodymurder]

26. GM's problem is their top management.

Their design and engineering stressed performance (big engines) at a time when the price of oil tripled. GM has to offer huge discounts while the Toyota Prius sells at a premium. Imagine where GM would be if they were producing hybrid vehicles. Instead, GM's idea of engineering is putting a tracking device into all their vehicles. Just what I wanted; big brother watching over my whereabouts. They try and blame the union, but top management deserves 95% of the blame.

[BlueEyedSon]

27. I looked a Prius A YEAR AGO, and the waiting list was 18 months!

[lyonn]

57. You gotta beat GM and Ford over the head

before they get it. We must have fuel efficient cars. It's a no-brainer yet they continue to build gas guzzlers and wonder why they are in trouble. Oh right, it's all the Union's fault, insurance and workers' benefits. We have been through this once before in the 1970's during the Iran fiasco.

[AndyTiedye]

72. GM Built An Electric Vehicle - They Are Now Sending Them to the Crusher!

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A21991-2005Mar9.html

Fans of GM Electric Car Fight the Crusher
Activists, Auto Buffs Stage Vigil to Save EV1

By Greg Schneider and Kimberly Edds
Washington Post Staff Writers
Thursday, March 10, 2005; Page A01

The morning is too chilly for her flirty purple skirt and pink top, so former "Baywatch" actress Alexandra Paul wraps her bare legs in a fleece blanket and settles down for a long sidewalk vigil in Burbank, Calif. Passersby on scooters toot their horns, and a security guard smiles and waves as he walks by. Both he and the actress are there for the same reason: to keep an eye on a parking lot full of colorful, two-door cars behind a nondescript suburban office building.

Those cars are rarities, the last surviving batch of rechargeable electric coupes built by General Motors Corp. in the late 1990s. Paul and a band of homemakers, people with desk jobs, engineers, Hollywood activists and car enthusiasts are 23 days into a round-the-clock vigil aimed at keeping GM from destroying the cars.

What's at stake, they say, is no less than the future of automotive technology, a practical solution for driving fast and fun with no direct pollution whatsoever. GM agrees that the car in question, called the EV1, was a rousing feat of engineering that could go from zero to 60 miles per hour in under eight seconds with no harmful emissions. The market just wasn't big enough, the company says, for a car that traveled 140 miles or less on a charge before you had to plug it in like a toaster.

Some 800 drivers once leased EV1s, mostly in California. After the last lease ran out in August, GM reclaimed every one of the cars, donating a few to universities and car museums but crushing many of the rest.

....

[Tsiyu]

20. My most heinous ex called them "Generous Mothers"

He retired very early making a nice pension, owning lots of stock after bragging about how little he actually worked in the plant. He was a journeyman electrician with a four-year degree who claimed he played cards all day or hid on top of the paint ovens for naps. His dad and his brother are also GM retirees.


When we were locked in a custody battle, I spent over $16,000 on attorneys. GM provided a legal program. For a flat $695 plus court costs, he filed more frivolous crap and ended up winning ( dad paid off the judge, I found out later. The judge is dead now, so he got his reward.)

If that abusive, alcoholic, sociopathic fucknut loses his pension and his stock value falls, I won't be weeping. I know that sounds cold and cruel, but people like him sucking off the GM tit are partially responsible.

[Snotcicles]

22. Now watch how fast the unions get blamed when it

is the exact opposite.

[democrank]

25. Listened to an interesting program last week

that highlighted serious problems in the U.S. auto industry. Because our government is so reckless in its unwillingness to insist on higher fuel efficiency standards, European and Asian auto industries are way out ahead of us on this. Consequently, consumers are opting for foreign-made vehicles that get better gas mileage.

Americans are asleep at the switch when it comes to energy conservation. We`re hogs, plain and simple.

[screembloodymurder]

28. You're right.

I just got back from Canada and I couldn't believe their emphasis on conservation. In the US conservation has become a dirty word. What the hell is wrong with this country.

[Snotcicles]

32. Fords hybrid Escape is built here, in either Kanas City or Lorraine OH

[TedsGarage]

29. I grew up in Lansing

They're closing two plants here, including the one across the street from my high school. All the bars and party stores are going to shut down, too.

[KlatooBNikto]

30. Lansing will begin to look like Flint, I suppose. Then Jennifer can have

the entire place to herself.

[jokerman93]

31. But the economy is rebounding!

Don't worry. This is a jobless, inflationary economic recovery. All is well! Keep smiling and pass the kool-aide.

[Snotcicles]

33. Well they can't starve and depress me into becoming an Evangelical n/t

[KlatooBNikto]

34. I understand Paul "Jerry" Bremer's job is still open in scenic Baghdad.

[lyonn]

60. Isn't Baghdad the Motherland of the Bible

Must be a wonderful place to start a tourist business, possibly a guided tour to the hanging gardens. Or did we blow them up?

[KlatooBNikto]

101. I have heard it said that the Garden of Eden is located there.

Sounds like a great tourist attraction.

[mhr]

41. Right You Are And The Experts Agree

"Overall, this level of (job) creation represents the worst job performance since the Bureau of Labor Statistics began collecting monthly jobs data in 1939 (at the end of the Great Depression)."

http://www.jobwatch.org/

"In the previous five expansionary economic cycles the average increase in employment over the first 39 months was 10.1%. In the current cycle the increase is 1.5%.

If employment had climbed by 10.1 % since November 2001, we would have added 13.2 million jobs instead of the 1.9 million actually reported. That’s a difference of 11.3 million jobs."

http://www.comstockfunds.com/screenprint.cfm?newsletterid=1165

My Conclusion: The American middle class is fast approaching demise and will need life support to survive!

[MadHound]

36. Hate to say it, but this is probably the beginning of the end for GM

It has been rumored for awhile that GM is going to hit the wall, and with its bonds approaching junk status, a huge debt, flat and declining sales, and a lineup that is geared towards excess oil consumption, it isn't suprising that the outlook for GM is very bad.

The car company has 200 billion in unsecured debt, is freezing its salaried employees pay, and has had either flat, or declining sales as compared with last year, which was also a down year.

Many of the car companies went to the 0% interest, 0 down route four years ago when the recession started, and many, especially GM, never came out of it. This attracted buyers at the time, and kept the company afloat, but now, after everybody has bought a car, sales are going down, and there is nothing left for the company to cut.

I think it is a matter of two questions, the first question being when, and the second question is whether or not the government will bail GM out, like it did for Chrysler back in the late seventies.

I feel bad for those who are going to be effected by this, but this is exactly what happens when you don't keep up with the times, and don't get yourself out of debt when the getting is good. Hopefully GM will find a way out of this mess, but if I had anything to do with GM, stocks, employment, supplying, etc. I would get the hell out now, while the getting is good.

On edit, here is a good page with many articles showing just how badly GM is doing, read for yourself and see<http://www.topix.net/com/gmh>

[KlatooBNikto]

37. I think the automobile has become a commodity and is going to be

increasingly thought of that way. Even the dressing up by high end automobiles fails to attract buyers. I read in a NYT business section sometime ago, that there is now a worldwide overcapacity of 36 million vehicles that need buyers. You can imagine what China's entry into this mess is going to do. So, yes, I think, GM is a goner.

[havocmom]

58. When will CEOs get the message that the middle class drives the economy?

When will they learn that people don't buy when they are losing jobs or see neighbors losing jobs? When do they eat their words about outsourcing being good for the US?

Hey, Corporatists, WHO buys the stuff you want to sell when you have put all the worker bees in a breadline? Tax cuts to the top 1% DO NOT help the economy.

It's not just GM making the wrong cars and health insurance costing too much! Corporate America killed the goose that was laying the golden eggs: The people who work, get pay checks, and SPEND the money! They keep cutting away workers' buying power and now they can't figure out why sales are in the crapper, not just autos, but all over retail.

People without decent paychecks don't buy any more than they absolutely have to. It's simple and basic. American consumers are also the same workers the corporations have been fleecing to maximize profits. Payback time.

[lyonn]

65. You got it exactly Havocmom

We have been in a downward spiral since Bush got in and there is no relief in sight. How could there be with people taking pay cuts and job losses and the jobs people get seem to be very low wage jobs. The govt. seems to keep these statistic to themselves. We have immmigrants taking over basic jobs like in the homebuilding industry as an example. Keep those borders open folks!!
Edit: We must keep the immigrants healthy and provide them with health care. Wonder how that works?

[meganmonkey]

89. But, for their interests, it doesn't have to be the US middle class...

I fully agree with what you are saying, but there is a significantly burgeoning middle class in other places, namely China where the population is HUGE and projections for car ownership and consumerism in general are pretty extraordinary over the next several years. Our economy is so weak and our population is barely growing - we just aren't a very powerful market. I fear that the CEOs don't give a shit about our middle class because they see profits in other places... :(

[theorist]

39. Plutocracy

Start using this word as often as possible.

[lumberjack_jeff]

45. I guess that's his strategy for solving the troop shortage n/t

[understandinglife]

46. Bu$h and his neoconsters are indeed preparing for their future....

....employment: Iran, Syria, Venezuela, ...... .

Count on it unless we stop them.

Peace.


www.missionnotaccomplished.us

[UrbScotty]

47. But the economy's turned the corner.

Right?

[IndianaGreen]

49. I heard GM was going to discontinue either Buick or Pontiac lines

That's quite a few plants and workers!

[kaitykaity]

51. First Hewlett Packard and now GM.

Gee, you've got inside contacts all over the
place. Hm.

[serryjw]

54. Did you read my thread on GM bankrupcy?

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=3319110

[Eloriel]

66. Uh oh -- here's more

I hadn't seen yours, but definitely wanted to make sure this one was linked:

If this guy is right, we're in big trouble!
"...Maybe this is why Bush is in such a hurry to set up "private accounts" for Social Security, to draw more money into Wall Street to prop up struggling megacorps like GM, and perhaps the entire US financial system as well..."
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=3360453


and in doing a Search found several others:

The $4.7 Trillion Pyramid, Why Soc.Sec. won't be enough to save Wall St.
This is the title of an article by Michael Hudson, Distinguished Professor of Economics at the Univesrity of Missouri, Kansas City,published in the April 2005 issue of Harper's Magazine.That article makes it clear why Bush is intent on getting his hands on Social Security. Hudson says that having failed to generate the boom he has been promising through his tax cuts,he is intent on using the last safe pile of money in America to generate a "bubble" of prosperity before it goes bust. (snip) The other point Professor Hudson makes is that while Social Security is sound, it is the corporate pension funds,led by GM's massive fund that are broke.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=3364013


Have you read this?.............Have a drink first
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=3319110

[robertpaulsen]

75. Hey, you forgot mine!

They're all over DU!

Anyone post this story? About General Motors going BANKRUPT?
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=3334644

[AP]

61. What's your friend's job title? It's often the casee that people in the...

...middle or at the bottom don't know what's really going on are used to spread rumors the people at the top know aren't true.

[CoffeeAnnan]

76. Let us just say my friend is one of the top tier at GM.

[ScreamingMeemie]

63. Imagine....strike that...know that Michigan has already had hundreds of

thousands of workers in the automotive field laid off and/or let go due to NAFTA in the past four years. This isn't new. It's just a bigger chunk. Kind of like a plane crash. It's horrifying because so many are involved, but car accidents kill far more each year. Far more than this 100,000 have already suffered. Michigan is a ghost town filled with "For Lease" signs on hundreds of 2nd tier supplier shops.

[enid602]

67. GM solution

What Bush should do is send Condi to Beijing to force the Chinese to buy GM with some of their excess trillions. That way, we can save this major defense supplier, and the Treasury (not having to bail out GM) will still have enough funds to attack China once they invade Taiwan.

[Tesla]

102. They have a hydrogen car ready to go,

and an all-in-one frame that you can interchange body types on.
They wanted to have 10% at least of overall drivers by 2010.
Why don't they pull that out, get off of Petroleum and go Hydrogen.
It only produces water as a by product.
It only takes water and electricity to produce it.
No More Oil!!!!!

[Gannon Man Date]

68. Don't mean to burst any bubbles

But this 100k figure is overblown by ten times. This is a cut of a third of white-collar positions.

from Autoblog:

More white-collar cuts at GM
Posted Mar 21, 2005, 9:02 AM ET by David Thomas
Related entries: Trends

GM is planning to cut 28 percent of 38,000 U.S. white collar employees. That’s 10,640 people if you didn’t want to do the math. These are non-union employees, some were offered buyout packages earlier this month. According to GM these are “targeted reductions” and not layoffs. Expect more “reductions” as the company evaluates what departments need cuts.

http://www.autoblog.com/entry/1234000677036923/

[enid602]

78. GM

I believe that GM said they will lay off 100K worldwide. 12K alone are expected at GM/Opel in Germany. The majority of the balance of the 100K, however will be in the US.

[katinmn]

81. that's consistent with what I've been reading

Financial analysts say the layoffs could be as steep as 28% --that's more than 90,000 of GM's 323,000 employees.
http://www.ktbs.com/news-detail.html?cityid=1&hid=25862

[CoffeeAnnan]

79. I believe that GM cannot sustain its current workforce with the volume

of market share it controls. The last I checked, it stood around 26% and is very likely closer to 20% today.If fuel prices hold up at the $2.00 level, its big trucks and SUVs will become dead meat.Those were the products that have kept GM afloat because they are not making any money on cars.

Bob Lutz is on record saying that Pontiac and Buick are damaged brands and may be dropped soon from the GM line up.That would mean certain loss of jobs beyond this 10,000.Rick Waggoner says he has to get his North American business right which is another way of saying I am screwed,I don't know what I am doing, etc.

The entire problem for GM is that they have been geared to thinking all one has to do is to design a car, any car and have in place the production capacity to crank out a million cookie cutter vehicles with different hood ornaments and name plates on them. Those days are gone. People are more sophisticated now and want cars that meet a lot of different criteria. Nimble competitors like Honda, Toyota, BMW, Nissan, Subaru and increasingly KIA and Hyundai are eating away at GM and Ford nibble by nibble. GM's best possibilities lie in severe downsizing,offering vehicles that will match or beat the Japanese.Whether it can pull off this massive feat is something Wall Street is watching.

[AndyTiedye]

71. That's It! The Army Is Raising The Enlistment Age

http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/03/22/army.recruiting.reut/

Army raises enlistment age for reservists to 39

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- The U.S. Army, stung by recruiting shortfalls caused by the Iraq war, has raised the maximum age for new recruits for the part-time Army Reserve and National Guard by five years to 39, officials said Monday....

[Maestro]

82. They have already laid off people at the

Arlington TX GM plant because it produces SUV's which are not selling well currently.

[elehhhhna]

99. The Tax credit for businesses buying SUV's & trucks expired 12/31/04.

[hootinholler]

84. NPR reporte either Buick or Pontiac is on the chopping block.

Sorry, no link, but it was last week sometime, on one of Morning Edition, Marketplace or All Things Considered.

-Hoot

[BamaBecky]

85. Jeeeeze! This is not good. How many more jobs can we stand to loose?n/t

[LoganW]

90. I call BS

My "friend" who works for Microsoft told me they were going out of business in a year too.

Unless your "friend" is the CEO how exactly does he know this? Or did the execs just decide it would be fun to tip off one grunt randomly?

[KlatooBNikto]

92. My friend is lot more than a grunt, believe me.

[karlrschneider]

95. Oh, haven't you heard? CEOs nowadays don't know anything.

Ebbers, Lay, Bush, those kinds of CEOs.
:eyes:

[KlatooBNikto]

94. One measure of GM's dire straits is to be seen in the fate of two of

its largest suppliers: The Delphi Corporation, which has been hemorraging money for the past three years and has been cooking its books Enron style to keep Wall Street at bay. Its entire top management has resigned or is under indictment.Another massive supplier, Lear Corporation is also shutting several of its plants.
This wave of layoffs is an omen of what is happening to GM's products in the marketplace. On top of that, the rise in gasoline prices spells doom for GM's most profitable products, trucks and SUV's.When you take them out of the equation, GM cannot make a profit with its current pension and healthcare obligations.

[Raksha]

100. Cannon fodder.

That was supposed to be a reply to the original post. I accidentally put it in the wrong place and don't know how to fix it.