Auto-immune Response
Have you ever had to peel off a bandage from a hirsute area? It doesn’t matter how fast you peel it, it’s that instant when you KNOW it’s going to be painful, even if you know it’s coming.
(note: this is an AP article, and they’re still touchy about people actually using information for, like, information… so go read it)
General Motors, the humbled auto giant that has been part of American life for more than 100 years, will file for bankruptcy protection on Monday in a deal that will give taxpayers a 60 percent ownership stake and expand the government’s reach into big business.
…
Administration officials said late Sunday the federal government would pump $30 billion dollars into GM as it makes its way through bankruptcy court. That’s besides the $20 billion in taxpayers’ money that the Treasury already lent to the automaker.
So… we’ve already dumped $19.4B into the business, now we’re talking about that much plus half committed in the next 2-3 months… when we could have done the same thing (sans $50B, apparently) less than a year ago…
The government’s ownership stake and huge financial injection represents yet another remarkable intervention into the American private sector. The Treasury has stepped in to help banks, it has taken majority ownership in insurance conglomerate American International Group and it has guided Chrysler through bankruptcy protection proceedings.
Despite its sizable ownership, administration officials said the government intends to stay out of day-to-day management decisions. It says it intends to shed its ownership stakes “as soon as practicable.”
Um, yea right… We’re owning this puppy for years now. Just a guess.
Still, it was the Obama administration that instructed GM to trim itself to a point that it could break even by selling 10 million cars a year. It’s current break even point is 16 million cars.
Hey, I do process for a living. You’d like me to improve my process so that it’s about 40% better? Hey, I’m on that. I’ll have those results in, say, six years or so…
In Germany on Sunday, the government agreed to loan GM’s Opel unit $2.1 billion, a move necessary for Magna International Inc. to acquire the company.
The Canadian auto parts supplier Magna will take a 20 percent stake in Opel and Russian-owned Sberbank will take a 35 percent, giving the two businesses a majority. GM retains 35 percent of Opel, with the remaining 10 percent going to employees.
This is actually good news. It almost sounds like a business decision. Maybe it’s not all so bad.
“I think the government auto bailout was a big mistake,” said Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., on CNN’s “State of the Union” program. “We could have let these companies go through the bankruptcy process much earlier…without all of the additional government money, and ended up in the same place.”
Hey, Mr. McConnell, I’m with you.
We’ve been expecting this for a while, so this isn’t some huge shock. I think we at Finding Ponies have been clear that we generally are negative on this idea. But what the heck, it’s at least getting closer to over. Per the title, let me find a pony here. Ford has rejected the funds, and the other two are at least at the horizon of being done with this mess. This gives Ford a chance to take leadership while Fiat consolidates and GM figures out how to further implode under a 60% government ownership. At least one of the three is going to be in great shape on the way out.
I wonder who’s going to buy Saturn? Hummer, I don’t care about, but I think a compact company with a decent reputation might be a good grab. Toyota? Hmmm.
Updated quickly: AP on Nostalgia.
Updated 6/1: Michelle Malkin:
George W. Bush stuck the key in the bailout ignition.
Barack Obama floored the gas pedal.
The taxpayers got stuck with a lemon for life.
