GM Volt
The article is here.
“The irony of the Republican lawmakers’ presence wasn’t lost on the workers who attended the ceremony; they booed Tennessee Republican Bob Corker, and one UAW official made clear from the stage that the union still remembered which politicians had voted to rescue Wall Street but opposed an auto industry bailout.”
U.S. Sen. Bob Corker —
Then: “This administration has decided they know better than our courts and our free market process how to deal with these companies….This is a major power grab.” – March 30, 2009.
Now: “At the end of the day we all have to feel good about what we did,” said Corker, who did attempt to negotiate the failed 2008 aid package. “I contributed to strengthening the auto industry in this country.”
U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander —
Then:”This is not the right direction: taxpayer money down the drain, and Washington politicians trying to run auto companies. The sooner the politicians get out of the way, the sooner auto jobs and taxpayer dollars will be secure.” – March 30, 2009.
Now: “The center of the auto industry is still moving to Tennessee and the mid-South,” Alexander told WSMV-TV.
Speaking of taxpayer dollars being secure, GM’s value has gone from zero to more than $60 billion in just over a year.
“That may just be fast enough for U.S. taxpayers to start recouping their investment,” as CNN reports.
A growing number of analysts are speculating that taxpayers could break even with the GM investment with a drastically improved cost structure, just four brands instead of eight and a better quality product.
Would the GOP have bailed out GM? Of course. They just would have called it something different.
For many GOP lawmakers, it’s more about ousting Obama in 2012 that working together for the American public. Expect “gridlock” for the next two years, as I’ve written before.
The results of the GM bailout are worth monitoring. GM will kick off a road show for its IPO after the November elections.
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Glad to hear some good news about American industry. Now it will be up to GM to prove their product is worth buying. I’ll have to say I wasn’t impressed with the last car (a 2002 Cavilier) I owned. It was falling apart after 35,000 miles. I traded it in on a used ’01 Ford Ranger, which is still running great at 118,000.
We had a Saturn in the early 2000s, and were pleased with it. But when it came time to replace it, we went with Toyota which at the time (2006) had a better deal given what we needed then.
[Going along with full disclosure, I have not owned an American Car since the early 1980's]
What could have brought back the American auto industry might have been the demise of Chrysler the FIRST time that we bailed them out.
GM stole all the headlines with the latest attempt at government planning, but there should have been a whole lot more discussion about why Chrysler was back for more.
Ford refused to be sucked in and is doing much better and my prediction is that both GM & Chrysler will be back for more in the not to distant future.
Perhaps then our “leaders” in Washington will have the guts to say, “sorry, that is not our job.”
John
Kudos to Washington for a job well done.
The state of Tennesse never recovered from the Civil War (one of those border states where lots of battles took place, and the state was split politically, east TN was Union, middle and west Tn Rebs) much less the Great Depresssion, until the auto makers came bringing jobs and economic vitality to the state. This is good news for the homefolks in Spring Hill. As for Corker and Alexander, they do not necessarily represent residents of the state, they represent well-to-do residents of the state. For example, TN has no state income tax. What it does have is a 10% state sales tax on everything, including food you buy at the grocery store. Do the math. Which economic class does this benefit? Multiple choice, a. the poor b.the wealthy c. middle class d. the wealthy. I you chose both b and d, bingo! Despite such notable liberals as Al Gore, the state of TN, which consistently shows up as red, might seem solidly conservative, but there, in politics, money wins the race, perhaps just a tad more than in most places. Tennessee won the ratings for most corrupt politically in a survey done for The Daily Beast, if that means anything.
I learned to drive with a 1961 VW Bug. I wish I still had it. Best car I ever had. It even had a kick tank and a hand rolled sun roof. It cost me $3.25 to fill up and I could drive around for a month on that. The more tech we gotten with our cars the more complicated and expensive it has become for repairs. I’m all for progress, but I would love to have my old faithful friend back in the car port now.
Sharon,
You can still get one like this for $2,500: The Nano in India…
Sadly they are not legal in the United States!
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/7957671.stm
John
We’ll have something comparable soon, and clean burning.