Quote:
Originally Posted by StuntmanMike
That's not really compelling evidence. Is that the best you can do?
|
OK, I removed the offensive obama car. Please let me know if I should delete anything else I have said here..
I can start with the basic influence that has been around since the early 70's. There is an indirect influence from both the government and Congress on auto designers and engineers to produce environmentally friendly cars. "Regulators are talking to companies, and companies are responding to regulators,". And there is a faction in Congress that believes that since two of the companies are owned by taxpayers, they need to "behave in a way that's favorable to the environmental movement. There is a dichotomy between what the government wants sold in the market to meet emissions and fuel-economy requirements and what the public wants. It is not rocket science to see how the Government is affecting directly and indirectly the car industry. as for GM, all of the top level employee's have to follow what the Obama administration's vision is where they should be. They want to keep their jobs in this troubled economy.
As for evidence of political interference that directly effects the new GM. There are so many examples of this I don't know where to begin.
Let's start with this one.
Obama administration orders the government to buy more gm cars vs other brands after bailout. Less of Ford, and not looking for the best prices either but GM cars only. Now I know the Government has bought many GM cars in the past, however they have also bought a large sum of Ford vehicles and other brands. However in this case, the numbers have been skewed heavily in GM's favor in order to artificially boost sales numbers even though it is not directly coming from the taxpayers but indirectly thru the Government. So you say what's wrong with this? Ford is getting the shaft for not accepting Obama's takeover bid in the long run.
The firing of Rick Wagoner as another direct influence along with thehiring of the new CEO. This same concept of indirect influence thru a direct appointment is seen with the Supreme Court appointments.
Then you have Barney Frank and company making decisions in congress about keeping and getting rid of dealerships.. I could go on and on..
Hylton is correct here and I know I am not against GM by far, however I do not like the way our country is heading since I do not like too much Government control. Not to get political, I will not be bothered with this as there is nothing we can do about propaganda and making use of a slogan or headline that GM has payed back its loan money in full and so forth when in reality they are far from it if you take into account all the vehicles our Government has purchased from itself in the mix.. All in all I hope GM can keep making a profit from this day forth and that one day it returns to being a private company.
Do you guys remember when Rick Waggoner and the other two ceo's were lambasted for flying in private jets by our Government?
Well, how about on Earth Day, our Government ties up air traffic for the day and burns countless amounts of fuel. Hypocritical anyone?
http://nycaviation.com/2010/04/21/ob...the-same-city/
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_1...84-503544.html
I remember everyone in this forum upset at the way the Government was treating GM and the other car companies. It seemed back then being against what the Government was doing was a good thing.. Now we have so many defending what our Government is doing after they took over GM. I'm hoping that everyone can take a step back and question sometimes these obvious propaganda slogans that come out at the most opportunistic times when they appear.
Quote:
Originally Posted by The_Blur View Post
Would you rather have GM blow the money on something useless and pay it back on time? The money is paid back early. This is good news no matter how you slice it.
I'd rather have them use the money wisely by researching and developing new vehicles people want to buy in droves, and not coerced into buying with more incentives and handouts..