http://money.cnn.com/2005/06/07/news...ex.htm?cnn=yes

"GM also announced plans to buy more components from suppliers outside the United States"

I hate to read junk like that.

 

Time to trim the fat. Maybe now they can get healthy and improve the chances of more Americans having jobs with them instead of them totally tanking in the future. That company along with many other huge US corporations is bloated and in need of a good review of what positions are actually needed...along with other common sense cost-cutting measures. Nobody wants to see someone lose their job, but it's better that they stay healthy in the long run. Contracts that force employers to pay employees when a plant closes doesn't help anyone in the long-term. It's just plain stupid. Try that same trick with a homeowner who has a furnace maintenance contract for 5 years with a heating/air company. What if the company goes out of business but you still have to pay the company owner for 3 years due to the contract? Think anyone would go for that? Nope. Not if it's your money that's being flushed down the toilet.

GM needs to take this opportunity to fix their company so they can compete. I don't want a GM truck, but as a fellow American, I like to see prosperous companies because companies making money equals jobs, happy people and a healthy economy. It's either that or we end up working for comrade down at the gov't plant and living in our gov't provided shack.

 

GM has big problems and little band-aids were not going to appease the stockmarket.

Like many other companies (particularly those that rely on union labor), the dark cloud on the horizon is how will they fund the health care they have promised their retirees. More layoffs now = less expensive retirement benefits later.

Health care costs are rising astronmically and retirees with promised health care benefits are living longer. Bad news for the bottom line because it is impossible to pass all the costs on to price-sensitive consumers.

What is happening at GM is the tip of the iceberg for our economy.

None of the solutions are pretty, but they include:

1) The company tries to keep its promises to employees/retirees and can't compete. It goes out of business or is crippled and gradually fades away.

2) The company breaks its promises and gets sued out the wazoo and goes out of business.

3) The government bails out the company at tax payer expense. Taxes go up.

4) The federal govt. realizes that GM is only one of many compaies that have this problem, and since they all can't be bailed out, a national health care system is created so that employees have no need for their employer promised health care.

IMO, solution 4) is irresistable for the employers and the government. Controlling health care is a major power grab for the federal government. It is not politically doable now, but will be in the next 10 years as the ***** hits the fan and lots of other companies realize they are in the same boat as GM re: health care benefits.

 

#4 is a HUGE mistake. National health care sounds great but it is a Utopian pipe dream. Forget the fact that it is unconstitutional....because that doesn't matter to people anymore. NHC once instituted becomes a nightmare.

Sure it sounds great...everyone gets heath insurance and the gov't pays. Problem is when you remove the financial costs from the purchaser (patient) there is little to no reason not to go to the doctor for every little thing and demand a ton of unnecessary tests. Canadians have NHC and come to America when they need MRIs etc immediately because of the wait times.

Want to really fix the problem? Add a #5.

#5. Treat health insurance just like fire, auto, life, etc. You have it for catastrophic problems. Other than that you pay out of pocket. This means the doctors are directly responsible to the patients for costs and not some faceless insurance company. Rates come down because the market will drive them that way. It won't fly because people want the gov't to take care of everything and want them to be the end all be all and fixer of all problems big and small.

 

Not to disagree or argue ...

But like that doesn't happen now with those who have medical insurance with a $10 or $20 co-pay.

 

You are exactly correct and that is part of the reason why the problem is only getting worse.

 

In general, manufacturing isn't the place to be these days. It's not like the old days where manufacturing (toasters, cars, etc) was king and jobs were assured. I think the service industry is where to be now (IT jobs, etc).

 

IMO, the economic troubles of GM and other large companies will be used by the media and the socialists to advance their long term goals.

I am vehmently opposed to national health care/socialized medicine but I can see the writing on the wall. Unless health care costs are brought under control, our economy is in trouble.

GM is the canary in the coal mine. When more companies find they are in the same boat, retirees and employees left high and dry will demand government control & protections. The media will shout some horor stories about individuals who no longer get state of the art health care, and how the government needs to step in.

Relief from health care obligations may be the only bail-out the government offers the big companies, so they will endorse the socialism or go out of business.

 

You got that right. Continuing downturns in manufacturing will be blamed on politician X while politician Y claims the gov't needs to step in to fix politician X's screw up. Manufacturing is more and more simplified due to technology and logistics. Also the global economy of course is allowing more of this to be done overseas and cheaper. Customers want inexpensive products so companies try to provide cheap products and then get slammed for not keeping jobs here. It's a combo of many things. High insurance costs, employee's/union's expectation of high wages, etc, etc.

Wal Mart does well because they sell lots of different items, and they do it cheaper than most everyone else. A lot of people complain about big companies forcing mom and pop out of business, but the same people complaining about that also complain about high prices and end up going to wal mart, target or costco anyway. Let's face it, this is the era of big box stores. From Lowes/Home Depot on the hardware side to Wal Mart and Target on the grocery/everything else side. I'm not likely to support a local mom and pop business if I have to pay a lot more for the very same item. I need money for gas after all

 

I don’t know about all the health care issues and I'm defiantly not into all the politics but from what I see it just kind of seems that without a doubt America is the place to live with a higher quality of living and higher salaries. There seems to be more of a world economy developing with more and more 3rd world countries jumping in and having the man power companies need at lower costs.

To me at least it seems that the typical American worker has been on an economical plateau when it comes to benefits and salaries and now that the rest of the world is starting to wake up we are going to have to figure out ways to reach equilibrium without everything crumbling to pieces.

As I said I’m not a political person and don’t keep up with the news much cause I get tired of listening to the media talk about how the world is going to hell in a hand basket. Just my opinions and I’m sure someone else with a lot more knowledge will critique them but for once just felt like posting.

 

I work in a pharmacy and people come in and pay their $20 copay and go on their way. When there is a hiccup with their insurance or they have lost their jobs, etc, they balk at paying the actual cost of the prescription.

People on government assisted medical insurance (Medicaid) are the ones that tend to go to the doctor for every little thing. Medicaid here in Arkansas and probably other states will not pay for certain medicines. When one of those is prescribed I am always forced to call the doctor to get an alternative medicine that is covered.

I would love to go back to the days when everything was cash and people filed their own insurance.

Too many people today expect instant gratification.