So, goodbye already.

Or not. General Motors is bankrupt, so...

[weeks]

I've only read one worthwhile story on GM's situation.

The fate of Detroit isn’t a matter of economics. It’s a tragic romance, whose magic was killed by bureaucrats, bad taste and busybodies. P.J. O’Rourke on why Americans fell out of love with the automobile
[online.wsj.com...]

[g1smd]

Five percent of the World's population using 25% of the resources... it has to slow down sometime soon..

[sgietz]

Getting people to buy stuff they don't want/need only works for a little while. Eventually the excrement hits the fan.

[Rugles]

Getting people to buy stuff they don't want/need only works for a little while.

Little while?

Seems to me its been working for most of my life.

[jecasc]

Anti-lock braking system, Electronic Stability Control, Brake Assist, Intelligent Parking Assist System, Adaptive cruise control... Not a single inovation in the auto industry of the last decades seems to have been developed in the US. You can get the impression that the last big inovation introduced by US car makers was the coffee cup holder.

What have they been doing the last thirty years?

[Rugles]

What have they been doing the last thirty years?

Figuring out how to sell more horsepower to suburbanites.

[weeks]

One of the little stories I tell is how emotions are useful in making a purchasing decision. The intellect is only willing to absorb so much information and spend so much time on comparing all of the features all of the pros and cons, so emotion has to take over. It's why love is a major force is selecting a mate: You'll never make a decision otherwise.

Then I'll say buying a car is the same way. After a while, it's an emotional call.

GM understands that, sort of. They missed the "After a while..." part. It's not JUST an emotional call.

It did not help that GM didn't understand the emotions either.

[lawman]

If only GM had access to WW braintrust when it mattered. Too late now.

[g1smd]

We have already built more cars than there are people on the planet. With the right build quality and maintenance, they can last 20 years or more, so why has production been based on everyone buying a new one every three years? Next century, people will look back at us as total idiots for using the world's resources in just 200-300 years: they'll also not be able to comprehend why we let population growth spiral out of control ten fold in under 200 years after being essentially flat for 5000 years.

[jecasc]

If only GM had access to WW braintrust when it mattered. Too late now.

The alarm bells should have been ringing at GM, when you bought a BMW instead of GM car. ;)

[public.fotki.com...]

[Rugles]

they can last 20 years or more

20 year old cars are serious polluters .. and they are also rust buckets here where we have to spread salt on the roads for a couple months a year.

My family is an example of why GM (and Ford and Chrysler for that matter) are in big trouble. My Grandfather was an engineer at General Motors. He was lured away from a competing company by General Motors and they gave him all the senority and pension benefits that he had at his previous company. Sadly, he died of a heart attack about 7 years after he started at GM ... but my Grandmother collected a pension and benefits for another 30 years afterwards. So General Motors paid my Grandmother far more than my Grandfather ever earned in salary. Clearly it cost them a fortune just to hire him for 7 years of work.

[lawman]

The alarm bells should have been ringing at GM, when you bought a BMW instead of GM car.

Or the G35 Infinit before that, or the TLS Acura before that, or the Mitsu-made Eagle TSi Talon before that, or the Mazda Protege before that, or the Nissan Maxima before that - come to think of it, I haven't bought a GM vehicle since 1972. There has been a scattering of Ford products throughout the years including a 2003 Explorer (my third). Not that any of that matters since I'm not part of the WW braintrust. ;)

My dad recently bought a brand new Chevrolet Malibu. He loves to brag about how comfortable it is on trips and how he gets in excess of 30 mpg. But what does he know; he's 79.

[edited by: lawman at 4:43 pm (utc) on June 3, 2009]

[sgietz]

Do we all get a discount now that we own most of GM?

[Rugles]

Do you get a discount on postage stamps?

[Syzygy]

Yes, if you buy them in a supermarket. Stamps that is.

Mind you, what price bankrupt stock?