Contact
RSS Feed


GM May Use Bailout Money to Create Jobs in China

November 11, 2008
Jason Green
Main

The Wall Street Journal is reporting that GM is in talks to expand its Chinese operations, fresh on the heels of the multi-billion dollar bailout by the U.S. government.

General Motors Corp., which is lobbying for a bailout from the U.S. government, is in talks to increase its stake in a Chinese joint venture that makes small, inexpensive cars and vans, people familiar with the situation said.

(Full article here – subscription required)

I sincerely doubt that this is what the U.S. politicians had in mind when they lobbied for the first bailout.

Now, to be fair, GM is a multi-national private corporation. So, however GM decides to spend its money to stay afloat is completely up to them (and their various agreements with other companies and unions). But, now that they are expecting the U.S. taxpayers to foot the bill for their business ventures, it seems awfully arrogant of them to take away more jobs from an already faltering U.S. economy.

Thank you, Washington. You’ve truly shown your brilliant economic knowledge is far superior to the outraged citizens who were overwhelmingly against all of these bailouts.

7 Comments

7 Responses

  1. Bob  •  November 11, 2008 @12:19 pm

    Get your facts straight – GM is not a private company it is a public company and so far no bailout has been provided to the automotive companies

  2. Jason Green  •  November 11, 2008 @12:34 pm

    It’s only “public” in the fact that the shares are traded on the open stock market. It’s still considered a private company because it’s not owned by the government. Very different concepts.

    And, yes, they already received part of a $25 billion bailout a month ago as part of the budget bill (prior to the $700 billion bailout for the banks).

  3. Cameron  •  November 12, 2008 @9:22 am

    Even if they send jobs to china it is the difference between 10,000 people getting fired and 50,000-100,000 people getting fired. Believe me I’m all for letting them fail, good business has not been practiced in these large company’s in a long time. The reality is though that even if they send jobs to china the supplier base that provides parts for cars is the same whether it be in China, Europe or the US. If the company goes under all of these companies will fail as well. I’m not talking about all three auto manufacturers needing to go under to make this happen either. With the current state of the economy all it will take is one. And if you add those numbers up, my company make a part on some vehicles. If you figure conservatively there are 500 parts on a car not made by the car company, we have approximately 1000 employees, there is 500,000 people right there that may loose there jobs. That is just taking into account one vehicle.

  4. Like a Rock. Only poorer.  •  November 20, 2008 @7:37 pm

    [...] While this isn’t an unprecedented move – Chrysler requested and received a $1 billion government bailout in 1979 – given the questions surrounding the efficacy of the Chrysler bailout, the state of the American economy as a whole, the fact that the taxpayers just bailed out a bunch of banks, GM CEO Richard Wagoner’s salary increase this year despite GM’s losses since 2005, the fact that Honda and Toyota have managed to keep their businesses going and maintain American plants that employ American auto workers, GM’s aggressive investment in China (thus giving thousands of auto industry jobs to Chinese citizens, while simultaneously claiming that America needs this bailout to save American jobs), and the fact that the American auto industry has spent the past decade proudly and churlishly churning out SUV’s and making no effort toward smaller, fuel-efficient vehicles in spite of a global oil shortage and a war in the Middle East… [...]

  5. buzzcowboy  •  November 20, 2008 @8:26 pm

    Ted Koppel actually covered the GM plant in China in his documentary series (The People’s Republic of China) – interesting stuff.

    I wonder, if the cars made for China were made here in the U.S., would that replace the jobs that will be lost if this bailout isn’t approved?

    http://blog.cafepress.com/?p=2013

    Dunno. But it’s food for thought.

  6. Reversals of Fortune: a 2008 retrospective, part III  •  February 17, 2009 @6:45 pm

    [...] American plants that employ American auto workers, GM’s aggressive investment in China (thus giving thousands of auto industry jobs to Chinese citizens, while simultaneously claiming that America needs this bailout to save American jobs), and the fact [...]

  7. Uncle B  •  March 3, 2009 @12:57 pm

    GM in China
    Post (GRD) great republican depression, the remaining working population of America will drive Buick LeSabres and Cavalier-like cars made in China. These cars are a current-day reality on the streets of China, and await export to the U.S. on the docks of Shanghai as we speak! The elitist uber-rich shareholders of GM had GM-America teach GM-China how to build these cars using 85 cent and hour, Chinese peasant women, the supply of which is unending and self-regenerating in China. The Uber rich chose these women over the North American car builders for quite apparent economic reasons! The current “bail-out bullshit” is a smoke-screen devised by the Uber-rich bastards, to foist liablility for the large number of unemployed they intend to create, from the private sector, over to the public sector to relieve themselves of any undue expenses, before they collapse expensive North American operations in favor of highly profitable Chinese and Asian operations. Remember, they now own both, are dumping the American white elephant, and the workers, and the old factories, liabilities, environmental cleanups, and all, through banckruptcy laws, for more profitable Asian production centers, so that they can be truly competitive with Honda, Hyundai and the like! It is a good, sound business strategy for the uber-rich shareholders, and by selling American stock and buying Asian stock, they slide away to new fields of immense profits, liability free as they collapse American corporations, and Yankee doodle gets it up the brown spot, hard and firm, once again, and is left, smarting and holding the bag! Any truly innovative and advanced ideas will be incorporated into the new Chinese built, highly “profitable for shareholders” cars. The “Volt” is a 1969 chevelle body, complete with sheet metal and hydraulic support, engine removed, battery pack added, a nightmare of 1930’s greasepit engineering – no servo’s, no drive by wire, no plastics, no carbon fiber, no magnesium parts, no aluminum, no advanced polymer composites – Hell, even Hyundai is trying to make better, lighter bodies from recycled soda bottles, and Henry Ford did a number with Soy-plastics way back when! There is no way in Hell, that a major corporation in the country that put a man on the moon can be so backwards, unless they have other motivations, they just are not that stupid!

Leave a Reply