It’s hard to imagine that at a time when an unprecedented amount of wealth is held by the top 1% of the US population — 24% in as of 2006, a level not seen since just before the depression — that a lot of cuff-snapping over-educated David Brooks types would commence a crusade against working people.
"Let Detroit Go Bankrupt," says Andrew Sullivan. With spittle-flecked rage, Charles Krauthammer writes, "hourly cost of a Big Three worker: $73; of an American worker for Toyota: $48."
In fact, in their last contract the UAW made deep concessions that put GM wages at a par with their non-union counterparts in the US. But this isn’t about facts, this is a religious crusade where "free-marketeers" want to impose Shock Doctrine tactics for philosophical reasons with little regard for the consequences.
Bloomberg reports that a General Motors failure would cost the federal government $200 billion. And the Center for Automotive Research concludes that if the Big Three fail, it will mean the loss of 3 million jobs in the first year of collapse.
As Naomi Klein has writen, proponents of unfettered capitalism are always looking for these "clean slates" where other people pay the price in misery for their philosophical experiments. But as Paul Krugman noted on This Week when he ate George Will for a mid-morning snack, expecting the economy to absorb that kind of impact right now would be extraordinarily risky.
But let’s explore things from another angle. The same people salivating to put the UAW out of business once and for all are often the ones preaching about how green fuel technology will save our economy. Labor may be unseemly, but green?
Well, that’s hip. Quoth the selfsame Andrew Sullivan:
The whole world stands to gain. Not only would the policy switch reduce carbon gases that may well be contributing to global warming. It would also help defuse a looming global superpower fight between China and the US over oil supplies.
So maybe the people who seem to know even less about auto manufacturing than they do about economics should consider that GM is in the forefront of green engineering with the Chevy Volt. From US News:
The prototype Volt that GM has been showing off is a sporty four-seater with futuristic touches meant to draw in mainstream gearheads. The dashboard controls are touch-sensitive and set in a white console reminiscent of an iPod. Instead of standard gauges for speed and RPMs, there’s a digital display that looks like the screen of a Sony PSP. Wind-tunnel engineering has made the Volt even more aerodynamic than a Corvette, critical for milking the most mileage possible out of the battery. GM says that recharging the car at home, through an ordinary household outlet, will cost less than $1 per day and drain less power than it takes to run a refrigerator.
But before you put the Volt on your 2010 wish list, consider that sending GM into bankruptcy would do more than just break the UAW — it could condemn the Volt from ever reaching the market:
In Chapter 11, creditors and a bankruptcy judge have a lot of say over corporate strategy, and it could get hard to justify large expenditures for a futurecar at the expense of mainstream offerings today.
Despite its allure—and the attention the Volt would get if it succeeded—GM officials admit it will be a low-volume car for several years, with sales of perhaps 20,000 per year. Would GM be able to justify spending on the Volt while, say, delaying the launch a mainstream compact car like the Chevy Cruze, which is also due in 2010 and could promise annual sales of 150,000 or 200,000? It stands to reason that GM has plans to use the Volt’s electric-drive technology in other vehicles, which would be essential to justify the expense. But in Darwinian times, survival trumps nice-to-have, and in order to get to 2015 you have to first make it through 2009. Besides, if gas prices continue to fall, will drivers really care that much if the Volt cuts yearly gas consumption by 500 gallons?
It’s sexy for "fiscal conservatives" to stand around pontificating that the US auto makers are in bad shape because they make nothing but gas hogs, but the fact of the matter is that until oil prices soared, gas guzzlers like the Escalade have been big sellers.
Despite that, GM has been putting money into green technology that might not be profitable for years.
As David W. Patterson of GM Canada explains, there has been "a profound, massively expensive transformation" taking place at GM over the past two years:
…one that now sees us offering more new hybrid models than any other auto manufacturer for the 2009 model year, leading on R&D and the introduction of electric cars, winning many prestigious new-car and green-technology awards, and, most importantly, placing GM’s cost structure (including our labour and legacy costs) on track to be among the lowest of any global auto manufacturer. That transformation continues with enormous investment – and not a small amount of pain."
What happens if David Brooks gets his way, GM goes bankrupt and the labor unions are broken? Is this going to lead to the magnificent stripping down and modernizing of the auto industry that everyone is hoping for that will have us all peddling around in solar powered cars by next Easter?
In a word, no. Without help to ride out the storm, the Volt research and development money is going to be too expensive to maintain for a company in receivership that is looking only to keep the doors open:
If GM were healthier, these would represent the kinds of reasonable risks that global companies have to take in order to be competitive down the road. But GM is hurting, and the pain is going to get worse.
All this screaming about bankrupting GM has everything to do with a conservative philosophical imperative that the free market will set all these things right, that unions are bad and they are an affront to free enterprise. It’s a moral position not a rational one, and it persists despite all evidence to the contrary. It should have been thoroughly discredited by this point, but alas, some continue to cling to it. The problems being suffered by the auto companies right now are nothing more than a shock doctrine opportunity to destroy the UAW to them. They either have not come to terms with the fact that one in every twelve jobs in this country have income that is tied to the Big 3, or they simply don’t care.
Or, like Alabama Senator Richard Shelby, they come from right-to-work states that would benefit from Detroit’s demise. Shelby may carp about "the uncompetitive structure of [the Big Three's] manufacturing and labor force," but as Marcy Wheeler notes, his state is home to the non-union plants that make M-Class SUV, GL-Class SUV, Pilot SUV, Santa Fe SUV, plus engines for Tacoma and Tundra pick-ups and Sequoia SUVs.
Not exactly a vision in green.
Back in 2005, Obama sponsored the "Healthcare For Hybrids" act, whereby the government would assume Big 3 legacy costs if the auto industry would use the savings to invest in fuel efficient vehicles. It was a forward-looking piece of legislation that holds out a lot of hope that Obama understands the problems of American auto manufacturers and is willing to address them in innovative ways.
Let’s hope there’s enough pressure brought to bear today on Mitch McConnell, Kit Bond and other Republicans whose states would be hard hit by a Big 3 bankruptcy to keep them functional until Obama takes office and better minds are in charge of addressing the problem.
Because as emotionally satisfying as it would be for the Italian loafer set to see the unemployment numbers of the great unwashed swell with union workers as the UAW is crushed, it would be an enormous setback to the hope of a green resurrection of the American economy.
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Good Morning Zed- er Jane!
Nicely stated.
If Obama’s interview with Steve Croft can be believed, GM will get a “bridge loan to the 21st century” from the Obama administration. Bankruptcy is not in GM’s future.
excellent article. thanks.
They can’t shovel money fast enough to give it away to their White collar Banker buddies but God forbid we should bail out 3 to 5 MILLION blue collar jobs.
If the health care at GM was subtracted it could count for 30% of labor costs. GM is against universal health care..and the CEO’s get a bonus for that decision that costs GM billions.
These “conservatives” are so single-minded in their idiocy they give me a migraine. Do they think the auto industry is JUST GM, Ford and Chrysler? If that were true, then maybe their arguments might hold a dropper full of water. But each automaker is linked to thousands of big and small manufacturers that supply the industry. By killing off the evil unions, they will kill off those thousands of companies that support those evil union workers…and as Mr. O said last night…depression.
The lack of knowledge about business–how it really works and what it takes to keep a business alive and thriving–by most people in our country is quite amazing. (I’m including the bloviators, the “conservatives”, and yes, many of the folks on our side…)
i want one for XMAS…..please please pretty please
I was initially against this bailout (a very unatractive word that people, rightly, shy away from. but you know what i mean) but I’m starting to change my mind. Levin was pretty good on MTP yesterday. Shelby was a schmuck.
Good work Jane. Lately, when you haven’t been on Lieberman’s case, you’ve posted alot of stuff – good stuff – about labor matters. Thanks. It’s very important. Unions have been on the shit end of the policy stick for so long now but they now have soembody who should be friendly – or at least less hostile – in the WH. It’s an important agenda to push.
These conservatives aside – it is frustrating to hear that more bailout money is required. Would this money be coming from Paulson’s stash?
After reading this, I understand this is a bitter pill we have to swallow. I hope we have enough sugar to make it go down.
Jane …didja see this?
Sen. Levin: Big three auto CEO’s should resign
Stephen C. Webster
Published: Sunday November 16, 2008
Print This Email This
Sen. Carl Levin (D-MI), during a Sunday appearance on Meet the Press, assailed the CEO’s of Detroit’s big three auto makers and said they should resign if it meant the government would then provide rescue loans to the failing companies.
Jane – I think one of the images that the anti-UAW forces like to portray is that somehow, people who work for “The Big Three” (i.e., the UAW members) are a bunch of knuckle-dragging, drooling, obese, baseball bat-wielding, brutish thugs with a collective IQ of under 100. What people do not understand is this: Union members want to keep their jobs for a lot of reasons, not the least of which is that they have mouths to feed, bills to pay and mortgages. And they also know that manufacturing at the level of ‘buggy whip’ is not the way to keep those jobs. But…the folks on the line do NOT make design and marketing decisions – they may know instinctively that ‘big is not selling’ – but their management has not been listening. Union folks have the skills to produce whatever American Industry can design – management has to decide to design and market it. The Volt is a great step in that direction – GM’s workforce has the skills and desire to do it .. and to do it as efficiently and cost effectively as they can. They know what is at stake.
Laugh if you want, but Neil Young weighs in on the Big 3:
“Keep building these models to keep the workforce employed but build them without engines and transmissions. These new vehicles, called Transition Rollers, are ready for a re-power. No new tooling is required at this stage. The adapters are part of the kits described next.
At the same time as the new Transition Rollers are being built, keeping the work force working, utilize existing technology now, create re-power kits to retrofit the Transition Rollers to SCEVs (self charging electric vehicles) for long range capability up to and over 100mpg. If you don’t think this technology is realistic or available, check out the Progressive Insurance Automotive X prize. Alternatively, check out Lincvolt.com or other examples.”
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/…..43749.html
funny the CEOs prolly make 7200$ per hr. and nobody winces much
Bullseye Jane, as per usual.
digg
this seems workable
Excellent post, Jane. I learned so much from it. Thank you.
My uncle retired from Ford quite a while ago, those legacy costs are important to his wellbeing. Especially since he was diagnosed with cancer last year. He’s still fighting it, but all this news of killing off the Big Three means his family would bear the brunt of that choice.
The CEOs need to go, their policy needs to be revamped and they need to be able to adapt instead of just go for pure profit. GM’s making an effort, Ford i’ve heard is as well. I dunno about Chrysler(badly run as it has been for the last 15 or so years, a new CEO couldn’t hurt). But cutting off Golden Parachutes for grinding that one into the ground is not in the picture. I live in Michigan myself, so i see all the little jobs that are supported by the auto industry first hand. Much less a good portion of my patients being GM retirees.
Basing policy on research and facts? Too radical!
A most excellent adventure in blogging.
loosely related question:
and yes, I know he’s as dumb as a post and tin earred as well But .. .
why in the hell is Boehner advocating no help for Detroit? I know they sadly, don’t make much in Ohio anymore and there’s a Honda plant in Marysville, but surely Buckeyes are sympathetic to what is happening in MI – isn’t he signing his 2010 resignation with this stance ?
er..But cutting off the Golden Parachute is something that SHOULD be in the picture, even. Still trying to wake myself up here before work. *yawns*
Not only are the UAW and part supplier jobs at risk but what would be the ripple effect on auto dealerships nationwide. Anyone want to trade their
Expulsionexcursion in on a prius. Yugos for sale hereNeil Young reads EW. We had this discussion there…on Nov 10th…None of us are rock stars…but hey…just good to see the ideas getting more ground.
I think that GM should declare itself a bank holding company the way Goldman did, then Paulson would be willing, indeed he would say he was forcing them to take billions. I myself have been debating whether to declare myself a bank holding company too for the same reason. Needless to say, if I did I would put my other career option: finding a hot young progressive $100 million beer heiress on hold.
just this week end, I learned from Emptywheel that retiree healthcare is now borne by UAW – although it is an incredibly muddy picute for folks like your uncle.
Adie wrote a poignant diary about these families over at Oxdown
good question, no idea
I’m a bank! You’re a bank! Let’s all be banks!
According to Naomi Klien, the bailout has been dispersed in a criminal manner. Let the critters go after the banks and Paulson who are the allegeed criminals here. Let’s get some accountability.
Stop fearing the depression and DO SOMETHING to stop the looting of the treasury by the disgustingly wealthy.
Hey Jane — the DH and I loaned money to one of my kids to buy a house. Does that make us a bank too? First National Bank of Mom and Dad — I’m putting dibs on that one right now.
Because Republicans only act like Joe the autoworker exists around election time and the election is over.
A number of parts plants are in Ohio. Ohio leads in parts production, and not just for Honda. Many live in Ohio and commute to MI for their UAW job as well. Here’s some vital information Boehner fails to know about his own state that he is suppose to represent. He’s willing to bankrupt every community in the state.
So, yes, he IS DUMB AS A POST.
Here’s a good article for Boehner to go read, just in case one of his staffers happens to lurk on FDL.
http://www.allbusiness.com/nor…..648-1.html
That would make a great diary on Oxdown.
We’re having unofficial “gm day” here today at FDL.
That would be the MAD Bank for short, right?
Here is a solution for the wingtards: The bailout that they already approved and supported; you know the one where we saved Wall Street and are nationalizing the banks? Make it a covenant of the agreement that a fraction/portion of the new funds injected by the Bush Treasury department must be extended to the Big 3 via low interest loans. Problem solved. The “Market” then has solved the problem. Probably makes way too much sense for D.C. types though.
the big three are actually LIKE BANKS they FINANCE autos,no?
Could become a church too. That way there would be no taxes. Could have the
First national church of money manipulation and scamming.
In the case of GMAC, they also finance home sales. Talk about a double whammy!
Kudos, Jane. You’ve done yeo(wo)man’s work on this topic. And, you continue to do a lot of heavy lifting with a clear eye for the implications. Well done! Is your next career in economics?
Interesting. Neil’s the quintessential DFH. Maybe there’s a place for Neil in Obama’s cabinet. Even if he is Canadian! ;-)
I agree with Ms Hamsher on the diary
in that case, we’d be better off linking to Daily Racing Form, NFL Betting, or Waste Management Today :D
thanks for the 411.
Senator Stabenow reminded me that Big 3 are heavily involved in Defense Manuf. as well
heh
Ever notice how so many of the talking heads that spout off about allowing the Big Three to Die! Die!! DIE!!! don’t actually have any background in business?
No business education, no actual experience doing any manual labor, no experience making a payroll or responsibility for a profit-and-loss statement? Never actually went to the bank and asked for a loan for a business, nor ever actually prepared a business plan?
Useless, stupid, soft-handed hacks.
This is sort of OT, but should be noted. The Volt is going to sell for $40,000. It’s not going to be affordable to many. And, as it stands right now, GM is not leasing cars. So, it may not save GM as hoped. Unless, of course, the govt. does something to make that purchase more attractive.
The insanity is deep seated. Obama was criticized as an income distributor when clearly the cause of the last depression as well as this one is wealth concentration. When you have a free market economy, people need jobs to eat and keep a roof over their heads. This means you need consumers to buy and use the products workers make. Rich people may buy several mansions, multiple cars etc. but their purchases aren’t enough to keep the system going. There aren’t enough of them.
It is equally clear the downward spiral is a vicious circle. Fewer jobs mean fewer purchasers which means fewer jobs. The fact remains a great many who are damaged in the process maintain the illusion that someday they will “make it”. They don’t want the upper class damaged by taxes because they identify with the upper class rather than their fellow workers. It is difficult, perhaps impossible, to deal with derangement of this magnitude.
Yeah, and they’d last about 4 months in business.
Oh, and one more thing, especially for Jane who named the beast last week; this is what I got in my email box this morning from The Heritage Foundation (have NO idea how I got on their email list):
I am researching this now, am pretty certain this is a load of crap. There may have been a job bank, but the job bank after last year’s contract negotiations is nothing like the one that was established years ago when GM spun off Delphi and many workers fell out between the cracks.
It’s all about union busting.
That’s why you see Richard Shelby getting all kinds of air time now, to lobby the public for foreign automakers who don’t employ union labor here in his backyard. They’ve actually come to the states to avoid unionization at home in some cases.
That long? Maybe if they’re using credit cards or Mommy’s piggy bank to finance their operations they might get that far…
i’m afraid paulson would treat dfh banks just like he did lehman (iirc, they asked to be a band too). gotta be a bank AND friend of paulson’s.
I’ll see what I can do. It would be interesting to bring some of Boehner’s former Ohio republican governor’s (Boehner campaigned for him) auto industry 5 point initiative policy and put it in his face… Did you go read the article I linked to? A year ago that article recommended a large scale federal bailout.
My bold.
rapidly coming to the conclusion Boehner is shilling for Detroit Mgmt – their CW – UAW is busted and they (in their pipe dreams) keep on keepin’ on
looking up Chrysler Bailout – doesn’t look like there were many changes in Mgmt other than Iaccoca – so why wouldn’t they feel safe (Michiganders feel free to disabuse me of this)
of course this was before Levin made his Mgmt Must Go statement
With spittle-flecked rage, Charles Krauthammer writes, “hourly cost of a Big Three worker: $73; of an American worker for Toyota: $48.”
…and the howls of class warfare from the corporate media and political elite….
crickets.
guess class warfare is defined in the US only as anything that reduces the right to unbridled greed of the obscenely wealthy.
It usually takes ‘em that long to figure out that “income” and “cash flow” aren’t the same thing. And that just because you “win” a client project doesn’t mean that dollars will immediately begin flowing in, conveniently on the 15th and 30th of each month, just in time for payroll…
While all of the attention is being paid to the “greedy” UAW members there are, lurking below the surface, numerous other problems facing the big 2 1/2. Agreements with local and state govts. for infrastructure as well as extensive dealership agreements.
What I want to know is the ratio of pay between the lowest paid worker in the company and the CEO and other execs. Four hundred percent or so is probably not acceptable given the ratio in other successful countries!
interesting how proletarian republicans/conservatives about workers jobs when it comes to raping the environment for corporate profits. Saving American workers’ jobs for a living wage – not so much.
Exactly. This is more of the same class warfare of the last 8 years. Putting money where it will directly help working people is a sin against God, but throwing money at the top tier of the economic pyramid so that they can then pee on the rest of us, now that’s good policy./s
oh, but tsk, tsk. If one were to look at the execute compensation against the lowest or average workers’ compensation, that surely would be class warfare, and kraphammer would be the first to howl.
Why Pluege, didn’t you get the memo? Worker bees, according to Rethugs, only deserve subsistence level wages! After all, they don’t do the heavy lifting of investment, marketing, ideas…
Oy!
pitchforks and rusty chain saws.
is the GA election a place to make a stand?
Got a sitter…Oxdown in progress…
Should a bailout be required, the companies should be bought at the market value at the time just prior to bailout. Those companies must become government property, no re-privatization permitted. It is imperative the sources of economic production be held socially, the profits derived used for social good. As long as a private company can maintain economic viability, it should do so, once that time passes it should be owned by the public through the government. It is past time to put an end to “capitalism” and the associated economic disutility. This must apply to any production that controls more than 5% of a market. End governmental subsidies for any monopoly or oligopoly or any entity “too big to fail”. Capitalism is as dead as Communism, bury the body, the stench is …
Does that $73 an hour include all the legacy costs of the retirees still on GM’s books?
Where did they get that number — figures before or after the VEBA negotiated by GM and UAW to spin-off retiree health care LAST YEAR??
Does the number that spittle-flecked Krauthammer coughed up reflect the difference in age between the average UAW worker and the average foreign auto worker in the U.S.?
Does the number include other differences in accounting and state/local taxes?
There’s so many holes in that bullshit that I could drive a Hummer through it.
the republican/conservative memo I got claimed nothing of subsistence level wages! Mine claimed that human worker bees are multiplying too fast, are a threat to the well deserved posh living of the leisure class and so taking away their subsistence and their safety net was in order – after all keeping the population down by having them die off young was the best way to keep them under control. The memo went on to justify it all by reminding that as inferior beings incapable of the superior mental and physical achievements of the republican/conservative species, they deserve nothing.
I went to get a toaster yesterday and it came with a bank.
Is that a brand new redesigned 2009 Hummer?
Poor Andrew- he can’t help it.
He was born with a silver douche in is mouth.
Oh hell no, there’s a big-assed H2 in school bus yellow just down the street that I’m sure I could borrow for this purpose.
The legacy cost referred to are the result of GM management purposely underfunding pensions to raise quarterly profits, thereby increasing bonuses for management. So the argument that the union should pay the price for short sighted management decisions is ludacris.
Well, I have been harboring an idea, but since I know absolutely nothing about the auto industry and I thought it was so obvious that since no one who actually knew something about the industry had suggested it that there must be something fundamentally wrong with it: could the employees do a buyout of the corporation (like the employees of United did in the ‘90s) and retool the industry to build “clean” transportation? It doesn’t seem to me like the management who insisted on propagating gas-guzzlers and showed no vision should be rewarded, but neither should the employees be punished with the consequent ripples through the national economy. I’d feel a lot better about a bailout of the employees than of the crummy management. And if we could figure out how to make the oil industry pay for it, I’d feel even better!
A couple of additions in costs.
A few months ago, when Congress set aside a loan of $25 bn to the auto companies, it was stated then that legacy costs were $63 per hour. If the hourly wages (including legacies) HAVE gone up to $73 then wouldn’t it be because so many people were offered and took early retirement? I recall management was delighted with the plan that worked so well. Now some are suggesting that we leave these 50+ year olds in the dust with no where to go and no money and no healthcare.
That $25 bn was set aside for greening the big three. Bush wants to use that money AND remove all of the greening features.
Obviously, that’s not the bill to pass. Let’s use some of $750 bn Paulson is doling out to the hardest hit industries.
Even Ben Stein can see that we need to keep Detroit alive. Wish some of his ideologically-blinded comrades would as well.
Because he’s a hypocritical idiot.
This is the same guy who prattles on about civility after calling Democrats “chickenshits” and other charming bons mots.
And here’s that link, for folks that didn’t see it on yesterday’s CBS News Sunday Morning.
Do you really believe that americans would buy cars made in China, where it is very well known by everyone thruout Asia that the Chinese factory owner will make things cheaper just to make an extra buck unless they are watched on every step of manufacture? I watch both Korean and Japanese news programs daily and both of those countries have taken to examing each and every product that is coming from China to insure that they meet standards. More than 1/2 the time, they don’t. Couple that with a 400% increase in shipping costs over the last 12 months and where do you get a cheaper car? Foreign auto companies are building cars in the US for a reason 1-the market is here 2-shipping costs eat up the cheaper labor costs. Besides, China has a major QC problem, shortcuts will be made to increase profitability. Add all this up and if China does buy out GM, I can see lots of dealers becoming very poed due to massive warranty work, or problems with them passing our safty standards. Chinese factory owners already sell knockoffs of Honda motorcycles(and make huge profits due to zero R&D and zero safty equipment). The auto knockoffs that you mentioned are Toyota Tercells for one, they are sold at less that 1/2 price of real Toyota(BTW, the factory owner who is doing this became a multi billionaire almost overnite) zero R&D costs, zero safty equipment zero pollution equipment. Cheaper materials. Who would buy a Chinese GM car?
OBITUARY:
CAPITALISM, died 9/11
The late great neocon idol died 9 November this year, the passing went unnoticed, the body was discovered by passerby’s in a advanced state of de-composure, apparently from metastasized cancer effecting vital systems. The body was wasted with small pustules of fatty substance. Apparently there had been no blood supply to the vital organs and muscles for an extended period. Cause of death was final failure of the circulatory system. Autopsy will be performed interminably to study the death process for the corpse.
Next of kin are Sister Socialism…. and was preceded in death by brother, Communism
/s
Why should America turn to GOPs like Richard Shelby for economic solutions? The conservatives had eight long years practically unfettered, and they drove America into the ditch. Now it’s time for the grownups to git ‘er done. So the GOPs need to shut up about their fucking “free-market” mythology.
The Democrats are in charge now, just like whenever else in American history GOP messes needed cleaning up.
Thanks jane. I have been making this argument for weeks now and see this as a chance to unleash a progressive shock doctrine on the auto industry which would use the crisis as a chance to actually, you know, make things better rather than worse!
Well said.
Another view from Felix Salmon by way of Brad DeLong – the congress should essentially provide a tailor made bankruptcy for the Big 3 especially since “debtor in possession”(DIP) financing from the private sector will NOT be easily forthcoming and will not provide the public with the leverage needed here to torque Detroit green and low to no carbon.
I would also like to underscore that the Volt is like nothing so far considered by Japan, and that the hybrid technology from GM is theirs alone, while all other companies are leasing from Toyota (eg, my Escape hybrid has the first generation prius hybrid technology, while my prius has the second generation technology). There are some clever things put out by GM that are not there from Toyota (eg, the closing of cylinders at cruising speed independent of hybrid technology). GM has some really smart research/design people working for them (Ford does also to a lesser extent) who have been shackled by the upper management. We can unleash that but not if the big 3 languish in chapter 11 or chapter 7.
Am I the only one that wants to see the Corvette survive this? I like cars that are, you know, fun to drive, and if I can’t find them in Detroit, I’ll find them over in Asia. The Nissan 370Z looks mighty tempting…