The Smoking Gun?

I doubt they'll find a "smoking gun." I'm nearly convinced that their success has made Toyota organizationally complacent - who cares about screwing over a few (thousand) customers when you have millions more to rely on, right? If there's a problem, it's the top-to-bottom corporate culture. Not like I'm backing GM either, who has been historically amazingly myopic.

 

Wow, imagine a GM dealer posting anti-Toyota links with misleading titles. And it would appear that this is not the first anti-Toyota posting by said GM dealer.

Posters should reveal where their finacial interests lie, when posting propoganda.

Financial disclosure: I have no finanical stake in GM or Toyota, I just think Toyota builds a better car than GM.

 

Technically, you do have a stake in GM due to the bailouts. You just don't stand to gain anything. eep:

 

Wonder how many millions/billions of dollars GM screwed out of folks on the stock when they went bankrupt, even after the bailout from the government? BTW anyone remember how much that bailout was?

 

Auto bailout reaches $110 billion - MarketWatch

According to this, $50.7 Billion.

 

It's a fishing expedition... the govt already knows most of this stuff of when and who knew...

 

Not nearly enough. Bob Lutz is going to have to apply for food stamps since he can only make $500,000 a year from your tax dollars. I mean, Toyota might be hurting right now, but still Mr. Lutz might have to sell off one of his yachts (bought with taxpayer bailout money, but still...)

 

Nice spin...btw i dont give a damn who started it.
Gave them bailout $$$$ and they still went bankrupt screwing the stockholders and the non stockholders.

 

I'm glad people are starting to get what actually happened. GM was also able to walk away from EVERY contract they had in place, thus allowing them to re-negotiate all of them at lower amounts, thus increasing profit. All suits against the "old" GM were rendered moot (the corporation no longer had any capital to pay even if they were found to be in the wrong). All money owed by the "old" GM was flushed away by the bankruptcy.

Who stood to gain from this "bailout," the US government, the US people, or GM management and board? Once you ask this question, it starts to become clear that the "bailout" was a form of corporate welfare, and the "takeover" was a method for GM to walk away from all their debts and commitments. So, was this really something Obama came up with to "help" the US economy, or something GM came up with that the President went along with as a payback for campaign donations and to curry favor with powerful GM Board Members? The speed with which it all happened is a good indication it was all set up way in advance.

 

And yet you sell government motors vehicles, which are only available to sell because of the very things you criticise. Worse yet, you are a republican supporter and the republicans are the ones that wanted to let GM die in favor of their new IMPORTED auto plants in the south.

 

Many of us don't like the dems "relationship with wall street" too.

I agree with much of what you said....except about you being an independant.
I've read your posts for long enough to know better. Every position you take has always been in lock step with the conservative talking points. When the republicans stance is against yours as it was with the GM bailout....you went totally silent as opposed to criticising the republicans.

 

This thread is quickly headed toward the politics board, but I agree with most of what you say, Malorn. I disagree that GM would have gone under. I agree there was a POSSIBILITY of it, but GM had faced bad times in the past that I believe were just as bad. I believe they engineered the bankruptcy as a quick and easy fix to difficult problems, which would allow them to continue with business as usual (radical change isn't easy - I know because I'm a Management Scientist and a Process Improvement consultant among other things). The domino effect if the HAD gone under would have brought down all their suppliers which, in turn, would have halted the lines of Ford and Chrysler (since they all use many of the same suppliers). Your ten percent is probably about right.

The Tea Party movement will have some of the same effect, hopefully, on both parties that other independent runners in the past have - it shows the parties that the people are serious about platforms other than theirs. This may be the closest we will ever have to escaping the two-party system in this country, unfortunately. Libertarians have made great inroads in local and state politics, but have had little effect on national (not supporting or trashing, just using them as an example).

 

The Fall of GM - a visual guide | WallStats.com The Art of Information