Will gm use bankruptcy to cut its pension load?...

or...gm is Junk twice

I am sick of US companies failing to make a good business, then pawning their ugliness off on the taxpayer...Can't they just compete?

"I'd rather push a Chevy than drive a Ford"
That's the redneck axiom in my part of the south....
That's also the thinking that let's GM build whatever %%$# they can... Instead of beating the ^&^$ out of the competition ...like normal businesses strive to do.

GM likes to build &^&^ and expects to sell it....with high value loans.... Hence margins ...and the unions ask for a huge piece of those margins...Fair enough. Maybe it's fair to use the court to renig on pensions so that the corps can take all those retirement millions saved up.

GM has said they are building hybrid and fuel cell cars, but but but but but,
I'll believe it when I see it. Skeptical is an understatement.

It seems like gm is doing everything possible to not make nice technology into current production. They have their circus at auto shows... and they have teams of brilliant engineers, but what is there to show for it on the dealer lot? Not Xhit.

Can you list all the companies that claim bankruptcy to end pension plans?
A bit about the maneuver:

pension theft

GM takes back health plan via Findlaw.com
Delphi raises exec payouts after Bankruptcy
ERISA the law from Findlaw.com
Pension Termination and ERISA at FIndlaw.com
wikipedia Pension benefit guaranty Corp

"Bloomberg News Service
Aug. 24, 2004

A $350 billion pension shortfall among U.S. companies may force the federal agency that insures retirement plans to seek a taxpayer bailout similar to the one during the savings and loan crisis, according to the Cato Institute, a Washington-based policy research group.

The federal agency, the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. had a record deficit of $11.2 billion last year after taking over plans for 152 companies such as Bethlehem Steel Corp. and US Airways Group Inc. Without changes to funding and premium rules, the PBGC's deficit is likely to swell to $18 billion in the next 10 years, and may reach more than $50 billion, said Richard A. Ippolito, chief economist at Cato.

"If exposures create claims that reach catastrophic levels, taxpayers will be called upon to provide a bailout," Ippolito said.

Stock price declines and low interest rates have eroded the value of pension plans. Groups such as the Pension Rights Center, a Washington-based workers' advocacy group, have dismissed the likelihood of a bailout, saying the PBGC is well funded over the long term.

The collapse of savings and loans in the 1980s and early 1990s costs taxpayers about $124 billion and the thrift industry another $29 billion, according to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.

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United Airlines parent, UAL Corp., said last week that it probably will terminate and replace all its pension plans. United, the second-biggest U.S. air carrier, plans to skip about $575 million of pension contributions this year to help it come out of bankruptcy without a government-backed loan.

The PBGC is funded through insurance premiums collected from employers that sponsor defined-benefit plans, returns on investments and the assets of pension plans that it takes over. Underfunding can be controlled by making the PBGC a private insurance program that sets premiums based on the risk that plan sponsors add to the program, Ippolito said.

"Eliminate the loopholes that permit sponsors of underfunded plans to evade the variable rate premium and require sponsors to calculate market value underfunding," said Ippolito. Such reforms would increase revenue to the PBGC and reduce underfunding, he said.

The PBGC was created by Congress in 1974 to guarantee pension benefits, and is run by a board that includes the U.S. secretaries of Labor, Treasury and Commerce. Since its creation, the airline and steel industries have accounted for more than 70 percent of the claims against the program while representing less than 5 percent of insured participants, the PBGC said." (end article)

Toyota is buying up all thebattery technology at Panasonic .....Should anyone care? ....horsepower or efficiency? Does it have to be so cut and dry?

Today's news about GM selling part of their Fujitsu holdings (Suburu maker) ... and that Toyota is the buyer. Bank of America downgraded gm to a sell. FUJI goes back to Toyota

Bankruptcy is good for gm and Delphi's board, but not for its employees. I believe they are aiming to go into bankruptcy as a tool to decrease the amount of pension liability they have ...this will force the US taxpayer to pay the union pensions.

wow.... I got out of bed on the wrong side today eh?