GM

Senator Chris Dodd Calls for GM CEO's Firing

Off with His Head! That's what Senator Chris Dodd is now saying.

Senate Banking Committee Chairman Chris Dodd said General Motors Corp. Chief Executive Richard Wagoner should be replaced as a condition of federal aid and Chrysler LLC may have to merge to survive.

“You’ve got to consider new leadership,” Dodd said on CBS’s “Face the Nation.” Wagoner, he said, “has to move on.”

Asked if a change in leadership should be a condition of a bailout, Dodd who is helping to write the legislation, said, “I think it is going to have to be part of it.”

“Chrysler, is, I think, basically gone, probably ought to be merged,” Dodd said. Ford Motor Co. is the healthiest domestic automaker, he said.

Below is the Face the Nation video clip with Dodd.

Auto Sales Plunge

We all expected auto sales to be anemic but this is pretty god awful. In Auto Sales down over 30%, CNN reports:

Ford: 31% down from 1 year ago in November, 7% down from October, last month. Worst sales in 25 years.

Toyota: 34% drop from last year and a 14% drop from last month.

GM: 41% down, 44% cars, 39% light trucks.

Chrysler: 47% drop. A whopping 57% on cars and 42% on trucks.

These numbers are worse than analysts expected.

AP on GM details.

CBS Market Watch on Chrysler Sales.

Senate To Try to Pass Auto Bail Out

The Senate is going to try to push through a bail out package for the auto industry.

The plan details are unclear and there is a test vote on Wednesday.

CQ Politics has a few more details on what might be in the bill.

Sen. Carl Levin , D-Mich., has been working on legislation to provide $25 billion in “bridge loans” to the “Big Three” automakers. House Financial Services Chairman Barney Frank , D-Mass., has been heading efforts to draft bailout legislation in that chamber.

House and Senate leaders have said any legislation must include the same type of restrictions and taxpayer protections as the larger financial industry bailout plan Congress cleared in October, including limits on executive compensation.

GM in Big Trouble

Update: Now GM says it won't have enough cash to keep going through the end of the year. On top of it, merger talks were suspended.

Bloomberg:

General Motors Corp., seeking federal aid to avoid collapse, said it may not have enough cash to keep operating this year and will fall ``significantly short'' of the amount needed by the end of June unless the auto market improves or it raises more capital.

The largest U.S. automaker reported a $4.2 billion third- quarter operating loss today and said its available cash fell to $16.2 billion on Sept. 30 from $21 billion at the end of June. Merger talks with Chrysler LLC were suspended.


United Auto Workers - Stop GM-Chrysler Deal

I personally would not want to see anything that would result in a consolidation. That would mean the elimination of additional jobs," Gettelfinger said on a political webcast run by WWJ-AM in Detroit

From an interview.

He also is predicting growth in unions.

From a local Indiana station, they interviewed workers and one can see the main issue as to why people are not buying cars:

We haven't committed to buying a car yet because we don't know where the economy is going to be and we don't know if the finances are going to hold out to buy a new car

Remember the old adage where Henry Ford knew he had to pay his workers enough to afford the products they were making?

Seemingly this lesson remains unlearned.

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