Rightards Urge Boycott of "Socialist" Chrysler & GM

[Patrick Degan]

Hardass With Chris Matthews

So now, the latest cause for the Loony Right is to organise a boycott of Chrysler and GM because they're now "socialist" companies.

[Crossroads Inc.]

Ive said it before and I'll say it again, Republicans simply have Nothing to offer us in terms of solutions. All the offer is Spite, anger, contempt and division. It boils down to Down with ANYthing Obama is for, no matter what!

[Oskuro]

As it always has been with conservatives. How can you propose solutions when your goal is to return to the golden old days? Better to stir some shit and have the people rage-vote.

[KlavoHunter]

Ah, yet another temper tantrum by the Obstructionist Party.

They'll keep thumping their chest and hollering, and praying that they can block any effective solutions to real problems long enough for the next election to come up.

Power is not the goal, power is the tool to bring about the betterment of humanity. The bloody short-sighted fools have never learned that.

[MKSheppard]

Can I make a point?

Buying a new GM/Chrysler product right now, and for several years down the road, will be like flushing several dozen grand down the toilet. There's so much uncertainity and FUD abounding right now...

[Starglider]

Buying a new GM/Chrysler product right now, and for several years down the road, will be like flushing several dozen grand down the toilet. There's so much uncertainity and FUD abounding right now...

An extended warranty might not be honored, but other than that I don't see a problem, it's not like it'll be hard to find spare parts or mechanics to fix them. Resale value might be low but AFAIK it has been anyway for the last decade plus, for GM & Chrysler cars.

[Stark]

Can I make a point?

Buying a new GM/Chrysler product right now, and for several years down the road, will be like flushing several dozen grand down the toilet. There's so much uncertainity and FUD abounding right now...

Ironically this post is itself, FUD.

[CJvR]

Well if they start making Trabant I would agree but until they do I fail to see the point of this.

If they start driving private companies out of the market using their state subsidies then it might make sense to boycott them for ideological reasons, unfortunately in that case you would profit personally from buying so...

[aerius]

An extended warranty might not be honored, but other than that I don't see a problem, it's not like it'll be hard to find spare parts or mechanics to fix them.

That's not a problem either since the government now guarantees all GM & Chrysler warranties.

[Darth Wong]

This is actually pretty consistent with their childish black and white view of the world. Remember that they honestly view the world by trying to figure out who the "bad guys" are, and then hoping that they will suffer and be destroyed. That's it; there is no more complexity to their thinking. I don't think they are capable of greater complexity.

They say that GM and Chrysler became part of the "bad guys" when they accepted handouts (of course, they fail to extend this logic to the entire farming industry, which has been suckling on the public teat for decades). The real reason is that GM and Chrysler are unionized industrialized companies whose power base is largely in the Northeast and whose employees are perceived to be more likely to vote Democrat.

Did I mention that in addition to having a childish black and white view of the world, these people are also tribal, and that any pseudo-ethical arguments they make are mere smokescreens to cover up primitive tribal and regional allegiances?

[Coyote]

An extended warranty might not be honored, but other than that I don't see a problem, it's not like it'll be hard to find spare parts or mechanics to fix them.

That's not a problem either since the government now guarantees all GM & Chrysler warranties.

Which is precisely the problem. That now makes Chrysler and GM the exact same thing as the Trabant... except worse, because this is like Trabant Motors run by a secret moooslim socialist!!!11.

The Conservitards don't see the bind they're making-- if GM and Chrysler should be allowed to go out of business, that leaves only Ford as the only US automaker and most of the choices for American buyers will be cars made by evil foreigners. Or, GM and Chrysler should continue as they have before, let them reorganize on their own without bakruptcy or sales, to that the evil unions continue to have their way with the companies.

Again, the Repugs are just throwing anything they can to see what sticks, so they can latch onto it as an issue. They're still trying to scream "socialist" and "secret Muslim!" at him, because --as mentioned-- that's all they have.

[Starglider]

The Conservitards don't see the bind they're making-- if GM and Chrysler should be allowed to go out of business, that leaves only Ford as the only US automaker and most of the choices for American buyers will be cars made by evil foreigners. Or, GM and Chrysler should continue as they have before, let them reorganize on their own without bakruptcy or sales, to that the evil unions continue to have their way with the companies.

Ah, but if the US was a Libertopia, new car makers would quickly spring up to fill the void left by the deceased ones. Don't you know that the only significant barriers to entry are the ones erected by the government? Why, if those stupid safety and fuel efficiency regulations were eliminated, and the legal support for unions removed, I'm sure America's banks would be happy to fund start-up of ten new auto companies by the end of the year...

Yes, I do know people who seriously believe that; they pester me on IM with depressing frequency.

[Broomstick]

Hardass With Chris Matthews

Is it too fucking difficult to warn people your link goes to a video? With a craptacular load and ad bullshit in front of it? We warn people about PDF's and the like, why not videos and ads? Not everyone is running a brand new machine that handles that stuff well.

Oh, and about the topic - well, I'm not surprised at the attitude (although I did bother to wait for bullshit in front of the video to load and run so I haven't seen exactly what you're talking about) as I've mentioned before, there is a segment of the US population that really would rather be dead than "red" (definition of "red" being somewhat flexible, but typically "anything I don't like and/or that scares me")

[ray245]

Hardass With Chris Matthews

Oh, and about the topic - well, I'm not surprised at the attitude (although I did bother to wait for bullshit in front of the video to load and run so I haven't seen exactly what you're talking about) as I've mentioned before, there is a segment of the US population that really would rather be dead than "red" (definition of "red" being somewhat flexible, but typically "anything I don't like and/or that scares me")

Well, I would say those conservatives like to link being "red" with evil, and how evil always seek to trick you into doing the wrong things.

That being flexible is a sign of weakness or something like that.

[Azazal]

They say that GM and Chrysler became part of the "bad guys" when they accepted handouts (of course, they fail to extend this logic to the entire farming industry, which has been suckling on the public teat for decades). The real reason is that GM and Chrysler are unionized industrialized companies whose power base is largely in the Northeast and whose employees are perceived to be more likely to vote Democrat.

Do we need to point out there was no such call to boycott the banks that were given hand-outs? Oh yeah that's right the banks have been blowing the right for some time, so that makes it ok.

[Einhander Sn0m4n]

I've come to the conclusion that these right-wing authoritarian assholes' ultimate goal is to consolidate the entire private sector into one single hypothetical "God Corporation" (it's as good a name as any) monopoly, then replace all government functions completely with this God Corporation, whereby it would also become the State. It's an end run around the Constitution and all manner of labor/safety laws in place since the last Gilded Age. It would also be a return to the halcyon days of Feudalism. The CEO of the God Corporation would be King, with all the freedom to rule as a despot that entails, and the people in the management positions would be his court and bureaucracy, possibly also wielding absolute power over every worker below them to the point of life and death itself. The Managers would become the new Lords of the Manor or Aristocracy class, and the rest of us would be Serfs for life or persecuted endlessly until death for not playing their game by their rules. This is precisely what antitrust and Posse Comitatus law is designed to stop, however.

This is essentially a logical extension of the Company Town concept to an entire industrialized State. I can't imagine how any protests against the wealth inequality this system would be designed to generate and massively amplify or any attempt to limit the God Corporation's profits would be met with anything other than summary enforcement of a death penalty.

Before you all go at me, just look at your typical fascist state or feudal monarchy; this is simply a modernized update to the concept and fully in line with human nature. People with power simply love to ru(i)n people's lives with endless work for as little pay as possible, then send the plebes to an arbitrarily messy death for fun and profit!

[Big Orange]

I started rolling my eyes when the deranged harpy started to crow on about the GM and Chrysler employees getting jobs elsewhere, when in many parts of America these two companies are the only real game in town and there is the knock on effect of closing factories depressing the local economy (like shops, entertainment venues, bars, and the like losing their customers coming back from work).

[Azazal]

Sorry for the double post, just found this one

Graph of sinking companies

Shows the largest US bankruptcies for the past 20 years, I do do wonder how many of these companies were getting a reach around from the republicans that were in office from 1996 to 2008 in one form or another and as such were not evil socialists in some form... yeah

[Ma Deuce]

Hmm, this makes me want to own a "socialist" Camaro that much more. To be honest though I'm a bit torn: While I think it's important that GM not collapse and the public should support their recovery by buying their products, (especially since now that the US and Canadian taxpayers own 72% of the company, helping them recover will better the odds that the taxpayer will get at least some of their money back). On the other hand, I do think Ford should be rewarded for their prudence. They're not a healthy company at the moment by any means, since they're still in the red and deeply in debt, but the fact that they've managed to stay off the public teat and out of Chapter 11 thus far while facing most of the same challenges as their now-bankrupt US competitors is a laudable feat.

[FireNexus]

Ford's "feat" was nothing more than securing a large line of credit just prior to the collapse of the financial house of cards. They're in exactly the same situation as GM and Chrysler, they just have more time to try and fix their issues due to what amounts to nothing more than luck.

[MKSheppard]

They're in exactly the same situation as GM and Chrysler

Actually, no. Ford makes vehicles that work; unlike GM or Chrysler. While Fords aren't at parity with Japanese models, they're a damn sight better than Dodge or GM.

[Darth Wong]

Chrysler made some very unreliable vehicles in the 1990s and tarnished their reputation at a time when they had an opening. They came out with a whole series of stylish redesigned vehicles which caught a lot of public attention ... until terrible reliability caused the public to turn their backs on them again.

As for GM, they were competent, but they faced huge cost pressures which forced them to cut corners on product. This is pretty much inevitable for any company with a large retiree population unless it can keep growing, and GM's former size was only due to the absence of international competition. In essence, GM's enormous size and market share in its glory days became the anchor dragging it down in its later years (especially since they were on the hook for their retirees' exorbitant health care costs under the exalted American health care "system").

Of course, the UAW took a bad situation and made it worse.

[FireNexus]

Actually, no. Ford makes vehicles that work; unlike GM or Chrysler. While Fords aren't at parity with Japanese models, they're a damn sight better than Dodge or GM.

Which is meaningless since they still have been producing cars Americans don't want and/or can't afford. They are still saddled with the same union issues that affect the others. They were still rapidly losing market share to the foreign brands. The financial crisis still cratered their sales.

They have operating capital at the moment, and that is the only material difference in their situation. Without it, they'd be getting bought by Fiat (metaphorically speaking) as well.

[Ma Deuce]

Ford's "feat" was nothing more than securing a large line of credit just prior to the collapse of the financial house of cards.

At least they had the foresight to do that, while GM and Chrysler (or rather Chrysler's owners) did not. Also, they aren't hemorrhaging money nearly as fast; Ford lost only $1.4 billion in their last quarter. Chrysler is losing that much every two weeks.

Which is meaningless since they still have been producing cars Americans don't want and/or can't afford.

The American automakers still control almost 50% of their home market. That's quite a feat for companies making products that "people don't want".

Actually, no. Ford makes vehicles that work; unlike GM or Chrysler. While Fords aren't at parity with Japanese models, they're a damn sight better than Dodge or GM.

Actually Shep, Ford is at or near parity with the Japanese now across the board, according to just about any reliability survey you'd care to name. GM makes some cars that are up there (i.e, the Chevy Malibu's reliability now matches the Camry's), and others...not so much. Only Chrysler remains shitty across the board.

[The Yosemite Bear]

You know with our vehicle fleet collapsing I suggested that since we have to buy american, we might as well suggest to the big, bad management that they should consider buying a new GM or Crystler vehicles, to replace the ones we've got that are old, and shot. Hell with the bankruptcy we might get a decent deal.