General Motors and Ford

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June 1, 2009

SouthAmerica: I was watching CNBC this morning when they interviewed Mr. Gartman who made some comments about GM bankruptcy filing as he said: it is old news or a non-event – and no big deal.

I assume based on his comments that Mr. Gartman is a complete idiot.

It is no secret that today Wall Street is in complete denial about what is happening to the US economy and they continue trading as if the good old days are here again.

There is a complete disconnect between what is going on in Wall Street and the realities of a fast imploding US economy.

I can’t remember of a time in many decades when so many people were going out of business at least here in New Jersey. It is scary since doesn’t matter where you go you can see a ton of space available for rent or lease. Every day there are more and more signs going up saying that a company is going out of business – it’s a real horror story.

A large number of people that I know lost their jobs, others got a major cut on benefits, and a growing number of people are getting their hours cut, and also a major cut on their base salary.

Even the latest issue of Business Week magazine had an article on this subject; about the large number of companies that are cutting peoples base salary in a substantial way.

I know a few senior citizens who relied heavily for many years on their GM bonds return; as a large chunk of their yearly income – they told me that they bought GM bonds many years ago because they wanted to make a very conservative investment and avoid any risks.

The car manufacturers provided money in a grand scale for the US market with a large share of the add business for newspapers, Television and cable, all kinds of sports businesses such as the NFL, NBA, golf and so on. And car manufacturers and its large network of dealers also provided a substantial amount of money to all kinds of local non-profit organizations and charity events.

Never mind the number of companies that belonged to the GM chain of parts supplyers that will be forced also into bankruptcy.

I am sure that as time goes by we are going to learn of a lot more problems that will arise from this GM bankruptcy that people are not seeing right now and in time resulting in some unintended consequences.

The US economy is imploding into a downward spiral and the implosion is speeding up into the black hole.

Interest rate on 30 years mortgage is going up and resulting in foreclosures to picking up speed into as many more people are forced into foreclosure – the foreclosure market will get worse into 2010 or even beyond.

Unemployment will continue to increase to 11 or 12 percent range and if you consider the discouraged workers and so on then the rate of unemployment will reach over 20 percent in no time.


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Now here is the good news:

1) It does not matter that the US economy is imploding very fast with a record number of companies going out of business or filing for bankruptcy protecting, and we have an exploding unemployment environment impacting the US economy – since for practical purposes none of that information will affect the Fairy Tale US GDP figures provided by the US government on a monthly basis.

2) The people in Wall Street are continuing on their regular ways with their heads usually in La La Land.

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Quote from southamerica:

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June 1, 2009

SouthAmerica: I was watching CNBC this morning when they interviewed Mr. Gartman who made some comments about GM bankruptcy filing as he said: it is old news or a non-event – and no big deal.

I assume based on his comments that Mr. Gartman is a complete idiot.

It is no secret that today Wall Street is in complete denial about what is happening to the US economy and they continue trading as if the good old days are here again.
More...

1. It IS a non-event...Everyone knew GM would declare bankruptcy today. This is not new news and was priced into the markets long ago.

2. Stock market and the US economy are two totally different things. Just because the US economy stinks doesn't mean the stock market has to and vice versa.
 
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June 1, 2009

SouthAmerica: Reply to Kassz007

Mr. Gartman said in a very disregarding manner that the GM bankruptcy was old news, a non-event – and no big deal.

In my opinion, this was a very sad day for the United States to see one of the symbols of American technology, know-how, and the American capitalist system to collapse and be forced into bankruptcy Chapter-11.

Never mind the negative domino effect that the GM bankruptcy is going to have in the US economy helping implode even further an economic system that is imploding in a downward spiral into a new great depression.

You said: “Stock market and the US economy are two totally different things.”

You are right Wall Street is completely disconnected from the real US economy and that is why it does not make sense for the American taxpayer to bailout Wall Street.

By the way, the US government bailout of the US automakers it is just “Petty Cash” when compared with the bailout of Wall Street and the banking system.

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In my opinion, this was a very sad day for the United States to see one of the symbols of American technology, know-how, and the American capitalist system to collapse and be forced into bankruptcy Chapter-11.
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Flags should be at half-mast.

Hmnnn....

What's good for Goldman Sachs is good for the country.
 
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June 2, 2009

SouthAmerica: I posted the following about General Motors on the Elite Trader Forum about 2 years ago:


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June 5, 2007

SouthAmerica: Last Friday I saw a very interesting documentary on television – Who killed the electric car? (2006) by filmmaker Chris Paine.

By the way this documentary will be repeated on Tuesday June 5, 2007 at 10 PM on cable channel “Starz”.

This documentary is about the development of an electrical car EV-1 by General Motors - an automobile that required no gas or oil….

The filmmaker also documented how GM and the major oil companies sabotaged the electric car project right from the beginning.

GM senior management still sabotaging the electric car today for example: I saw a program on CNN “Out of Oil” which was broadcasted this past weekend and I believe that I had seen that program a few months ago.

On this program a CNN reporter interviews Bob Lutz – GM’s vice chairman for product development – and Mr. Lutz try to give the impression to the viewer that GM still having problems with its batteries for the electric cars and he even mention that GM likes to call when batteries catch on fire – he said GM refers to it as thermal events.

GM still wants to give the impression to the public that it is very dangerous to drive these cars because their batteries can have thermal events.

The documentary who killed the electric car? Show to the public how hard GM fought to destroy the electric car – and they even interview the owner of ovonic battery – a company that had developed a battery that increased the range of the EV-1 from 60 to 100 miles between charges and a much safer battery.

GM sold its 60 percent ownership in Ovonic Battery to Chevron Texaco for them to kill that improved battery project.

The car dealers also started giving GM a hard time about the electric car because that car needed very little maintenance when compared with a car that runs on a combustion engine. The dealers brought to the attention of GM that the regular car maintenance of regular combustion engine cars was a big chunk of their regular business.

It was very interesting the interview that they had with Mr. Stan Oshinsky. and his wife, Dr. Iris Oshinsky, of Energy Conversion. Technologies – and how GM and the major oil companies buried all his discoveries regarding innovations on batteries for the electric car.

GM Ovonic was formed in 1994 between GM and Ovonic Battery to manufacture a new type of battery for the EV-1

When the day comes – the US government should allow GM to go bankrupt and go out of business – that is a corporation that is not worth of being saved.


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TEXACO TO ACQUIRE GENERAL MOTORS' SHARE OF GM OVONIC BATTERY JOINT VENTURE
Deal Reflects Technology's Potential for Broad Energy Applications

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: TUESDAY, OCTOBER 10, 2000.

DETROIT, Mich., October 10 – Texaco (NYSE: TX) and General Motors (NYSE: GM) today announced Texaco's intent to acquire GM's share of a joint venture that has developed an advanced battery technology for the automotive market.

Under the terms of the memorandum of understanding, Texaco will acquire GM's 60 percent share of an existing joint venture with Energy Conversion Devices - ECD - (NASDAQ: ENER), a firm in which Texaco already holds a 20 percent interest. GM and Ovonic Battery Company, a subsidiary of ECD, formed the joint venture, GM Ovonic, in 1994 to manufacture and commercialize high-efficiency, nickel metal hydride (NiMH) automobile batteries. The joint venture, which will be re-named Texaco Ovonic, plans to fully commercialize and expand its applications to a broad range of energy markets.

"ECD and Ovonic developed breakthrough advanced NiMH battery technology and General Motors has brought it to the production stage," said Texaco Senior Vice President William M. Wicker. "With the demand for all-electric and hybrid vehicles projected to grow significantly over the next few years, the time is right to extend this technology to the entire automotive market and take it to the next level of commercial development.

"This technology is already being used as a source of power in items such as cellular telephones and personal computers and we believe it holds the potential to meet a wide range of non-automotive uses. As a company committed to developing a significant presence in the energy technology field, we are excited to be part of this joint venture."

General Motors Vice Chairman Harry J. Pearce said that the future of the battery-powered electric vehicle relies on addressing the critical issue of cost. Successfully addressing this issue requires both high-volume applications and further technical development.

"General Motors, ECD and Ovonic led the industry in the initial commercialization and technology development for advanced vehicle batteries," said Pearce. "Together, we improved the range of our world-class GM EV1 to more than 150 miles with the GM Ovonic nickel metal hydride technology and opened the door to more efficient hybrid vehicles in the future. GM Ovonic's Kettering, Ohio, plant is the first and only facility in the United States dedicated exclusively to the production of NiMH batteries for electric vehicles. We are very proud of these successes and extremely pleased that Texaco will now join with Ovonic and ECD to take the next step in commercialization to reduce costs by spreading this technology to many other automotive customers and applications as well as to non-automotive uses. And, we anticipate that Texaco Ovonic will be our supplier for NiMH batteries."

In a joint statement, Stanford R. Ovshinsky, ECD President and CEO, and Robert C. Stempel, ECD Chairman, said, "This is a great transition for Ovonic Battery. We started out with the support and manufacturing development expertise of automotive leader, GM, and now we will have the broad reach and marketing expertise of global energy leader, Texaco. This is the right move at the right time for the right reasons - it's a win-win for our current and future customers, the companies, and consumers."

The Ovonic battery offers several significant advantages over conventional batteries:

· More energy. The Ovonic battery has more than twice the energy of conventional lead-acid batteries of the same weight. This translates directly to extended driving range between recharges.

· More power. Ovonic's NiMH technology is especially adaptable for hybrid-electric applications that require very high power levels.

· Long life. The Ovonic battery life cycle is four times longer than conventional batteries, meaning that one Ovonic battery can last the projected 150,000 mile lifetime of electric or gas-electric hybrid vehicles.

· Less environmental impact. The Ovonic battery is environmentally preferable, since it uses no lead. The base material, Nickel, is highly reclaimable as are the other metal alloys used in the battery.

· Versatility. The Ovonic battery can be used in all types of automobiles - conventional, gas-electric hybrids, all-electric vehicles, and fuel cell vehicles.

The joint venture expects to manufacture batteries for use in model year 2003 vehicles.

http://www.elitetrader.com/vb/showt...light=who+killed+the+electric+car#post1490573

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June 2, 2009

SouthAmerica: I posted the following about General Motors on the Elite Trader Forum about 1 year ago:


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July 4, 2008

SouthAmerica: Americans have been selling to the world for a long time the idea of how flexible, agile, and efficient the US economic system is compared to everybody else. It is interesting that Americans consider their economic system to be very efficient and a system that is supposed to adjust and to adapt itself to new circumstances by being flexible and agile.

Can you imagine the kind of trouble the United States would be in today if the United States were not so flexible and agile in the last 30 years on their effort to reduce its dependence on foreign oil?

Maybe what helped the United States to move so fast to fix its energy problem on the last 30 years it is because the energy area is a matter of national security. And Americans did place energy on the top of its list of problems to be fixed since the energy area it is of fundamental importance on the process of keeping a stable economy in the United States.

Now quoting from the enclose article: “In 1973, when OPEC imposed its oil embargo, U.S. oil imports composed 30 percent of our needs; today, they make up more than 60 percent, with a growing proportion of that crude coming from the world's least stable regions. At around $145 a barrel, the United States, by my calculations, will spend more on imported oil this year than it will spend on its own defense budget, and much of that money will flow into the coffers of those who wish us ill.”

The article started by saying: “When the founding fathers declared our independence, they could not have imagined that, 232 years later, the United States would be so spectacularly dependent on foreign countries.”

The United States would be so spectacularly dependent on foreign countries regarding its oil needs, and cash from foreign sources to keep the US economy afloat.

In one of the postings on this forum someone mentioned that GM stock went from $ 43 per share to about $ 10 per share. I am sorry to learn that fact. GM stock should go to $ 1 per share or even lower because of the quality of its management – they really deserve to go out of business.

As the article mentioned: “The kind of electric cars deployed in Israel have never returned to U.S. showrooms since General Motors' mass crushing of its EV1 -- the subject of the documentary "Who Killed the Electric Car?"”

If you had the chance to see that documentary then you would agree with me that GM should go out of business and be replaced by a company with vision of the future.

Talking about American efficiency again – Why General Motors killed the EV1 electric car? Because GM network of dealers told GM management that they would not be able to survive if GM started selling too many EV1’s because these cars needed almost no maintenance and that would reduce the dealers profit margin and business by over 30 percent.

Anyway who want to buy a car that requires very little maintenance?

I bet most Americans would miss having to send their cars for a tune up, and for oil changes, and other expensive repairs on a regular basis.

GM had a partnership with the company that made the batteries for the EV1”s – in the beginning the people were able to drive only 75 miles between charges, and it did take time to recharge these batteries.

When the batteries were improved and the new batteries allowed people to drive 300 miles – GM sold its controlling share of the battery company to Texaco and Chevron - and Texaco and Chevron closed the company that was making this new battery that allowed people to drive 300 miles between battery charges.

Last year a company from Texas displayed to the public its new type of battery – they don’t use the name battery they call the new device capacitors or something like that – anyway this new type of battery have a range of 500 miles between charges and the beauty of the new system is that it takes only 5 minutes to recharge this new battery and the person can drive another 500 miles.

Only fools believe on the market efficiency theory – just look at Wall Street…..

Only fools also believe on the efficiency of the American economy – and we can start with GM case study and go from their….

http://www.elitetrader.com/vb/showt...light=who+killed+the+electric+car#post1982341

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Just a reminder:

Not long ago - In April 24, 2000 the GM stock was trading at $ 94.62 per share.

Adjusted for inflation that amount would be equivalent to $ 119.00 per share in today's dollars.

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June 4, 2009

SouthAmerica: Here is something for GM workers to look forward to in the near future – they lose their jobs at GM making about $ 75 per hour between salary and benefits and they can get a new job at Wal-Mart making $ 5 bucks an hour plus another $ .50 cents in benefits.

I bet most GM workers will be looking forward to this new great job opportunity – so the rest of millions of unemployed people in the United States.

I guess this is the best the US economy has to offer in the future for the US labor force.

By the way, the article said: “The company says 94 percent of its employees have health coverage, either through Wal-Mart or another family member.”

They forgot to clarify that a large percentage of their employees get their health insurance coverage from Medicaid since they are so poor and destitute that they qualify for that government program.


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“Wal-Mart says it will create 22,000 jobs in 2009”
Wal-Mart, touting impact in tough economy, says it will create 22,000 jobs in 2009
Associated Press - On Thursday June 4, 2009, 12:06 am EDT

BENTONVILLE, Ark. (AP) -- As Wal-Mart Stores Inc. opens about 150 new or expanded stores in the U.S. in 2009, the company expects to hire about 22,000 people for new positions.

Those positions include plenty of cashiers and stock clerks, but the world's largest retailer will also be adding store managers, pharmacists and personnel workers.

Wal-Mart is holding its annual shareholders meeting on Friday, and employees from its stores around the world are spending the week in Bentonville at company headquarters.

Wal-Mart, still the target of criticism from union-backed groups for its pay and benefits, has improved its health insurance coverage and opened it to full- and part-time employees. The company says 94 percent of its employees have health coverage, either through Wal-Mart or another family member.

"At Wal-Mart, we offer competitive pay and benefits and real opportunities for our associates to advance and build careers," Wal-Mart Vice Chairman Eduardo Castro-Wright said. "Job creation is just one way in which we're working hard every day to help people across this country live better."

Other employee benefits include a 401(k) plan, stock purchases and discounts for workers making in-store purchases.

The company has touted its generic drugs program in which Wal-Mart is selling $4 prescriptions for many popular medicines. Competitors, such as Kroger Co., have matched the price for some prescriptions.

"During this difficult economic time, we're proud to be able to create quality jobs for thousands of Americans this year," Castro-Wright said.

Earlier this year, the company shared more than $2 billion with its workers through bonuses, profit sharing and payments into the company 401(k) plan.

Wal-Mart has more than 2.1 million employees in the U.S. and abroad. The company had sales last fiscal year of $401 billion.

Wal-Mart corporate site:
http://www.walmartstores.com

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most wealthy people in the world and some of their employees are on the public dole for health ins. nice..thats real good...think about it...
 
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