The "Big Three" automakers are already in President-Elect Obama's ear banking on another bailout. While one can point to the inability and unwillingness of the auto industries to invest in cheaper, more fuel efficient cars as the prime example of the automaker's problems, going unnoticed is the incredible amount GM alone spends on health care for its employees, both current and past.
From this article in the New York Times.
In fact, paying the cost of hospital stays, surgeries and expensive drugs for retirees, a group now larger than G.M.’s active work force, is a major reason the company’s financial woes are so great. G.M. says it spent $4.6 billion in 2007 on health care for its one million employees and retirees and their dependents.
To save money, GM is eliminating the health care benefits of retirees, many of which will end up on Medicare.
The problems are legion. The cost of health care, the problematic approach to letting employers provide health care, but most importantly is the inability of General Motors leadership to vision for the future or even manage a budget. I am certainly nervous about any collapse of the big three automakers, but if a bailout is necessary, let us put major stipulations (like investments in fuel economy and alternative energy instead of lobbyists and public relations) on it.
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2 comments:
I am always torn. I want to buy American. But the Japanese make such good cars. I'm kind of addicted to Honda. Although, the next time I buy a newer model car I may consider something like a Dodge Caliber. I wish that the Big 3 would make something as reliable as a Honda.
Amen, Jennifer.
How can the government seriously expect to keep bailouts like this going? How can the Big 3 automakers blame us when their cars suck? Major American businesses that don't keep up good business practices can't keep blaming everyone else for their problems and expect us to keep saving their butts.
And yes, I drive a Honda.
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