[sgarnett]

The Senate, UAW, et al, just gave up (ie failed) on reaching a compromise a few minutes ago.

I don't know how GM will come out after bankruptcy (they just hired the bankruptcy lawyer), but the stock market futures are looking ugly tonight. It actually held up well through some dismal recent employment numbers, but I suspect tomorrow is gonna be ugly. Rebuilding my retirement is going to mean austerity and no new cars for a very long time, and I suspect that will be true for many others. That can't be good for any automaker.

I'll admit I wasn't convinced that bridge loans to March could solve the problems for GM, so I don't claim to know what the right answer was. Nevertheless, this is going to be a big kick in the teeth for the economy.

This post has been edited by sgarnett: Dec 12 2008, 04:07 AM

[C3SS]

I agree it is important but would still like to see more concessions from the UAW. In the admittedly little reading I've done on this, that seems to be the hang-up.

[trackbird]

I agree it is important but would still like to see more concessions from the UAW. In the admittedly little reading I've done on this, that seems to be the hang-up.

I saw them say that they wanted the UAW to take a pay cut to put them in line with the non union import plants in the country. Many of which are located in areas with lower costs of living. Also, even if they are not, many families can't afford to take a 5-25% (I didn't see the exact number) pay cut. Of course going bankrupt and putting everyone out of work is an issue, but it doesn't do much good to keep your job and still lose the house and such due to not making enough money to continue paying your bills.

Don't take this to mean that I'm defending people overspending. But if you have a house and a couple kids (and income that's quite predictable since it's in the contract), your budget is probably pretty well stretched on the current salary. If you knew you were getting a pay cut, you might have kept a smaller car payment (or other bill) instead of buying whatever you may be driving currently. But if you're living (barely) within your means, a large paycut is almost as bad as losing your job. And it's not like you can just sell the house and buy something smaller right now, or sell/trade the car. The market sucks all the way around and you're probably going to be stuck with your current car/house/bills for a while.

And I've heard some mention of a few government officials who are wanting to "bust up" the unions. So, I guess it's a big sticking point.

Of course I'm just thinking out loud. Others may not agree.