Quote Originally Posted by turkeycall View Post
Quote: "I also feel pretty disgusted being told to buy a car from two companies largely owned by the government and the UAW. "


I cannot speak to the issue of Chrysler ownership. However, the UAW is not an owner of General Motors. The VEBA, a negotiated health care trust fund for the General Motors hourly retirees, has a stake in General Motors. It is really not much different than a pension fund having shares of a company - any company - in its portfolio. That should - but probably won't - clear up any misunderstanding about UAW ownership of General Motors.


As far as government ownership, it's your tax dollars at work. YOU own a portion of General Motors. Now, contact your Representitive or Senator if you have a problem with that.
I understand the technicalities of GM's new ownership. On a practical level it's clear however that the government and the union will have a very large voice in GM's future decision-making. Why was GM forced to commit to another small car plant in the US without first establishing that it's needed? If Opel is capacitized for 200,000 units at a plant in Germany and their market only needs 150,000, GM can't make another 50,000 in Germany and ship them to the US to sell. Due to UAW and government meddling GM must build a small car plant in the US and run it at whatever paltry utilization the market dictates instead of using the excess [[free) capacity in Germany.

The company is already being run to benefit the UAW and further Obama's political agenda.