I say this from the perspective of an analyst.
People are so upset when guys in wall street made huge bonuses only to leave carnage in their wake.
I really do not see any difference from wall street excess and the largess that you see at the big 3 autos. The unions are so powerful, they have absolutely handcuffed GM et al from repositioning their companies to better compete. Moving from half tonnes to small cars and hybrids would result in reconfiguring of operations and job losses.
The healthcare and pension plans for union employees are otherworldly. Converting union employees from their current healthcare plan to the same plan that GM office and non-union employees get would save GM $2b per year by some estimates (their operating profit to Dec/07 was -$4b). Union refused.
There should be no bailout and the obvious recommendation for GM is to own bonds and short the shares against this, but this would be foolish given a rescue is likely on the way. One that will disproportionately wipe out recovery prospects for bond holders and equity holders compared to union numbers.
The obsession with the "US car makers" by politicians is baffingly when you consider how much of the components are actually made in China only to be assembled in the US much the same as Toyota does with its plants in the US employeeing US workers.
What a joke. I wouldn't be too quick to short those shares as the slightest hint of a bailout will cause a spike. The short interest (number of shares sold short) has continued to decline over the past few weeks because of this.
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