You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time… but eventually market forces will rise up and bite you in the butt. As predicted, both General Motors and Chrysler are back, hat in hand, asking for more money. This time, taxpayers are not bamboozled by ...

Filed under: Government/Legal, GM, Earnings/Financials, UAW/Unions Ask for a little help from the government, and the next thing you know you're asking for the government to protect you from the very help it's giving you. General Motors is restructuring its debt load by offering equity shares instea...

Ding, dong the Jobs Bank is dead! Sorta. [Freep]...

Was it really just a few weeks ago that the United Auto Workers came to Washington with the Big 3, and promised to work together with management to ensure the companies’ viability — if only Washington would bail them out? Didn’t the UAW ultimately agree (if unhappily) to the requir...

Filed under: Rants and raves, General Motors (GM) The ink is barely dry on the $13.4 billion in "loans" provided by the Bush administration at the end of 2008, but General Motors (NYSE: GM) is already talking about needing more. CEO Richard Wagoner says the company may look to secure additional gove...

The automobile industry’s  domestic sales figures  for 2008 are out, and to absolutely no one’s surprise, they do not paint a pretty picture. With the exception of BMW’s Mini and Subaru, all brands posted losses - yes, even Toyota and Honda. Chrysler took the biggest hit, as its ...

You know already that Congress scuttled Plan A of the automaker bailout. The outlines of Plan B are now becoming clear. Per President Bush’s announcement last Friday (and subsequent publication of “term sheets� by the Treasury) the Administration will extend about $17 billion in grants (euphem...

I spent the summer of 1999 working for the UAW legal department. It was the best job that a union-oriented first-year law student could ask for: great bosses, co-workers who shared your values, and interesting work.  But most importantly, there was a pervading sense that you were -- in some sma...

Thursday Evening News Roundup You know, after my being up all night, a short nap does not hit the spot like it used to. It takes some time for cobwebs to clear. So if most of what I wrote below doesn’t make any sense, feel free to write it off to a lack of sleep. The stock market fell for the ...

I guess maybe the USMC ought to be taking a hard look at those GM Hummer procurement contracts the next time round, eh? The sheer obnoxiousness of the UAW isn't the main reason why I oppose a bailout of the Big 3 auto manufacturers. But it's the easiest to explain. Splash, out Jason...