Originally Posted By: OVERKILL
Originally Posted By: d00df00d
I wonder how many of those who claim this was such a waste of money could say so while looking in the faces of all of the good employees whose jobs were on the line.
I also wonder who is making such judgments in light of what might have happened to the already-vulnerable US economy had the Big Three been allowed to go under.
I'm not exactly a fan of most of the parties involved here (the Big Three, the UAW, etc.), but at some point we have to be pragmatic. A billion dollars here or there is barely a blip on the scale of the whole country, and it seems to have bought us quite a bit.
The point of what I posted is two-fold:
1. GM promised to pay the taxpayers back. If they buy back the stocks at this price, they are not paying us back. We are getting screwed, period.
2. GM management should not be chomping at the bit for salary increases, bonuses and private jets. It is this mindset that got them in the position of going bankrupt in the first place. The message this sends is "hey, we didn't learn anything! You paid for us to stay afloat, are taking a hit on us paying you back, and now we get to go spend money frivolously again!"
This is NOT the kind of message you want to be sending to the American public, who propped you up when you were failing. This is a slap in the face, rather than a "thank you".
x2, couldn't agree with you more. This is a perfect example of why we are in debt in the first place. Bad decision after bad decision.