Government Motors Needs Another Bailout

According to the CEO of Government Motors, they are right on track with their new advertising strategy...they are doing everything right, except for getting people to actually buy their cars. Sales in September were down 45% from those that "forced" the government to assume control of the company in the first place. However, Ford Motors, who DIDN'T take the bail out money, are only down 5%...But as Mickey Kaus, of Kausfiles (slate.com) points out,

However, GM has about 10,000 more U.S. workers than it plans to have by the end of 2009 after buyout programs for hourly and salaried programs fell short. GM aims to have 64,000 workers and isn't as far along toward that goal as it expected by this point.

So they let Henderson take the bad press for the layoffs, then they fire him! The bad news goes out the door, and the new CEO gets to do something more popular. ... Maybe it really is all going according to plan.

P.S.: Ten thousand new layoffs would provide a test of whether Congress and the White House can refrain from intervening to stop them, I suppose. Wouldn't it be better for the UAW to take a small cut in hourly pay and save some of the jobs? And attract more production in the future? ... But I forget: Hourly pay cuts hurt all union members. Layoffs only hurt the laid off. If you are an elected UAW official, the course is clear.

I suspect our political elite in WashDC, having invested a great deal of prestige in not allowing GM to go through a legal bankruptcy will again intervene to "save" those jobs and fork over billions more.