February 25, 2010 – 7:30 am
Perhaps because of what Glenn Beck’s been saying about Toyota, I’ve been asked many times over the past few weeks whether it’s possible that Obama, Rahm Emanuel and/or Waxman have launched this vendetta against them, as a conscious strategy to benefit GM and/or the UAW. After all, the government owns most of GM now.
I’ve had a serious mental block against even considering that idea. After all, to say that the government owns a majority of GM is theoretically the same as saying that We The Taxpayers own a majority of GM.
But what if it’s true? Hearing some of what Waxman has been saying really has me wondering.
December 1, 2009 – 5:32 pm
What I will want to know about Henderson’s resignation over the next few weeks is whether a candidate to replace Henderson permanently emerges quickly. That would suggest that today’s move was planned. It Henderson’s resignation was precipitate, it suggests deeper problems. It’s reasonable to speculate that there was disagreement over the disposition of assets. It’s also possible that this day was fated to come, and Henderson was a caretaker from the start.
October 6, 2009 – 9:11 am
Today’s Coffee and Markets podcast focuses on the oft-reported backroom dealings of the Gulf states on oil and the dollar, and the more realistic possibility of a second bailout for the auto industry.
By Francis Cianfrocca
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Posted in Features, Podcasts
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Also tagged auto industry, bailout, Chrysler, Coffee and Markets, Ford, Gold, Gulf, Hyundai, Oil, Podcast, Podcasts
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October 2, 2009 – 8:42 am
In today’s Coffee and Markets podcast, we discuss at length Mike Spector’s WSJ profile of the long slow death of old GM, the incredible assets it has to get rid of, and the overall ramifications for the marketplace.
September 4, 2009 – 6:00 am
Today’s podcast focuses on why you’d ever want a Cadillac, and what the housing-market collapse has done in the hardest-hit areas in the country — specifically, suburban California. Are suburbs really halving in value? What are the societal ramifications of it not making economic sense to live in suburbs?
By Francis Cianfrocca
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Posted in Features, Market, Podcasts
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Also tagged automakers, Cadillac, California, Cash for Clunkers, Coffee and Markets, houses, housing crisis, housing market, Podcast, Podcasts, suburbs
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September 2, 2009 – 7:46 am
Francis Cianfrocca joins Ben Domenech for the latest edition of Coffee & Markets, a series of brief morning podcasts on politics and the marketplace. Today’s conversation focuses on the August numbers from the auto industry — what they mean for Ford, GM, and you — and a unique perspective on stock and bond prices.
By Francis Cianfrocca
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Posted in Features, Market, Podcasts
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Also tagged auto industry, auto numbers, car sales, carmakers, Coffee and Markets, Ford, Hyundai, Kia, Podcast, Podcasts, Toyota
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I am very reluctant to accept that the Federal government can manage the transition of General Motors from a failed bankruptcy to a healthy and newly-independent business, generating good jobs, and vibrantly serving consumer needs. Even if some facsimile of that process unfolds, the economic inefficiency will be staggering. That translates directly to consumption and investment that we will all have to forgo.
By Francis Cianfrocca
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Posted in Edge, Features, Market
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Also tagged auto industry, bailouts, Barack Obama, car makers, Chrysler, Ford, Francis Cianfrocca, Fritz Henderson, General Motors, Rick Wagoner
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President Obama is trying to fundamentally change the economics of auto transport. He’s doing things that will make it cost a lot more in real terms to drive a mile in your vehicle. In the future, you’ll have to give up more of the other things you buy in order to drive as much as you do now.
There is something deeply disturbing about the Obama Administration’s willingness to abrogate contracts, agreements, and the legal rights of others as it continues to expand government’s role and crowds out private sector rights in the process.
I predict that before it’s all over, the taxpayers will have flushed between 50 and 100 billion dollars into GM. In return for nothing.
Chrysler’s bankruptcy filing represents something very new and different for the American economy. There’s a tremendous number of moving parts here, and no one is being very clear about it. I have at least two very big questions and one major concern about what Chrysler’s situation suggests could happen to GM and the largest banks.
The history of America’s postwar economic and social development, as much as anything else, is the story of the automobile. Not for nothing, and with substantial justification, did GM’s then-president tell Congress in 1954 that “What’s good for GM is what’s good for America.” But is the PUMA good for GM? And is it good for America?
