Thursday, April 23, 2009

GM? Is this the beginning of the end?

The recent news from GM leaves a person wondering if this is the beginning of the end. What if? What if GM restructures more will they be able to become profitable? What if the UAW gives up more concessions will this secure their jobs? What if GM goes into bankruptcy will this be a brighter future for GM? The truth of the matter is the only real future in the market today is that a company needs to be able to make changes fast to keep up with compitition. How does a company acheive this? Cost such as labor, material, electric, health care, pensions or 401k's are all subject to be trimmed. Companies can always hunt for cheaper materials and cheaper health care. They can also reduce additions to pensions and 401k's. Electric comes down to more energy savings and going more green for the tax deductions. That is just a rough draft of a companies finacials. I didn't get in to the advertising and compition from other companies but you get the idea. There is one thing I left out, labor. This is a touchy subject, but this is the largest cost to some companies. When all the benifits are figured in for GM employees, not just the working employees but also the retired employees. GM is the hiighest paying automotive employer in the world. Yes the world. GM still values it's employees, but at what cost? Well I guess it's time to get at the heart of this article. GM needs to go into bankruptcy just to get rid of the union. GM needs to get their employee pay and benifits in a relation closer to their non labor cost. The whole world was up in arms that the big three auto giants would go bankrupt but the truth of the matter is it's the best thing for them. For GM they would come out of bankruptcy a lean mean auto making machine. I know that would be a stock I would be adding to my portfolio.