what's wrong with this picture?

[Homemade 911]

I must be missing something - somebody please help me out here

r/Thom


General Motors to Invest $1 Billion in Brazil Operations -- Money to Come from U.S. Rescue Program


By Russ Dallen
Latin American Herald Tribune staff

SAO PAULO -- General Motors plans to invest $1 billion in Brazil to avoid the kind of problems the U.S. automaker is facing in its home market, said the beleaguered car maker.

According to the president of GM Brazil-Mercosur, Jaime Ardila, the funding will come from the package of financial aid that the manufacturer will receive from the U.S. government and will be used to "complete the renovation of the line of products up to 2012."

"It wouldn't be logical to withdraw the investment from where we're growing, and our goal is to protect investments in emerging markets," he said in a statement published by the business daily Gazeta Mercantil.

Meanwhile, he cut the company's revenue forecast for this year by 14% to $9.5 billion from $11 billion, as the economic crisis began to cause rapid slowdowns in sales.

GM already announced three programs of paid leave, and Ardila added that GM Brazil "is going to wait and see how the market behaves in order to know what decision to take" with regard to possible layoffs.

For Ardila, the injection in Brazil's automobile sector of 8 billion reais ($3.51 billion) recently announced by the federal and state governments of Sao Paulo "has already begun to revive sales," which fell by 12% in October.

The executive said that the company will operate a "conservative" scenario in 2009 with an estimated production of 2.6 million units, and another more "optimistic" that contemplates sales of 2.9 million.

This year sales will reach 2.85 million vehicles, which represents a growth of 15% over last year.

[tfmcmahon]

"to avoid the kind of problems the U.S. automaker is facing in its home". My guess would be two things. Unions and enviromentalists.Your other post gave you the answer.How can the state goverments like California institute more regulations on the auto industry and Washington propose legislation to enhance the power of labor unions, visa vi the "secret ballot" initiative at the very time they are on the verge of bankruptcy? The right hand doesn`t know what the other is doing.Given the state of representation in DC ,it should come as no surprise. TFM

[RickS]

"to avoid the kind of problems the U.S. automaker is facing in its home". My guess would be two things. Unions and enviromentalists.Your other post gave you the answer.How can the state goverments like California institute more regulations on the auto industry and Washington propose legislation to enhance the power of labor unions, visa vi the "secret ballot" initiative at the very time they are on the verge of bankruptcy? The right hand doesn`t know what the other is doing.Given the state of representation in DC ,it should come as no surprise. TFM

My guess is GM is doing what every large U.S. corporation does; try to maximize its profits to benefit its shareholders. This has occurred since the inception of incorporation without a thought to what it does to the U.S. worker (and the non-union parts suppliers to the manufacturers and supporting infrastructure) and the U.S. economy in general. It's all about the rich getting richer and the poor, the middle class, and the U.S, in general getting the finger. In other words, it business as usual. Just my opinion, I could be wrong. Oh, and if there is a 'secret ballot' how did you hear about it?

[tfmcmahon]

My guess is GM is doing what every large U.S. corporation does; try to maximize its profits to benefit its shareholders. This has occurred since the inception of incorporation without a thought to what it does to the U.S. worker (and the non-union parts suppliers to the manufacturers and supporting infrastructure) and the U.S. economy in general. It's all about the rich getting richer and the poor, the middle class, and the U.S, in general getting the finger. In other words, it business as usual. Just my opinion, I could be wrong. Oh, and if there is a 'secret ballot' how did you hear about it?

Here is an explanation of the "secret ballot".:http://www.nam.org/PolicyIssueInform...33819717DEA%7D
Your comments are contradictory.You state that corporations try to maximize profits for share holders.The shareholders are the American public,the middle class 401K types,including the unions retirement plans and they benefit from a profiitable corporation.Then you say they only benefit the rich.That`s a contradiction. Vilifying corporate America is the new game in DC,and not without some merrit,but demagogary in that direction is a slippery slope. TFM

[BBausser]

There you go again guys. Tim is off and running again. Get the facts straight.

http://www.tmcnet.com/usubmit/2009/02/09/3975324.htm