Updates Rarely
Make It Easy For Me will be taking a new direction from this point forward.
Continuing in the tradition of going after easy targets, MIEFM will now be a celebrity gossip blog. You can expect another post with more information later today, or early tomorrow.
Har har har, April Fools!
This morning my friend Scott was telling me that the Obama Administration had asked the CEO of GM to set down. Curious, I sought more information on what was going on, and remembered that the auto industry had also asked for a bailout some time ago.
What’s happened is this: When the GM and Chrysler asked for a bailout a loan agreement was set up, and before they would get the money their continued viability had to be proved, or they had to have a plan that would make them viable. The deadline was tomorrow, March 31, 2009. The assessment of the two companies viability turned out to be negative.
GM seems like it could become viable, but on its own it was not doing enough to become a viable competitor in the global car market. For this reason, it has been given 60 days to get its act together, do an aggressive restructuring that will likely replace most of its board, or it will not receive a loan from the US government. This restructuring has begun with the removal of the current CEO and Chairman Rick Wagoner. Over the next 60 days GM is expected to work closely with a government task force to restructure itself, set up a plan to gain a positive cash flow, and substantially reduce its debt.
Chrysler, one the other hand, appears to be unsustainable on its own. Because of this, Chrysler plans to gain a partnership with Fiat, who as recently as 2004 underwent their own, apparently successful, restructuring. The idea here is that Fiat will lend technology and leadership to Chrysler, allowing it to improve its share of the market, and get themselves out of the negative. Once Chrysler has done this they will begin to payback the government assistance they received, and eventually Fiat will likely own a controlling share of the company. Chrysler has 30 days to finalize a partnership with Fiat, or it will not receive government assistance to stay afloat.
In both plans the companies will receive working capital from the government for their transition periods (the 60 days for GM and 30 days for Chrysler) and full access to Obama’s team of industry experts to help get them on track before their ultimatum is up.
Here’s some things I like about the plan:
First, I like that the government is being tougher on them than they were on the banks. As it is now apparent, the government did not put in enough fail-safes to prevent bank executives from using the government money to give themselves a nice fat paycheck. I feel that their should have been more stipulations there, and it seems like the administration learned its lesson and is being a little more careful with the automotive industry.
Second, both plans stipulate that, in order to receive government assistance, new cars and engines will need to built in United States factories. This should help relieve some of the unemployment that is plaguing the United States, as the automotive industry was one of the largest manufacturers in the United States. Michigan is an example of how the automotive companies failing affects unemployment, as it has had a number of manufacturing facilities closed by these companies, and Michigan also faces the highest unemployment rate in the United States. Reopening U.S. factories coupled with the infrastructure projects and state funding from the Recovery Act should help pull us out of this recession.
I’m still alive, just thought I’d let you guys know. Thanks for still popping in, I know I’ve been a terrible writer for the past, oh, two months. I’m thinking of starting up writing again, but who knows, we’ll see.
For something to read, my friend Scott is starting a new blog, called No Entertainment Media Is Safe, or NEMIS, so check that out.
This post is to apologize for my absence here lately. I’m in a transitional period, trying to figure out what to write, why I want to write it, who I am really writing for… Thank you for still coming and checking for posts, I appreciate your support. Hopefully I will have something interesting for you soon.
Sorry about that long break without warning. Christmas time was a bit busy and when it came time to write a post I was either otherwise engaged or worn out. I should be picking it back up on a regular basis now, though I am playing with the idea of switching to once a week, probably Sundays, so that I can research my posts a bit more and give you something that is a little more original that what I’m putting out there for you now. We’ll see how that goes, and I’ll make a post about that if it is what I choose to do.
Judge Michael Davis made the important distinction months ago that making files available to be shared through file sharing software such as Kazaa or Grokster is not the same as actually sharing music illegally over the internet. Because of this distinction he declared a mistrial in the case of Jammie Thomas, who was being sued for $222,000 for illegally sharing music. The judge is now holding to that decision by refusing to hear an appeal from the RIAA to allow the case to go to trial.
This gets Thomas out of a huge fine, and sets an important precedent for future cases where the RIAA is trying to sue consumers under the making-available idea. Now the RIAA is forced to present actual evidence that a consumer has broken the law before suing the for breaking the law!