Science Forums 2

[Boerseun]

I only just now saw the "You don't want to buy our shitty cars" pic that Michaelangelica put up.

And it really made me think.

I can understand the imperative from a social standpoint to bail companies like GM out, to preserve jobs in the short term.

But the bottom line is that they've been losing sales for years - regardless of the financial crisis.

The only way to make this sustainable in any conceivable way, is if GM starts manufacturing vehicles that people would actually buy. Else, they will just have to be bailed out again next year, and the year after that, ad infinitum.

How is it possible that manufacturers could be bailed out in the USA, that beacon of capitalism? If a company can't sustain itself based on sales, then market forces will inevitably remove that particular company from the equation, i.e. the company will disappear into the mist of history. Which makes me think - how many of these "bailouts" would have been necessary in any case, without the financial downturn? How many companies are now just jumping on the bailout bandwagon because they were crap to start with?

I think the whole concept stinks. There's no point in bailing out General Motors, if people still insist on buying Toyotas and Volkswagens.