Hold the Mayo

March 30, 2009

Federal Marketing

There used to be a saying, "What's good for GM is good for America."If that is true, then the necessary corollary would be that what is bad for GM is bad for America.

GM is dead.

It died the moment it became possible that the President of the United States could demand the resignation of the CEO, and that the CEO had no option but to comply.

It died the moment GM became a government corporation. No better than Amtrak or the Post Office. Destined to be just as efficient and profitable.

If you think this to be hyperbole, consider that The One has taken over the marketing of GM vehicles by announcing that the Federal Government would back the warranties of GM cars.

The warranty on a new car, or any product that you purchase is marketing. The company can spend millions of dollars in advertising to tell you how great their product is and you just might not believe them. If they tell you that they guarantee the quality - that they will put their money on the line - that means something.

That's why carmakers are constantly try to one-up each other on who has the longest warranty or covers the most parts of the car under their warranty. That's why they advertise their warranty.

The decisions of what to warranty, for how much, and for how long, are made by the marketing department.

GM's marketing department is now the Oval Office.

There is no doubt, GM was a gravely ill company. The One just stepped in to play Kvorkian.

Posted by: Stephen Macklin at 06:33 PM | Comments (4) | Add Comment

1 This is all part of the brave new America where government decides which companies make it and which ones die; not exactly what the original plan called for.

I could use a boost in my locksmith business. Maybe I could get the O and his band of thieves to put all the other locksmiths under their control to force them out of business and I'd be the only one left. It wouldn't matter that I only work on certain aspects of the locksmith buisness since the O knows nothing about the locksmith industry; only that I promised half of everything we make to keep him happy.

Posted by: T F Stern at March 31, 2009 09:19 AM (Ruh11)

2 I was wondering if I could get some TARP money for my employer - there's a few folks in management I'd like to see The One fire!

Posted by: Stephen Macklin at March 31, 2009 05:43 PM (R7LgM)

3 It really is disturbing for anyone who understands and cares about the Constitution and what capitalism really means. What makes it even worse is that GM and Chrysler continue to fail even with Federal assistance, yet Obama still sticks to what he said earlier- almost as if he is stubborn to accept defeat. The day will come when these companies will fail no matter what and I really wonder what Obama will do then- maybe he will just keep subsidizing them until the country goes under with them...

Posted by: Miraj Patel at April 01, 2009 08:38 PM (3UimR)

4 My expectation at this point is some sort of bankruptcy lite for GM with the end result being the federalization of GM's healthcare obligations.

A nice payout for the UAW and one step closer to fully socialized medicine.

Posted by: Stephen Macklin at April 02, 2009 05:10 AM (R7LgM)

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