Dear Senator Murray, Senator Cantwell
hope this e-mail finds you well!
I am writing to express my strong opposition to any GM bailout aid. I believe it does not serve the public interest at all to throw good money after bad in bailing out the failed business model of GM and the UAW. Quite simply both the UAW (though it’s “jobs bank” and other onerous demands through the years) and GM’s management have bled the company coffers dry. The US citizens deserve better use of their taxes. With so many legitimate needs to serve, it would be an affront to citizens to dole out this money to these clearly special interests. Regardless of any political clout that GM and the UAW may wield; they have failed in the most basic way, and this kind of failure cannot be rewarded. The moral hazard here is wide and gaping.
Moreover, US laws already offer the correct remedy. An orderly bankruptcy and reorganization is the obvious (and most fair) solution. Let, as the bankruptcy laws intended, the creditors of GM become its new owners, and let the existing and unworkable business model be consigned to the auto scrap heap. If the US government feels the need to provide “debtor in possession” financing, this would be acceptable as part of an orderly bankruptcy.
I do have sympathy for the ordinary workers. I am certainly in favor of offering them job retraining as necessary. But let’s do everyone a favor and NOT bail out GM and allow them to lumber on for another year producing gas guzzling cars and an unworkable business model – this would only bring increased burdens shortly down the road.
Please do the right thing, and demand that GM faces bankruptcy for the failures it has brought upon itself. As for their arguments that (1) It was the credit crunch and high price of oil that failed them and (2) that consumers will not buy cars from a bankrupt company, these ring hollow. First, Toyota and Honda (both manufacturing fine cars here in the USA), while being affected by the economic downturn, were well prepared – why not GM? Second, consumers already view GM as perpetually on the “brink of bankruptcy”; the damage to their brand already exists. An orderly bankruptcy filing for GM would actually bring clarity to GM’s warranty and dealer obligations, resulting in a better consumer perception.
Again, please do the right thing and defend the taxpayers’ rights here. GM and the UAW must take responsibility for the sorrows they have brought upon themselves and the country.
With best regards,
Ivo Salmre (Seattle, WA)
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