Excerpt from WSJ: Obama's GM Plan Looks Like a Raw Deal

With respect to questions posed by Mr. Nader and Mr. Weissman, number one is intriguing. After all, it costs nothing for GM and Chrysler to allow franchisees to remain in business. What it does accomplish is turning customers of the factory (distributors, in the classic sense) into debtors who hold factory goods and owe money on them, but have no way to return them in lieu of payment. Chrysler has refused to accept cars back from dealers. When their is no obvious answer one's mind turns to the political implications.

And why isn't Congress assertying their rightful place in these negotiations, as they fid in 1979 with Chrysler's first bailout? That is explored more fully in number seven, but fair use does not allow me to reprint the entire article.

Here are samples of the first 5 questions in the article published today:

Congress, not a secret task force, should decide the company's fate.
By RALPH NADER and ROBERT WEISSMAN

1) Has the task force conducted any kind of formal or informal cost-benefit analysis on the costs of a GM bankruptcy and excessive closures? These may include the social effects of lost jobs (including more than 100,000 dealership jobs alone), more housing foreclosures, the government expense of providing unemployment and social relief, lost tax revenues, supplier companies that will be forced to close, damaged consumer confidence in the GM brand, and impacts on GM's industrial creditors.

2) Do GM and Chrysler really need to close as many dealerships -- which do not cost manufacturers -- as have been announced?

3) Is the task force asking for too many plants to close and the elimination of too many brands?

4) Why is the task force permitting GM to increase manufacturing overseas for export back into the U.S.? Under the GM reorganization plan, the company will rely increasingly on overseas plants to make cars for sale in the U.S., with cars made in low-wage countries like Mexico rising from 15% to 23% of GM sales here.

5) Why is the task force supporting GM's efforts to devise a two-tier wage structure, whereby new auto jobs no longer provide a ticket to the middle class?

6) How will bankruptcy affect GM's overseas operations, with special reference to China and GM's corporate entanglements with Chinese partners?

Link to complete Wall Street Journal article here (requires subscription to log in).

Bank of America or Tele-Scam? 800-669-0102

Mowing my lawn this morning I was interrupted by wife, bringing me the telephone. "Who is it?" I whispered.

"B of A," she mouthed. After the brief discussion, which I transcribe as best I can below, I considered the likelihood of this being legitimate. After all, the 800 number that popped up indicated "unknown caller" on my phone. That alone is suspicious when it comes to alleged "debt collectors" calling. Worse, when I called back the number, 800-669-0102 the voicemail said, "Hi this is Stacia," who did NOT say a company name or indicate what position she holds. And hers was definitely not the voice that called me.

Here's my call log with the Indian telemarketer:

Me: "Hello."

Indian telemarketer: "Hello, who am I speaking to?"

Me: I stated my name and added, "Who am I speaking to?"

IT: Her name and, "calling from Bank of America, formerly Countrywide Mortgage and I must inform you that this call is from a debt collector and may be recorded for quality control purposes.

Me: "Really?" Said with slight incredulity.

IT: "This is a courtesy call to determine when you will be making your mortgage payment and in what form."

Me: "Is it past due?" I already knew the answer to this.

IT: "No it is not past due, t is due now and we would like to now when you will make that payment?"

Me: "I don't know but it will be on time. What is the purpose of this call?"

IT: " We are trying to save you a charge of $97 if you pay it late."

Me: "But I'm not late. I'll pay on time, as usual."

IT: "How do you usually make your payment?"

Me: "By check."

IT: "Will that be a written draft or a check by phone?"

Me: "Depends, usually by check but I believe we have paid by phone before as well. I'm puzzled by the purpose of this call since the account is current."

IT: "We would like to know what form the payment will be and when you will make the payment."

Me: "On time. What exactly is the purpose of this call?"

IT: "This is just a courtesy call."

Me: "Well thank you very much for reminding me I have a mortgage. We'll talk to you later. Goodbye."

Then I returned to mowing my lawn, puzzling over the facts presented by this telemarketer, (a) Countrywide is now Bank of America, and (b) they've spent money hiring telemarketers to call customers who are current in their accounts. Why would a company that recently took another Federal handout  at the same time they were buying a pig in a poke whilst their shareholders were firing their chairman be wasting money calling good customers, and in my case at least, wasting their customers' precious weekend time?

Well, what else has B of A been up to this week? Oh yeah! Their stress test indicated they need another $35,000,000,000 to be "healthy" and indicated they should convert some common stock to cash. Sure, I bet people are just lining up to buy that stock now. So, I called a retired bank president and asked him what reason would a bank have for enlisting telemarketers to call and ask for early payments? Mr. B pondered that a bit and admitted he could think of no benefit to B of A that would outweigh the cost. Beyond an immediate influx of cash. But that would not help their long-term capital position.

So, the question remains, what is a bank on the public dole doing bugging good customers who are paying on time. Don't they have something better to do? Once this house is paid off I will never get another mortgage through B of A or C-Wide.

If you don't like this kind of "courtesy call" bullying then call "Stacia" and let her know how you feel: 1-800-669-0102.

RIP: Chrysler | Cars I've Owned

1975 Pontiac Firebird
1974 VW Karmann Ghia
1978 Dodge Aspen
1972 Oldsmobile Delta 88
1985 Isuzu I-Mark
1980 Subaru Hatchback (GL or DL?)
1978 BMW 530i
1986 VW built in Brazil (such a piece of junk I can't even recall its name)
1992 Honda Accord DX
1991 Ford Crown Victoria
2002 Chrysler PT Cruiser
1993 Acura Integra ES
1962 Chevrolet C-10 Pick-up