You might think – because it was once true – that a car company’s primary tout would be its . . . cars. Just as any other company that makes whatever it makes would tout whatever it was it made. That being the thing the company does. And which it hopes to sell.
Well, did.
Nowadays, companies still do those things. But they are are secondary (and tertiary) to things such things as “People,” “Safety,” Diversity, Equity & Inclusion” and – wait for it! – “Citizenship.”
Is it seventh grade civics? Maybe the Boy Scouts. Whoops. There aren’t Boy Scouts anymore. But it is GM, today.
The above enumerated are the top four menu items you will find on General Motors’ Corporate Newsroom page. Nothing about cars – excepting EeeeeVeees, which of course ties into the “news” categories listed above, as EeeeeVeeees are all the same, too and so very “inclusive.”
Click on Diversity, Equity & Inclusion and you will find out about International Women’s Day at General Motors and how:
“Today, we unite for gender equality. We pledge to #BreakTheBias and help bring out our best selves as we work toward accelerating women in leadership across the industry. Watch how our teams in Africa and Middle East are changing the world and paving the way toward our goal of being the most inclusive organization. Here’s to women who challenge the status quo. Here’s to men who advocate gender equality. Here’s to a more tolerant and diverse community.”
One can also read about GM’s “commitment to sustainability” – which has “hit high gear” with a determination to reduce the company’s “carbon footprint by 95 percent by 2024.”
Got that great GM feeling, yet?
The Long March Through the Institutions, a term used by disgruntled communists who fled communist repression in places such as the old Soviet Union, to give it another go here in the America, is nearly complete. You know it is so when General Motors – once upon a time synonymous with American capitalism – has become one of the main institutions pushing communism.
They don’t use that word, of course.
For just the same reason that the government uses “asks” when it orders you to hand over money – or do whatever it says. Instead, words with less baggage and more moral suasion are used. Word such as “diversity” and “equity” and “inclusion.” For who could be opposed to what it sounds like they mean?
Of course, they mean something else. Just as it means something very different whenever the government “asks” you to do something. When it “reaches out,” look out. 
“Diversity” means just the same, in its own way, as “ask” means . . . when used by government. As in literally. The same. So long as everyone is superficially different. The requisite, proportionate differences as far as skin color, genitalia and (lately) pronouns, irrespective of genitalia. But diversity of views has as much place in this scheme as freedom of speech on social media.
Similarly, “inclusion” means the exclusion of those who do not think the same – especially if they are white, straight and male.
The long march has ended – and we are there. So, ironically, is GM – which has been so focused on selling the virtues of “diversity,” “inclusion” and “equity” that it hardly sells cars anymore. The whole operation today sells far fewer cars than Chevrolet division did all by itself, in the once-upon-a-time days when the latter owned about 25 percent of the entire new car market in the United States – as opposed to all-of-GM’s roughly 16 percent share of it, today.
Of course, in the once-upon-a-time days, GM ads touted Seeing the USA in Your Chevrolet. That Pontiac – RIP – Built Excitement.
And did.
Oldsmobile – also RIP – had Rockets.
Wouldn’t You Really Rather Have a Buick?
Many said yes.
Today, most say no – except in China, where Buicks are popular because of the association with Mao, who liked them very much.
And now America is a lot like China, our institutions having been throughly marched through such that the differences between the United States and China have become as superficial as the differences between a badge-engineered latter-days Buick and the same thing sold under a different badge as a Chevy and then again a GMC. Sometimes, a “Cadillac,” too.
GM is, however, adept a selling virtue.
The problem is finding enough people willing to buy it.
. . .
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Even before all this nonsense, the joke about GM was that it was a “retirement program” that happened to make cars on the side.
Its not just GM either. Just look at almost every college now a days. Full of useless administrators that don’t do anything useful for you know,,,, the students. As these nonsensical side things become the priority in most large organizations they fall over from the dead weight.
GM will go broke again and again, until the government itself collapses from the weight of the garbage.
This really does a good job of illustrating a key driver of our inflation crisis. Every vehicle GM sells has an effective tax in the price to cover the Diversity, Inclusion, and Equity (DIE) staff, deputy assistant vice presidents of people, social media brand managers, and climate change resiliency consultants on top of the low priority people who actually design, build, or sell vehicles. Whatever they can’t actually cover in the marketplace is provided by government subsidies and ESG investments giving away your retirement funds (it’s not their money, who cares?). Barra isn’t much of a car company CEO, but she’s a good apparatchik. But until the fraction of useless jobs decreases substantially, useful goods and services will keep getting more scarce and expensive.
Thanks, Bama –
It’s almost tragic to see this once-great car company become a political company. But then I remember it’s deliberate and evil. AMC failed because it ran out of money – and died honorably.
Hi Eric
Many corporations become political when they have lost in the competitive market place. You do remember that JP Morgan once said “Competition is a sin”? GM knows which side of the bread its butter is on. That’s why they are pushing Diversity Inclusion and Equity (DIE) so much. The Wokista’s are a cult of Useful Idiots. Like most cults, they are not only harmful to their members but to those around them. DIE is just another example of what happens when they infest an organization or group.
Automobile Chart, numbers per year manufactured.
2018 had 97,000,000 autos manufactured, 2019, 92 million, fell to 78 million in 2020.
In 2000, 58 million were manufactured. Over 1.5 billion vehicles in a 20 year time frame.
Millions are already off the road, accidents, too old and tired, parted out, stripped at Midnight Auto, Our Deals are Steals is their motto.
Millions of used parts, just have to ask, they’re there.
Davos is an orgy of indulgences which probably includes sex orgies. Reports of prostitutes have surfaced. Prurient participants are at the Turkish bath sauna hot tub in the Swiss fresh air. Have to clean up after a night of group groping.
The Byzantines would be embarrassed.
Taint the food with bugs and worms, make life for them all suffering and misery.
What can be expected in hell, be good for them. Do it for the practice.
Not working out all that well for the Davos decadent crowd.
Looks like a bust. There they were… gone.
Klaus didn’t show up, afraid he might be a mark or something.
The Great Reset is on the ropes, gettin’ pummeled heavily.
It is just for practice there too. There will be fireworks.
Video of mass graves in Ukraine tells the story. Great Reset going on there, no doubt about it.
War is so much fun. It is your fault, donchaknow.
Don’t let it happen to you.
Joe Biden’s Climate Czar, John Kerry, let the cat out of the bag while speaking in Davos……these billionaire psychopaths want to take as much money as they can from the masses, to “Fight climate change”……of course, THEY won’t spend a dime of THEIR MONEY…..they want that money from US……
https://www.wnd.com/2023/01/kerry-davos-climate-change-requires-money-money-money-money-money/
Eric: GM’s “commitment to sustainability” – which has “hit high gear” with a
determination to reduce the company’s “carbon footprint by 95 percent by 2024.”
Well it should be pretty easy as from what I can see they will wind up selling about 95% less vehicles.
Landru,
“selling about 95% less vehicles”, if any.
Of course, being a creation of the state, and “too big to fail”, the corporation will sell some vehicles, to the state. No profit required, the bail out will suffice.
One of the things I have a really difficult time with is all the corporate gay (and now “transgender”) stuff. The libertarian attitude used to be that whatever you want to in your own private bedroom behind a locked door is your own business — keep it there. I’m good with that, although I remain personally disgusted by homosexuality.
When — and why — did homosexuality become “THE Thing” that needs to be promoted by every corporation and endlessly shoved in people’s faces? There are not that many homosexuals out there, only a small fraction of the population. When they keep to themselves, I don’t bother to think about it. When it is constantly shoved in my unwilling face, I am reminded that homosexuality is about men having anal and oral intercourse with each other, and often with hundreds of strange men, spreading filth and STDs.
What does man-on-man anal sodomy have to do with manufacturing and selling cars, or trucks, or computers or whatever? When they constantly promote this shit, I am LESS likely to patronize these companies and MORE disgusted than I ordinarily would have been.
I think that’s why they do it. Homosexuality has become a sacrament of the woke religion, they constantly push it to demonstrate their own “virtue” and insult me for my “apostasy.”
I’m beyond sick of it, frankly.
Hi X,
I believe it is a push to destroy the human race. Look at the increase of Gen Z that identify as homosexual…one in 5. Twenty percent! Just an FYI (for those who care): Millennials – 10.5%, 4.5% Gen X, and 2.6% of Baby Boomers. There is a message being pushed on today’s youth and we believe it has only started recently, this has been ongoing for a generation and a half now. Society has had their eyes closed. We send these kids to public schools and don’t question what they are learning. We think it isn’t happening in our town, our city, our county, our state. Hell yeah, it is!
I read an article the other day that due to the Supreme Court pushing back Roe vs Wade to the states that liberal men are having vasectomies at an increase of 100-300% more than average. Um, okay.
Of course, the elephant in the room…doesn’t this just leave us with a bunch of alpha men and conservative women to have to repopulate the Earth?
Hi RG,
After the Supreme Court overturned Roe v Wade and let the states decide, there were deranged lefties calling for mandatory vasectomies for men under 21. So much for their constant bleating of “My body, my choice!”
> So much for their constant bleating of “My body, my choice!”
That was put paid to by mandatory Face Diapers and Death Jabs. They were all over those like white on rice.
Scott,
The “My body, my choice!” crowd suddenly sang a different tune when it came to mask and vaxx mandates. They also hated it when their own words were used against them. They even claimed that such mandates were NECESSARY because there was a SUPER DEADLY virus afoot. However, they’ve fallen for quite probably the BIGGEST fear porn campaign in my lifetime (other than “Man made climate change”, but that’s another topic for another time), as COVID had an infection fatality rate of not even 1% for people under 70. Not only that, but massive evidence and studies have come out showing that face diapers and the COVID “vaccines” aren’t all that effective either, and yet there are those STILL pushing masks & ineffective COVID jabs, suggesting that this whole push was NEVER about “Protecting public health”, but rather “Gaining total, perpetual control over the masses”. Why, even Leana Wen, who once upon a time advocated that the “Unvaxxed” not be allowed to leave their homes, recently admitted that COVID death numbers have been overblown. People who tried to point that out in 2020 were accused of being “Superspreaders of misinformation”.
RG,
Isn’t it curious that the Psychopaths In Charge are so concerned about the “useless eaters”, and want to dispose of them? Since they CREATED them. By promoting such as the CEO of GM. By paying people not to work, by regulating industries out of existence, by generally making it difficult, if not impossible NOT to be useless. Unless one is the “right” gender, whether real or not, the “right” sexual preference, the “right” color, etc. By destroying small business with the COVID psyop that kept people FROM being useless. They have created a Hellscape where being useless is the only option for many. And now they want us dead for being so? Well, after all, they are insane.
It is hard to get into a psychopath’s mind, John. I am not exactly sure TPTB created them. I am just going to apply that to environment and the breakdown of society in general, which happens with all governing bodies throughout the history of man. Just to note I am not applying my observation to anyone’s gender, religion, culture, sexual orientation, etc. but the forced submission of activism that we have seen over the last 50 years. Some of it was meaningful, most of it was crap. What it bred was the victim mentality and everyone feeling they weren’t getting their fair share. Everyone should have the same opportunities, but not the same outcome. You don’t punish your hardest, most reliable people by giving them the same gift as everyone else who didn’t want to push, study, or succeed.
I have always been curious what goes on in these backrooms at Davos. I did read the need for prostitutes have increased significantly over the last week. Make that what you will. How much does the media know and hides from the world? It probably is a celebration like the last days before Rome fell. I have a feeling we have seen this throughout history. I have read many books regarding England’s days as a Monarchy and what occurred in Parliament and how the lords made a mockery out of the poor. We see the same in all societies. The little people are good when something needs to be done, but the elites believe they should not have the same rights and freedoms as themselves. Times haven’t changed only the faces have.
They need us more than we need them. Unfortunately, they are to blind (and much to narcissistic) to see that.
RG,
“all governing bodies”= psychopaths. Always has. No sane person desires to hold the power of killing those who disobey them.
Indeed, the sane among us have always had trouble getting into a psychopath’s mind. After all, they are INSANE.
“I am not applying my observation to anyone’s gender, religion, culture, sexual orientation, etc.”
And neither am I. But when such are GIVEN power over others, the tend to exercise it.
Blowback:
‘A group of GOP Wyoming state lawmakers want to end electric vehicle sales there by 2035, saying the move will help safeguard the oil and gas industries.
‘The measure, introduced to the state legislature on Friday, was sponsored by six state legislators, who said in it that electric vehicles will hinder Wyoming’s ability to trade with other states. The bill states that citizens and industries would be encouraged not to purchase electric vehicles before the ban goes into effect.’
https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/3815311-wyoming-lawmakers-propose-ban-on-electric-vehicle-sales/
As a minimal government advocate, I oppose banning viable technologies, whether it’s gasoline, diesel, EeeVee, hydrogen, you name it.
But heavy-handed mandates from the US fedgov provoke heavy-handed resistance in states like Wyoming, with low population density and long distances between its small towns.
On the bright side, an EeeVee ban in Wyoming would help keep out Californicators, since they would have no convenient means of recharging — all but the rich ones, who would still fly into J-hole in their CO2-spewing private jets and charters.
If I had me a Gulfstream G550, I’d name it ‘Spirit of Davos’ just to tweak their damned noses. 🙂
GM’s diversity equity and inclusion section reads like they packed every single buzzword into one paragraph. Very obnoxious.
Hi RS,
I love GM vehicles… made before circa 2005-ish. Of course, even by then the rot had set in deeply. It also goes back farther – the end of divisional differences at GM. I think that may be worth an article…
It’s too bad GM wasn’t split apart via those divisions back in the day when the cracks started to appear in the late 1960’s. It was just too big to function properly. I really don’t think an organization of any kind can work when it gets that big. If GM had been split into ten or more companies, at least some of them could survive and even thrive again.
John DeLorean is spinning in his grave…GM is finished…
I think Mary Berra was the worst thing that happened to GM….they need NEW car guys/girls that understand the market like Zuntov, Harley Earl and even Delorean did. Berra is the car equivalent of resident Brandon….just a political hack place holder for the power behind the throne.
They should go back to their roots….I would buy a retro 80s Chevrolet square body pickup with a small block LS engine over anything they sell right now.
Hi David,
I used to know several middle-high GM people very well; all straight white men/mechanical engineers/car guys who got it. In sane times, Barra would be their secretary, maybe.
I believe Mary Barra actually DID start out as a secretary. She was in GM’s Human Resources department. Yes, a real car person there! I singlehandedly blame her for GM’s situation with “wokeness”, poor vehicle reliability, and obsession with EeeeVeees.
It appears that Klaus Schwab wasn’t at Davos today……
https://www.armstrongeconomics.com/world-news/wef/schwab-soros-not-at-davos/
Raider Girl made a point: all of the so-called minorities are patronized relentlessly. Those with brains resent being patronized. I am spoiled, because I’m a white man, and nobody would ever dare to patronize me. I imagine there are many minorities so-called who resent being treated like children. Their words would reach farther than mine.
To bad GM wasn’t allowed to go bankrupt in 08. Maybe Toyota could have bought some of their pickup truck and SUV plants. Then we could have 3500 Toyota’s and Some Toyota Suburban’s. They could have maybe salvaged the Corvette badge and done something cool with it.
The rest was already to far gone by the late 2000’s.
Once upon a time this country made some pretty awesome cars. Pretty much anything from the 1950s through to the early 1970s. GM? If it’s not a Toyota I would not even take a second glance. This is what the feds have wrought with their endless trek to make everything safe and zero fun. Anything they touch is destroyed, perverted, and left less capable. also see medical care.
A challenge for the global warming/climate change religious cult….
This is a very simplified version of the 38-page technical paper written with Professor Wijngaarden which explains in detailed mathematics and molecular thermodynamics why we are not in trouble with carbon-dioxide.
ATTENTION: For those who disagree with Happer, let us see your detailed mathematical / scientific rebuttal. Put up or shut up you morons/liars pushing fake science global warming bs….
Remember that an attack ad-Hominem concedes that you have no logical rebuttal for the argument presented.
How to Think About Climate Change…. William Happer….your chance to hear a real scientist
The global warming green agenda pushed by ecofascists is based is purely political and religious, based on fake science, like the Climate change false narrative, the new GAIA cult religion, a big favorite of the communist, reset, one world government, satanic cult freaks,
CO2 bs = insanity. another nutcase theory for low iq leftist morons
Climate change just like bat germ bs is purely political and religious, based on fake science. Climate change, the new GAIA cult religion, like it’s brother bat germ hoax, a big favorite of the communist, reset, one world government, satanic cult freaks,
People in the environmental movement are now just political activists, social activists, entrepenuers trying to make money, just a way to get a huge amount of cash, they have no formal science education, they just use fake science, their beliefs, so it is just a religion.
They take more and more extreme positions to keep the good guy bad guy narrative going, like banning all hydrocarbons, which is impossible and insane.
They hire the best PR firms to push their bs narrative and their main focus becomes just fund raising, just a racket.
They lie and use photo shop to back up their lies, like the island of floating plastic in the ocean twice the size of Texas, ……it doesn’t exist it is another lie…….it is remote so it is hard to fact check
They pick something that is invisible or remote or both, like CO2 so it is harder to fact check. Big pharma did this with the bat germ narrative (bat germs are invisible) they just used a cgi image…lol.
All the environmental problems they talk about are all lies, it is all fraud. Some of them are being charged with fraud now.
These green morons have zero science to back up their propaganda, (they quote crooked scientists not real science), all the claims they make are from corrupt, bought/rented loser low grade scientists who use fraudulent data and fake science to make these claims, they are intellectualy and scientifically bankrupt.
All the very best top level Phd scientists say they are wrong….lol
Watch one of the few un-silenced actual top level scientists in the world in this video…..
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CA1zUW4uOSw
Since the climate is always changing, switching from global warming to climate change means absolutely nothing. What exactly does it mean when some douche bag reporter on the boobtube says climate change in relation to the latest weather event. They use climate change for hot or cold, wet or dry, windy or calm, it is meaningless expression for morons.
Yukon,
I often wonder, how much of the “climate change” propaganda is perpetrated to cover for the ongoing and mostly unregulated poisoning of the planet. How much do DuPont, Bayer/Monsanto, etc. spend supporting “climate change”?
Hi John.
Once one gets below the level of the Useful Idiots, I suspect they know that this is impractical nonsense. If you track these things back, they run in cycles. Those ultimately behind this are part of an anti human Cult. A good place to start would be Thomas Malthus in the late 18th century (1798 if I remember right). His dire prediction’s turned out as wrong as those who came after him. Decade after decade
these prediction’s of doom have been issued. Only to be proven wrong. But oddly enough, being consistently wrong doesn’t discredit those involved. Those behind this aren’t interested in “saving the planet” or any such nonsense. What they are interested in, is unlimited power and control over other people, their resources and lives. That is one of the reasons for the current focus on energy and food. Plentiful cheap and reliable energy is the very life blood of modern civilization. Its development has been the foundation for lifting hundreds of millions out of poverty. It goes hand in hand with improved living standards and decreased mortality. That is why those behind this have targeted the main sources of plentiful, cheap and reliable power. Solar and wind are unreliable and expensive means of virtue signaling. They are ultimately dead ends. As they have been intended to be. Anyone interested in some of the details of this should look at two books Population Bombed and Fossil Future.
BJ.
I read Zero Hedge every day, for non-stock market news, and it’s remarkable how often the words “unexpected” or “unpredicted” appear in article headlines. In other words, the “experts” and “officials” haven’t got a clue.
People used to use wind and solar energy a lot, because there were few options. Then we discovered hydrocarbons, and WOW!
Hi John.
I did say once you get past the Useful Idiots, didn’t I? 🙂 Most of those so called “experts” are either diversity hires, political hacks or some combination of both. As for the “officials” I did say Useful Idiots… Solar and wind have limited application. But they should never be used to supply large scale base load. Both solar and wind have low energy density, and are also unreliable. They can be useful for small scale applications or for emergencies. Coal/Oil/Hydro Power/Geothermal/Natural Gas/Nuclear can all be relied on for stable reliable base load. Modern nuclear power, stripped of the generations of hysterical fear and extreme over regulation would be one of our best source for base load power. Modular nuclear is especially promising.
Every plant would be identical. But cheap, plentiful and reliable energy is the last thing that these anti human cultists want.
At Carsforsale dot com, 1964 Chevrolet Impalas are 50 grand for a four-door model and an Impala SS is 60 grand.
GM could build 1964 Impalas and they would sell. A new 1964 Impala from General Motors would be a hit. GM is missing out by being ostriches. Big Time
Let 2024 be 1964 all over again.
Everything old in autos does sell.
Getty Images has 100 pages of General Motors photos.
“ 1964 Chevrolet Impalas are 50 grand for a four-door “
Jeebus! Momsies ‘64 two door hardtop would be worth Bank! Learned to drive in that car back in ‘70, and did the maintenance and several carb rebuilds. Dad refused four doors – “only old people and cab companies drive four door cars!” White with a light blue interior. Since I ended up dating nuns (nun of this, nun of that, and nun of the other) the rear seat virgin vinyl remained that way, sigh.
The Davos Elites are meeting this week to discuss what Klaus Schwab calls “The year of the polycrisis” (Which THEY’VE created). Laughingly, they blame the problems THEY’VE created on CLIMATE CHANGE!
But don’t worry, just let THEM own everything, eat bugs, go with 100% “renewable energy”, give up your gas powered car, live in an itty bitty apartment, and the planet will be saaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaved! (Sarcasm)
Maybe it is time for GM to go. If corporations are people, they should be able to assume room temperature. Pretty much happend until the 2000s and Greenspan forced everyone’s retirement nest egg into the stock market.
AMC, Kodak, Polaroid, RCA, Zenith, Bethlehem Steel, J&L Steel. I’m sure there are many many more just in my lifetime.
Everything dies baby that’s a fact.
But maybe everything that dies,
someday comes back.
Put your makeup on
fix your hair up pretty
and meet me tonight in Atlantic City.
-Bruce Springsteen
Hi RK,
Your point in re “Greenspan forced everyone’s retirement nest egg into the stock market.” Not mine. Screw the casino styled the “stock market,” where insiders make book and outsiders go broke! Like “health insurance,” it’s a game for suckers. Much better off holding tangible assets in your own hand than giving up control over your “investments” to some oily McFinance flim-flam over which you have little to none, that disallows you from using your own money (as if you were an idiot child) and the value of which is ultimately at the mercy of unaccountable shysters like… Greenspan.
Eric,
Not to mention 401ks, etc.
Where you hand your assets directly into the control of the state. What the state giveth, the state can take away, at its pleasure. Deficit problem? Not a problem at all. We just confiscate the wealth of the idiots that gave us the power to do so.
Hi Eric.
I totally agree. Greenspan was a classic example of a high level conman. Look at his remarks before congress (especially to Ron Paul). Always keep in mind the old saying; “Gold is the money of kings. Silver is the money of gentlemen. Barter is the money of peasants. Debt is the money of slaves.”
As far as the basic principles of Wokism. I order them as Diversity. Inclusion. Equity. DIE. Which is what any organization or group does, when the Cultists take over. Its a free shot they are handing us, why not take it? 🙂
Re: Maybe it is time for GM to go.
Or maybe let each division to go it alone?
That would have been the right thing to do when they went bankrupt back in 08-09.
We might still have Pontiac if they were left to go it alone? But probably way too late at that point since there was almost nothing unique about Pontiac at that time.
GM created Saturn as an independent company. That worked very well. A little too well. Made the parent look bad. So pretty soon GM managment subsumed the child.
Imagine if a division were spun out to their own corporation. First thing that would happen is they’d owe GM corp for a lot of debt. Or they’d come up with a complicated lease-back scheme for the hard assets and locked-down parts supplier contracts.
Managers would love it at first, more C-suite positions open up, and a good productivity boost that comes with rearranging the desks. But then the old ways would come back, and the suppliers wouldn’t change, and so they’re right back to the same lackluster line they had before. And the unions would howl about everything, even if it was going to be better for the rank and file, just because that’s what union leaders do.
The banks would love it, debt restructuring and more trade action. Traders would love it, they’d get a tracking stock out of the deal.
The public probably won’t know the difference, or if they do the old brand loyal types will find some reaon to hate it.
Not trying to be negative but when a calcified bag of bones like GM tries to act like a kid they better have the chiropractor on speed dial.
It was a Chinese Emperor, not Mao, who was responsible for the Chinese liking Buicks.
All this ESG crap was predicted decades ago. Dirty Harry nailed it back then
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9rcIJIWqYmo
At the time we thought it was funny. Now we know better.
We need to go back to that, and need to tell the fed to back off when they try to bitch and moan about diversity and quotas
I don’t go to a place that meets the quotas, I want somewhere that provides excellent products and services
meanwhile…the car scene in russia…..no ev bs….
World’s quickest 1/4 mile 992 TTS – Porsche 911 Turbo S
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nTKSssAMQxM
All of this crap/disasters make me want to start my own car manufacturer. Make a 90’s Caprice/CrownVic style car. But as we all know, it’s impossible with the current laws/regs, and it’s exactly how they want it to be.
And why I like the current ideas/trends of smaller manuf. trying something different like the Roxor. And they’re not a small Manuf., coming from Mahindra, but Mihindra doesn’t make any ‘approved DOT’ cars for the USA.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-autos-mahindra/mahindra-takes-second-crack-at-u-s-auto-market-with-india-tough-off-roader-idUSKCN1QV1H0
I thought of something similar myself, but as a boutique brand that sees the limits and skirts it; say if you sell 50k cars you gotta comply, sell 49,998 to skirt the law but still sell whatcha want.
I want JDM style tuners, Muscle cars that are the current strawberry vanilla chocolate, pickups that are pickups instead of the new family car with sticks, and whatnot. Cut the middleman out, have the customer come to you to pick it up and again, sell just the right amount so you don’t comply with all that crap.
They want accent lighting and car play? They pay for it, but only for it, no “Accent lighting with Saaaaaaaaaafffffeeeeettyy added for $1500”. I know my car would look like a Mustang with MyColor in a Cyberpunk future lighting wise, but that’s my choice at the end of the day.
Sure someone just needs the right ideas and team to pull this off
The first and last GM car I ‘had’ was a’69 Chevelle 350 convertible in about ’74.
(My father bought it in Sept ’69 as his daily driver for about $3,600.
He always bought GM cars. He died in 2005.)
Fantastic acceleration, poor deceleration and very mediocre handling.
I loved the power, convertible top, and the way women looked when I drove it.
I drove it for about a year before buying my own first new car, a German made Mercury Capri sedan.
No, it didn’t have what the Chevelle had, but it was fun to drive, reliable, and cheap to maintain.
I have never bought another car from an American manufacturer.
Mazda invented the RX7 in ’78 and the MX5 in ’89 just for me.
I wish an American auto company cared to build what I wanted as much as Mazda has.
GM should be out of business. So should the federal government.
Government Motors is a Zombie company at this point, they’re way past dead and need to be put down, or bankrupted and restructured.
gm gets lots of esg cash (stolen from you)….no need to sell cars….
The Best Video On Climate Change That You Will Ever See
the UN Seeks $4 to 6 Trillion Per Year to Address Climate…
this is just another theft sold as help….. by the globalist/communists…assisted by their bribed/wef politicians and woke/esg $ bribed corporations……..disappearing into offshore accounts…while you die broke, freezing in the dark…
Dr. Marc Faber says these governments steal between 5% (honest governments) and 100% (crooked governments) of the money collected, borrowed.
https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/best-video-climate-change-you-will-ever-see
You would think the united auto workers union would get what is going on, along with all the other trade unions, but they are corrupt as well. Who is going to build cars even if we have cars (or EV’s) of the future? Let’s do some estimating: demographically our workforce is getting older, baby boomers are of retiring age. Of the 75MM whom voted for Trump, my guess is 50-60% did not take the vaccines therefore they are survivors but getting older and retiring. Of the 80MM whom voted for Bite-me, my guess 80-90% took the vaccine, they will die off in the next 5-8 years.
Who is the workforce of the future? The illegals now coming across the border by the millions: Unlike the union workers, they will be dedicated voters for the Marxist-democrats, will have partial citizenship to work, and vote, and take government handouts, but not get minimum wage benefits. All to ensure Nancy Pelosi has cheap help at her mansions. This will drive wages down. Unions never benefit when wages are driven down be non-union competition. Unions always support minimum wage increases because is translates up to higher scale work as well. You would think unions would be the most opposed to allowing illegal immigration, but they have been bought off by the Marxists.
UAW…se habla espanol?
Makes sense Hans. I was wondering about the end-game of all the illegals being allowed in, and your theory makes the most sense at the moment.
Thanks
A common rant I say is, “the physics doesn’t care!” Other similar ones are, “physics will not be denied!”. Our company makes things that must work in a very demanding, unforgiving, and harsh environment. The closeness of our products having to work like this has firmer grounding to the Natural Law and Truth. This is quite liberating.
It’s only a matter of time before GM (And probably other car companies) push another scam acronym, called ESG, which is essentially a Chinese style social credit score system for businesses. It appears one way to achieve a high ESG score is to abandon making gas powered vehicles in favor of EVs that only billionaire psychopaths, uber wealthy politicians, and elitists can afford.
The only things that domestic manufacturers can do is trucks and even those suck pretty bad now.
Only truck I honestly want is a Taco, and that’s for two reasons:
Size and manual.
I have no need for a Big boy, and I like to row my own gears. The fact that it’s reliable, takes regular maintenance and gas and can outlast the apocalypse is a nice bonus
After reading this, I’m reminded of several points:
1. All things being equal, choosing who to hire based on anything other than merit and price (e.g. who will do the best job at the most reasonable price) is hurting yourself. But sadly, all things are not equal.
2. When you focus on diversity over merit, as GM is doing, you will have less qualified people on the assembly lines, the design studios, the research and engineering labs, the corporate offices, and the executive suites. That means that your products will ultimately be worse.
3. GM cannot afford to focus on diversity over merit, as their core problems are related to first, making cars that nobody wants because they’re too expensive, have all kinds of problems, and are downright unexceptional, and second, letting corrupt unions and shady management run amok.
4. GM needs the best people they can find to fix their problems. If they happen to be a bunch of white dudes, so be it. If they find women and minorities who are among the best of the best, more power to them.
5. The whole DIE thing is a distraction from the real issues GM faces, and GM can’t afford distractions. By the way, the whole EV thing is a distraction.
6. I think GM will end up like Harley Davidson—making more money off memorabilia and brand licensing than actual product.
7. Corollary to 5, I wonder if companies get caught up in social issues to distract from core issues like poor sales, inept management, failure to keep up with changing markets, etc.
What do you think?
I can’t be the only woman disgusted by this need for “inclusion and equity.” Every “minority” should be insulted by this. By promoting diversity rather than merit secretly means we are too stupid to make it on our own. That is what the woke agenda is.
Seriously, the Doug McMillion, Stephen Squeri, Larry Fink, and Mark Zuckerbergs of the world should really just type an open letter to society:
Dear everyone except white men and the Chinese,
It is clear to us you are too simple minded to want more or are willing to work for more out of life so therefore we have created a new narrative that will tell us we accept and respect your ability to not further yourself without us assisting you. We have decided we will cater to the whims of the 3% of society that believe this is truly an issue. We will promote you and pat ourselves on the back for “including” everyone. We will push aside someone who has put in the hours of study, effort, and productivity to promote someone with low self esteem and a victim mentality. Will we give up our positions in the process for this new found equity and inclusion? Absolutely, not! We will pat you on the head and tell you you are doing a good job although our revenue and profit to our shareholders have decreased substantially since we have pushed this load of crap. We no longer need to focus on the widgets and service that made our company one of the best in the world. We know when the SHTF our puppeteers will bail us out with your taxpayer dollars. We are thankful you refuse to see the agenda we are pushing and are too unintelligent to break off the chains and create your own way through life. If we did not have you to control and shepherd we may end up with the same relevancy as a Sears, Blockbuster, or MySpace.
Regards,
Your slave masters aka a bunch of white male CEOs sponsored by the WEF and led around by the balls by the PRC.
Good stuff RG. So my question is how do we ‘not included’ survive, or even prosper in the future. I wish I knew. I have been very good a predicting things in my biz/life the past 20-25 yrs, but I am currently at a loss, which is bothering me.
On the worst scenario, I see everything my wife and I a built over 20+ years being wiped away by a bureaucrat. The best case, we keep innovating/adjusting, taking the absolute best care of our employees and clients and all will be fine. Hopefully, I am teaching our youth in our company to stand with all-time-tested-biz-principles and they too will have a good future.
Hi Chris,
I can’t claim to be a soothsayer, but I believe the current conditions can only go on for so long before the system breaks. I, like you, keep adjusting. If I meet a wall I turn around and try to find another way out. Last June, the IRS tried pushing the ID.me for accountants. I refused to play along and handled all my renewals through certified mail. The same thing happened with the credit card merchant who decided that small businesses should be paying the same fees as larger companies. I closed it out and opened a merchant account with a less stringent process (and cheaper fees).
Some days I wonder why I do this, but then I think of the alternative (working for someone else) and decide I will carry on until all doors are shut in my face. Then I will buy a Winnebago and a piece of land on Sanibel Island and spend my time running my 22′ Cobia up and down the Gulf catching tuna, shrimp, and grouper that I will sell to willing individuals on the shore upon my return to be paid for in silver or in pints of Haagen Dazs. I may plant a few citrus trees in the backyard as well. 🙂
Hi RG,
You might want to reconsider Sanibel Island; my sister lives in Sarasota and told me that it took a really big hit during the hurricane. We’re going to visit her in a couple weeks for a break from winter for about a month so will see the damage first hand as we travel around the area. Friend of mine owns a house in Bonita Springs that backs onto a canal, he had four feet of water in the house and a big boat (not his) in the front yard. Now he can’t repair/rebuild unless he raises the house 9 feet above the ground when he does. A lot of his neighbors already have and the houses are worth big bucks, he’s waiting on what to do depending on how the fight with the insurance company turns out, think he has a law firm involved, it’s the Florida way.
Hi Mike,
I don’t believe I will ever build a house in Florida unless I am inland near Ocala or someplace. I would take the Winnebago, park it on the lot, and leave after a few months of warm weather. This way I don’t have to deal with rebuilding, insurance costs, real estate taxes, and I can always drive my trailer back home when the weather is not cooperative. I just want the land and a view of pretty water. The boat is small enough I can trailer that, too. 🙂
RG,
There’s a reason the Seminoles didn’t live on the coast.
Yeah, those wise Indians. No concept of property rights at all until casinos. They didn’t live near the coasts because they didn’t “live” anywhere permanently. Yes, there was seasonality and Gaia worship involved. Yet, they were incredibly hierarchical, violent, and savage. YMMV. A one in 500 year storm for a very small area in FL doesn’t prove them “right.” I’d buy every property of every scaredy cat down there right now if I had the cash. Hell, if I could get some no doc loans!
RE: “if I could get some no doc loans!”
(sarc) I think I remember reading about ninja loans back in the day.
In the run-up.
http://housingbubble.blog/
….Looking back on things, the best move was just to load up on debt?
Recent titles:
‘The Over-Excited, Headless-Chicken Covid Market Has Disappeared’
‘Buyers Are Pricing In Future Decreases And They Are Submitting Really Low Offers’
‘The Market Will Not Go Back To What It Was, Because What It Was, Was Insane’
‘The Disaster Unfolding For Sellers’
‘There’s Nothing Quite As Impactful On A Marketplace As Too Many People Who Have To Sell’
Are ya seeing any headlines like those on ZeroHedge or Cnbc?
Fun stuff,… like a whale getting zonked by an atomic sonic boom delivered by the two-faced water-melon builders of the windmills looking for a footing?
Collateral damage?
Coastal real estate is like no other. People pay huge money just to visit. Hundreds, maybe a thousand or more a NIGHT. Inflation priced in. Buy and rent it, if you have to or just to profit. Even if you buy at the top, just holding and renting it out makes you whole and likely a lot more.
“Coastal real estate is like no other.” – Really?
I doubt that.
Anyway, see also:
‘Florida land boom of the 1920s’
“… ending in a financial collapse that ruined thousands of investors and property owners, and crippled the local economy for years thereafter.” …
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Florida_land_boom_of_the_1920s
Same as it ever was.
Wait… upon further consideration, perhaps, you jest, Funk Doctor Spidock?
Then there’s, “park it on the lot, and leave after a few months of warm weather.”
Yup, robbers won’t strip it clean. Sounds like a fine plan.
How do you strip land clean, helot? It is a Winnebago, it is what I would drive down, sleep in, and drive back. The land would be bare when I am not there. Hence, my mention for not paying real estate taxes and insurance on the trailer because it wouldn’t be there long enough to be deemed a home.
Florida 2023:
Red-hot Miami housing market expected to defy 2023 cost correction as blue state exodus continues
https://www.foxbusiness.com/real-estate/red-hot-miami-housing-market-expected-defy-2023-cost-correction-blue-state-exodus-continues
My mistake. When you wrote, “park it on the lot, and leave after a few months of warm weather” I thought you meant to add improvements such as a well (with a pump & copper wire) and a septic setup of some kind. Maybe even have electricity ran to the lot.
Your plan is to go to a town to get fresh water & dump your grey water tank(s)?
I have seen lots such as you describe used as a party place or as homeless camps. Trash everywhere and anything which can be burned (trees or a storage shed) are burned.
I just imagine pulling into a lot at Midnight and the headlights light up somebody already there.
Not to say it’s altogether a bad plan, just some risks &… vulnerabilities. Ymmv.
Hi RG. Good luck with that Sanibel thing. Ian wiped it out, and it’s currently a wasteland. Now, you would think that with all the destruction, along with the possibility of a future repeat performance, would mean that property would be cheap. After all, who wants to be in a place that looks like it was bombed, currently has almost no infrastructure, and is almost certain to be destroyed again at some point in the future? Well, you would be very wrong. Property is currently selling at record levels. All of the big time developers are swooping in to grab once in a lifetime opportunities for prime ocean front property. My buddy just sold his 1/4 acre beach front property for 3 million bucks, complete with a huge pile of rubble that used to be his house, and a Nissan Pathfinder that’s sitting on its roof. Electricity, water and sewer not included! Fort Myers beach is the same. Average Joes, or even upper middle class Joes, will never be be able to live in those places again.
Bingo. Like one big area-wide “tear down.” The new places will be absolute palaces. Real estate is unique to type and price. There is no comparing some cookie cutter subdivision house in a landlocked area to waterfront Sanibel Island.
Hi Floriduh,
Average people can’t live in the DC are (and San Franciso, San Diego, Boston, NYC, etc.) either! Not that they’d want to, of course. But the cost of living in those areas is beyond the means of people who work. It requires a Faucian (government) salary to afford the million-dollar McMansions in those areas. Half a mil will buy you a townhouse – maybe.
Oh, don’t I know it, Eric. As I’ve mentioned before, my son is in a wheelchair, and lives in Fairfax county. The wife and I would dearly love to be closer to him (yeah, I know, really don’t want to live there, but you’d do anything for your kids, ya know?). Anyway, we’ve looked around, and run down dumpy shitholes start at about $800k. That’s way out of my league, so we just visit as often as we can.
And oh, by the way, I’d like people to know why my son is in a wheelchair. His son was born about 4 years ago. His wife told him that now that we have a baby, maybe we should get our flu shots. Being the good husband, my son (35 at the time) went and got his first ever flu shot. Next morning, he woke up completely paralyzed from the neck down. Has been that way ever since. Doctors said it’s incredibly rare, 1 in a million, but it does happen. I never considered myself an anti vaxxer before that, but I sure as hell am now. And it’s not just the mRNA clot shot, I wouldn’t touch any of them with a 10 foot pole. I think it’s a goddamn crime that they force parents to give their kids dozens of shots before allowing them into school or whatever.
Wow.
Just, wow.
(Hope that don’t come across the wrong way or sumthin’.)
F Man. I feel your pain. I have been lucky so far my children and grandchildren, healthy (knock on wood). But it is a crap shoot.
I have 2 clients that had severe reactions to the CV injections. Still pending. The denial from the drug companies and even from the usual “villains”, (Mass tort Law firms, the ones that brought asbestos and roundup to their knees) have yet to try to go after the current villains. Stay armed. Make them pay when they come for you.
Hi Floriduh,
I am just wanting to see if the Deagal Report rings true. If it is, we should all be able to buy a plot of land on the coast. 😉
Florida is popular now, but so was California at one time. Also, I am not stuck on Florida. If I can find a good spot on the Georgia or Alabama coasts, I am open to that, too. I am just sitting back and waiting. The real estate market is in another huge bubble. Nobody believed in 2005/2006 the market would crash either. It is cyclical. It goes up. It goes down. There are deals to be had when it tanks if one is prepared for them.
Hi RG,
This is anecdotal, but: In my area, a year ago, homes were selling almost immediately – sometimes the same day the listing went up. Now there are lots of “for sale” signs around (and online). I know of several that have been sitting for 30-plus days… the bubble has popped.
Hi Eric,
In my area as well. I have a building next to mine that has been on the market now for almost 120 days. It is in very good shape, but the asking price is ridiculous. It needs to come down at least $100K, but the sellers still believe it is their market. In some areas of the country, it still is, but in others the real estate market is going bust.
As I stated the other day the job market is holding up the economy (barely). When the ceiling breaks everything else will come down with it. We are probably a few years out from hitting a bottom.
I am sitting tight, saving, and not buying a damn thing. I am going to be a shark when the flood gates open.
Chris,
“how do we ‘not included’ survive”
Better than the included, anyway.
I forget the source but decades ago I read or heard, “It’s remarkable what one can do if they have no choice”. As long as your mind still works, and your body is mostly intact, you will find a way to provide yourself with what you have to have.
RG,
Bravo! Not a new notion, but definitely a true one.
If you need government, or Snowflake SJW Wokester help to succeed, you’re a failure. Find something else to do.
Bryce here’s a devil’s advocate response:
1) Merit and price are fine, but toxic employees do exist and can be a real problem. I’ve seen first hand how competent jerks can screw up a group. The real talent of mangers is to identify and get them into a role that works for them, but that’s hard to do when there aren’t any openings or the jerk won’t take the hint.
2) Modern business is all about training and retraining. Most HR departments feel that a warm body is a warm body and if some can’t perform the task that means the process needs to be changed. I’m not necessarily against that idea either, but practically there are limits. The US army says no one below 87 IQ, for example, which means veterans are highly sought after for employment because the army did what every HR department should be doing, hiring based on IQ.
3) Product doesn’t matter, most people can’t tell the difference between one model and the other if badges are removed.
4) Who says GM is having any problems? They’re not trying to outpace the industry, just ride along. The institutional investors look at GM and says “Did you hit your estimate? Great! Have a cookie.”
5) Again, what problem? They’re just “right-sizing”
6) HD is a stock market favorite, great for sticking it to the retail investor with pump and dump schemes and sucker bets.
7) They’re just following orders.
Good points, Ready.
My point is that GM cannot afford to be fooling around with DIE and trying to be all politically correct when they’re failing abysmally at what their core competency should be—making good cars and trucks at an affordable price that people want, and also that GM can’t ride on the fumes of its past success forever.
Had quite a few GM cars over the years. Then after being raped on $40k plus of their bonds AND the income from them, I will NEVER buy GM again. Many more folks must have the same attitude. Good riddance!
Agree Peter, was all GM, about 25-30 vehicles in my lifetime, and I finally had enough around the late 2000 timeframe. My abandonment was more about engineering, design, and drivability though. IMO, GM lead these efforts for a long time, but not anymore. And even though they showed good ‘numbers’ on the books, their cars/trucks drivability was horrendous to me and why I switched. Tried Ford and Ram, and ended up with Ram/Jeep, currently our steeds and love them because they simply go when you want them too. The jury will be out now that Stellantis appears to be playing the game now like the rest and ‘getting in line’.
The death of the Scouts was really sad. Even the “men” who enjoyed the experience themselves refused to help, afraid of the little womans wrath I assume.
And today we see males in women’s clothing, wearing makeup and getting shots to grow a bosom. They are in the military wearing high heals that men supposedly forced women to wear. All to see what it looks like to walk a mile in her shoes! A sick society for sure.
https://www.armytimes.com/news/your-army/2015/04/23/soldiers-in-high-heels-draw-online-outburst/
Meanwhile in Moscow, Beijing, Pyongyang, and Tehran…someone is rolling on the floor laughing.
‘GM – which has been so focused on selling the virtues of “diversity,” “inclusion” and “equity” — eric
Rendered in this order, the popular groupthink term produces the acronym DIE.
That’s what the wokesters want us bitter carbon-clingers to do.
But I expect that around mid-decade, GM may DIE first … from terminal irrelevance, and incorrigible blockheadedness, and purblind dipshit memethink.
Like Typhoid Mary, GM’s EeeVeeee Mary spreads corporate contagion.
It’s a total disgrace, they set the pace, it must be a race
And the best thing I can do is run
— Led Zeppelin, Out on the Tiles
Beat me to it Jim,
That was exactly my reaction when I first saw that term “Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion” – the words were slightly out of order. The acronym should be DIE because that’s what they want for us.
Mike,
And apparently what they want for their business as well. EVs are a car makers death sentence. Even without the Snowflake SJW Wokesterism.