R.I.P.
Filed under: Business BlitzGeneral Motors is laying off 1,600 employees.
Those being fired include are 700 workers at GM's Pontiac, Mich., pickup truck plant, another 500 workers at the Detroit-Hamtramck car assembly plant, and 400 at a two-seat sports car assembly plant in Wilmington, Del.
Our thoughts go out to them and their families.
The next President of the Unites States HAS to help these people!
Posted: October 16, 2008 at 1:44 pm
What kind of car do you drive dickhead. Pick one of the cars from one of these plants and buy one of them. THAT helps them you ignorant fucktard.
I still gots my job, yay for me!
Shocked? Suprised?
This is why we need Obama!!
OHIO FOR OBAMA!!
…scary shit. Good work on my Yukon Xl Denali tho'. I hope all of the ones laid off get a new job right away.
We need to restore American superiority! Obama has the plans and programs to do this. McCain just want to sell more beer to the Joe6packs.
Vote Obama, Vote early if you can
Since 1901 stock market gains have been better under Democratic Presidents than Republican! Just the facts.
Vote Obama for a healthy economy!
Let's hope Congress gets to pass the extended unemplyment benefits soon. Folks like these need the help.
Republicans - proud of your choice to vote for Dubya now?
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Bush didn't do this on his own — YOU voted him in.
Being from Michigan and having a father in the American car industry, I can assure you that a measley left-wing President won't do jack for this state. He'll be too busy helping businesses that keep their jobs state-side: Toyota! The jobs may be created here, but the profit goes to Japan and all the other foreign auto makers.
I live in Grand Rapids MI and there is a GM plant here that has been here for 70 years that is now going to close. There are 1500 people there alone that will loose their jobs. This is a huge hit for Michigan….not something we need. And FYI - I ONLY DRIVE AND BUY AMERICAN MADE CARS!!!!!
Why? Because their friggen union helped kill a once great company?
Next president needs to bust the UAW so American manufacturers can compete.
You are a real dumbass if you can't understand this simple issue.
If we want change and a better future here in MI - VOTE OBAMA!!!!!!!
Well it is not going to happen because McSame as Bush said he already has his pen out to cut spending on anything that is not related to the wars. Help costs money so sadly, they are sol.
Re: maryc – Extended??? WTF you talking about woman? These people haven't even filed for unemployment yet and you are talking about extended benefits because people like these need the help? Jesus you people are stupid.
If you really want to help these people, buy the cars they manufacture.
Maybe this wouldn't be happening if they made cars worth a shit anymore.
I bought an '03 Cadillac in '04, and by the end of '07 I finally traded it in because in that short time, I spent over $4000 in repairs on it. Biggest piece of shit I've ever driven.
Re: Melissa is always right – And the one you gave me, Awesome!
Re: Big Black Dick – anytime, you know I'm all about the bbd
yeah, and it's the people at fault. keep buying your fucking foreign cars and see where we are in 10 years.
We let these singers, actors and sports players get paid millions of dollars a year when hard working honest people are losing their jobs and homes every day. What makes them better than anyone else?
I know for a FACT that my husband and father work harder than any sports player getting DUI's or singer drugged out or even those brats on MTV. They work harder and yet get paid the least.
It's backwards. My daughter dreamt of being a teacher…but I dont want her to. Why? Because they dont get paid anything and I know that if she does follow her dreams, she will struggle to pay her bills the rest of her life.
And thats the saddest part of all.
Any why are these people singled out for help. Auto workers were the most greedy and overpaid of all industrial workers. They helped run their employer off the road. We need McCain-Palin jog creation policies so there will be new jobs for all those gettting laid off. Just rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic like Obama wants to do worn't help. See Truth According To T o m
Instead of bailing out the greedy fuckers, they should keep the money to create jobs and pay all the unemployed people.
Yeah… 1,500 in Wyoming, MI…. that's the main employment for the wyoming residents…
Guh!! Sucks real bad for MI economy…
"The automaker announced Monday that it would shutter its metal parts stamping factory near Grand Rapids by the end of 2009, costing 1,520 jobs. It also sped up the end of SUV production at its Janesville, Wis., plant to Dec. 23, eliminating another 1,200 positions."
Did anyone actually listen to the debate last night??
Obama wants to raise the business tax on businesses earnings over 250k a year ~ that's not a small business, that's a tiny business.
If you listened you heard McCain say that the US pays the second highest business tax, 35%, in the world…now Obama wants to raise that. McCain made the comparison that in Ireland the business tax is only 11%. I couldn't find 2008 data but in 2005 over 580 US firms were in Ireland employing over 90,000 workers.
My daughter and her husband own a small business and she told me if Obama wins and business taxes are raised they will move their company out of the US.
If you vote Obama we will lose many more companies/jobs to other countries.
Vote McCain to try to bring these jobs back to America!
Just a note…Obama says he won't raise taxes on 95% of Americans. A good portion of that 95% don't even have a tax liability and are already getting refunds.
Buying a substandard car from a dinosaur corporation isn't going to help anything in the long run. It's the CEOs and management of GM who did this to the workers although the President hasn't helped by refusing to update our environmental standards at the same pace as the rest of the world. GM wanted to stay deep in the pockets of Big Oil and and lag 15-20 years behind the technology in the name of profits and subsidies and now they are reaping what they have sown. On the backs of blue collar workers, of course. GM took themselves out of the game because they can't sell their cars anywhere but the US due to their outdated emission controls and gas mileage. They are FAR behind European and even Asian standards. And now even Americans don't want them. And Joe 6-Pack can blame the UAW union for his predicament, too. And they can blame all of you who just refuse to minimalize their lifestyles. Your love affair with the SUV is what emboldened these car makers in the first place. Do yourselves a favor and watch "Who Killed the Electric Car?"
WELL IF YOU WANT HELP IS SURE THE HELL AIN'T GONNA COME FROM OLD MAN MCCAN'T! HE'S TOO BUSY TRYING TO PROTECT HIS OWN POCKETS … IF YOU REALLY THINK HE GIVES A SHIT ABOUT YOURS …THEN YOU ARE JUST AS SENILE AS THAT OLD BASTARD!!!
Re: Anita1810 –
Anita, your logic is rather flawed. And your daughter could certainly become a teacher and make a decent living provided that YOU teach her the meaning of LIVING WITHIN YOUR MEANS. That means no brand new tract housing suburban sprawl, no new cars, and no trips to WalMart every week to load up the SUV with JUNK. I lived on 20K last year and it was the best year of my life. MINIMALISM WORKS. The "American" way of life is killing us all.
The next president help these people? You mean unemployment benefits is NOT helping them? Cobra benefits for healthcare is not helping them? Obama's not going to help them - how will he? Is he going to go to Detroit himself and hand out care packages to these people? I don't get this Obama = Jesus shit where all he has to do is show up, wave his hand and everything gets taken care of. I don't get it. I got laid off after 9/11 - do you remember 9/11? Collected unemployment while I was looking for work, which I found after a few months and went back to being productive. The State of California helped me, not George W. So what the fuck will Obama do for these guys? You guys are fools.
OBAMA WILL RUIN THIS COUNTRY!!!! VOTE REPUBLICAN 08'!!!! VOTE REPUBLICAN 08'!!!! VOTE REPUBLICAN 08'!!! VOTE REPUBLICAN 08'!!!! VOTE REPUBLICAN 08'!!!! VOTE REPUBLICAN 08'!!! VOTE REPUBLICAN 08'!!!! VOTE REPUBLICAN 08'!!!! VOTE REPUBLICAN 08'!!! VOTE REPUBLICAN 08'!!!! VOTE REPUBLICAN 08'!!!! VOTE REPUBLICAN 08'!!! VOTE REPUBLICAN 08'!!!! VOTE REPUBLICAN 08'!!!! VOTE REPUBLICAN 08'!!! VOTE REPUBLICAN 08'!!!! VOTE REPUBLICAN 08'!!!! VOTE REPUBLICAN 08'!!! VOTE REPUBLICAN 08'!!!! VOTE REPUBLICAN 08'!!!! VOTE REPUBLICAN 08'!!! VOTE REPUBLICAN 08'!!!! VOTE REPUBLICAN 08'!!!! VOTE REPUBLICAN 08'!!!VOTE REPUBLICAN 08'!!!! VOTE REPUBLICAN 08'!!!! VOTE REPUBLICAN 08'!!! VOTE REPUBLICAN 08'!!!! VOTE REPUBLICAN 08'!!!! VOTE REPUBLICAN 08'!!! VOTE REPUBLICAN 08'!!!! VOTE REPUBLICAN 08'!!!! VOTE REPUBLICAN 08'!!! VOTE REPUBLICAN 08'!!!! VOTE REPUBLICAN 08'!!!! VOTE REPUBLICAN 08'!!! VOTE REPUBLICAN 08'!!!! VOTE REPUBLICAN 08'!!!! VOTE REPUBLICAN 08'!!! VOTE REPUBLICAN 08'!!!! VOTE REPUBLICAN 08'!!!! VOTE REPUBLICAN 08'!!! VOTE REPUBLICAN 08'!!!! VOTE REPUBLICAN 08'!!!! VOTE REPUBLICAN 08'!!! VOTE REPUBLICAN 08'!!!! VOTE REPUBLICAN 08'!!!! VOTE REPUBLICAN 08'!!!
Re: hammernator – Actually, it's President Bush who signed an emergency unemployment extension bill forcing the states to extend the benefits by 13 weeks for anyone unemployed since 2006 and still not working.
Re: fuckyouperez – "people like these need the help?" what exactly do you mean by people like these? You don't think extending unemployment benefits is a great concept?
Obviously this guy does not live in Michigan and is having a difficult time comprehending just how terrible the economy is in metro Detroit.
My father has worked with GM for years under a contract job. He was told he would be made into a GM employee this month. Unfortunately my dad had to have an emergency triple bypass and the second GM found out they fired him. How exactly do you expect "people like us" to live when my father is not even able to work for at least 2 more months? Like many people in my community, we will be facing foreclosure. I wonder if this guy knows how it feels to go through winters with no heat and to work your ass off to take care of ill parents because a corrporation is going under and fires anybody who costs more money, medical or otherwise.
I don't understand where some of the comments these people posted are coming from. The other fellow michigan citizens know what I am talking about, though and I think Perez does too.
We need to fix the economy in Michigan and these CEOs. Who thinks it is appropriate to call a man in CCU and tell him he is fired?
Re: Tom993 – Not all auto workers are greedy. Believe it or not, some of them are not part of the UAW. Stop lumping everyone together and generalizing. Also, auto workers are being singled out just as much as yahoo workers and other companies that have done mass 1,000 + layoffs. The reason why it seems auto workers are being singled out is because for places like michigan, auto jobs were the most abundant and did make our economy thrive. Even if you don't work for the Big 3, there's a good chance you work for a company that makes small parts for them and then you are affected as well.
Oh, snap! No! Right before the holidays??? No one should be without a job.
I hope help is coming. Especially, in Michigan!
Make a car worth a damn and people may buy them. Stop making big gas guzzlers. I guess the 25 billion in tax payer dollars they got 4 weeks ago didn't help. How come American car companies make smaller more fuel efficient cars for European markets, but not in their own country?
Re: shakentree – Sorry to hear about your pops, man. Be strong. Look, if you face foreclosure, be sure to contact the bank and try to work something out before just leaving! Banks don't want empty houses or unpaid mortgages so at this point they will be willing to work with you to make a payment plan work out! God bless, man!
Re: shakentree – By "people like these", I mean to loosely quote maryc who said "Folks like these". What is your problem with this? Don't try to pull your code word crap on me. Go ask the local UAW rep what the total value of the typical Big 3 compensation package is. Then go ask the people in the non-union plants. Then you will know why the Detroit and even the entire Michigan economy is in the pooper. You can't competitively sell cars in the USA for the price of your competitors if the largest component of the car, the labor, is priced where it is. You're fucked, you're famiily is fucked and the automobile economic outlook is fucked until the big three declare bankruptcy and walk away from these excessive compensation packages and disabling retirement benefits. This won't happen. So instead, there will just be mass unemployment until the auto industry follows the American electronics into oblivion. Then what are THESE PEOPLE goig to do?
This has already happened in Canada, 3000 to be laid off when Canadian truck plant closes next year. Buy Domestic. Auto industry is faltering.
we need to do something. too many middle class families in metro detroit and elsewhere are losing their incomes because of the automotive industry. 1. we need a president to fix america and 2. detroit needs a new industry besides automobiles!
i heart detroit.
To all you assholes: Just EXACTLY how is this Bush's fault?? No bullshit, FACTS!! He did not tell these pricks to build nothing but trucks while the others (imports) focused on a balanced product line. Does NOT the Pres ride around in a Caddy?? HE bought American. I guess not enough of the rest did. And, if GM puts out a shitty product ( and don't start on me, until recently, THEY DID ) they would not be in this mess. The REAL PROBLEM is that they had this cash cow (The Pickup Truck) that idiots paid WAY TOO much money for, and they did not worry about anything else. They got bullied by the unions (Thank you Dems) into having to pay outragous amounts of $$ in wages and retirement benifits. Really, show me another industry that has that. There isn't any. They all went out of business. If I own the company, I SHOULD get the biggest piece of the pie, not you. Why is Toyota sailing along?? Nissan's sales going up?? Try thinking before you let that vomit come out of your mouth.
So sad. Obama isn't going to help these people. McCain isn't going to help these people. The only people that are going to be ok are people that already have millions. The rest of us are screwed. I'm scared for our future.
Re: Peppermint – That GM plant in Wyoming, MI is the one my dad has worked for for nearly 30 years. My grandpa also worked there. We still have a half dead Delphi plant, but Wyoming is going to take a huge hit when GM closes. By the way, GM workers at the Wyoming plant were told today that everything they were about to receive for making new cars is going to be sent to Brazil.
Re: OBAMA 08 – Obama doesn't care either…he just SAYS he does. Do you believe every thing that comes out of someone's mouth, especially a politician? That just makes you extremely naive to put it nicely. Him, like every other politician out there, says what we want to hear so they can get their scummy little foot in the door. Obama is not God, he's not going to create miracles. Although alot of people are starting to worship him like he is God. Sadly. He has this country brainwashed already. If you look at both McCain and Obama's history in government…they are both scummy liars. They are both living in mansions and not living paycheck to paycheck or worrying how they are going to feed their families. We need someone who actually knows what middle class is, someone who has been there. Sadly, Palin is the closest we'll get to that. We need to stop calling on these lying greedy snakes and start relying on God. He's the only one that can get us out of this. "One nation UNDER GOD" Perhaps so many people have forgotten about Him and that's why our country is tanking. It's not "One nation under Obama" or McCain…but that sure is what they want us to think. Especially Obama…
I am COMMITTING RIGHT NOW, I PROMISE TO MY COUNTRY THAT I WILL NOT BUY ANOTHER FOREIGN CAR.
JOIN ME!!!!!
I read through these blogs and I see such disrespect out of so many people. One Obama does promise change but what is it. He does a rope a dope around every question and you people feel as though you are satisfied with his answer. Pick up a bood and read not the liberal news but actual facts on both men and you will find McCain to be the better man for the job and a man who loves his country. If he does not why has he spent serving it since the young age of 17. Then to you OBAMA 08 what were you doing at 17 sitting around living off mommy and daddy you disrespectfull son of a bitch. You do not have to like the man but to call him such names you have no idea. I wish I could kick same since into your ass. Back to the subject, everyone on here I hear ranting about this and that and everyone has certian points. Why is everyone so dumb to the fact that it takes more then one man to bring down the economy and it takes more then one to bring it back up. Everyone is arguing over the President doing this and doing that and yes he has made mistakes but to blame the economy on him is a joke. I read somebody say that the market always does better under a democrate party. Well you my friend just bite your tounge.
The President has no control over the sub-prime morgages and what money gets spent where. That is all done by congress which last time I checked the majority is Democrat. And it was the McCain group that warned three years ago about the corruption in Wall Street and all the morgage companies and ordered a stop to it and Congress shot it down. Once again Democrates. So for anyone to sit here and tell me that with a Dem as president things will be better you are all fooling yourself. And to listen to Obama speak about not raising taxes and the small business tax for any company over 250k. I mean come on you have a car sales man that makes that much in a year. What small Business does not. So they will get screwed and there will be jobs lost. A LOT OF JOBS LOST! Now for the car companies I am sorry for the men and women getting laid of but come on I am paying 40,000 for a car that is worth 12,000 and that is the unions fault. Workers in a car plante that spray a door jam on the line deserve to get paid but some of these guys are making over six figures a year for a job that has no skill or education required. Spread that to the teachers and other jobs that people aviod because of the pay. Teachers are doing the real public service lets treat them like they should be. Well I spoke my two cents and support McCain 100%. So god bless America and please people do some homework and not what you hear from others. Your country deserves it.
Re: lefty lady – EXACTLY! He wants to make U.S. cars BETTER so we don't have to buy imports. Which is what NO OTHER President thought to do, but that they decided that FREE TRADE and IMPORTING was the way to enhance our economy. Nope. By making less cars, but BETTER cars that run off of alternative fuel, in the U.S. is the way to keep jobs and focus less on exporting something other countries already produce. I drive a South Korean car, and although it's good car, I couldn't get a comparable U.S. car. That has to change, and it's on OBAMA to prove this point in the next 3 weeks.
Re: shakentree – My prayers go out to you. I hate that your dad has to deal with that unbelievable mess when all he did was do an honest day's work all his life, just to be squeezed out so foreign car makers can reap profits that U.S. workers deserved!
Re: Megan1 – Amen, Sister! I am angry I caved and bought a Hyundai 5 years ago.
I worked for GM at their call center in Austin, TX. And they kept telling everyone that no one was going to get laid off and that business was fine. They ended up laying off almost all of their new hires and most of the other agents. GM is a SHITASS company to work for!
what ppl dont seem to understand is that obama will heavily tax these corporations, which will lead to more layoffs and higher prices to the consumer. also, by taxing the auto makers, he will inhibit their ability to research and develop hybrid and alternate fuel vehicles.
They're getting ready to buy Chrysler–Then, when they do, Chrysler will lay of 80% of their work force. I need to get the heck out of Michigan! I don't think Obama or McCain can solve this problem.
People need to quit buying foreign cars…
Wyoming MI is a beautiful area. Although I have to admit to liking Holland much more. If you are one of the dummies who never noticed the American auto industry has been screwed since the day the first Toyota showed up and you have a hige house on acreage, please post info here. I'm looking for brick, 5000 sq ft or more, hopefully lakeside and I need at least 3 acres. Dual use zoing is a huge, huge plus. After I buy your house, I'll even give you a 60K a year job although being dumb enough to be in car manufacturing is a serious dent in your resume. You can even drive one of my BMWs down to the store every morning to get me a coffee. You'll be big baller pimpin for sure, biatch.
the one time delaware's on perez….it's about gm crapping out. AWESOME
I am Pro equal civil rights, Pro gay adoption and Pro Life… and I am anti Obama because he sells you the Robin Hood ideology… CHANGE sounds so pretty… THE WORST DECISIONS ARE MADE WHEN WE ARE DESPERATE FOR CHANGE… Look at Cuba, Venezuela, Nicaragua, Bolivia, Ecuador, China… etc., etc.,….. We need a re-structre of our system… but we do not need to CHANGE it completely….OBAMA WILL RUIN THIS COUNTRY!!!! VOTE REPUBLICAN 08'!!!! VOTE REPUBLICAN 08'!!!! VOTE REPUBLICAN 08'!!! VOTE REPUBLICAN 08'!!!! VOTE REPUBLICAN 08'!!!! VOTE REPUBLICAN 08'!!! VOTE REPUBLICAN 08'!!!! VOTE REPUBLICAN 08'!!!! VOTE REPUBLICAN 08'!!! VOTE REPUBLICAN 08'!!!! VOTE REPUBLICAN 08'!!!! VOTE REPUBLICAN 08'!!! VOTE REPUBLICAN 08'!!!! VOTE REPUBLICAN 08'!!!! VOTE REPUBLICAN 08'!!! VOTE REPUBLICAN 08'!!!! VOTE REPUBLICAN 08'!!!! VOTE REPUBLICAN 08'!!! VOTE REPUBLICAN 08'!!!! VOTE REPUBLICAN 08'!!!! VOTE REPUBLICAN 08'!!! VOTE REPUBLICAN 08'!!!! VOTE REPUBLICAN 08'!!!! VOTE REPUBLICAN 08'!!! VOTE REPUBLICAN 08'!!!! VOTE REPUBLICAN 08'!!!! VOTE REPUBLICAN 08'!!! VOTE REPUBLICAN 08'!!!! VOTE REPUBLICAN 08'!!!! VOTE REPUBLICAN 08'!!! VOTE REPUBLICAN 08'!!!! VOTE REPUBLICAN 08'!!!!