Far right wing reportedly ready to boycott a newly federalized GM
The far right wing of the American political spectrum has begun channeling its displeasure over the federal government's involvement in the restructuring of General Motors into calls for a boycott of the company's products. Reportedly spearheaded by right wing pundits and radio show hosts, the boycott would be a response to the U.S. government taking a 60% stake in GM in exchange for forgiving most of the tens of billions of dollars loaned to the company over the last six months. The original premise of loaning money to GM (and Chrysler) was certainly open to plenty of healthy debate. But the money was given and now the task has turned to how to best proceed in order for the automaker to recover and the U.S. Treasury to get the best return on its investment. In order for that treasury-held stock to ever regain its value, GM needs to sell vehicles and lots of them.
Therefore, a successful boycott of GM products could have the adverse effect of driving the company into liquidation. This would eliminate any hope of getting reimbursed for the tens of billions in loans that the government has given GM. All that taxpayer money may never be recovered anyway, but it makes sense to at least walk the path that has a chance of success. Fortunately for GM, such boycotts are rarely successful, as Ford learned when it easily weathered a boycott by the American Family Association over its marketing in gay-centric media outlets.
[Source: The Detroit Bureau]
Reader Comments (Page 4 of 8)
UH2L 10:52AM (6/08/2009)
This is just a dumb idea, to boycott a company that you want to eventually pay some of your tax money back. Not surprising at all with their "ideology". Maybe they want a country without a manufacturing base in which we can all live off of jobs serving coffee and scones. You need to export manufactured goods to bring money into our economy and if it's done by U.S. based corporations, the money stays here. You can't export carwashes and haircuts.
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dsuupr 11:10AM (6/08/2009)
Well put. To bad there are SO many people out there that just don't get it.
HCL3 11:37AM (6/08/2009)
The taxpayers will never get their money back from this boondoggle. The bailout and government run bankruptcy are just delaying the eventual liquidation - which will happen as soon as the taxpayers get tired of pumping billions upon billions of dollars into GM's corpse.
The better option is chapter 7 now with no more injections of cash by the gov't.
Cocoa Deluxe 10:53AM (6/08/2009)
Sure, why don't we just let all of the employees of GM and its supply chain lose their jobs? That sounds like a great alternative...
Everyone knows that GM has not been managed well for the past 30 years. The government has the responsibility to make sure that employees are cared for and not thrown away.
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Mike 11:50AM (6/08/2009)
What I want to know from all of you on the "save American jobs by bailing out GM" bandwagon is this: do you support the GM bailout simply as a jobs program? Because if that's the case, then why not give the money directly to the employees for retraining and relocation, and to the retirees to fulfill GM's obligations to them? I'd bet it'd be cheaper than $60 billion, and it wouldn't damage Ford and the other foreign-owned domestic manufacturers. And it would be more honest...
Kabayo 10:54AM (6/08/2009)
It's not just the 'far right wing.' It's anyone with common sense and who knows history. Socialism produces mediocrity. Remember British Leyland? Yugo? Lada? This isn't rocket science.
Fight socialism - BOYCOTT GM and CHRYSLER!
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Mwmorph 11:05AM (6/08/2009)
I am not going to screw over 300,000+ hard working americans just to satiate your sick need for political "blood".
If GM&Chrysler does start making mediocre cars, then it is alright to boycott them. If like the current GM, they start making excellent cars, there is absolutely no reason not to at least consider their products.
Blind disregard and boycotting helps nothing. All it does is put another few hundred thousand americans out of work and destroy what's left of our industrial base.
Too many far right wing conservatives espouse that they love this country so much... well then stop actively trying to sabatoge it. This is more than ideology at stake here, it's not just how you feel, it's about the Americans we have employed not just at Chrysler and GM but also at the suppliers, transporters and raw material companies.
Colin Smith 10:54AM (6/08/2009)
GM was such an enormous company, with so much infrastructure and jobs depending on it, that the government could hardly stand by and watch it sink.
And what about the defence aspects of the company, surely there is a national security issue here too?
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Len_A 12:05PM (6/08/2009)
Not nearly as much as there used to be - Hughes Electronics defense business was sold to Raytheon. Detroit Diesel and Allison transmission, were spun off years ago, so that their defense related business has nothing to do with GM. The Humvee's are actually manufactured by AM General, as GM only had the civilian Hummer brand name. And tanks, APC's, MRAP's, and military aircraft are built in stationary work stations in plants that resemble BIG warehouses, not assembly lines any more. To be truthful, as much of a supporter I am for the Detroit car makers, they really have little to no defense business outside of some pickup truck and sedan business for the military bases.
Mwmorph 10:54AM (6/08/2009)
Just goes to show that far leaning liberals and conservatives are the bane of american society.
Al'Queda be damned, it is the idological radicals that impinge more on our rights, freedoms and sense of security than any terrorist group. They might not individually do more damage per "attack" but there are many more of them and they attack more often. People in America frown upon Al'Jazeera for airing Osama Bin Laden's hate speeches, maybe it's time to look on our home shores to the pundits on FoxNews and MSNBC, giving these hate speech filled misogynists a 24/7 platform on which to advocate their hippie or secessionist ways.
America is a democracy to be governed by the people, the majority, not to be bombarded, brainwashed and influenced by the FUNDAMENTALIST EXTREMISTS.
When you come down to it, the Taliban, Al'Queda, Hamas, Left and Right wing extremists, they're all the same, trying to impress a set of ideal forcibly on a majority that actually thinks straight.
I may not agree on the GM takeover, but I'm also not going to take a knee jerk reaction that does nothing but harm what we as a country are working towards. It would be nice to see some of these people actually become educated and learn the issue at hand completely before spewing opinions and numbers from a notecard of worst case scenarios and scare tactics.
It's time for Americans to wake up and work together. Too much do I see people espewing the virtues of "I", what do I DESERVE, what do I WANT.
You know what? Screw you. You do not deserve anything, you do not individually matter, you should not always try to further yourself at the expense of others, the spirit of the country was built on "WE THE PEOPLE of the United States of America" and dammit, we've strayed too far from what America really is, people working together to create a "more perfect union".
I did not enlist to defend a country of overdemanding individualists. I do this for America, not some individualist prick, but the country as a whole.
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krische 12:06PM (6/08/2009)
Probably one of the best comments I've read in my life. Well said.
carguy 10:55AM (6/08/2009)
Like the Focus on the Family boycott of Ford because they advertise in gay publication, this is another storm in a teacup. People buy the cars based on what they want and can afford and usually nothing else. That is why "Buy American" campaigns also don't work.
Anyway, why would a Corvette or a CTS be any worse now than it was two weeks ago?
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Redeemed 11:07AM (6/08/2009)
"Like the Focus on the Family boycott of Ford because they advertise in gay publication, this is another storm in a teacup."
Actually, the boycott did work in that case. Ford backed off.
The same thing when McDonalds was boycotted for a gay executive being appointed on the board of a homosexual business group and donating about $20,000 to the orginization. After 3 months of pressure, the executive stepped down from the board.
Nikos 11:18AM (6/08/2009)
@Redeemed
that's pretty sad...
I'm glad I don't have a Ford.
mudder 11:37AM (6/08/2009)
@Redeemed: Ford did NOT back off.
Redeemed 1:10PM (6/08/2009)
Mudder: You are incorrect. Ford no longer advertised in that publication.
travisty 1:25PM (6/08/2009)
Redeemed -
http://www.portfolio.com/views/blogs/mixed-media/2008/03/12/reality-check-ford-still-pro-gay-post-boycott
Ford scaled back ALL advertising last year due to slumping car sales, and are still very involved with both PFLAG and HRC. It was well noted that Ford sales were not affected one bit by the boycott, and that they really paid it no mind. To quote from the article:
"But Ford spokesman Jim Cain insists the automaker had made no such promises. "I can tell you there was not a negotiated settlement to this boycott," he says, sounding somewhat mystified by AFA's triumphalism."
Redeemed 2:30PM (6/08/2009)
Travisty: I see your point. However, Ford would never publically admit to changing policy based on a special interest group. AFA says they were successful. I'm sure their efforts did influence some people but to what degree is difficult to measure.
I'm sure the reality is in the middle.
dave1w41 11:04AM (6/08/2009)
Only a gang of idiots would deliberately undermine an investment they were forced to make in an effort to destroy any possibility/probability of seeing any return on that investment. Kind of defines the term "cutting off your nose to spite your face".
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Azael 11:39AM (6/08/2009)
Well said!