American tax payers to bail out GM's Brazil Operations.

American tax payers to bail out GM's Brazil Operations.

by BrendaBee | Published on November 28th, 2008, 8:35 am | News

Why does this not surprise me? The American tax payer is being asked to bail out the American Auto makers just so they can beef up their plants in other countries. And you know what? Our Congressmen are going to give them the money! Then of course since the money will be spent outside of Detroit the Big 3 will have to come back to Washington with their hand out saying they need more money to keep the plants in Detroit open and save American jobs. BB :doh:

General Motors to Invest $1 Billion in Brazil Operations -- Money to Come from U.S. Rescue Program
http://www.laht.com/article.asp?Categor ... eId=320903
By Russ Dallen
Latin American Herald Tribune staff

"General Motors (GM) plans to invest $1 billion in Brazil to avoid the kind of problems the U.S. automaker is facing in its home market, said the beleaguered car maker.

According to the president of GM Brazil-Mercosur, Jaime Ardila, the funding will come from the package of financial aid that the manufacturer will receive from the U.S. government and will be used to "complete the renovation of the line of products up to 2012."

Maybe we should direct our anger at the American Auto Workers Union also. The Auto makers are bound by unrealistic contracts with UAW. If they could drop the union and some of the Old management and board CEO etc and try more to match the models that other auto makers building cars in the US without Union "help" they could remain somewhat competitive and gain back American confidence. The funny thing is that a lot of people complaining about jobs going overseas drive German or Japanese cars..Hmm..! The average UAW assembly line worker makes over $100K to do a job a monkey could do with a little training. Down with the UAW.

Rick

Various mistruths here.

GM Brazil is continuing with it's plan to invest $1B in Brazil, however it is not using bailout money (if and when GM USA gets it). The investment will be financed by the Brazilian division.

We contacted General Motors to check on the story and spokesman Richard James replied, "I don't know if something got lost in translation but Jaime Ardila, President of GM Brazil did NOT say that funding for GMB projects would come from the US financial aid package. GM Brazil has $1 billion in investments that have already been approved but they will be financed by our Brazilian operations through local sources."

Just as Opel (GM's German division) is going to the German government for assistance, GM Brazil-Mercosur is raising capital in that country. During the congressional hearings this week, CEO Rick Wagoner also indicated that GM operations in different regions are each funding projects locally in response to a question about a recent expansion in Russia. It appears that any money that GM gets from the US government will stay here.

The average UAW worker does not earn 'over $100K', It's around $27/hr ($54,000), which is less than Toyota.

In that instance, Toyota Motor Corp. gave workers at its largest U.S. plant bonuses of $6,000 to $8,000, boosting the average pay at the Georgetown, KY, plant to the equivalent of $30 an hour. That compares with a $27 hourly average for UAW workers, most of whom did not receive profit-sharing checks last year. Toyota would not provide a U.S. average, but said its 7,000-worker Georgetown plant is representative of its U.S. operations.

Honda Motor Co. and Nissan Motor Co. are not far behind Toyota and UAW pay levels. Comparable wages have long been one way foreign companies fight off UAW organizing efforts.

This is the original Gazeta Mercantil article that was misreported (mistranslated)
http://translate.google.ca/translate?u= ... l=pt&tl=en

Google translation:

Sao paulo, November 18, 2008 - General Motors of Brazil, which is considered shielded against the profile of the matrix (headquarters) deficit in the United States, announced it concludes project to invest another $ 1 billion in Brazil for renewal of most-line vehicles by 2012. "We will expect the behavior of the market to know what decision to take," said Jaime Ardila, president of General Motors in Brazil and Mercosur.

The union which brings together manufacturers of automotive finishes study on effects of the crisis in the industry, which anticipated investments, took third round and now faces idleness. "There is no doubt that there will be layoffs in the auto industry," said Paul Butor, president of Sindipeças.

Jaime Ardila believes that the injection of $ 8 billion the federal government and Sao Paulo for the financing of vehicles has started to recover sales, which fell 12% in October. For 2009, he worked with two scenarios: conservative (2.6 million units) and optimistic (2.9 million). For GM, total sales grow 15% this year and reach 2.85 million - the previous estimate was 3 million.

Apart from convening a press conference yesterday, GM reported today publishes in newspapers to prevent the climate of uncertainty of the matrix (headquarters) contaminate the Brazilian consumer. Ardila says that Brazil has been operating profitably since 2006 and that the matrix (headquarters) -awaited bridge loan of the U.S. government. The executive said that GM was in the U.S. gets (caught) by surprise by the crisis when it restructured, "but will not seek bankruptcy."