Is GM the next Amtrak?

[Brad]

In 1970, the federal government took over Amtrak. Nixon assured the American people that in a couple years Amtrak would be profitable again and businesses would want to purchase it. Now, almost 40 years passed, the government still owns Amtrak and it has lost billions of dollars. How long will the government have control over GM and will it become profitable again?

[Peter Buxton]

The funny thing is, Amtrak might be profitable and could be private, but railroads would have to receive liability limitations from Congress. Otherwise, the first passanger car accident would bankrupt any private company.

It is fully within the power of Congress to set limits to liability damages granted in U.S. courts. They could also shield companies from lawsuits over not doing business in states that award multi-billion dollar damages over breast implants?

Why did it take a Federal Act of Congress to mandate seat belts and air bags? Because, in law, you are usually better off doing nothing or everything. Half measures set you up for liability. Providing seat belts creates a liability for

1. being able to start the car without a seat belt on
2. NOT being able to start a car without the seat belt on
3. not being saved by the seat belt
4. being saved by the seat belt, but physically damaged
5. blah, blah, blah

Would Barack Obama like to make America more European? Well, according to a documentary about extreme skiing, Europe was the preferred location for extreme skiing because the French would laugh a plaintiff out of court for suing a ski resort for damages.
Hmmmm...

[Larry M. Meyer]

As long as there exists Government Self Serving Cronies who have nothing but their cut of the Pie in mind, there will not be, nor can there be any entity that will have a strong bottom-line!
In GM's case, it is the victim of a Government that is in process of Shredding the Constitution of America.

[Scott Arnett]

Brad, this is a difficult set of questions you pose. I guess the ultimate answer is up to people like you and I.
With the amount of tax payer money currently being spent purely to pay off, re-elect, and expand the Democratic base, who will keep the car industry forever and see that it is gov. subsidized to maintain it's function, it's hard to say.
What our elected officials are spending our money on right now has nothing to do with growing our economy. This means that the purchasing power of the nation is going to be drasticly diminished. With that said, the cheapest cars will probably be the most sought after. I dare say, those cars won't be produced by GM.
Amtrak, was kind of a different animal. Poeple recognize the importance of alterior modes of travel, and kind of excepted that it will never turn a profit. Therefore, ok, we'll let that slide. GM on the other hand, was once a pillar of capitalism.
It's up to us to elect people that will champion free enterprize and lower taxes and return to a booming economy that will hasten a return of GM to the private sector.
How long this will take, concidering the current sircumstanses, is another difficult question.
What are your ideas, I'd like to know.

[Gene Clem]

I rode the Great Northern route from Chicago to Seattle in 1966; I don't recall which railroad owned it then. It was a great three day trip; of course I was travelling in uniform as a US Army officer back then and couldn't buy a drink or a dinner as there always was a WWII vet that wanted to 'buy'.

So I thought it would be great to take the SantaFe from Chicago to CA to visit my son in the Army out there in 1996. Three horrible days! There is no one who could make money with service like that! The federal government destroyed passenger rail traffic in the US.

[Brad]

First, I think we would all agree that GM would be better off if the federal government left it alone. GM needs to go through bankruptcy and rebuild itself. In the last decade or two, GM has become unfocused and lost its brand identity. For instance, Pontiac has always been the exciting performance division. How does the Torrent or the previous Aztec fit into this category? Also, GM has way too many brands to keep up with. Saab, GMC, Chevy, Buick, Hummer, Pontiac, Saturn, Cadillac-the list goes on. I know some of these have already been sold, but GM should only have 4 brands. (GM, Chevy, Buick (popular in China), and Cadillac). If your interested, motortrend has a good article on this subject.

http://www.motortrend.com/features/consumer/112_0906_the_new_gm_fut...

Scott Arnett said:

Brad, this is a difficult set of questions you pose. I guess the ultimate answer is up to people like you and I.
With the amount of tax payer money currently being spent purely to pay off, re-elect, and expand the Democratic base, who will keep the car industry forever and see that it is gov. subsidized to maintain it's function, it's hard to say.
What our elected officials are spending our money on right now has nothing to do with growing our economy. This means that the purchasing power of the nation is going to be drasticly diminished. With that said, the cheapest cars will probably be the most sought after. I dare say, those cars won't be produced by GM.
Amtrak, was kind of a different animal. Poeple recognize the importance of alterior modes of travel, and kind of excepted that it will never turn a profit. Therefore, ok, we'll let that slide. GM on the other hand, was once a pillar of capitalism.
It's up to us to elect people that will champion free enterprize and lower taxes and return to a booming economy that will hasten a return of GM to the private sector.
How long this will take, concidering the current sircumstanses, is another difficult question.
What are your ideas, I'd like to know.

[Brad]

http://www.campaignforliberty.com/article.php?view=104