The newsletter/op-ed piece we published earlier this week (”Obama Versus Buffett in Detroit“) generated tons of feedback. Most of it was positive; some of it was not. We’re fine either way, as our whole point was to spur thought and discussion. Some of the feedback is below. We’ve also included our response to the individuals who sent the responses in.

The first reader wrote it…

“Quite to the contrary, if Obama doesn’t choose “dissenting” views for his advisors and listen (hear and understand) to them, he is doomed to failure. (I am not an Obama supporter, but I want to support the President of the USA)”

Good point.

“For all those many years gm made a profit and the govt collected  AND has paid so many (they used to say how goes gm  how goes the country)—now that no one dependant on finance can make a profit in this most horrible economic environment idiot politicians and reporters want  to take this former cash cow for so many and for  so long and shoot  it because the cow  is  sick and  temporarily unable to give milk in dire need of help to survive– if we  want to prevent  a depression we must  do the right thing and help the GM cow get on its feet again–not only for their sake but for our sake also as it is the only RIGHT  thing a great country  would do.”

Agreed. We took a lot of heat based on this basic assumption, but just to be clear….we don’t want GM to fail. We just want it to be fixed right. (There’s a whole lot more below on the same topic.)

I am deeply offended by this editorial, which is not accurate. 
 
Why emphasize what Buffet is saying.  He is not right and you are both wrong on your “facts”  The auto industry is not as “simple” to understand as you think.  Learn a little bit about foreign trade and the role the auto industry plays in it, and the survival of foreign companies because of American involvement, and because of trading agreements, and you will change your mind (I would hope!).
 
The truth is: CIO union manages the health care benefits for hourly workers, and the retired employees are managing and will private-pay their own health care as of 1/1/09.
 
(Previously, GM and other auto companies contributed to part of the cost, which allowed a more reasonable premium rate for employees from some of the largest insurance companies, such as Aetna, Prudential, and Blue-Cross Blue-Shield.) This was part of the employee benefits package negotiated by the union.
 
No, of course you wouldn’t suggest that GM pensioners be thrown under the bus, but that is exactly what could happen if GM and other automakers go into bankruptcy.  The pension wasn’t a gift - because employees contributed, too!  This would be horrible!
 
Obviously, YOU DON”T CARE!…..AND YOU THINK THEY SHOULD FAIL!

Hundreds of thousands of people would be forced to go into the welfare system, since Social security benefits would not even begin to cover the basic costs of living, 

We’re sorry if you were offended by any of our ideas. We won’t apologize for them, since our job is to present them - good or bad. However, we certainly don’t wish to upset a reader.

That said, it’s clear you’re passionate about the topic. We respect that. However, your passion may have led you to a conclusion we weren’t making.

We’re not advocating GM’s bankruptcy - we’re advocating GM’s self-sufficiency. However that can happen is what we support. But, we can’t advocate throwing $25 to $50 billion at Detroit’s big three without a specific plan.

The Treasury drummed up $700 billion a couple of weeks ago to stave of a meltdown in the financial sector, but only recently have we figured out they (the government) still don’t really have a plan to fix the problem…. they’re flying by the seat of their pants. That’s how things get misappropriated, and that’s where fiscal irresponsibility is bred. To see it possibly happening now with the auto industry is worrisome. That’s all.

So, our issue isn’t the money or the industry - our issue is sending money without a plan, or conditions. If the company can’t support itself in the long run (not the short run, but the long run), then something needs to change so that they can.

Maybe GM can be self-sufficient in the long run. We hope so. Letting retirees shoulder some of the health care costs rather than being paid by the company is a good start, though not quite enough.

To be clear though, the employees (current and former) are our primary concern. Like you said, they’ve contributed as much or more than anybody. We agree, which is why we specifically said in the newsletter “In our opinion, the pension and health coverage should be protected by the government”.

In response to your belief, no, we DO care, and we DON’T want them to fail. We just want them to be autonomous, which is better for everyone ultimately. Mentioning the Deutsche Bank target of $0 was mostly a commentary on the stock, not the people in the company.

G M and engineering crew has no imagination.
 
They set on their fat cat butts and let every country that makes a car build them with people in mind, while they continued with huge, heavy monstrous gas guzzlers with 300 to 600 horse power engines.
 
Now needing a complete building of their plants to produce an economical car and still too ignorant to understand where they went wrong.
 
Even now when they build a hybrid its a 6000 pound monster, that will only  get 20 to 25 miles to the gallon of gas and cost 35 to 40 thousand dollars.
 
They proved over and over again, they are simply in the wrong business.
 
Ignorance is bliss, but it wont sell autos or trucks.
 
They biggest line for their truck is, it gets 20 miles to the gallon.

Thanks for the e-mail. We can’t verify the stats and specs cited above, but we definitely get the idea.

good article…well balanced…

Thanks

I think you are right on target.
 
Thank you

Clearly it’s a topic people are passionate about, one way or another. If you’ve got two cents (or more) to add, feel free to do so below.

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