Man, the likely GM restructuring is like totally Communism. Not necessarily in a bad or good way but I’m really excited to see how it shakes out.
You see, GM owes a lot of people money. We call those people creditors. And one of the biggie creditors is the International Union, United Automobile, Aerospace and Agricultural Implement Workers of America, better known as the United Auto Workers, about the same known as the UAW.
You see, GM owes the UAW about $26 billion to pay for commitments GM made to pay for retiree health benefits that GM did not appropriately prefund (should have talked to your actuary dudes). But the restructuring agreements being bandied about make it seem likely that the UAW will get some or all of that as stock in the newly reborn GM. So the UAW will be a big owner of GM. Which means, you bright-eyed bushy-tailed Marxists, that the workers will own the means of production.
Communism!
It’ll be interesting to see how this turns out. Will they bring sense and decency to automotive business practices and offer a welcome check from hubris? Will they continue the proud American tradition of selling the long-term to pay for the short-term? Only time will tell. On one hand it is hard to see how they could screw it up worse than past leadership. On the other hand, never challenge someone to disappoint you.
I’ll keep you posted.
Love,
Drizzle
