A gallon of gas or a share of GM?

I agree with Dennis of Seattle. PLEASE stop whining and do something….Bush didn’t bat an eye to help Citi?? White collar vs. blue collar Do I see a double standard ?

It’s not about individual companies. It’s about the lack of regulation – and it’s a problem world wide.
This crisis will not dissipate until someone is brave enough to enforce solid, standard and ethical regulations.

American taxpayers are getting screwed and paying for the opportunity. The all-mighty rich are using the taxpayers through our government. Those same recipients call poor and needy Americans lazy while they sit on their royal butts while they underpay those who work in their factories to create their wealth. Just watch, give them all that money and they will run with it and their employees will still become unemployed. They are all rotten and greedy crooks.

By the way, I have no investments with Warren Buffett.

One Question: Could you imagine Warren Buffet appearing before Congress asking for a bailout of his companies?

Remember your answer when investing.

Most importantly, invest in yourself by stopping the use of credit (outside of car or home) and pay off your bills.

Before you think about investing consider that old fashion word “saving”.

Every self-sufficient adult should maintain an “emergency fund” of 3 to 6 months minimum. If you don’t, then you are part of the problem.

Any viable business should act accordingly.

I only invest in well run companies with conservative management. An example of which is Warren Buffett.

I do not seriously invest in high flying companies with unions that give the term a bad name.

The big three are Dinosaurs.

My gosh, as a youth we laughed at products that carried the sigh “made in China”. We laughed at the little “Toy” car (Toyota) from Japan. We wanted American cars.

That was the PAST! Jimmy Carter paid the price for long, gas lines in the 70’s.

Detroit learned nothing. THE EXECUTIVES AND UNION LEADERS ARE ALL A BUNCH OF IDIOTS.

They will never learn. Listen to them, they do not accept responsibility for nothing.

Get your big salaries, benefit, and private jets out of our face.

Losers!

Why not have ONE really good family car? I heard that GM had 20 different new models. It like Mother cooking 6 different meals each night to try to please all the kids. WHY? Sounds stupid to me. What with all the re-tooling. Do what VW did – one car for the masses – reliable, cheap, always the same. A car to get from A to B – nothing more and nothing less. Anything else is a luxury. Let those who want a status symbol pay for the privilege.

Reply to Andrew of LA: Actually, the bankers haven’t in truth been profitable, as we now know they’ve been overvaluing the assets on their books for a while now. And it’s doubtful that all the money we gave to Freddie Mae and Fannie Mac will be paid back. Chrysler did in fact pay back its loan from the 1970’s bailout, with interest. Automakers will do better in the future because their latest UAW contract called for major wage concessions for new hires, so as current UAW workers retire they are replaced by cheaper labor, so the labor cost per vehicle goes down. There is hope for automakers when they get thru this rough patch. And, once, again, the hit the US economy takes if automakers and all their suppliers go under is just incredible and not worth it.

I am not against saving GM,Ford,or Chrysler. I am not thrilled either. The UAW, and executives of these companies need to face todays realities. Enforceable regulations and guidelines if they want a dime of taxpayers money. None of this AIG crap……

Take the bailout money back from Wall Street and use it to set up a new auto industry by merging GM-Ford-Chrysler into one and recapitalizing it as a competitive company.

Don’t waste money buying any more gasoline than is necessary.

I would buy a share of GM stock if they got rid of that extortion union they have ruining the company and brain washing the lives of the workers.

Everyone is so gloomy !
How about this one !

Buy some GM stock instead of that lottery ticket.

In ten years I would think the guy with the stocks will be doing better.

But. What do I know ?

The question assumes that the market is free. If that is not correct the value of GM is an unknown.

I will be investing in gas for my car for the time being.

Jim,

The bakers have been profitable until recently. In fact, some like AIG have been very profitable, with around $20B in profits yearly. With the bailout, they will likely be profitable again and be able to pay back their debts to the government.

In contrast, the Big Three have been in a death spiral since the 1970s. Lending them money is like flushing said money in the toilet. GM, in particular, has been losing money since 2004, even while the rest of the economy is booming. That’s right, they can’t even make money in a bull market. The government’s chance of getting repaid for their loans is virtually nil.

As far as I can tell, the first time our government decided to bail out a big auto company, it was because they wouldn’t bother to be forward thinking enough to weather a slow down in car buying.

Did they learn from that? Oh, sure they did. They learned they don’t have to prepare because the government wont let them fail.

While a lot of details of the current economic situation were not obvious, the idea that car sales would rise forever (along with housing prices and tech stocks) was absurd.

Me, I say skip the stock. Even if they get themselves out of this one, they’ll be back. Until there is a different model, this one is repeatedly proving itself to be NOT viable.

At these prices, buy both! We are talking pocket change here. If that’s too much you shouldn’t be buying either.

Absolutely agree with Dennis of Seattle. That is not to say that auto makers haven’t made mistakes, they certainly have, but the bankers have made far bigger mistakes and still got a bailout. Too many jobs are at stake, and massive layoffs of auto workers (including those at parts suppliers) will drag the economy way down. Also, the cost of the Federal Goverment to pick up the pension cost far outweighs the cost of any bailout.

I find it amazing that the US government is willing to spend 700 billions to save banks while letting its auto industry die. Banks do not _create_ real wealth. Heavy industry like auto manufacturing does. Not to mention the loss of technology and independence that would come from the collapse of the big three. Someday the US military might have to shop overseas for its vehicles. And then, what happens if we find ourselves in a dispute with another nation and they decide to cut the flow of trucks and spare parts?
The economy has been turned upside down. The paper shufflers get all the attention and all the money while vital industries are left to die.

Tough call? Hmmmm well at least a gallon of gas can be used to cook with. If you have any food to cook?
Has CNN noticed that Hunger is on the rise. While we bailout the richest of the rich, the people starve.
Well let them eat cake huh….
Come on CNN you are going to be scooped by some other media outlet if you do not get to reporting from the people’s point of view, instead of the elite rose colored glasses.

Let’s see – gas at $1.75 or GM at $2.81?

I’ll take the gas. At least I know what I get in return (25 miles, in my car). If GM goes belly-up, or has to sell half of itself to the Government to get cash, I could wind up with nothing more than the paper the stock certificate is printed on.

This poll – Gas: a bird in the hand, so to speak.

It is sad, I would rather buy the gallon of gas, It will at least allow me to get somewhere. That is more than stock in GM will get you.