I was just reading this news piece and scratching my head: My Way News - GM, Chrysler seek billions more, to cut more jobs

How does a company like this grow to the point that in order to continue on they need billions and billions of cash above and beyond their sales?

They seem to count billions like I count ten dollar bills.

Does any of it have to do with the expectations people have for their standard of living? I'm not necessarily talking union / non-union here. Some of my favorite relatives live in the Detroit area. The wife has not worked for the majority of their marriage (she is extremely involved with their local schools and volunteers to the extent that she could be considered a full-time volunteer!) The husband's job is definitely blue collar. He does not have any college hours that I know of. He works hard and is a very responsible person and is, I'm sure, a valued employee with about 20 years experience in his field.

They have a lakefront home and everyone in the family has a vehicle (and they are nicer vehicles - a large SUV for mom, a sporty SUV for the teenaged son, a cute VW Bug for the teenaged girl, and a company-provided truck for dad). They have two boats, three motorcycles, and the kids are always going on trips that are 'large' with their schools... overseas, to New York, to Disneyworld, etc.

I live in a decidedly rural area. Companies don't provide 'company cars' to individuals very often. Kids don't get *new* cars when they get their licenses - they get older vehicles with high miles. If someone has an SUV, it's most likely because they need it for farm work. Town people, by and large, drive cars or mini-vans.

If a group of kids is going to go on a big trip, it's something they save for for a very long time, and they don't go on a lot of them. They are really seen as treats and 'big deals', rather than something you do twice a year.

I'm always a little taken back by the 'large' life my in-laws seem to live. Things they view as 'baseline' are things we would view as 'once in a lifetime'.

I didn't even mention the discrepancies in our health care coverage (despite their larger salaries, they have tiny little $100 deductibles, whereas we have $2,000 ones!)

Is the standard of living in these areas part of what has driven companies like GM to pay out far more than they can bring in? Is the fact that their engineers and designers live in the midst of "bigger, better, bring it on!" and consider the features *I* would consider 'extras' to be standard issue what makes them expect, as standard practice, job compensation that will allow them to comfortably afford the things that people in the rest of the country that *buys* what they put out see as luxuries?

It's always seemed to me like my relatives lived in the 'land of plenty'. But now it seems that it was all an illusion.

As Michael Scott would say, "What's the dealio?"

Sadly, many truly live this way. My kids had a friend who would get everything new that came out, when it came out. They drove new cars.....oh, like every two years (can you say lease??). There is so much more, but, we only have so much time, and I think you get the idea..... anyway, my kids would always want whatever these kids got and so on. It was sooooooooo difficult to explain to them how it was these things were acquired, and that their "great life" was not really as it appeared. It was all just an illusion.

__________________
Doing the right thing isn't always the same as doing the easy thing.

My opinion is that greed, mismanagement caused by greed and that lack of ability to plan ahead and make logical adjustments for changing market demand all contributed to this.

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The political system is broke and it's a joke.

aia, it's interesting that you say this. My kids don't covet what their cousins have at all. They really are down to earth people. And I realize that if we lived in Rwanda, *my* baseline for living (we have two vehicles!) would seem outlandishly extravagant.

But within the scope of our individual nation's economy, I do often ponder whether some regions 'live high' on the backs of the other regions that then in turn, as a general rule, can't afford those things.

There are a lot of things - like cars - that seem to have rather uniform prices across the nation. A $20K vehicle isn't a huge deal if the average salary in your area is $150K. But here, where the average household income is $36,000, spending that much on a car would be a poor spending choice.

What bothers me most and what I resent these days is that those of us who live within our means and who have chosen cars and homes that we can afford are now having to suffer because of the irresponsible people.

I could have had a big house then not paid on it and waited for help too but why?

__________________
The political system is broke and it's a joke.

Amen to that!!!

And another AMEN

cmmcmm

Did you see the segment on GMA this morning??? There were 2 families on there. I think both had lost their jobs. The one family in NJ (not sure where the other was from) said they didn't feel bad for the other family.They (the NJ family) had socked away money so they can still pay their $2400/mo. mortgage payment. The other family felt like they should be helped since they had never received any assistance before.

I guess I have too much pride to think the way the 2nd family thinks??? I just have a hard time following that logic, as if they are owed something.

__________________
Doing the right thing isn't always the same as doing the easy thing.

I would be out there picking up cans and my friend's husband is manager of a pizza parlor they are always looking for people to pay minimum wage to stand on the street and hold a sign advertising. I wouldn't like it but I would do it until I could find another job.
I would do anything I had to for my mortgage. If I had to sit here with no electric, nothing else just the empty house that would be better than on the streets begging.

__________________
The political system is broke and it's a joke.

Ditto to the amens.
We have always been told by realtors that we *could* buy houses that were way over what we knew our budget could take, so even if dh loses his job we know that all able bodied folks living in this house could work minimum wage jobs to pay the bills w/out needing to declare bankruptcy.
We've almost always bought good used cars, cars we could *afford*.
Our kids (youngest ones are 13yo) got their first video game ever this past Christmas, a Wii fit, and only because we got a deal on it and wanted something to keep them physically active during the looooong winters here when they are stuck inside.
We have tried very hard to live within our means over the years, and have learned painful and valuable lessons from when we didn't do that.
The current economic crisis is gonna be a major eye opener to many folks, but not to my fam.
MZ

Many people believed the realtors when they told them what price homes they could buy. That is why they took those balloon mortgages to make the lower payments. When the payments went to the next level they started losing the homes.

What ever happened to waiting and saving up for something?
or maybe I should say
What ever happened to Common Sense?


Another thing is their "expensive Toys"
I just read in Newsweek about Boat repo's

When Boat Loans Go Bad, Marine Repo Men Move In | Newsweek Business | Newsweek.com

Shirley