GM: We’re not married to Detroit
posted at 11:12 am on May 12, 2009 by Ed Morrissey
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Maybe the bailout has resulted in clearer thinking at Government Motors. New CEO Fritz Henderson, who got his job after Barack Obama pressured GM into firing Rick Wagoner, says that the automaker has an open mind on how to rebuild the business. One of the options on the table is relocation to somewhere other than Detroit … and maybe anywhere other than Detroit:
General Motors has received $15.4 billion in federal loans, and the government deadline to restructure or seek Chapter 11 protection is just over two weeks away. But the company must reach concessionary agreements with unions, persuade thousands of bondholders to exchange $27 billion in debt for 10 percent of GM’s stock, cut thousands of dealers, close plants and lay off more salaried workers.
Under Chapter 11 reorganization, a company can stay in operation under court protection while sheds debts and unprofitable assets to emerge in a stronger financial position.
Also Monday, Henderson left open the possibility that GM would move its corporate headquarters out of Detroit. The company, he said, is looking at everything within its business.
This makes sense, if a CEO wants to take reorganization seriously. Every option should go on the table for discussion, including the location of executive and manufacturing facilities. Bankruptcy allows contracts to be rewritten or canceled, and unprofitable arrangements need to be reconsidered. Something tells me, however, that the Obama administration won’t sit quietly while Government Motors packs its bags and heads the Mayflower to another city, and especially not another state. Democrats need Michigan too badly in national elections to have the Obama administration take the blame for the departure of American automakers from their ancestral city.
But if GM does flee, it presents a bit of a problem for us in the punditry class. Last night, when Brian Faughnan tipped me to this story on Twitter, I wondered what cities could replace “Detroit” as shorthand for American automakers. Here are a few suggestions:
- Nothing, AZ
- Bummerville, CA
- Experiment, GA — this describes the Obama administration’s business sense
- Accident, MD
- El Mirage, AZ
Got any others? Leave them in the comments, and I’ll add the best ones in updates. Make sure they’re actual names of American cities.
Update: Some great suggestions from the comments:
- Truth or Consequences, NM
- Union City, NJ
- Last Chance, CO
- Deadwood, SD
- Purgatory, CO
- Thief River Falls, MN
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Wherever they choose to move GM to, why don’t they just federalize the land around the company’s new home turf and make it a federal district? Then they could just ignore the Constitution again and give all of those workers Congressional representatives like they did in D.C. .
It’s wrong but at least they’d be upfront and honest about it.
Weebork on May 12, 2009 at 11:54 AM
Greasy, OK
Gripe, AZ
Hardscrabble, DE
Hazard, KY
Oddville, KY
Bee Lick, KY
Turkey Scratch, AR
Toad Suck, AR
Stiffknee Knob, NC
Coal Fire, AL
Egypt Ford, AL
Needmore, AL
Hooker, AR
Fluffy Landing, FL
Roachtown, IL
Loafers Station, IN
Big Bone Lick State Park, KY
Big Beaver Lick, KY
Cadillac, KY
Chevrolet, KY
Knob Lick, KY
Penile, KY
Eros, LA
Crappo, MD
Embarrass, MN
Improve, MS
Blazing Place, MT
Wykoff, NJ
Cuckold’s Creek, SC
Sugar Tit, SC
Defeated, TN
Ding Dong, TX
Uncertain, TX
Mexican Hat, UT
Satans Kingdom, VT
Bosses, VA
Lower Economy (wouldn’t want to live there)Nova Scotia
UNREPENTANT CONSERVATIVE CAPITOLIST on May 12, 2009 at 11:54 AM
This sounds like something fishy. Those laid off workers, if they don’t re-locate, or can’t afford to, their job is gone. What better way to start over, with new workers, and lower wages.
Now I do NOT agree with the UAW, and the control they want, and the damage they did, but this reeks. How many workers who are unionized, voted for Obama, in the hopes, or the delusional hopes, that they would forever be represented, and have a job?
The unions have done more damage to the workers, and the industry, and now the workers pay the price for this.
capejasmine on May 12, 2009 at 11:55 AM
GM has already failed, they are already paying the price, and so are we all already paying the price.
There is almost nobody left in Detroit population-wise, and there is a huge extended suburban area that includes Ann Arbor and Southfield. I have family in the metro Detroit area, but sometimes things have to change.
BigD on May 12, 2009 at 11:56 AM
According to this, 74 percent of Wayne County voted for the bastard. Excuse me for a second while I locate my tiny violin to play.
jennifernaz on May 12, 2009 at 11:57 AM
Parachute, CO
ookete on May 12, 2009 at 11:57 AM
Chevrolet, Texas
(Just made that up.)
carbon_footprint on May 12, 2009 at 11:59 AM
After what they’ve done to the American taxpayer, they should move to Intercourse, PA.
Steve Z on May 12, 2009 at 12:01 PM
I would vote for Hell, MI (a cousin once lived there). However, in the same interview Fritz Henderson said relocation wasn’t high on their priority list. My dad is a white-collar GM retiree who worked there from late ’60s to mid-90s. He frequently referred to them (facetiously) as “Generous Motors” and said they made money in spite of themselves. I think he always knew it would come back to bite them in the you-know-where.
kasubo on May 12, 2009 at 12:02 PM
Great Falls, MT.
Liberal, KS
Fort Dodge, IA
Startup, WA
diogenes on May 12, 2009 at 12:04 PM
The thing is that , if GM has to run on taxpayers money , people somewhere else who would make a profit loses their job because of taxes. Rob Peter etc.
the_nile on May 12, 2009 at 12:04 PM
Yehaw Junction,Florida
katy the mean old lady on May 12, 2009 at 12:05 PM
According to this, 74 percent of Wayne County voted for the bastard. Excuse me for a second while I locate my tiny violin to play.
jennifernaz on May 12, 2009 at 11:57 AM
*
Oh God that’s rich. These morons have been voting for libs for 50 years! – all the while growing poorer and poorer.
marklmail on May 12, 2009 at 12:06 PM
Anyone chime in with Death Valley CA yet?
Patrick S on May 12, 2009 at 12:07 PM
Chevy Chase, MD
Bolton, MI
diogenes on May 12, 2009 at 12:07 PM
Wayne County accounts for only a small part of the Detroit metropolitan area, but I’ll grant you most people in the area do vote Democratic. It’s very frustrating to be a conservative in Michigan.
So I’m thinking of my young son and his wife, who moved back to Michigan 6 years ago, with their two small children, to be near family. They’ve worked hard, played by the rules, and now stand to lose everything. Perhaps you could give them a thought when you locate that tiny violin of yours.
Dee2008 on May 12, 2009 at 12:08 PM
Why not Experiment, Ga. It is 35 miles from downtown Atlanta. The home of several large universities, one of them is one of the best public engineering university in the US. It is also about 30 miles south of the busiest airport in the world.
jeannie on May 12, 2009 at 12:10 PM
Nimrod, Arkansas
capejasmine on May 12, 2009 at 12:12 PM
of course they are not married to Detroit, they were not married to Flint when we were their headquarters either.
Mors on May 12, 2009 at 12:12 PM
Prayers to your family, Dee.
capejasmine on May 12, 2009 at 12:13 PM
Detroit dead? It died years ago when it turned to the Dems and unions as the only eggs in the basket. The only thing alive in Detroit is the occasional crack house. I was there recently and left depressed just like the city. It used to be a nice place before the 68 riots and subsequent lib takeover.
How does Baghdad, Kentucky sound?
hip shot on May 12, 2009 at 12:13 PM
GM has a plant in Arlington, TX
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/classifieds/news/automotive/latestnews/stories/050809dnbusgmarlington.16448f8.html
izoneguy on May 12, 2009 at 12:21 PM
Anywhere in Venezuela. 1) cheap labor 2) have an oil supply 3) they are already used to government control.
dkeppner on May 12, 2009 at 12:21 PM
You’re all way off on this.
GM would probably try to go somewhere in Ireland like Trim, Rush, Kill or Newcastle. It’s obvious.
thebadoutlaw on May 12, 2009 at 12:23 PM
Is Santa Claus, Indiana an option?
hip shot on May 12, 2009 at 12:24 PM
Dee, I feel for you and many of the people left in MI. Until that state hits rock bottom, though, nothing is going to change.
I’m not hoping for rock bottom, I would like to go back but there has to be a hell of a change.
ORconservative on May 12, 2009 at 12:24 PM
They could move to Guam, where Pelosi has her tuna fish business. I hear the labor is really cheap there.
Terrye on May 12, 2009 at 12:24 PM
What about Moscow, KS. Or is that too far from the Kremlin?
jack herman on May 12, 2009 at 12:24 PM
Paris, Texas
smfoushee on May 12, 2009 at 12:28 PM
New city, new state for Government Motors.
City: Barack, State: Obama
There, you have new Representatives and new Senators and of course a (the first) monument to “the one”.
katablog.com on May 12, 2009 at 12:30 PM
Oh Lord–please preserve us she prayed fervently. Don’t allow the UAW to ruin another city and another State. Amen.
jeanie on May 12, 2009 at 12:30 PM
There are always good people in bad situations. If your son is a hard-working, God-fearing man, I have no doubt that he will come out of this in good condition.
But I can’t muster up much sympathy for the state or the country as a whole right now who willingly voted for this man.
I’m a conservative too. I understand your frustrations. Trust me, I do.
jennifernaz on May 12, 2009 at 12:34 PM
I know you’re right about that. But with our wonderful governor I’m sure we’ll find that bottom eventually, lol.
I’m not looking for sympathy (tho’ thx to those who’ve offered it), but I think we should all remember that these are real people we’re talking about. It’s fine to be flip and funny, but let’s not be callous and cruel. Let’s not become what we accuse the HuffPo & Kos kids of being.
Not everyone in Detroit is part of the union, works for GM, or voted for Obama…or whatever other sins you want to accuse them of. But even if they are, do, or did, does that mean they deserve to lose their livelihood?
Dee2008 on May 12, 2009 at 12:34 PM
They could move right down the road to Hell, MI (yes, it’s real).
Tell GM to go to Hell!
kalel666 on May 12, 2009 at 12:37 PM
Sink Hole, UT
gwelf on May 12, 2009 at 12:39 PM
GM wouldn’t be the first or the last. Michigan drove Volkswagen and Comerica out of the state. Comerica is was based in MI for 158 years! After being maligned for redlining for decades they left.
Theworldisnotenough on May 12, 2009 at 12:43 PM
Zero will not let them move out of Detroit…..
Managers, designers and the really smart people who work at GM should quit.
They should just start over and build a new company and leave the UAW to fend for themselves.
izoneguy on May 12, 2009 at 12:43 PM
Any state that GM approaches better be very very wary. Obama may give the prospective state the CA/SEIU treatment.
I would turn GM away, they’re too toxic.
DerKrieger on May 12, 2009 at 12:49 PM
Beaver..Pa
Intercourse,, Pa
Morganhole..WVA
Lickingville..Pa
Stony Bottom…WVA
you get the drift
JJKRN on May 12, 2009 at 12:51 PM
Terminal Island, California
Pithole, Pennsylvania
DamnCat on May 12, 2009 at 12:53 PM
GM is not going to get out from under the union chokehold.
Heavens to Betsy……are they kidding?
AnninCA on May 12, 2009 at 12:56 PM
Sometimes it does.
If you vote rats in, you deserve whatever the rats pass.
The UAW is a lethal cancer that kills every company it’s a member of very slowly.
I hope Ford learns that sooner rather than later.
Chaz706 on May 12, 2009 at 12:56 PM
Oil Trough, AR
NeighborhoodCatLady on May 12, 2009 at 12:59 PM
The village of Intercourse(d) PA
kahall on May 12, 2009 at 1:12 PM
Cut and Shoot, Texas. About 40 miles north of Houston. Perfect fit.
DanMan on May 12, 2009 at 1:16 PM
You got it. That’s exactly what they should do, but will they? Probably not. They’ve probably all been neutered to the point of living a gutless nearly extinct existence.
thebadoutlaw on May 12, 2009 at 1:20 PM
Blue Balls, PA
james23 on May 12, 2009 at 1:21 PM
Dee, sometimes it isn’t that easy… everyone is losing a little bit and it’s a bad situation, but other places in the world are being cut too. Whole development, and production programs in defense, where people not involved in the GM/Chrysler fiasco, are being laid off becuase the gov is paying off the UAW instead. Should I or my friends lose my/our livelyhood because BO needs to pay off his union masters? How is that any more fair?
We all pay for this in one way or another, through higher taxes (which we all know are coming) worse government mandated cars and pure waste because that is what the gov does. They just cut Chryslers ad budget so they could save 60 million… but didn’t tell the union that maybe they could give up a little more. Ludacris is what it is… Why do I have to risk less pay, less bonus and possible job loss when the union bosses make out like fat cats? All while paying for it in eventual higher taxes. I for one will not have a hard time finding my violin. Sometimes hard lessons need to be learned. Ch 11 would have been the best thing to happen.
Concerned Student on May 12, 2009 at 1:24 PM
Yes.
Sorry, that sounds harsh but yes. If you vote for a party whose economic platform is essentially: “vote for us and we’ll take money from your fellow citizens and give it to you” then yes, they deserve every bad thing that comes to them.
PackerBronco on May 12, 2009 at 1:43 PM
Detroit is a toilet that should have been flushed long ago. If GM has any brains up top they’ll get the hell out ASAP.
Some Detroiters were appearing on local news whining about GM sucking up their tax dollars, but not about how Detroit has siphoned mega bucks out of GM to support the graft in the city’s leadership.
Detroit offers GM nothing at all, not even decent employees. Most of them drive in from outside detroit daily, just to get tagged with exorbitant city taxes on top of state and federal. It isn’t worth staying in an overpriced tower just to be able to say they are based in Detroit.
They should move out to the ‘burbs, where most of their employees come from anyway, and to a city that will welcome the H.Q. rather than try to drain them dry.
Detroit can go to hell.
Spiritk9 on May 12, 2009 at 1:48 PM
+1
ladyingray on May 12, 2009 at 1:54 PM
I don’t believe anyone “Deserves” to lose their livelihood. However, before, and after the elections, I remember seeing reporters going to people on the street. They would ask…who are you voting for? More times than not, they would say Obama. The reporter would go on to ask…what policies of Obama’s do you like, and why? Very few even knew what his policies were.
That being said…I think, a majority of people voted for Obama, purely on charisma, the cool factor, and because he’s black. (Bi-racial in my world)
This should be a lesson to ALL Americans. Know what you’re voting for. Do your research. Do your homework. Make sure you’re not just voting for the man, but the policies. Make sure you know what those policies are. The lessons America is learning now, is from the ignorance they chose to have, during the campaigning.
capejasmine on May 12, 2009 at 1:55 PM
Not sure if I want all those blude-state-lib-voters taking over a red state…
ladyingray on May 12, 2009 at 1:55 PM
Please do not besmirch my home town.
Kelligan on May 12, 2009 at 1:57 PM
I agree. Don’t be coming here, and voting for the entitlement party!
capejasmine on May 12, 2009 at 2:00 PM
Alliance, NC
Prosperity, SC
pain train on May 12, 2009 at 2:06 PM
Deposit, NY
Banks, OR
Golden, CO
Silver City, NM
I really like this one:
Galt, CA
ladyingray on May 12, 2009 at 2:26 PM
I’m ashamed of you people.
How could you forget the great city of Chicken, Alaska?
apollyonbob on May 12, 2009 at 2:35 PM
Detroit, Texas.
TexasDan on May 12, 2009 at 2:46 PM
Not everyone in Detroit is part of the union, works for GM, or voted for Obama…or whatever other sins you want to accuse them of. But even if they are, do, or did, does that mean they deserve to lose their livelihood?
Dee2008
The poll numbers indicate that voters there overwhelmingly supported Ogabe. This doesn’t make them bad, just complicit in their own destruction. Elections have consequences. Many of them are unintended.
SKYFOX on May 12, 2009 at 3:01 PM
Tingley, IA
Horseheads, NY
Dubn8tr on May 12, 2009 at 3:03 PM
Well, if they must go–anywhere in Mexico.
jeanie on May 12, 2009 at 3:49 PM
Mule Shoe, TX
jaime on May 12, 2009 at 4:00 PM
They should find a “Right to work” state. Maybe then they could shed the UAW to a managable annoyance.
lwssdd on May 12, 2009 at 4:17 PM
Lord, you all have missed the most obvious place of all. I’m ashamed to be a regular reader of this blog now.
Hope, Arkansas. Duh.
thebadoutlaw on May 12, 2009 at 4:22 PM
Muleshoe, Texas
kens on May 12, 2009 at 4:32 PM
You shouldn’t be too ashamed since mazer9 came up with that answer hours ago (see 11:24). :-)
jennifernaz on May 12, 2009 at 4:34 PM
Ah! OK good. I was really starting to question things.
thebadoutlaw on May 12, 2009 at 4:54 PM
Loco Hills, New Mexico
AV8R on May 12, 2009 at 6:38 PM
IF they are serious about moving … and … IF they will take the UAW with them, I would not hesitate to recommend they move to …. MOSCOW .. the UAW would fit right in ….
Ghostbuster on May 12, 2009 at 7:10 PM
Ouch, then they all might as well commit suicide.
izoneguy on May 12, 2009 at 7:37 PM
Loco Hills, NM
AV8R on May 12, 2009 at 7:46 PM
How about a Right-To-Work state?
federale86 on May 12, 2009 at 7:55 PM
detroit already looks like some post-apocalyptic wasteland….they should just nuke it and be done with it…
right4life on May 12, 2009 at 7:55 PM
What Cheer, IA
gitarfan on May 12, 2009 at 8:06 PM
eh Jersey. Its already paved over.
johnnyU on May 12, 2009 at 8:29 PM
This is such a tough issue for me. I work for a family business in Wayne County. Probably 2/3rds of our clients are somehow tied to the auto industry and the union. I like most of them. I know politically they wouldn’t agree with me or I with them. But they are not the usual left wing NY liberal types. Most of them hunt, believe in God, don’t like enviromentalist, and are hard working. Unfortunately, they do follow the union mantra and vote as they are told.
As a conservative stuck in the heartland of Democrate Union based Politics, I’m as glad as any to see the Unions failing. Believe me, they deserve it. But it’s like being told you can be saved from cancer if your just willing to cut off your leg. My family business will really suffer. But I believe that if the unions fail Michigan may actaully have some hope in the long run.
I personally would love to see GM relocate and take all it’s union thugs with it. I think that once people in Wayne County begin to see the world without the union breathing down their back, they may change their tune pretty quick.
The reality of the Union is that its made up of 20% thugs and dumbasses that intimadate the rest. 20% vote what their told because they want life to be simple and don’t want to deal with thugs, 20% vote it because they believe it and 40% tell them they vote democrate and then vote independent or republican. Many of them could be defined as the Reagen Democrate that could be persuaded with the right Conservative candidate.
MichiganMatt on May 12, 2009 at 9:06 PM
Holla! (I hate Chicago, for many reasons.)
Elephant Butte, NM (message from the GOP).
baldilocks on May 12, 2009 at 9:11 PM
How about Drain, OR ?
silverfox on May 12, 2009 at 9:20 PM
It’s more than that. The UAW and Teacher’s unions ARE the Democrat party machine in Michigan. Democrats can’t hold the state without the the auto union. If GM leaves, the long-squelched voice of reason might rise above the incompetence of Jennifer Granholm and the blatant corruption of Carl Levin and his even more corrupt brother.
The Levin lapdog, Stabenow, would piddle in confusion about wwhat to do without guidance from her masters.
highhopes on May 12, 2009 at 9:24 PM
Reminds me of the scene from Mars Attacks where they show Detroit on fire then they show the “after” of Detroit on fire with Martian spaceships.
Seriously, Detroit is DOA. The government doesn’t need to pump any more money into that cesspool. All the talented people have left leaving the welfare culture, the stupid greedy people who bought homes they couldn’t afford, and the union idiots who unthinkingly vote for whatever Democrat they are told to support. I only have sympathy for some of this last group that are otherwise nice people except for voting in criminals like Levin and incompetent morons like Jennifer Granholm. This group deserves some benefit of the doubt but a full dose of scorn for their actions because they, more than anyone, killed the state of Michigan.
highhopes on May 12, 2009 at 9:30 PM
Shut down for 3 weeks.
Everybody is fired.
Union disovled.
Job fair.
Rehire at reasonable rate.
Show them who you are!
Fight!
Win!
faol on May 12, 2009 at 9:50 PM
How about…
New Quarters, Louisiana
Half Hell, North Carolina
eanax on May 12, 2009 at 9:51 PM
Tombstone, AZ
angryed on May 12, 2009 at 9:57 PM
Jennifer Granholm is a perfect example about what is wrong with Michigan. She spent the first two years of her failed administration blaming the prior administration for all the ills of the world including original sin and telling us that we’d be blown away with her actions. All she did was put up a bunch of dumb “cool city” signs. What she didn’t tell us was that what was blowing away was opportunity, jobs and hope while she did everything in her power to prop up the Democrat machine of organized labor instead of seeking out new opportunity. She killed the state in her attempts to keep the Democrat power base. Even the filthy liar in the White House wasn’t so stupid as putting this vile incompetent woman in his administration. All that being said, my biggest criticism of Granholm is that she was clearly in over her head from the beginning but instead of admitting the truth, she responded with arrogance, denial, and outright lies.
Secondly, thanks to the failed policies of Michigan’s Democrats, the state is losing the productive. I am part of the exodus of those who wanted to stay but ended up leaving because other states are hiring and treat the non-union worker with respect. All Michigan cares about is finding new ways to provide government money to a bunch of semi-skilled union workers that found themselves priced out of competitiveness in the world market. Throw in all the ways Granholm is working to keeping stupid greedy people in homes they had no business of buying and it is easy to see why the competent, productive, and employable are opting out of the death spiral that is Michigan.
Finally, livelihoods are not something that one deserves or not. Employment is based on market needs. The market doesn’t need a bunch of people whose only skills are in the area of manufacturing. The state has all sorts of programs to re-train them into other areas of the economy. You seem to be equating “deserving” with allowing people with no marketable skills to avoid having to grow or adapt to a new reality. They don’t deserve your idea of compassion and neither do the taxpayers that are propping up these individuals.
highhopes on May 12, 2009 at 10:23 PM
And will continue to do so. That’s even more hilarious.
ddrintn on May 13, 2009 at 12:22 AM
“GM We’re Not Married to Detroit”
But we will bulldoze its communities at will.
PresidenToor on May 13, 2009 at 1:33 AM
Purgatory, CO 81301
Seven Percent Solution on May 13, 2009 at 2:33 AM
I could see them moving to Chicago or Ohio – each as a payoff from Zero.
Chicago would be a payoff to his local corrupt cronies and Ohio would be payback for letting his army of ACORN crackheads and thugs steal the state.
It could also assure the Dems win Ohio for years to come.
Mr Purple on May 13, 2009 at 4:59 AM
As the job losses mount up under President Obama, when is it fair to ask exactly how many jobs has President Obama created or saved ?
When he was out campaigning wasn’t he promising 5,000,000 new jobs ?
.
philly_nj on May 13, 2009 at 8:33 AM
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