One of the only remaining hot markets for General Motors products is, surprisingly, China (See Full Story). But, it is floundering elsewhere and absolutely living on the brink of bankruptcy. The stock price has fallen to just a couple bucks per share. I wouldn't put it past the Chinese Government to buy out GM if it goes belly up. I think that China would just love to have a well-known, worldwide auto concern that they could call their own; and the acquisition of GM would definitely do that.
My guess is that China will wait, like a scavenger, for GM to finally fall and die before coming in for the feast. That will happen when the voters and Congress can no longer feed GM anymore money to keep them in business. Then, they'll go into Chapter 11. Bankruptcy would allow GM to shed much of their debt and their labor commitments; both of which are making it very sick and killing it as an ongoing business concern. Bankruptcy would also put GM up on the chopping block for pennies on the dollar.
Right now, China is one of the few countries in this world with the money to buy anything. Increasingly they are buying up America by buying up all our debt. GM would only be another step in that process. With the ownership of General Motors, China would give the appearance of being a real industrialized country because almost all industrialized countries in this world, to some extent, have an auto company they can call their own. It is a measure of success that China might need and want.
Of course, this is all speculation on my part. But, if I didn't think it was plausible, I wouldn't have brought it up. If China doesn't buy GM, Chrysler could also be a target.
Image of Chinese Ad For A Buick Royaum by Hugo90's photostream on Flickr with Creative Commons Licensing. Some rights retained. (Click to View Other Works).
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2 comments:
Just pointing out that Hugo90 likely does not own the copyright for that image and hence can't offer a creative commons license. I'm sure GM/Buick own the copyright and he is in fact infringing on their copyright.
Personally, that's between Hugo90 and GM. However, even if his claims of creative commons are infringement, my use under the "fair use" (use without permission) conditions of copyrighted material is probably valid. First, it is a not for any commercial use or commercial benefit on my part. I purposely do not have any advertising on my blog. Second, my use is for opinion relative to or in conjunction with the context of the material being presented. In this case, GM and their China sales. This happens everyday when the news media will, without permission, critique some piece of work that it feels is newsworthy; often, very negatively. Third, my use does not devalue the work being referenced. And, lastly, it does not reduce the market for that material. I believe those are the four specific tests that have been defined by our courts, over time, for the definition of "fair use" of copyrighted material. Of course, if I am contested on this with good cause by the creator of any material, which I have been only once in the past, I will take it down. That's why I make such a concerted effort to specifically use Flickr's creative commons search capability in posting any pictures on my blog.
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