SHOCKER …
By FITSNEWS || Government Motors placed an “urgent” order for half a million new ignition switches for Chevrolet Cobalts and other small model cars – two months before it alerted federal regulators to a deadly defect associated with the vehicles.
According to company emails, the emergency rush order for the new ignition switches was placed on December 18 of last year – a day after company executives discussed the problem at a meeting. The executive in charge of purchasing for GM at the time? Current CEO Mary Barra – who had just been tapped to lead the company.
GM didn’t inform the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) of the deadly defect – or order a recall of affected vehicles – until February 2014.
The ignition switch emails – referenced in this report in The Wall Street Journal – shred the credibility of Barra, who testified before Congress earlier this year that she wasn’t informed of the defect until late December.
Oops …
They also shred the credibility of a report prepared by Chicago attorney Anton Valukas – which cleared Barra and two other top GM executives of any wrongdoing related to the scandal.
The defect – which prompted rolling recalls beginning back in February – caused select vehicles to slip out of their “drive” position, disabling critical braking, power steering and air bag functions (i.e. everything you need to avoid crashing your car). At least thirty people have died as a result.
“This is simply mind-blowing in its raw evilness,” an attorney who is suing GM on behalf of victims and their families said of the latest revelations.
Barra took the reins of GM – which has received billions of dollars in taxpayer funding – in January 2014. Shortly thereafter she was praised by U.S. president Barack Obama in his State of the Union address.
“Our success should depend not on accident of birth, but the strength of our work ethic and the scope of our dreams,” Obama said of Barra. “It’s how the daughter of a factory worker is CEO of America’s largest automaker.”
The federal government owned as much as 61 percent of GM following its 2008-09 bailout – but sold its last shares of the company in December 2013 at a loss of $10 billion.
***
97 comments
Is there any stimulus money left we could give them?
lol…always more of that available, it’s just a matter of trees, ink & presses. Or now, a few simple keystrokes adding a few zeros here and there.
Obama has already started that ‘shovel ready/infrastructure” shit again even after stating there was never really ANY shovel ready jobs and he just got his ass handed to him.
My 2014 Silverado is still the nicest riding, quietest truck I’ve ever been in.
Mine too.
Also wifes 2012 Tahoe.
Then there is the 2500HD Silverado that we use to tow the fifth wheel.
All American assembled, Texas,Michigan, and Indiana.
BUY AMERICAN- WHILE THERE IS STILL TIME!
The JOB you SAVE may be YOUR OWN!
In 2011 I bought a Ford pickup because they didn’t take tax payer dollars.
Good for you.
Was it assembled in the USA?
Is Dearborn good enough for you?
Is that still part of the US?
:-D
For the time being.
EXCELLENT!
Can’t do much better than that!
Unions are bankrupting America. The automobile worker unions were the model for the PUBLIC sector unions that have bankrupted and destroyed cities.Buy cars/trucks from foreign automobile companies like Honda that pay a nice working wage with benefits and offer job security.
How is Detroit working for ya? Have they turned the water back on?
Never been there.
Have you?
And how do you know what the wage packages are?
FYI, BMW use a work force comprised of 75% temps, supplied by MAU, a “job shop” out of Augusta, Ga. What kind of package you think these “temps” are getting.
All you union haters need to list your companies or employers so us union members can avoid spending our money with you or them.
Mine is :
INTERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF ELECTRICAL WORKERS
Now lets see if you got the nuts to list your source of income?
Self-employed.I do well.Sports and politics have been good to me.
I don’t hate unions. The leadership of the private and public sector unions just became to greedy and violent.
You just proved that with your threats on here today.
So ,by choosing where to spend MY money constitutes a threat, so be it.
I see it more as a promise.
Spend your damn money wherever you want. You don’t think conservatives research who owns the businesses we spend money with?
I don’t shop at Costco or eat ice cream at Ben and Jerry’s. I don’t attend an NBA game because every single owner is Jewish and they vote for Democrats (I support Israel however).
Now I know never to hire an electrician from THE COMMUNIST INTERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF ELECTRICAL WORKERS!!! :_))))))
KUEL!
And I will.
Politician. sports???????/
Still didn’t answer the original question, Did ya?
Sure I did. I told you how I made/make my money. Why would I tell you anymore?
Don’t need you or Buz showing up at my home/work wearing your pretty little dresses chanting ‘yes we can’ and ‘It’s Bush’s fault’! :-)
Well, you pretty much said it with the word “politics”, pretty much a hypocrite aren’t you?
Once heard a speaker break down the work politics:
Poly -meaning many
Tics- blood sucking animal.
Have a nice day, we’ve used too much bandwidth already.
So PLEASE let us know what business you run, so we can AVOID you. Seriously. Let OUR money be spent where it supports OUR interests.
Once upon a time, there were a couple restaurants I frequented who decided to post “no concealed firearms” signs. I’m a big supporter of CCW, and frequently ate in those locations in uniform during my lunch breaks, as well as when I was off. While off, I told them I would no longer be regularly patronizing their restaurants due to my support of CCW and their rejection of it. One of the owners/managers actually tried to complain over my NOT spending MY money at his business -he felt it somehow wrong for a cop to choose to not eat in an establishment with objectionable policies.
My money, my choice. If you want to hold economically thuggish opinions, please let us know what business you own/ operate so we can avoid you. I’m sure Grand Tango and Sandi will pick up the slack.
Hospice. Now run down there and pull the plug on the terminally ill – tell em ‘diamondjim’ gives money and time to Hospice and you want to know who supports them so you can boycott them as well…
You fucking dumbasses never stop humiliating yourselves.
Good for you in standing on principle and boycotting those establishments!
So you’re good at telling people what they want to hear (politics) and using connections. I hear all the time that I shouldn’t expect to “do well” as a cop. If “politics” (read government) has been “good to you”, maybe those of us actually doing the work that allows you to keep nice things should also “do well”.
Who is telling you that? If you are a cop, thank you for your service to the community.I hope you make as much money as possible.
Bottom line is however that communities can’t afford to pay your pension and heath benefits for 30-50 years after you retire at 45 or 50. Public sector unions are bankrupting communities.
Honor prior contracts however for new/young workers they need to work at least 35 years and can’t retire before 65. Only way the math works.
I will work everday of my life until I retire-like smirks…. :-)
Nikki’s still paying you to post on here? I figured win, lose, or draw, she’d cut off the funding for your posts by 11-05-14.
Nikki never payed me. Never met Nikki. Don’t know a damn soul that works for Nikki.
I just hate to see good people like Nikki and Mark Sanford get treated unfairly by the media.
Not leaving until i see Smirks and Buz get married in those ‘lesbian suit’s’ Obama wore when he got off the plane in China.
No, corporate/ management greed is destroying America. You’re just enough of a sucker to believe them when they blame their own failures and mistakes on unions. Case in point: Boeing. The CEO rakes in more than the entire union payroll of the plant in Washington, yet tells us the union workers’ labor cost is weakening the company (then he makes that nasty little comment about employees). Oh, and it’s a pretty well-known fact that it wasn’t employee benefits that put a stake in the heart of Detroit, but rather VERY poor decision-making by corporate officers and managers regarding everything from demand to marketing. There are more than enough case studies available. Sorry, you just aren’t paying attention to what has REALLY happened.
Truthmonger,
Think we’ve been trolled by GrandTango, BigT, Sandi, etc.
Case in point: Boeing. The CEO rakes in more than the entire union payroll of the plant in Washington,…
TBG rakes in more than the entire union payroll of the Boeing plant in North Charleston, beetchez!
lulz
Reading comprehension fail.
“[I]gnition switches for Chevrolet Cobalts and other small model cars”
i.e. not a 2014 Silverado. Not even close.
Never said it was. Never even hinted at it. But the underlying sentiment here is that since GM took bailout money, they sell an inferior product…which is pretty far from the truth.
30% made in Mexico. Which is a good thing, it keeps the wet backs out of the Detroit welfare machine.
The wages at the Mexico plant are very low compared to those of US assembly line workers. GM is raking in very high profits with the cheap labor.
Oh my god! Not profits! eeeeek!
OK, fine … If you believe that $20+ per hour is “low”, then, sure.
But all of the international auto makers are doing it. Mexico has been making GM car and truck interiors for a decade now, just south of San Diego. The engines and transmissions are made mostly in Japan, China and Europe, the body parts mostly in China, the brake & chassis parts mostly in Japan … Assembly plants may be local, if by local you mean Tennessee, etc., but 60% to 80% of US car and truck parts are made offshore. … By $20+ dollar per hour, non-union workers.
WRONG!
WRONG!
WRONG!
On Mexican wages, country of manufacture of GM engines and transmission, and sheetmetal.
“… read an article two years ago where the auto execs were talking of their $30 dollar a day work force in Mexico. …”
OK, fine. But if you, as a Mexican National, are willing to do a decent, clean and sober days work, the GM Truck Interior manufacturing company in Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico, will pay you US$21.50 per hour for each eight hour shift, 40 hours per week … and they also provide “free” health care insurance for you and your family.
“The Free Market will regulate itself!”
Just like the VA, right?
Why the ‘death tax’ then? Why is somebody taxed TWICE when they eventually die?
What does the estate tax have to do with the automotive industry?
Oh, right. Nothing.
Have you forgotten that GM was a government sponsored entity at the time this “crisis” came to a head?
No matter, if you think that faulty ignition switches in vehicles that resulted in 30 deaths(and that number is debatable, GM says 13, Reuters has said 154) over 29 million vehicles is a “free market” problem you need to have your head examined.
The moment we have 100% fault free cars is the moment you’ll have to take the equivalent of a house loan to buy one.
Have you forgotten that GM was a government sponsored entity at the time this “crisis” came to a head?
GM’s actions are typical of automotive industry tactics. If you need an example of a company that didn’t receive a bailout from the US government, how about Toyota’s accelerator fiasco? Or the Ford Pinto?
The moment we have 100% fault free cars is the moment you’ll have to take the equivalent of a house loan to buy one.
What a familiar argument. Where have I heard this one? Oh, yeah!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jltnBOrCB7I
“Ford could’ve saved lives by spending $13 per Pinto.”
“LOL WELL WUT IF IT COST A BILLION DOLLARS PER PERSON, WUT THEN? A MILLION PEOPLE COULD STARVE JUST SO ONE PERSON COULD HAVE A SAFE CAR, ERMAGHERD!”
Jesus fucking Christ. $13 to keep a car from fucking exploding is a cost worth paying for. Wasn’t the fix for the Toyota accelerator problem just a simple metal plate? What’s the cost of fixing this ignition switch problem?
57 cents.
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2014/04/01/victims-relatives-demand-answers-from-gm-over-death-trap-cars/
How are these fixes “the equivalent of a house loan” in your world?
No one expects a 100% fault-free car, but people sure as hell should expect a company to fix a potentially fatal flaw the moment it finds out the flaw is there, ESPECIALLY if the flaw is ridiculously cheap to fix. No one is asking for inertial dampers, deflector shields, and emergency teleporters to be invented and made standard features on their cars, but damn, are we really whining about costs over shit like this?
If only the poors could buy such innovative cars as this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D827IxEJVS4
…but alas, the big bad gubmint is taking away our freedumbs to buy death traps.
See, that’s part of your stupidity.
If someone knew that the $13 per Pinto would have saved the lives required to make it feasible, it would have been done. But no one has a crystal ball.
Even further, it’s not the “$13” Smirks, it’s the $13 over thousands of parts that go into a car(because no one knows what will or won’t be defective), you demagogue.
I doubt it would have been done. Quite a few corporate officers will take risks to increase short-term profits simply because they feel immune from the fallout. They made their bonuses (often in the hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars). Make enough to retire in a couple years, then pull the cord on the golden parachute.
Just look at Magistrate Adams in Lexington… business can do no wrong in her courtroom, and if they did, she’ll minimize the damage regardless of the harm to the mere citizen who would DARE file suit against a business.
“Just look at Magistrate Adams in Lexington… business can do no wrong in her courtroom”
So is that a business problem or a gov’t problem? It sounds like you’re bitching about the justus system to me, and I’m inclined to believe you.
In an ideal situation— A Republican administration— GM and Chrysler would have been allowed to go bankrupt, been reorganized without the union then came back as a viable company. As it is the unions and bureaucrats run both cos. They are both making better autos than before but not due to anything the govt. or union involvement had to do with it. Free market competition has made all the “American” makers do a better job. Things like the above shouldn’t be allowed and should be prosecuted back as far as necessary. Those ignition switches should have been caught in R&D and never made it to production. But we have what we have. Thank you Dims, bureaucrats, regulators and all the other responsible parties.
Hyundai/Kia was just fined $100 million by the Obama Administration for allegedly not meeting MPG standards. They had another $200 million taken from them for emissions control shortfalls…Their true crime: Beating Obama-Motors…
When you are asked how Obama has wrecked the economy, savaging businesses that beat the F*#k out of his union-controlled-nationalized calamity is one way….
In some ways, Obama is more Communist than the Communist. This B@$t@*d is DANGEROUS…When he finally exits (thank God) I cannot wait for the debriefing of insiders to expose all the $#!t he has done to this country. It will be startling, I’m sure.
Hyundai/Kia was just fined $100 million by the Obama Administration for allegedly not meeting MPG standards.
No, they were fined for understating their cars’ emissions. Hyundai/Kia later went on to reduce the expected MPG of their cars as a result of this for over a million vehicles.
http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2014/11/03/361146128/hyundai-kia-fined-100-million-over-misleading-gas-mileage-figures
They had another $200 million taken from them for emissions control shortfalls…
Well yes, usually when you tell the EPA you’re doing a good job, and they do an audit and find out you’re full of shit, then yes, they usually take away your credits for doing a good job because you didn’t actually earn them.
Must be some great “journalism” over at SCPD, amirite?
Correct. … (That’s why impeachment is a bad idea. The g’ment Helots will just bury all of the evidence and the demo-Fascists will claim get-even-with-’em-ism politics instead of the exposure of the obvious outright thefts.)
Abolish the IRS, first, then just leave ’em twisting in the wind …
Clinton – and an extremely partisan US Senate – ruined the threat of Impeachment of Obama….not to mention, Black officials enjoy a degree of criminal activity for which they get away with, based on skin color…
And what part did the union play in the design and purchase of these ignition switches?
In case you don’t know: UAW is totally complicite with GM engineering … Saving money on cheap, shoddy parts and made in Mexico sub-assemblies = a part of their plans for future raises, fatter pensions … near term.
No, actually, foreign-manufactured components are anathema to the UAW (and for good reason). Reductions in quality to save money benefits management and investors while harming unions and union membership. You really ARE an idiot.
In the real world, the UAW actually wants GM to turn a profit … otherwise GM would not be able to pay for union pensions (again).
“… Reductions in quality to save money benefits management and investors …”
Not! Ever! … The sophisticated buying public would see through these kinds of slight-of-hand maneuvers right quickly.
Yes, there are car/truck customers who will buy GM until the cows come home, but they will eventually die out and the better deals, better quality, better performance for the money will always win out.
If I’m an idiot, how much did you make selling GM short in the last decade?
In an ideal situation— A Republican administration— GM and Chrysler would have been allowed to go bankrupt
The bailout of GM was signed by a Republican president, dude.
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1208/16740.html
Devastating.
but…but…we had to “abandon the free market to save it”! (Bush the Dumber)
Greenspan: “oops.”
Ben continued the legacy of “oops”. We’ll all be wishing we had another Volker 10 years from now.
Dumbass. Bush may have given GM 17 million with the economy collapsing in 2008 HOWEVER Obama used it as a chance for the GOVERNMENT to take over GM so he could screw the stockholders and funnel the money to the unions for votes.
Obama is the one that appointed a “CZAR” and gave GM 4 TIMES (90 MILLION) what Bush did.
Obama was trying to save GM-Obama wanted the government to own it so the union would rake in millions for votes.
Jus’ ’cause “Bush did it”, does not mean Oh Bummer didn’t do it, too.
Abolish the IRS and neither of Them can do it, next time.
Bush set the precedent unfortunately, showing that the difference between Repubs and Dems are simply a matter of degrees…no substantial difference in philosophy.
Fantastic! Well done.
Actually, the precident was set by Woodrow Slimslithershit Wilson … by instituting IRS collections before congress and the states had approved the “law”, then by F***ing Franklin Roosevelt with the egregious income tax increases and welfare state mandates at the beginning of the Great Depression … which did not end until That F***ing Fascist finally signed off on a tax cut in 1939 …
Bush drives off the cliff with Obama in the car… as they are plunging to their death, Bush rips the wheel off the steering column and hands it to Obama… “Here, *you* drive!” and bails out.
“When Republicans bail things out, it’s OK!”
Yeah, sure, whatever.
shhh… you’ll tip them off!
So you are saying that ALL the BAD decisions made by corporate officers to satisfy investor demands and boost bonuses were actually somehow UNION influenced? Funny. In fact, it was Lee Iacocca working WITH the unions that allowed him to turn Chrysler around after stupid profiteers ran it into the ground. When profiteers took over again, they ran the company BACK into the ground.
Funny you mention Iacocca . I read both of his books. In the first he wrote alot about the “saving of Chrysler”. He gave a lot of credit to the UAW for working with him to save the company. He also said their upper management of Chrysler were his biggest adversary during this time.
Also, a lot of people don’t know what his salary was during this time.
NONE! He took Chrysler stock that was trading for $2 on the day he was hired.
He then went on to head the fund drive for the Statute Of Liberty restoration. However, he was releaved of that position shortly before the re-dedication.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UfHtcUZXljw
Not for the faint of heart … LOL
The “progressive” plutocrats are deep in the government motors business, now. United Auto Workers are the one’s to eventually suffer … Bad PR = lost sales = fewer UAW GM jobs.
Somebody help me out here:
When was the alleged crime committed?
Who was the primary stock holder during the period the alleged crime was committed?
Obama! Thanks Col. . I suddenly have high hopes for you in the future.
stock holder
——-
corporations aren’t “the primary stock holder” – it’s people, my friends.
We need to know when GM knew and if Barra lied, but could someone explain the point of a recall if the parts haven’t arrived? Why order parts if a recall wasn’t intended?
Their are 33,000 auto deaths each year. There have been 30 deaths over the past decade attributed to faulty ignitions. If people don’t stop driving because of 33,000 deaths per year, they are not going to stop because of 3 deaths per year to wait for parts.
All those executives with college degrees, like an MBA … but still they are just as lawless and will commit criminal acts like the common thug selling crack. The USA reminds me of Russia (the entire government is totally corrupt and kills its own people who are adversaries). The only thing that will get this nation and these cronies back in line is strict prosecution and prison time. If that is not done, then the alternative is to revolt with weapons in tow. Otherwise, this country will remain on a fast track to collapse and destruction because of a rogues and lawless entities within We The People’s government. Right now, government is the biggest problem and threat to all good people. And that can never be refuted.
“According to company emails, the emergency rush order for the new ignition switches was placed on December 18 of last year– a day after company executives discussed the problem at a meeting.”
“The Wall Street Journal – shred the credibility of Barra, who testified before Congress earlier this year that she wasn’t informed of the defect until late December.”
“GM didn’t inform the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) of the deadly defect – or order a recall of affected vehicles – until February.”
You mean she found out on December 17 not late December. Barra first testified April 1. You mean she doesn’t know the difference between December 17 and late December three months later. Any day before the 20th is mid December. That’s three whole days.
Sheessh! People!
LETS BEHEAD HER!!!!
DEATH TO BARRA!
DEATH TO BARRA!
DEATH TO BARRA!
They didn’t receive all the parts until August.
http://www.autonews.com/article/20140823/OEM11/140829945/gm-with-ignition-parts-shipped-must-now-find-recalled-cars-owners
I bet more people died in unfamiliar loaner cars than would have died in faulty ignition cars if they waited until the parts came in.
I also bet that more people are killed in millions of trips to and from the dealership to fix the ignition than will ever be saved by the repair.
So now corporations need to be held to higher standard than politicians? But they are “people” now– thanks to the bought and paid for Supreme Court.
Why not put the corporation in the federal penitentiary, and let Bubba have his way with it.
…and no one died.
This proves that the “free market” works.
Just like the VA, right?
It’s better to trust the greed of people, than incompetent bureaucrats?
You have a choice, I bought a Ford, you have no choice with incompetent bureaucrats. Buyer beware does not equate when dealing with bureaucrats.
Choice until the power consolidates.
Would you prefer communism?
I like a representative democracy.
Yep in a representative democracy we can still bitch about what ever we want.
It just pisses me off how stupid the “constituency” is.
You must be a fan of Jonathan Gruber.
Louie Gohmert is getting my attention at the moment.
That is not the only alternative.
I love the way you try to make this a government problem. God forbid you admit that this is just Capitalism at work. In a society based on pure capitalism, GM would decide whether it would cost more to fix the problem or pay off the families of the dead people. That is exactly what they did here. Just like Ford with the exploding Pintos years ago.
Corporations do not care about people. They care about money. If a few people have to die so the CEO of GM, Ford, J.P. Morgan, whoever can have a bigger bonus. So be it. That is just the way the free markets work.
Why isn’t that b!itch in prison?