I just watched the recording I made of Bill Maher's Real Time.

[pennylane100]

One of the guests was Bob Lutz, a former vice chairman of General Motors. He believed that it was government policies that had caused the failure of the automobile industry in this country. These policies had led to a weakened industry and the mortgage crises was the final straw. I had to replay the tape to make sure that I had heard him correctly as I could not believe that he would use such a self serving explanation of its failure.

I am a long way from being an economics expert but I do know that companies like Toyota, Honda, BMW and even Ford all managed to survive without government help and I really wanted one of the panel members to ask him why that was. The fact that he would not acknowledge that his company bore any responsibility in their epic failure was mind boggling. But if he was typical of the mindset of the people running the show at that time, I can see why they failed.

[Lint Head]

1. You could tell he was just a suit that liked to play golf and have a nice tan.

[2ndAmForComputers]

2. Lazy bum trying to blame the government for his own failures while accepting its handouts.

Hey, RW lingo can be used against their people too!

[6000eliot]

3. He also said that they only built huge gas guzzlers because we WANTED them,

not because they were pushing them on us.

[ejpoeta]

7. they always say that. they aren't giving us what we want

they are giving us what makes them the most money. And I am sure that they were capable of making efficient cars in European countries that weren't the gas guzzlers.

[Fawke Em]

16. Ford made efficient cars for Eurpoe and they weren't sold here

because we didn't want them.

Look, I'm in marketing and companies DO NOT promote products that won't sell on purpose. WE, the American people, wanted these monster gas guzzlers. We did.

Stop blaming car companies for promoting the crap we wanted to buy.

YOU may not have wanted to purchase one, but YOU are anecdotal.

[Wind Dancer]

22. Wrong!

[ejpoeta]

24. they pushed the gas guzzlers telling people that was what they wanted.

and maybe there were some who wanted that. But I cannot believe that the folks who lived in the suburbs wanted a hummer. My husband has been trying to get a ford ranger diesel which they won't sell here. They insist no one wants diesel. There is a waiting list for this vehicle that was supposed to come here. They make the stuff for other places but not here. And even now in other countries they have more fuel efficient vehicles than here and they insist that such things are not possible as they tout their 22 mpg car as a gas sipper. I used to drive a ford festiva that got 40mpg with no special anything. They CAN do it. They just don't want to.

[newspeak]

19. well, that was a bunch of shite

I remember the gas lines in the seventies. And, at that time, I wondered why we had no american fuel efficient cars. People were buying toyotas and VWs. I was pretty young then, and for me to question at that time why the american auto industry wasn't pushing fuel efficient cars is saying something. I thought at that time, "boy, have they missed an opportunity."

Now, I just think that the oil industry and our auto industry have been in bed together for a long time.

[white_wolf]

4. Everything about that guy annoyed me.

His arguments, his voice, his horrible tan. He just annoyed me. Thank God Neil deGrasse Tyson was there to point out the facts of global warming. Lutz's arrogance was so irritating, especially when he tried to lecture Neil on how science worked.

[fujiyama]

5. Fuck Lutz

His company produced shitty cars for years, blames that on the government, and then begs them for money. And then the government saves the company's ass and he's ungrateful.

What an ass hat.

[charmay]

9. Exactly!

Mahr should have called him on it.

[Honeycombe8]

6. Maybe that's why GM was failing: Failure to recognize THEIR bad bus. decisions.

Like the poster above said, other mfrs did fine with those same govt policies. So clearly that wasn't it.

Glad they have other officers now, who hopefully recognize what THEY did wrong in the past, and move forward with success.

They got into trouble because they failed to offer cars for the 21st century...smaller cars with better gas mileage. It's okay to offer muscle cars, if that's not the ONLY kind of car you offer. GM also had a lot of dealerships and lots of the same kinds of cars.

[Atman]

8. The difference with GM that Lutz didn't mention:

GM got big into to home mortgages. The infamous Ditech, with its cutesy commercials that could have been selling toilet paper or Swiffers, was a unit of GMAC. So you see, there is a real reason he tied the failure of GM to the housing crisis. It's unfortunate that no one called him out on his stupid bullshit, though. WTF was a car company doing selling 120% mortgage re-fis to unqualified borrowers?

[Honeycombe8]

10. I didn't know that. nt

[Fawke Em]

15. My muscle car gets good gas mileage.

It's a well-known fact that cars with manual transmissions get better gas mileage than their automatic counterparts.

[Manifestor_of_Light]

20. Big city traffic destroys manual trannys, ya gotta ride the clutch.

Big city traffic also destroys automatics, from the heat breaking down the transmission fluid. I've owned two Mazdas with serious tranny problems.

[Fawke Em]

25. No you don't.

Put it in neutral and roll.

But I live in a hilly area and don't sit through too much sit-still traffic.

[gulliver]

11. It wasn't a bailout! It was reparations.

Stop calling it a bailout! Some of the companies in the auto industry were just victims of government malfeasance. They were entitled to reparations. It was reparations! Those are ok. Er...in some cases.

[Fawke Em]

12. Toyota and Honda ARE funded by their governments, so your premise is wrong.

The Japanese government has long provided the R&D for their automobile industry, ours does not.

And Bob Lutz is correct - it has been the failure of our government to protect American industries by not slapping on tariffs and allowing companies to run anywhere they think they can get work on the cheap that have led to the failure of American businesses.

[flobee1]

13. pinning your sales hopes on SUV's

when gas is at 4/gal has nothing to do with government.

[Fawke Em]

14. And people still bought them.

Can't blame a car company for the ignorance of the masses.

[grantcart]

17. Lutz was a putz.

[JackRiddler]

18. I'd have to disagree with you. He didn't "believe" what he was saying...

or he might have been able to give a reason for it.

He claimed government policies caused the failure of GM, but he didn't believe it. Just a minor shill (making however many million dollars a year he rakes in).

[TeamsterDem]

21. I got a different impression from what he said

I thought he was saying that what government did over the past 30 years (meaning allowing Toyota and the others to make their products here to avoid import duties, etc.) had brought the American car industry to its knees. I thought that was a fair point.

[EmeraldCityGrl]

23. His denial of Global Climate Change

and the fact that his multi-million dollar house in the FL.
Keys was proof because it was still out of harms way was
off the tracks ridiculous.

I would love to be there when that monstrosity slides into
the water.