GM (and Capitalism) Dodge a Bullet ... for Now

Mike & Friends Blog

Michael Moore

Michael Moore is an Academy-Award winning filmmaker and best-selling author

64 Comments Print

November 18th, 2010 10:09 PM

GM (and Capitalism) Dodge a Bullet ... for Now

And so, that is that. With the government selling a chunk of its stock in General Motors today, you and I are no longer majority shareholders in one of the world's largest industrial companies. And the window that was briefly open for the most important kind of democracy -- democracy at work -- has closed, at least for now.

Last year, when General Motors declared bankruptcy, I wrote you a letter called "Goodbye, GM." In it, I called for us to use our ownership to create a new kind of company: one without layoffs at the whim of a CEO, one that didn't try to sell millions more of the cars that are destroying our cities and planet. Instead, the new GM, our GM, should have retooled and hired our many skilled unemployed to build the future: bullet trains, light rail and electric buses. I hope you can take a moment to read it now and imagine what might have been.

Because, while it may not seem like it today -- as hedge funds snap up what were our shares, and Wall Street banks gulp down $118.3 million in IPO fees -- we will have another chance. I am telling you, as sure as god made little green Hondas, we will own GM again. That's the way capitalism works: the big boys rake it in when things are working, then we're on the hook to pick up the pieces when it all falls apart. And even then we never get a real say in what happens.

At least, we don't if we're not prepared. So let's pledge to ourselves to be better boy scouts, and next time -- which may not be all that long from now -- Be Prepared. Next time we bail out GM, let's be ready with a plan to implement on day one to make it a company of, by and for the people.

P.S. Don't believe for a second the government is going to "make money" on its bailout of the car industry. Everyone was shocked when shares went up as high as $35 today. To just break even, the government will have to sell its 500 million remaining shares at an average of $53.