The American Spectator

Robert Rosencrans| 4.28.09 @ 10:57AM

A beautiful example of why Washington is always in a turmoil, as opposed to an orderly procession.

JP| 4.28.09 @ 11:14AM

The biggest thing GGP had going against it was that it employed no union members. The bail-outs of the auto industry really are a bail-out of the UAW members. Chrysler will declare bankruptcy, but it has agreed to take pensions and retiree health care plans off the table. So bondholders and creditors will get maybe 20 cents on the dollar, but the UAW will continue on as before.

Paul from SA| 4.28.09 @ 11:25AM

I understand GM's Union workers at those plants that are being shutdown for the summer will continue to receive full pay and benefits.

What is GM spending our money on?

Where will they get the money to repay the loans?

I've said it before and will say it again -- and I hear the same sentiments throughout the internet on this same subject -- I will NEVER buy a union-made car. They're not getting any money from me to pay back the gov't loans.

Yes, management is ultimately to blame for agreeing to union contracts... but the unions are the problem. The unions are destructive, self-serving and anti-Republican. (And they do bad work.)

Pat| 4.28.09 @ 4:13PM

Interesting contrast but "apples vs. oranges" in terms of business analysis. Saving GM and Chrysler is purely a political issue now and has been since before the elections last fall. GM played out a little bedroom comedy with Chrysler during October, pretending to serious merger talks. Had they merged, the ensuing job cuts and restructuring would have been harsh. Both Obama and McCain fell for the scam and quickly promised to help the auto industry if elected -after the election, the merger talks died a sudden death.

It's politely called saving the American automotive industry and it is true that while GM and Chrysler have operations clustered mainly in the midwest, they also have plants and suppliers scattered throughout North America employing thousands of workers.

But an additional political theme underlying this effort is saving the legacy of the Democaratic Party. Detroit, and to some extent Michigan, is currently a poster child for a dysfunctional city and region. However, the boasts for the past several decades claimed this region as a shining example of Democratic social policy. Except things didn't work out that way and the various progressive social policies have turned an American region into a third world country.

Even before the 1967 race riots, the city of Detroit was a Democratic fiefdom what with the unions and the Catholic social welfare voters. Since 1967, Detroit has been an experiment in black empowerment, an experiment that has failed miserably. The Detroit Free Press recently ran an Op-Ed by a local black minister, Rev. Holley, lamenting the failure of black self-government - and the good Reverend could and did make accusatory claims no white critic would have dared voice.

Detroit is America's poorest major city, with a booming crime rate and leads the nation in murders. Population has steadily declined, currently almost a third of the city's geographic area is completel deserted, block after block of empty, run-down houses and decaying, abandoned factories. Detroit's schools graduate only about a third of high school students and the state of Michigan is threatening to take complete day to day control of the City's school system.

The state govt. has also been a captive of Democrats and resembles California in all the important social improvement schemes and high taxes. Kids in Michigan are getting their diplomas from the excellent, taxpayer supported state colleges and then bailing to other states so Michigan is losing population, including the next generation of educated achievers, as well as it's related political clout at the national level.

The Democrats have no desire to see S E Michigan and Detroit deteriorate further and in front of a national and international audience to boot. But given the region's dependence on one and only one industry, it's either save the automakers or admit defeat for a quasi-socialist form of govt. GM's bankruptcy will be closely monitored, guided and watched over by Obama's automotive flunkies, the chickens won't come home to roost if Washington can do anything to prevent it.

Mary| 4.28.09 @ 4:41PM

The Detroit Free Press recently ran an Op-Ed by a local black minister, Rev. Holley, lamenting the failure of black self-government - and the good Reverend could and did make accusatory claims no white critic would have dared voice.

Same in my area. Local radio talk show host said point blank: "we could take all of white folks money and in 50 years they'd have it all back."

Mike| 4.29.09 @ 4:05PM

There is a big difference between the two bankruptcies, most of the employees at GM & Chrysler work for Chrysler and the plants have to be shut down with no workers employed.

GGP owns the malls but the tenants, who are the ones conducting almost all of the "business activity", are not employed by GGP. GGP employs only senior property managers with the remaining support staff being 3rd party contractors from various companies. The core activity is retail stores that can operate whomever the owner of the mall is.

GGP can be in bankruptcy but the malls can still function properly. The overhead, oversight, and role of GGP is fundamentally different from Chrysler & GM. You could argue that the autoworkers are in essence 3rd party contractors from the union but in terms of how the auto plants function thats more a technicality than a reality.

Also the restructuring of GGP is far easier than the restructuring of the auto groups. GGP
s "operations" are functioning properly and are profitable. The problem is there is no commercial real estate financing market...its not the company's operational strategy it was the financing strategy that brought down GGP.

The auto groups had a flawed and non-competitive operational strategy as the primary problem, not their financing strategy.

Too much of an apples to oranges comparison.

Saleem | 4.30.09 @ 6:31PM

On a macro-level, as an owner and operator of retail store owned by GGP, GGP management is 100% responsible for downfall of the malls. For the past three years the mall management has done nothing to attract shoppers to the mall.

During the holiday season the mall is not decorated and what amazed everyone was the they had rock n' roll music rather than seasonal music. There are broken tiles all over the food court.

Now you will ask did you bring all this to the mall management notice; yes we did both nothing happened.

Presently, my store along with majority of the stores are down 31% in sales as compared to 2008 and 40% as compared to 2007.

A lot of tenants are behind on rent and several stores have closed including Limited, Lenin n Things, Gap, Ann Taylor, etc. The only thing GGP is doing is sending legal notices plus adding tot he fact that the mall's door are opened and things are normal.

Several of the tenants have asked for temporary relief in rent but zero relief.

The bottom line is that; the economy has not hit the bottom yet and it will not bounce until two more years.

The concept of mall is a dying concept. GGP should help those who have paid rent for years so that their BoD can enjoy life.

GGP needs to step to plate and play it fair with its tenants, this is moral high ground they should take.

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