localboysince1968: I don't argue that GM may be better served to rebuild rather than retool, other than the fact that GM owns the Janesville building already. However, the argument about roads and railways makes absolutely no sense to me. GM has a highway that leads right to the plant and a railway that goes right through it. In addition, the plant is big enough to support nearly any manufacturing they would choose to do there, so being land locked, roads, or railways are not a issue. Actually I would argue that this plant has a nearly perfect location with close access to a major highway, an airport nearby, and a railway in and around the plant. There is a reason why this plant has survived so many years even though new plants have been built and it isn't just the good workforce.

I don't know all the facts but I do know that a company that has very good (high) wages and benefits as well as a huge debt load of retirees, does not have much future when most people that are buying that product get paid much less. There needs to be a rethinking of the balance of wages in this country. We can not afford to buy products, oil or many other things made in the U.S. We have oil, we have great workers in the auto industry but we can not compete on the world market with our high prices. Some how, we need to get to a point where people can make a salary commensurate with the work they do. That way things would start to balance out better. Who is to say that the auto worker does harder or better work than a roofer, teacher or fry cook? Why does one group deserve the high wages when equally tough jobs do not get compensated as well? Maybe, just maybe the auto worker gets too much and the waitress gets to little.

GM has too many plants and what would they build here anyway. GM is losing money everyday, they need this money just to keep running.

janesvillean - I should have been more clear, yes, the Volt needs to meet a substantial amount of consumers (not sure what the difference between most and a substantial is???)so that it will be cost effective to produce. That is the only thing that has killed previous electric car programs is the cost vs. the number of people who would really , truely, buy it. It people were hot for electric cars right now, how come the small electric car dealership in Janesville is not selling an enormous amount of these? Because they don't meet the needs of most consumers. (needs= safety, reliance, comfort, range, etc.)

I don't know what you mean by who will bear the brunt of the loss. If you mean the workers who will loose their jobs, they were not complaining when they were making a lot of money on overtime making these bad decision, consumer wanting, waiting list, gas guzzling SUV's. If you are referring to the tax payers, again it is a loan for future alternative transportation projects, not a bailout.

Please be more specific, as I am sure I can shred that thought also.

I'm so sick of hearing about GM never being at fault. Give me a break.

How many more articles are we going to have in the Gazette about hoping against hope that GM will stay and life will return to normal. It ain't going to happen and the more we chase after GM to let us back in, the less effort is going forth to find a credible replacement for the jobs that ARE going to be lost in our community!
People/politicians talk about a "Manhattan Project" for alternative energy and here it is-The Janesville Project
Investment- 5 Billion $$$ In 10 Years
Investment Source- International, Federal, State, County & Private Funds
Purpose- To bring new alternative energy sources into production, including, but not limited to, vehicle propulsion, household wind & solar applications, high capacity storage devices, etc. A cooperative effort between industry, government and education/research institutions to construct a clearinghouse for alternative energy development and production.
First Project- Create a non-fossil fuel propulsion engine to replace mid-size to large diesel engines within 3 years and autos in 5 years, including retro-fit engines for current vehicles. In 4 years Janesville would be producing the first GM AE mid-duty trucks on the current truck line.
Research & Development- The brightest scientists, engineers, & support staff from around the world would relocate to Janesville and this area would become the international center for alternative energy development. Research would start January ’09 with federal and state funding.
Manufacturing- Just as UW Research Park was built around the visionary ingenuity of UW researchers, Janesville would become an incubator for manufacturing production facilities throughout the Stateline area and beyond.

localboy, ABSOLUTELY it was GM's fault for building SUVs. They bet on a high-margin item, did not anticipate changed conditions, and lost. The people who will bear the brunt of this loss, however, are not the people who decided to make the bet.
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Also, it really doesn't matter if an electric car meets "most people's needs". It only needs to meet a substantial number of consumers' needs, just like any other vehicle. Certainly many urban drivers would easily be accomodated by its total hybrid driving capability.
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Like you, I don't think GM is going to retool and they certainly aren't going to build a brand new plant in Janesville (where did that came from?).
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blood, if you think this idea has merit, you really should find a better way to distribute it than on these article comments, which I guarantee GM leadership is not reading.

It's more like 10 times. It just seems like 20.

blood - how many more times are you going to copy and paste that same post? I think most of us already have read it, like - 20 times already.

Wow, we really have some misinformed individuals on this post. I don't even know where to start.

1. GM will not retool this plant. This is their chance to bulldoze the joint and if in position to, start over. You could possbily tear down the old section, and retool the newer part, but it doesn't solve your landlock, road, and rail issues. They would have to build a new factory at a new site.

2. This was not GM's fault for building SUV's. GM would not build them if people were not buying them. How can you fault them if people were still buying them? You give the customer what they want, not make the customer take what you have. You people need some help in economics. If GM is at fault for anything, they got caught off guard by not having anything else that was profitable to offer. All of their small cars are not profitable for many reasons we can't explain here.

3. Nobody has an electric car that is sustainable for most people's needs. That is what GM is working on with the Volt. That program needs a lot of money to make the deadline, plus is greatly reduces the need for foriegn oil. This package would help them use capital for this program. It is only a loan, which would be paid back. It is not free money as most of you seem to think. It helped Chrysler back in the early 80's (they paid back the money with interest early) and saved thousands of good paying jobs for years.

4. By the way, your flex fuel vehicles might have been a wash on milage, but the tailpipe emissions and money going back to the local farmers, far outweigh if you were driving a conventional fuel vehicle, where 100% of the money was going back to the Saudi's and you were polluting the air. Get the facts - and don't come back with farmer's using tractors burning more fuel, and ethonal factories polluting the air either.

The Janesville Project

Investment- 5 Billion $$$ In 10 Years
Investment Source- International, Federal, State, County & Private Funds

Purpose- To bring new alternative energy sources into production, including, but not limited to, vehicle propulsion, household wind & solar applications, high capacity storage devices, etc. A cooperative effort between industry, government and education/research institutions to construct a clearinghouse for alternative energy development and production.

First Project- Create a non-fossil fuel propulsion engine to replace mid-size to large diesel engines within 3 years and autos in 5 years, including retro-fit engines for current vehicles. In 4 years Janesville would be producing the first GM AE mid-duty trucks on the current truck line.

Research & Development- The brightest scientists, engineers, & support staff from around the world would relocate to Janesville and this area would become the international center for alternative energy development. Research would start January ’09 with federal and state funding.

Manufacturing- Just as UW Research Park was built around the visionary ingenuity of UW researchers, Janesville would become an incubator for manufacturing production facilities throughout the Stateline area and beyond.

the whole auto industry didnt blow it. honda has never built a V8:)

marymac,
Lower the fuel prices so we can use the inefficient gas hogs we've been building here?!?!?!?!?!?!?
That kind of ignorance is what got us in this position in the first place.
GM failed to look forward. As a matter of fact the whole auto industry blew it. It was only a matter of time until the cost of fuel would make those ego-trip SUV's obsolete.
The whole system is so corrupt now that I really have my doubts it can ever be fixed.
Stick that in your 4 ton SUV and floor it!

If the government continues to prop up companies and individuals who made poor decisions (with money they don’t have) is the problem ever going to be corrected or are they just delaying the unavoidable by creating a false sense of well being? What happened to a free market?

What Janesville needs is a new plant, not to retool the current plant. Retooling only provides a so called extended stay of execution for the current plant. Why not build new and have another plant that will be around for another 100 years.

No offense, but the flex fuel does nothing for a SUV like GM was building here. The fuel itself is cheaper, but the mileage is horrible, so it's a wash.

It is hard to justify either.

I have to laugh at the double speak I see on these blogs. If people want to protect middle class jobs and keep a manufacturing base in America, then why complain about these loans. Moreover, people also want us to be less dependent on foreign oil. GM has been leading the way in the last several years with flex fuel vehicles and more hybrids than any other company. In addition, they will have a full high volume production electric vehicle the Chevy Volt coming out in 2010. However, if the American automotive companies are going to meet the tough new EPA standards by 2020, then they are going to need financial support from our government to retool. We all know well the Japan will dump money into Toyota if need be, why shouldn’t we support GM, Ford, and Chrysler? It would be different if economic conditions were better, but with the financial markets frozen it is nearly impossible for GM to finance these changes on their own. Moreover, this is good news for Janesville, because it means more money will be available to revamp our plant should GM decide to establish new product here. Unlike the Wall St. bailout plan, which essentially bails out the fat cats there, this plan actually helps American workers more directly. Granted, the financial bailout of Wall St. may be necessary for everyone, but it is hard to justify one and not the other.

Very good point. The auto industry has made huge profits over the years and the fat cats have lined their pockets just like the Government and wall street fat cats. It's about time that the Government, The auto industry and wall street all come in line with the average taxpayer. I have nothing against the GM workers who will soon be losing their jobs. They work hard and make a great vehicle. It's just that the industry leaders made wrong choices and with high gas prices now, Ends up in a tail spin. So now, The taxpayers will probally end up bailing out the industry. This in no way blames the GM workers. It's the leaders of Government, Wall street and industry.

WHY DONT THE UAW MATCH THAT AS THEY HAVE BILLIONS? Always the government and tax payers. Auto makers in past years have record sales and now we foot the bill! LOWER THE GAS PRICES SO THE PEOPLE CAN USE THE VEHICLES THEY BOUGHT INSTEAD OF BILKING THE TAX PAYERS! GM FOLDED HERE AS TO HIGH GAS COSTS AND THE SUVs WE BUILT HERE FELL IN SALES... Instead of giving 25 bil look at an alternative, gas prices are a major reason for the shut downs and downsizing IMO