Would you invest in the NEW General Motors…or buy one of their new cars?

OK. So I am confused. Will General Motors, which was once the centerpiece of the American automobile industry, do anything, say anything, or be anything in an attempt to stay afloat? Yes! Let’s see what they have done so far:

GM bowing and scraping to the U.S. federal government to save them from their mistakes of the past – mostly making cars that folks didn’t want to buy and allowing the unions to create their business model. Part of that begging to the government allows said government to run the company, a move that is sure to make them viable again. After all, it is a nice touch having all those government legal eagles trying to design cars of the future. Would you want a car designed by John McCain or Chuck Schummer? Would you even want to sit in said car, turn it on and drive it?

In their defense the company is making sure that the people that have invested in GM over the past decades do get a return on their investments – a huge 1% of total dollar value of those investments. Well at least they didn’t get shut out completely.

And how about GM allowing 55% of the company to be given away to the AFL-CIO? Does this mean that Gettelfinger will be on Forbes richest businesspersons list next year? Who is Gettelfinger? He is the head of the AFL-CIO that was quoted as really saying that union members were the ones taking the biggest risks in the GM reorganization.

A few questions remain: What is the government going to do next to protect ‘our’ investment in the American auto industry? Is this protectionism going to extend to imports and exports…or to renegades like Ford Motors?