GM // Current TV

GE to buy 12,000 Chevy Volts

General Electric will convert half its 30,000 worldwide fleet of vehicles to... more

TimALoftis
added this
1 year ago
|
3 comments

Obama To Sell US Auto Giant GM To China As Pentagon Looks To Coup

An interesting report prepared by Russia’s Ministry of Industry and Trade for... more

riverratt50
added this
1 year ago
|
0 comments

U.S. Farmers Realize Disadvantages of Genetically Engineered Seed

Seed farmers throughout the United States are complaining that biotech seeds (which are genetically altered seeds) are becoming much too expensive, resistant to weed killer, and can contaminate conventional seed crops. However, they still continue to use the seeds. But with anticompetitive practices being investigated on biotech seed companies, seed farmers may change their minds.

"The technology has really been hyped up a lot," said Doug Gurian-Sherman, author of a 2009 study for the Union of Concerned Scientists, which concluded that yield increases have come mainly from conventional plant breeding. "Even on a shoestring, conventional breeding outperforms genetic engineering.

Genetically altered seed is used by a majority of U.S. farmers because weeds at one time were much easier to kill with herbicides such as Roundup. Also, these biotech crops, like corn, contained genes that allowed them to "manufacture" their own insecticide meaning farmers did not have to pay money and spend time killing insects with store-bought insecticides. In addition, biotech seed companies like Monsanto have created a monopoly in the seed business, buying smaller seed businesses and selling nothing but their genetically engineered seed. Traditional seed has even become hard to find because most "crop improvements" produced by conventional plant breeding are only sold together with biotech traits.

But with rising costs and recent resistance to herbicides, biotech seed has become less favorable and farmers are taking notice. For instance, last year, the price of biotech soybean seeds rose 24 percent while corn seed rose 32 percent. The U.S. Justice Department is investigating the anticompetitive practices of Monsanto, and Monsanto is countering by saying it plans on offering more seed options at lower prices next year.

"There just isn't competition out there," said Craig Griffieon, a farmer in Ankeny, Iowa.

Biotech crops have grown resistant to herbicides mainly in cotton fields in the Southern United States where giant ragweed and horsetails are affecting thousands of acres. But the problem is spreading toward the midwest now as well.

As far as genetic contamination of traditional crops that are grown near biotech crops goes, farmers have testified that biotech crops have lowered the value of their conventional crops.

"If you've got your conventional seed right next to your neighbor's [biotech] seeds, the pollen flies," said John Schmitt, a farmer from Quincy, Illinois who had to sell a third of his conventional corn for much lower prices due to genetic contamination. "It's nature."

A majority of farmers still use biotech seed also because they believe that biotech seed yields more crop at harvest, but even Monsanto doesn't argue that most of the increase in crop yields is due to traditional plant breeding. Conventional seeds produce just as well as biotech seeds, but as noted before, conventional seed is becoming harder to find.

While biotech seed is used more so than conventional, farmers are slowly getting the picture by realizing that there aren't many benefits to genetically altered seed as opposed to conventional seed. According to the latest statistics, the amount of farms using biotech seeds only rose one percent last year, from 85 percent to 86 percent. This is the smallest increase since 2001. In Illinois specifically, the percentage of acres using biotech corn seed decreased from 84 percent to 82 percent, where soybeans reduced as well from 90 percent to 89 percent.Seed farmers throughout the United States are complaining that biotech seeds (which... more

toyotabedzrock
added this
1 year ago
|
1 comment

Has FDA Already Decided About Genetically Engineered Salmon? « SpeakEasy

Rockville, MD Even though the FDA held hearings about how AquAdvantage Salmon should... more

toyotabedzrock
added this
1 year ago
|
1 comment

SAIC to invest in GM

SAIC Motor Corp., the largest Chinese car manufacturer, is expanding its international... more

NickDoms
added this
1 year ago
|
0 comments

Ford, GM Models Top Customer Satisfaction Survey

(AP) Domestic automakers are gaining ground in a customer satisfaction survey.... more

TimALoftis
added this
1 year ago
|
2 comments

Anniversary of a Whistleblowing Hero

Twelve years ago, a 150-second TV broadcast changed our world; everyone everywhere... more

TomTucker
added this
1 year ago
|
0 comments

GM Rakes in $1.33B in 2Q Ahead of Stock Sale

;contentBody

(AP) General Motors Co. said Thursday it made $1.33 billion in the second quarter, a sign it's getting healthier as it prepares to sell stock to the public.

It was the second straight quarterly profit for GM, which made $865 million in the first quarter.

CEO Ed Whitacre said last week that the company is eager to sell its shares in an initial public offering so it can end its dependence on the government and pay off $43.3 billion in bailout funds that were converted into a majority stake in the company.

The U.S. government has owned a 61 percent stake in GM since the company left bankruptcy protection in July 2009.

GM's second-quarter revenues totaled $33.2 billion, up 5.3 percent from the first quarter on growing sales in every region except Europe. In the U.S., GM saw strong sales of new and redesigned models like the Chevrolet Equinox wagon and Buick LaCrosse sedan.

GM said it earned $2.55 per share for the quarter. GM didn't report second-quarter results last year because it spent part of the quarter in bankruptcy protection, but on Thursday, GM said it lost $12.9 billion in the second quarter of 2009, or $21.12 per share.

Before this year's first-quarter results, GM hadn't reported a profit since the second quarter of 2007.

GM ended its latest quarter with $32.5 billion in cash, down from $36 billion in the first quarter.

GM has been working to streamline operations and slash costs. It has shed four brands, changed leadership and last week announced its U.S. dealership network would number 4,500, about 25 percent smaller than it was in early 2009.

But it still faces hurdles. GM's U.S. sales rose 14 percent in the first six months of this year compared to the same period in 2009, according to AutoData Corp. That was slightly less than the average industry increase of 17 percent. GM had the highest incentive spending of any major automaker at $3,691 per vehicle, almost $1,000 more than the industry average, according to Edmunds.com.

GM has also relied heavily on sales to rental-car, government and corporate fleets, which are less profitable than sales to individual customers. Retail sales - or sales to individuals - were up 11 percent industry wide through June, but up only 1 percent at GM.

GM is the last of the Detroit automakers to report second-quarter results. Ford Motor Co. made $2.6 billion, its fifth straight quarterly profit. Chrysler Group LLC, which got $15.5 billion in federal aid, narrowed its second-quarter loss to $172 million.;contentBody (AP) General Motors Co. said Thursday it made $1.33 billion in the... more

TimALoftis
added this
1 year ago
|
2 comments

First Strong Evidence of Genetically Modified Plants Growing in Wild Found in US

This scares me. A lot. Recently, scientists have collected the first strong... more

glueandglitter
added this
1 year ago
|
13 comments

GM plants 'established in the wild'

Researchers in the US have found new evidence that genetically modified crop plants... more

toyotabedzrock
added this
1 year ago
|
0 comments

Los Angeles Pushing To Become Nation's Mass Transit Leader

LOS ANGELES — The region famous for jilting the street car to take up a love... more

TimALoftis
added this
1 year ago
|
2 comments

Chevy Volt coming... Good luck getting one

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- General Motors is set to begin sales of the Chevrolet Volt... more

TimALoftis
added this
1 year ago
|
1 comment

GM recalls 1.5 million vehicles over heated windshield washer system

Heated windshield washer system: Good. Heated windshield washer system that gets so... more

TimALoftis
added this
1 year ago
|
0 comments

General Motors partners with Google for Android-powered cars?

Not one day after General Motors said they'd found a mysterious technology... more

lordsbassman
added this
2 years ago
|
0 comments

GM Repays Government Loan?

Just saw it today. Are they serious? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jbXpV0aqEM4

Agent_Alpha
added this
2 years ago
|
2 comments

Guest Blog Post: Biopiracy in the age of climate change and food shortages

Today's guest blogger is JanForGore, who heads up the sustainable agriculture... more

leahl
added this
2 years ago
|
3 comments

Hummer's fate as a Chinese Humdinger

Each day this week seemed to bring news about the fate of Hummer, America's polluting elephant in the room. Early in the week it seemed that an obscure Chinese machinery company called Sichuan Tengzhong would buy the General Motors marque for $150 million.

But as it turned out, Tengzhong couldn't get its act together. Chinese banks withdrew lending offers and American banks are weary of becoming involved. Tengzhong even tried to go through a subsidiary outside China to buy Hummer, according to Chinese media.“The deal is on the ropes, if it’s not on the canvas yet,” Michael Dunne, the president of a Hong Kong auto consulting firm told The New York Times.

Also, the Chinese government didn't approve regulation for the deal. Why, you might ask? The New York Times reports, that it's in large part because "senior Chinese officials are trying to put a new emphasis on limiting China’s dependence on imported oil and protecting the environment."

And to think that in the early days of the Iraqi war, the Hummer epitomized pro-America. Now that sustainability is on our radar, it would seem that things have changed. Now everyone wants in on a piece of the sustainability pie.

As of Wednesday, the bid is off. Hummer could be destined for the junkyard. A New York Times editorial said, "We suspect the deal collapsed because the Chinese Communist Party — which rarely shows much shame — is worried about China’s image as the most polluting nation on the planet."
GM said it would shut down Hummer after the Tengzhong's bid collapsed.

Then on Thursday, Hummer had a come-back when news broke that GM contacted four Chinese companies to gauge interest in the brawny military-derived SUV.

It’s unlikely a Chinese firm will buy the entire unit, analysts said, but the firms may only be interested in buying parts of Hummer's assets (i.e. tooling and equipment at Hummer's Louisiana factory.)

In response to GM's announcement, Detroit Free Press joshed that "flags across oil-rich Saudi Arabia were lowered to half-mast while the entire Exxon/Mobil board of directors were seen at a group grief counseling session. On Wall Street, oil speculators were jumping from windows while in Michigan, some people were mourning the possibility of a world without Hummers."

Photo: All Right Released.
Recently on the Current News Blog:
- Autism's Bad Apple cont'd- Dr. Sanjeev K. Sriram, MD, MPH
- A new day for New Orleans
- Commercial Culture Wars - Lily Bixler
- Juarez high school killings - How much more can residents take? Each day this week seemed to bring news about the fate of Hummer, America's... more

LilyBixler
added this
2 years ago
|
4 comments

7 stories you missed last week: Russia and Scientology, DeMint to Honduras, Bill Gates, Gitmo and more

At the end of each week we give you a rundown of seven stories you might have missed.... more

afitzgerald
added this
2 years ago
|
0 comments

Who's Running General Motors?

Jerry Flint, 03.26.10, 12:00 PM EDT
There's a chief executive, but there needs to be a boss at Chevy, Buick and Cadillac.

The other evening I was at a Buick dinner. They were showing off the new Regal sedan, which is coming soon. It's pretty enough but carries only a four-cylinder engine, which is something different for a Buick. The Buick people were there, but the top executive was what they call a Vehicle Line Executive, and he was in charge of this particular car platform (or architecture) around the world. So his cars were much higher volume and thus more important in Germany and China than this Buick Regal for the U.S.

But I had a problem and I asked: "Just who is in charge of Buick?" I never did find out, and I do believe that No One is in charge of Buick or Chevrolet or Cadillac or GMC. It's the latest management reorganization, and it makes no sense.

I'm not the only who thinks this. Keith Crain, editor-in-chief of Automotive News, the most important trade publication in the business, writes: "A couple of weeks ago General Motors made a number of changes in sales and marketing so that no one outside the company has any idea of who's in charge of what. I'm not so sure that folks inside the company have any idea, either."

What GM did is get rid of the division managers who were heading the nameplates. GM has been reducing their power for decades, but does it make sense?

If you're in the army and your company goes into attack, you don't want it to be led by 10 independent corporals who just got their stripes. You want a captain who knows the territory, who's in command, who you'll follow to hell and back.

The sales and marketing people gained ascendancy at the car lines within GM in 1992 when a head of Procter & Gamble ( PG - news - people ) became GM chairman. They failed miserably to revive GM; in fact, they have not revived a single nameplate in my memory. The only GM divisions revived in recent history were Pontiac, led by William Hoglund, a finance man with gasoline for blood, and maybe Cadillac under Jim Taylor, an engineer.

What leaders at GM don't seem to understand is that the vehicles are key in this business, not the sales or marketing. Sure, they are important, but it's the product that rules. Sales and marketing are most important when the competitive products are all alike: soap--it's all alike but for a little perfume--or cigarettes (of course they're all alike) or breakfast cereal.

My old friend Francois Castaing, Chrysler's chief engineer long ago, said this, and I like to repeat it: "In some industries with little or no product differentiation, processes like advertising or merchandising may be more critical. Imagine an engineer's view of product creation at Kellogg ( K - news - people ) as he adds three more raisins to a box or bran flakes every other year! Marketing is probably a more important process in this example."

FOLLOW LINK FOR REST OF ARTICLE
http://www.forbes.com/2010/03/26/general-motors-chevy-business-autos-whitacre.html?boxes=businesschanneltopstoriesJerry Flint, 03.26.10, 12:00 PM EDT There's a chief executive, but there needs... more

TommyTooThumbs
added this
2 years ago
|
1 comment

GM to unveil prototype of Segway-powered electric vehicle

General Motors Co. will unveil a prototype pod-shaped electric vehicle at May’s... more

WakeUpPeople
added this
2 years ago
|
4 comments

select your country

Community Spotlight

TAGS

tagged w/ GM

top videos

find current on tv

find current online

recent comments

© 2012 Current TV, LLC All Rights Reserved

the basics

follow us online

tools

stay in touch

© 2012 Current TV, LLC
All Rights Reserved