Rep. Dingell: The Left and Right Agree GM Is 'the Worst Corporation in this Country'
*By Justin Chermol and Carlo Versano*
When General Motors announced a major restructuring that would result in mass layoffs and plant closures, the American automaker managed to do what few others have: unite the left and right in anger and disappointment.
Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-MI) represents a suburban Detroit district that will be affected by the reductions. She told Cheddar in an interview Wednesday that she was surprised by the timing, given that the auto industry is cyclical. Both Democrats and Republicans think "they are the worst corporation in this country."
"They have no fans right now," she said.
GM's newest strategy is twofold: the company is shrinking its sedan footprint in response to market conditions and consumer tastes, as well as investing in an electric, self-driving future it's terming "Zero Crashes, Zero Emissions, Zero Congestion."
Ford ($F), GM's main American rival, announced in April that it will scale about 90 percent of its auto production to trucks, utilities, and commercial vehicles by 2020. The company went on to explain that it would discontinue four of its sedan models and invest more in autonomous technology.
Back in June, in a cautionary note, GM [wrote](https://assets.bwbx.io/documents/users/iqjWHBFdfxIU/rJBrNbApznVU/v0) to the Department of Commerce, warning increased tariffs could lead to a "smaller GM."
Despite its foresight, GM didn't cite tariffs as a reason for the layoffs in its statement Monday. Instead, CEO Mary Barra said almost the opposite ー that the economy was so strong that it would be preferable to make changes now rather than trying to restructure during a slowdown. Automakers learned that lesson the hard way during the financial crisis.
Dingell said that while she indicated to President Trump that she would support a "NAFTA 2.0" trade bill, she has changed her mind in the wake of GM's restructuring.
"I will not support a trade bill that lets that company put any more jobs in Mexico," she said. "We need to keep those jobs here in the United States."
After the announcement, [President Trump](https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1067494680416407552) and Prime Minister [Justin Trudeau](https://twitter.com/JustinTrudeau/status/1067082236686753792?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1067082236686753792&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.cnn.com%2F2018%2F11%2F26%2Fbusiness%2Fgm-oshawa-plant%2Findex.html) both took to Twitter to call reductions in the U.S. and Canada a massive "disappointment." Since then, the two leaders have spoken on the phone to discuss the issue.
While pundits and industry analysts debate whether the era of the personally-owned car is coming to an end ー and perhaps where American automakers fall in the new mobility hierarchy ー the effects of GM's decisions will still weigh heavily on local communities that depend on it as the anchor business. And that, in turn, makes it a political issue for the president. President Trump dispatched his chief economic adviser Larry Kudlow to meet with Barra.
As for the future of the auto-industry, Rep. Dingell said she understands the harsh realities her constituents are facing: "It's no longer a car industry, its a mobility industry. And the mobility industry is changing."
"The model is going to change but you are still going to be building vehicles and there will be new jobs," she said.
A planned summit between North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and President Donald Trump is in jeopardy. In a statement this morning, North Korea's foreign minister said the country has no interest in a "one-sided discussion" on its nuclear program. On Tuesday, North Korea also canceled planned talks with South Korea.
Starting today, Amazon Prime members will receive exclusive discounts at Whole Foods. Customers will now get 10% off hundreds of sale items in stores and will also get access to rotating weekly specials. The perks are only available in Florida as of today but will be rolled out nationwide starting this summer.
Chris Carter and James Peisker, co-founders of Porter Road, join us to talk about their expansion into the digital landscape. Porter Road is a whole animal butcher shop based in Nashville, but the founders recently decided to take their business online.
Mayor Karen Weaver is exploring legal action against the state of Michigan for its decision to stop providing the city with free bottled water three years after unhealthy amounts of lead were discovered in Flint's water supplies. "When you had the biggest hand in poisoning a city and making this crisis happen, you ought to have some moral, some ethical responsibility to seeing us through this crisis," said Weaver.
The Seattle City Council passed a new law that will require companies making more than $20 million a year to pay a 'head tax.' Amazon and other Seattle-based companies will pay a tax of 14 cents per employee per hour worked, which comes out to roughly $275 per employee each year. The tax will raise money for affordable housing since home prices have risen recently in Seattle. In response, Amazon's vice president said this move "forces us to question our growth here." A Starbucks exec criticized the city for spending "without reforming and fail[ing] without accountability."
A number of top Tesla executives have left the company in the past few months. Aaron Cole, managing editor at Motor Authority, joins us to discuss whether investors should be worried that this 'drain brain' will have negative consequences for the electric carmaker. The company is ramping up production to meet its ambitious Model 3 targets.
Cheddar's Brad Smith speaks with Joe Gibbs, Pro Football Hall of Famer and owner of Joe Gibbs Racing, at a special event outside the New York Stock Exchange celebrating Stanley Black & Decker's 175th anniversary. Gibbs talks about how NASCAR is focusing on expanding its digital outreach to reach a younger audience. He also weighs in on the Supreme Court's decision to reverse a ban on sports gambling.
The Supreme Court decision to effectively lift the ban on sports betting in most of the U.S. will create a vast, competitive market for online bookmakers, says Jason Robins, the CEO and co-founder of the fantasy sports site DraftKings. He has positioned his company to quickly take advantage of the opportunity to get into the legal sports gambling business.
The tax overhaul and President Trump's tough stance on the world stage has left the Republican party in a strong position to hold on to its majority through the midterm elections in November, says the former press secretary to Vice President Mike Pence.
The Daily Show host says the dinner is "weird" because it creates an environment where "the press, and the people the press are reporting on, are all chummy-chummy." But he'll step up and take the mic...if President Trump personally asked him to host the annual dinner.
Richard Painter, a former ethics lawyer in the George W. Bush administration, is running for U.S. Senate in Minnesota as a Democrat because he says the Republican party has been hijacked by President Trump and his supporters. "No one is allowed to run for elected office at the federal level who does not really swear allegiance to Donald Trump," Painter says.
The coffee chain announced anyone who walks into a store can use the bathrooms, even if they didn't make a purchase. This is "the absolute right thing" to do, says communication and reputation strategist Deirdre Latour. Starbucks came under fire last month after arresting two black men accused of "loitering" at one of its stores.
The president laid out a plan that promised to bring down the costs of drugs. But it could amount to just minimal changes that don't end up pressuring drug makers enough to bring down prices, says Adriel Bettelheim, health care editor at Politico.
The state became the first in the U.S. to require almost all new homes to have solar panels, part of an effort to get half the state's electricity from renewable sources by 2030.
