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from the this-is-why-they-can't-have-anything-nice dept.
http://money.cnn.com/2017/04/20/news/gm-venezuela-plant-seized/index.html
General Motors says it will immediately halt operations in Venezuela after its plant in the country was unexpectedly seized by authorities.
GM described the takeover as an "illegal judicial seizure of its assets."
The automaker said the seizure showed a "total disregard" of its legal rights. It said that authorities had removed assets including cars from company facilities.
"[GM] strongly rejects the arbitrary measures taken by the authorities and will vigorously take all legal actions, within and outside of Venezuela, to defend its rights," it said in a statement.
Authorities in Venezuela, which is mired in a severe economic crisis, did not respond to requests for comment.
It was not immediately clear why authorities seized the GM plant. Huge swaths of Venezuela's economy have been nationalized in the years since former President Hugo Chavez rose to power. Under Chavez, who took office in 1999, the state took control of private oil, telecommunications, energy and cement businesses.
President Nicolas Maduro has continued the tradition, while blaming the United States and its companies for Venezuela's economic and political problems.
(Score: 1, Troll) by jmorris on Friday April 21 2017, @03:22PM (5 children)
GM has known that the country is a Socialist Hellhole for how long? That they still had assets in a place with zero rule of law says they knew the risk and didn't care. Stupid should hurt.
Corporations are just like people, they never think it will get worse. With socialists it always does though. The time to make an orderly exit was the second Chavez took power. If -every- Western corporation did that most socialist revolutions would quickly fizzle and they could return, instead they enable them. Then they always get screwed. Well fuck GM.
(Score: 2) by OrugTor on Friday April 21 2017, @04:11PM
A modest factory in Venezuela is like an old car. It has value to the owner while it runs but has little to no value in the marketplace. GM knew this day would come. Their only option was to milk the plant for as long as possible then write it off.
Still, I agree with the sentiment for other reasons, so fuck GM.
(Score: 2) by bob_super on Friday April 21 2017, @06:15PM (2 children)
> The time to make an orderly exit was the second Chavez took power
Incorrect reality, as usual:
When W quadrupled the oil prices, GM was happy to sell cars to all the poor people who were getting oil dividends from the Chavez government.
(Score: 2) by jmorris on Friday April 21 2017, @07:34PM (1 child)
If they fully monetized the plant, why are they bitchin'? My point is if they weren't planning on their assets in the country eventually being seized they are idiots. Either way, no sympathy warranted. It wasn't a case of a risk of it, it was a question of when. Seizing the means of production is what socialism is, it is right there on the tin as a bullet point. If you stay it is because you are cool with that.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday April 22 2017, @01:13AM
"Seizing the means of production is what socialism is"
A plant that hasn't made cars since 2015 without a supply chain isn't a means of production.
To make it a useful plant will require outside help, which this move won't exactly encourage.
GM certainly knew what they were doing, but I'm not so sure if the Socialists did.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Friday April 21 2017, @07:40PM
the country is a Socialist Hellhole
Once again, an ignorant Libertarian uses words that he doesn't understand.
What Venezuela actually has is State Capitalism, based almost entirely on petroleum.
If Venezuela was actually "Socialist", they would have been making great strides in establishing Worker-Owned Cooperatives (collective ownership of the means of production by the Workers) with those operations producing the goods and services that the country needs.
N.B. Italy enabled this paradigm, starting in 1985 with their Marcora law. [google.com]
It has been monumentally effective.
If you haven't heard about it, it's because you have crap sources of information (USA's Lamestream Media).
In the case of Venezuela, the gov't could have taken possession of the plant(s) via eminent domain, paying fair market value according to an honest appraisal of that.
The gov't could then sell the plant(s) back to a co-op formed by The Workers over whatever time period they deemed ideal (at a 0.1 percent interest rate?).
N.B. We're now into the realm of Liberal Democracy.
At this point, Libertarians will squawk that the gov't isn't showing a profit--never mind all the formerly unemployed people now paying taxes and buying stuff AKA spending into the economy.
The workers could start building products of their own designs/branding and have a domestic market, possibly expanding to a wider market.
There no real magic to running a factory such that that requires a USAian megacorporation.
There are examples of USAian workers taking over their factories and continuing to produce products without the former greedy overlords.
Chicago factory occupiers form worker cooperative [googleusercontent.com] (orig) [libcom.org]
Another example, this time in Mexico.
Part 1 Mexican Workers Win Ownership of Tire Plant [googleusercontent.com] (orig) [labornotes.org]
Part 2 Can Worker-Owners Make a Big Factory Run? [googleusercontent.com] (orig) [labornotes.org]
-- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]