The Associated Press has reported the bailout of the auto industry is dead.
Car makers are scrambling for a monetary lifeline wherever one can be found.
There are MILLIONS of people working in this country whose livelihood depends on the American Automobile industry. Why can't the ruling power, THE DEMOCRATS, get a bailout bill together to avoid this disaster ?
SHOULD they bail out the auto industry, or should American Capitalism be allowed to play out ?
Why or why not ? Do the consequences of this failure outweigh ideological considerations of socializing American heavy industry ?
Should house Democrats be allowed to plop this road apple on the president's desk (and deny accountability for a potential failure...yet take credit for positive results) to save the auto industry in a bailout they did not support because democrats are 'owned' by the UAW and wage cuts were part of the bailout (as pushed by republicans) ?
Again,the UAW has assisted in killing a US industry. Are they the only reason this happened? Absolutely not..........but if my business is going down, why would i not make concessions to keep feeding my family? This is so nuts. Offering up the 2 year job bank as a concession when it was decided to drop it in the 2007 agreements/contract negoiation. Right now i hope the government breaks the unions as if the car companies bankrupt, they will have to renegoiate the contract. People will have the choice of possibly not HAVING to join the union and moving forward w/out that mechanism. Please people see reality and learn the lessons of the US Steel companies. The non union shops are poised to take over the production and sales of one of our greatest assets and guess what, they are not US companies! Am I anti union, yes, I saw what happened when they promised the workers in PGH. that they would not let anyone take the jobs, went on strike during a time of foreign steel invasion and lost everyones jobs/lives and the city fell. I saw family sit around waiting for the steelwokers unions to get there plants going again, pay them the big bucks again. They beleived in the power that held sway for so many years in our country. Well they died waiting for the union to start the mills again and most had little or no money left. We are all hurting right now and giving more for less. Why do they the union think they should be any different? The auto execs were a day late on asking for the money. After we bailed the Financial inductry w/ no teeth on garuanteeing they would get us the money for our businesses, autos etc. the government actually hammered the auto industry for detaiils. Good for us, we are taking that debt on not them. The people better wise up, we are in a big bit of trouble and we better help ourselves rather than relying on unions, the government and anyone else. This only gets worse!
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"There is nothing in the world like a persuasive speech to fuddle the mental apparatus and upset the convictions and debauch the emotions of an audience not practiced in the tricks and delusions of oratory." --American author and humorist Mark Twain (1835-1910)
Yes the Dems should plop this on the presidents desk, because thats where it belongs. This bailout crap is just another grab at the tax payers money by Bush and Company. Also, besides that, its not enough money to fix anything, also Chrysler is privately traded anyhow and should fund themselves. As for the publicly traded companies, well they can use their CEO bonus's to fund themselves.
Yep, the Bush white house has obligated about 3.5 trillion dollars to bail out the banks and the credit card companies. But nothing for the auto industry that makes up one-third of the USA remaining economy. Guess theRepublicans in the senate want that to go to China too.
BTW, that bank stock that Paulson bought lost over 15 billion in value last month.
It absolutely was a UAW bailout. They had the best deal they were going to get. Of course that only holds up should Bush not loan them money out of the 350 billion, you know the other half of the 700 billion not spent yet. Obama won't play right now and meet with Paulson. That has to happen in order to tap that cash. Bush could play the bailout card inorder to get it.
However, back to the deal. The UAW refused to take the paycut that would have brought them in line with the market place. Furtheremore, they turned down stock in replace of payments owed. That really wasn't a bad deal considering how beat down the stock is and how strong they would have been coming out of this. Once again, another union sold down the road by their leadership.
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John Adams “The moment the idea is admitted into society that property is not as sacred as the laws of God, and that there is not a force of law and public justice to protect it, anarchy and tyranny commence.”
Ronald Reagan: 'Everybody that is for abortion has already been born'
"I never said I was worth it. I only said I wouldn't do it for less " William F. Buckley Jr.
The one thing I hear missing from the talk of the Auto Industry bailout is the firm, committed, unreserved statement by those holding out their hands that this money will be paid back timely and these companies are solvent. Generally, when people want a loan they go to a bank. Well, the banks, maybe, are disfunctional right now, putting Detroit in a bind. But that isn't the message I'm hearing. What I hear SOUNDS like these guys (auto execs and UAW leaders) know these companies are failed and on life support and they just want to prolong the coma before death ensues. In my opinion, if a convincing case cannot be made that this is simply a loan, this shouldn't be done.
If these companies are not solvent, let them fail. The idea that "we can't let these companies fail, there are too many jobs at stake" casts this in the domain of a federal jobs program. Shoring up the Big Three automakers is NOT an efficient jobs program, in my view. If you want to sponsor a jobs program, there are more efficient ways to accomplish that objective. And we ought to discuss whether it is government's job to synthesize jobs.
I object to the false picture painted by the auto company execs and the UAW that if these companies are allowed to fail there will be a large smoking crater where these companies once stood. I don't think so. First, it seems implausible that all three companies will fail at once. One of the three will fail first. The assets of that first failed company will be bought up at some fraction of their true value and returned to productive use -- maybe by some automaker who has adapted over the last 25 years and recreated themselves? The companies that service the Big Three automakers may see their business drop by 33%. Then again, maybe their business would just be redistributed as the remaining automakers pick-up the market share released by the first failure? The workers who no longer work at the failed company will go find work elsewhere -- possibly at the other automakers as they pick up the market share released by the first failure, possibly by moving out of town and starting a new career. Is there something written in the constitution that says UAW workers don't need to manage their careers and change their careers as the economy changes? What part of this is rocket science and explains why the auto execs and UAW leaders can't understand this? Oh, I forgot, they stand to get a big share of this bailout money and continue their excessive and unfounded compensation if the US taxpayer throws money at them.
Does anyone think this bailout will contribute to Detroit solving its long term competitiveness problems? I don't.
NO BAILOUT OF AUTOMAKERS!!!! They have had at least 25 years to adapt and read the writing on the wall. They haven't adapted.
I disagree with the statement that 1/3 of US jobs are tied to automobile manufacturing (or at least the phrase ". . . tied to automobile manufacturing" needs to be seriously analyzed -- it doesn't mean those jobs are going to vanish). That is hogwash. I disagree, for reasons set forth above as well as other reasons, that failure to bail these three companies out is going to result in the sky falling. These dire predictions are public relations, propaganda statements offered by those who want money thrown at them. One company will fail; two will continue and benefit from the first company's failure -- picking up production assets cheaply, picking up market share, maybe renogotiating labor agreements with a lot of much more conciliatory and motivated union workers who see things in an entirely different light, then.
As for the publicly traded companies, well they can use their CEO bonus's to fund themselves.
Hold up there... They overpay their line workers by $14.5 Billion a year, and you're going to "fund" a bailout with their CEO's few million? How does that work?
Well, looks like the automakers will get some of the $700b bailout money from Bush. Since it isn't coming from congress, I doubt the auto makers will have to follow any restrictions, meet any conditions, or follow any oversight of those funds, such as were outlined in the law before congress.
the auto bailout declared dead
