Car Trouble: They Want A Bailout

For a good education rent Who Killed the Electric Car at the video store. This little known documentary is a couple of years old. Auto manufacturers made pretty good electric cars in the 1990′s in response to a California law to produce a certain number of low emission vehicles. Battery technology has improved since then. I understand an overnight charge now will get you up to 150 miles before the next charge. Would you buy a car for around $25,000 that would go 150 miles on a single charge to use as your town car and keep a gas powered car for road trips and the like? I would. But, GM collected the cars they made in the 90′s from the consumers who leased them and then took them to the Arizona desert where they were crushed into scrap. The counsumers liked the cars and wanted to purchase them BUT GM wouldn’t sell them. This is an example of GM’s greed – sell large SUV gas guzzlers for short term dollars and forget about the long term problem of diminishing fossil fuel supplies. The problem of diminishing oil supplies has been around since the 70′s. The auto manufacturers in bed with the oil companies ignored the situation as well as our government – Democrats and Republicans alike – in order to make short term profits. The proverbial Somebody needs to build an affordable electric car and soon. If the big 3 auto makers won’t do it then let them fail. Remember the Volkswagen beetle? What better example of a car for the people. We the people need an electric version of the Volkswagen beetle.

The car companys are losing lots of money why ?
Because of fuel prices and the economy right ?
Then let them borrow the money from the oil companys. They are the ones gettig richer and need a place to invest.

Got to agree with all of you. I firmly believe the auto manufacturers colluded with the oil industry for many, many years now, to keep gas mileage low so big oil could keep selling us their product until every last drop is gone. Oil has always discouraged alternatives to high mileage, more efficient carburetors, cleaner emmission standards. The auto industry deserves what it is getting now. They played along with big oil and gouged us. I don’t feel sorry for them one bit.

If I couldn’t run my business would the government bail me out? I don’t think so. Why do they think the American taxpayer should pay for their mistakes? They can’t build a car that’s worth having or they wouldn’t be in this mess. Let them go under!!!

HELL NO!!! Do not give them one cent!!!
Let them merge into one!!!
They need to cut salaries starting with the CEO’s!
They are running the company in full throttle!!!!
They should be cutting back and trimming expenses!!!
People that are unemployed comes FIRST before the auto industry!!!

The car companys are losing lots of money why ?
Because of fuel prices and the economy right ?
Then let them borrow the money from the oil companys. They are the ones gettig richer and need a place to invest
Posted by: cheezbawl | Nov 7, 2008 2:09:15 PM
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You have an EXCELLENT POINT OF VIEW!!!!
I must AGREE!!!!

Funny Toyota and Honda aren’t at the $$$trough…..
GM and Ford stood behind their big SUV
sales, and arrogantly denied the eventual need to produce electric and high mileage autos.
No need to reward ignorance and arrogance.
No to any bail out.
I will never again own an American made automobile.

No way, no way, no way! It was bad enough that we “bailed-out” the banking industry for their horrible (and criminal IMHO) management of their businesses. Why should we bail-out the automotive industry because they can’t handle the bad decisions they made? Hey, if they can go before congress asking for money, how about me? Maybe I should go before congress and just ask for about 1.5 million to handle MY pension and “ahem”….a tax credit?

It makes no sense to me to give the car manufacturers money to make more cars when they can’t get rid of what they have now.

I’m all for a bailout…it it contains some provisions:
1) must pay it all back with interest
2) increase fuel efficiency by 50%
3) electric/hybrid/flex fuel vehicles only
4) no bonuses for anyone
5)taxpayers get a stake in profits
6) remove all big oil lobbyists from the rolls.
7) no dividend payments

Sure, we need to give them the funds to save2.5 million jobs, but in exchange the CEO’s that run the compaany should resign as part of the deal, with no golden parachute or deal. I would like funds for my business, but if I do not get them I lose my business, unless I run it properly. Why should the CEO’s get a bye?

What about those of us who are just mere employees of the car company’s? We didn’t have much to do with how they’ve been running things…we’re just trying to work and make a living like everyone else. My husband has been in the car sales business for 30 years. Today he received a pay check for $642. This is one of two he will get for the month of Oct. Is this our fault? I don’t care where or who they get the money from. Yes, it would be great if the oil companies would bail us out but there is no chance in hell that will happen. So, now what? We need help and we need it now. We have a mortgage, bills, expenses, 2 children, just like the rest of America. You say, “Let them go under”, try telling that to my daughter……..

If we give them more money, FIRE the clown running the companies, take away all their bonuses (both sign-up and “retirement”). I’m sick and tired of these “top” bozo’s getting rich while a company goes under.
It’s also time the employees of these companies give a little.They want jobs and “free” medical. I’ve NEVER had free medical.
I think it’s time we stop rewarding mediocrity.

There should be NO bailout for these two companies. Why should taxpayers pay for their poor decision making and lack of proper leadership? If I run my business poorly I lose money. If I run my business well and create products that the consumer needs, then I succeed. The same should apply to Ford and GM. Clearly they have not adapted to what consumers need. You don’t hear Toyota and Honda asking for money. Instead, they do what it takes to run a successful business.
If there are government credits for creating more fuel efficient cars, then let Ford and GM tap into that money, but make them accountable to create cars that meet tighter fuel efficient standards.
What about providing training assistance to the employees of these companies so they can learn new skills in an area where there are jobs?
Ford and GM should be held accountable for their actions.

If we bail them out, what concessions are the unions and management willing to make as far as compensation and benefits are concerned. If they are not willing to save their own companies, then why should we? I see that Toyota and Honda produce high quality vehicles at manufacturing facilities in the U.S., so why can’t the Big 3 produce high quality vehicles? Maybe it’s because the unions have so much security that they don’t think they need to. If the Big 3 and all their employees want job security and high compensation, make it happen byt producing the best trucks and autos in the world. If American Made is best….prove it.

My first reaction is “let them fail”. A more realistic approach is to treat the government as a lender instead of a money tree. Loan them the money with oversight restrictions and most importantly, require executives and board members to personally guarantee the debt. Small business owners have to do it. These people are highly compensated for their supposed ability to make money, what do they have to worry about if they are as skilled as they claim? My guess is they know they are shysters and won’t put their assets on the line to prove thier worth. No guarantee, no loan!

/chrystler already had one bailout. Maybe if the auto industry did not pay their workers such high wages they would not be in this situation. The government should not bail them out. 7 day work weeks for years….maybe the big shots should have been watching what was going on in the plants.
sorry auto makers.

The problems started way back when the Japenese produced copy items. The quality was really poor and the public new it. They decided to change that produce a quality product and they did.
GM and the rest did nothing. Now they have to start from scratch because it all about QUALITY……….

NO! NO! Let them merge, Let them merge!!

I would not support one dollar going to the automotive big three especially GM as they had an electric car that was far ahead of its time. What did GM do they destroyed them, took them back from consumers, and grinded them up. This more than 15 years ago! If they want money go get it from the oil companies not the taxpayers!! Enough is a enough!

We all need to sit back and think about the way we as a Country lost auto supremacy, the Japanese and their manipulation of the currency markets, their subsidising of their home companies, and the ridiculous lust our Government has for a “World Economy” that only means our standard of living will go down as the third world’s go up.
So as you and your children are frantically trying to find a job that pay’s enough to live that American dream think back when you made that decision to buy that Honda, Toyota, or whatever whos company did not need to pay health care and had their big brother keep their currency devalued so they could enjoy a profit before we even had a chance to get one off of the assembly line.

I never thought I would see the day that my fellow citizens could be so short sighted. I don’t care how much you THINK the U.S. auto industry has screwed up you’re talking about your neighbors jobs when you talk about letting them fail. You are all just another group of people trying to assuage your guilt over buying foreign. You would think you’d have enough sense to realize the realities of our economy and pull together but it seems you idiots would rather send your hard earned money (if you have any) to Japan and Korea. Well I hope what ever industry you work in goes to hell in a hand basket and then when you look in the mirror you can say ‘yep I did this to myself’. The U.S. auto industry builds a fine product – my daughter insisted on buying a Honda when she first graduated from college, it was a piece of junk, cheaply built, now all she drives is American, a lesson taught.

I would support a bailout if I also would receive compensation if my job was lost due to the economy and from poor business and personal discisions.
Maybe if the auto industry employees from top to botton, even those on pension, took a cut in pay. Maybe the price of cars would go down

NO TO AN AUTOMOBILE INDUSTRY BAILOUT UNLESS FOSSIL FUELS ARE BAND. IF NOT NOW WHEN? I have no empathy for an industry that has had thirty plus years to address the basic problem of oil dependence. 1973 was a defining year for the automobile industry and poor decisions made then are part of the cause for todays problems, we should be driving electric cars or cars using hydrogen, or alternate fuels today but no the CEO of industry said “forget the environment the environment can go to hell we have cheap oil and my bonus is big and getting bigger all the time and we are helping the oil industry”. SO I SAY NO TO A BAILOUT.

There should be No bailouts for any of the corporatons and NONE for the Wall Street Investement Houses as they have Squandered Millions of hard earned Dollars from the American public.
Executives from these corporations have received millions of dollars in compensation at the expense of the shareholders of those companies.
Taxpayers should NOT give any money to any of these corporations as these corporations wasted millions of dollars by giving the executives obscene compensaiton packages in the millions while the average person only get about 41,000 a year.
Executives received more money in two years than the average person receives in 43 years in the workforce.
Ford and GM have far too many buildings
costing the shareholders hundreds of millions of dollars and the executives receive obscene compensaion packages and they should be investigated for malfeasance in office.
Thank you Gene – Somerdale, NJ

The ONLY way we should agree to this is: If they wanna use taxpayer money for a bailout, then they MUST change the way they sell us cars. NO more shell games about the price of the vehicle. NO more lies about the lowest finance rates. NO more bullsh-t about the carbuying process. Buying a car should be like buying a shirt, everyone pays the same price regardless of race, gender, or negotiating skills. It shouldn’t take all damn day to buy a car. US carmakers should NOT be aloud to continue raping the American consumers.

Here’s the text of a letter I sent to my Senators, my representative, Speaker Pelosi, Rep. Boehner, President Bush and President-elect Obama. If you have time (and the inclination), you could send something similar and maybe, just maybe, it would be incorporated into any future bailout agreements:
I’m writing on the topic of providing money to companies that are struggling to survive in the current economic environment. There is one proviso that I feel should apply to all companies receiving taxpayer (my) money. That proviso is:
The total compensation (salary, stock options, limos, private jets, etc.) of any of the company’s executives should be no more than 25 times the total compensation of the company’s lowest paid employee.

Maybe the CEOs should take a paycut!!!

My 1st instinct is to say NO MORE BAILOUTS. Taxpayers cannot afford to bail out every company or institution after they make such bad decisions and get themselves in so much trouble. However, it is right that if we don’t do this now, we will only have to do it later and the many employees are the ones to suffer. How about checking out who made all the profits [CEO's etc] and MAKE them foot at least half of this bailout. After that we can bail them out with it only being a loan, and without all the perks for the guys at the top. Maybe even fire most of them, after they have paid back a lot of it. If they have to sell one or 2 of their 5 homes and 2 of their 6 cars, so what. It is their fault and their responsibility.OR bail them out as a loan and let the employees run the company, like a co-op. I’m sure with their jobs on the line they would do a better job than the rich yahoos running it into bankruptcy. We have to do things differently. The old way of handing them money when they screw up is no longer an option. It only shows others that they can get bailed out also. Someone needs to have the balls to do this right. When the average taxpayer goes bust, who will bail them out. AND who will then pay the wages for running this Country with taxes. When no one can pay taxes, because they don’t have the money, then where are we? Our dear politicians had better look seriously at this. It puts their wages on the line.

DO NOT GIVE THESE PEOPLE ANY TAXPAYER MONEY! And make them stop making so many cars. In 300 years, when all the oil is gone, what are our children’s children’s children going to do with all these useless automobiles? There will be billions and billions of them by then. Let the Big Oil pay for these failing companies to produce and market 75% more electric cars. If that doesn’t work for them, convert the auto plants into bike plants and market bikes as fiercly as they do cars. America is to fat anyway, a little biking is not going to hurt any of us.

You Betcha!! Government gives money to the big companies and we pay the price.
In taxes and cars guzzle gas.
Give them the money to keep people working but put some strings on it – min. 50 mpg for starters!

Whine, Whine, Whine! When 200 million Americans all buy crap off shore and still expect to keep their jobs it is national economic suicide. I still buy American when I can. Screw the rest of you.
I bought my 88 Mustang GT 5.0 used in 93 for $9,000. I had 246,000 miles on it last month and it still looked good and ran good till a ditzy blond in a Honda turned into me. I got $4,700.00 from insurance when they totaled it.
I got my moneys worth out of it. I love Ford Cars. I just bought my fifth Ford, a Mercury Milan new a couple weeks ago and it is great.

Oh, and may I ask…how many of you are paid on commission alone? Have you ever experienced that? No car sales, no pay check. There are a lot of salesman, service employees, parts, etc. The list goes on. I guess we should all suffer for the decisions that the “big boy” make? What does a 53 year old man do with his life after he looses the only job he has known for the past 30 years of his life? Have any quick answers? Oh yeah, I remember what you all think…”LET THEM FAIL, LET THEM BURN”. You all need to do a gut check….

Where do I even start… ok first of all I am a proud American. I firmly stand by American made products & have faith in our manufacturing industry. I have an American flag sticker on my American car. I am not brainwashed like many other people in this country who ove imported cars. My American car is reliable and has lasted many years because I take care of it properly. The Big 3 did not create this mess. It was the consumers who wanted the SUV’s in the first place. How many did you see out on the road? Gas was cheap & everybody wanted one. Life was fun. They saw that we wanted them, so they made them and yes, they made money. Do you think the import companies really care about us more because they make smaller cars (they do make many SUV’s and trucks too and they are NOT fuel efficient…). No, they are laughing all the way to the bank at us “dumb americans.”
Now getting to the bailout. Because of Wall Street, these companies need help. Because of us too they need help. Too many of us out there turned our backs on them and drank the “import cool-aid”. The factory workers are our neighbors, our friends. We can’t turn our backs on them as they loose their jobs. Those of you bashing the UAW are just jealous that your jobs don’t offer good benefits such as free medical. These factory workers work hard. How dare people say they don’t. They are not Wall Street CEO’s. These companies are as American as apple pie and baseball. They are a part of our culture. Either way, they get help or not we the tax payer will pay for it – so pick your poison. Give them a try – go buy an American car. Let’s support our own country. Have pride, have faith.

I have read many angry comments here. Fine, vent but then you had better put on your thinking caps. First and foremost, I have been employed in the auto industry for about 14 1/2 years. As early as the year 2000 I was asking why we were not producing a fuel efficient entry level car, one that got at least 35 miles to the gallon. Those with the college educations told me that I was just a wrench jockey and could never understand profits and the intracacies of such business decisions.
Next, I feel any bail out money should be EARMARKED TO BE SPENT ON UNITED STATES WORKERS AND PRODUCTS ONLY! It is the American taxpayer that has poured their taxes into these coffers to make the funds available. Because of that the bailout money should be spent HERE, used to employ citizens of the United States! Not in Mexico, not in China, not in Canada or India or any Third World slave labor country! Next there should be definite restrictions that cancel all golden parachutes, bonuses, perks, restrictions that stop any spending that is not absolutely essential to running the company!
I figured the Union hatred would surface. Someone asked what we would give up. We negotiated our last contract allowing for our entry level wages to step back to the wages made about 25 years ago! We are paying more and more for our own health care and prescriptions. Then there is the stark reality of losing one of these U.S icons. Go ahead…sink the Big 3 because you hate unions. Watch what it will cost this nation. Yes, we will lose 250,000 MORE UNION jobs but then the ripple effect is estimated to cost 800,000 NON-UNION supplier and dealership jobs! Add to that another 1.2 MILLION jobs for all of the services we buy with our union wages! That means everything from the wife’s hairdresser to the kid mowing the yard are going to suffer The total dollar estimate to this nation should one of the Big 3 crumble is that it would cost the country 125 (B) billion the first year with a second year price tag of nearly 275 (B) billion dollars!
So the choice is yours, 50 (B) billion now or hundreds of thousands unemployed or UNDEREMPLOYED and about 400 (B) billion down the road!
I don’t hear you screaming about the fat cat Wall Street crooks and cronies that caused this economic implosion.
Have a nice day.

I don’t think we should bail out the car companies but my question is “Why are we asking President Elect Obama to fix this problem? Especially if it is so urgent. Isn’t Bush still the President until Jan. 20, 2009?”
Every American, especially the Middle Class and the Poor are going to be paying for this mess whether the car companies get the bail out or not.

Does anybody in ABC News remember lessons of history? How did we save 1979 Chrysler and 1981 Ford? We stopped buying their crappy products. Government refused to provide free money. Therefore both companies fixed their only problem. Chrysler replaced bean counters (stiflers of innovation) with Lee Iacocca – a car guy. An informed journalist would have read Iacocca’s book. All he did was empower engineers. No longer did bean counters design cars. (Yes – GM cars are frequently designed in the accounting department.)
His perfect example were engineers asking the part manufacturer why he was making that part wrong – why windows would rattle in doors. He said he could not make that part the way it was designed. He told bean counters who deemed it cheaper to do nothing. So Iacocca’s engineers – who now make decisions – redesigned the part. As a result, massive cost reduction AND a more reliable car.
Because this happened everywhere in Chrysler due to Iacocca, then Chrysler went from record losses to record profits in only four years. Cost controls stifle innovation and increase costs. When does a single ABC News journalist remember these history lessons?
We removed Henry Ford – a bean counter – by not buying his crap. Government refused to bail out Ford. So Henry Ford was removed. Don Petersen – a car guy – then asked the engineers to design a new car. Not design a car to get through cost controls. Petersen wanted the best they could do. Anyone knowing basic economics knows that new design takes four to ten years. That 1981 design came out when? 1987 Ford Taurus. First car designed by car guys since the 1965 Mustang. Therefore Ford had record profits in 1990.
Record profits because employees did their job in 1990? No. Record profits because of innovation in 1981 through 1986. The spread sheets can only report innovation four to ten years ago. Therefore a bean counter can never see an innovation until long after it is no longer innovative. Another fact routinely found in corporate history. Bean counters stifle innovation because spread sheets cannot identify innovation now – when it must be promoted.
Examples that demonstrate what is necessary to save GM. GM’s only problem is Rick Wagoner. Previously, he was running GM North America to massive losses. Did they promote Louis Hughes who was making a small profit in GM International? Of course not. Hughes was a car guy. Rick Wagoner was a bean counter. Now Rick Wagoner is causing massive losses everywhere in GM. He is doing to all of GM what he did to GM North America. He cost controls rather than innovate. Therefore GM costs will only increase.
Bankruptcy does not mean employee job losses. Bankruptcy means the only GM problem gets removed: Rick Wagoner and other bean counters who never worked on cars – whose entire history is finance and cost controls.
A GM car needs two extra pistons to get the same horsepower. More cylinders, valves, fuel injectors, manifolds, bigger car around a larger engine, heavier suspension, etc. Why do unions get blamed for these higher costs? Because top management spins myths rather than admit to stifled innovation.
GM could have been manufacturing the 70 Hp/liter engine in 1975. Other auto companies started doing it in 1992. (Popular Science Mar 1990 Page 82). GM still does not have 70 Hp/liter engines in all cars because bean counters – not car guys – design GM products. An informed ABC News journalist would know this since these same reasons for failure were also known in 1979 and 1981.
We saved NYC when Gerald Ford was paraphrased, “Drop Dead”. Since the Feds would not bail out NYC, then NYC fixed their only problem – bad management. Therefore NYC survived. Just another example of what would save all those GM employee jobs if we blame the man who routinely stifles innovation – the bean counter – Rick Wagoner.
Any innovation in a GM car is required by government regulation. Government regulation is the only way that a car guy is permitted to innovate? Of course. Does Rick Wagoner even have a driver’s license? A serious question. A problem so often found where top management are bean counters – not car guys. Hey – ABC News – does Rick Wagoner even drive? Henry Ford could not – another lesson from 1979/1981.

Was in the car business for 13 years, now in the mortgage industry for the past 14years. There has to be a better way to save this economy rather than bailing out every sad company that has abused the system. Who will be there to bail out the innocent, hardworking, tax paying individuals that have kept us going? Do a good job, provide good service at a reasonable price and get kicked in the teeth at the end of the day. I have worked on commission pay all of my adult life and right now it is very scary. Where’s my incentive or bonus? No sale, no pay. I will never be able to retire at the pace the government is spending my tax dollars. I work harder and bring home less. Uncle Sam is taking more of my money home than I am. No more bail outs without provisions. The companies recieving these monies should have to pay back the taxpayers with interest! Starting with the banks that received it from day one. Put most of these hot shots in a commissioned job and they would starve to death.

Posted previously:
> They decided to change that produce a quality product
> and they did. GM and the rest did nothing. Now
> they have to start from scratch because it
> all about QUALITY……….
Without learning why, the comment means nothing. Whereas GM uses concepts from business schools, the Japanese used concept taught by William Edward Deming – product oriented concepts.
Highest award in America is the Congressional Medal of Honor. Highest award in Japan? Deming Award names in honor of a foreigner. Deming’s concepts are about innovation. Some call that quality. But the enemy of Deming’s concepts are business schools.
For example, a company with quality control inspectors has no quality. Business school graduates would not know that. How to increase quality? Part of that solution – eliminate quality control inspectors. Obvious to a product oriented thinker. Confusing to a business school graduate.
The industry has only two people – car guys and bean counters. As demonstrated in the other post, bean counters routinely stifle innovation. Cost controls increases costs. Car guys innovate – which is why 1979 Chrysler and 1981 Ford were saved. causing costs to increase.
Quality cannot exist if top management is Rick Wagoner – bean counter. He was running GM North America into massive losses. Louis Hughes of International Division was making a small profit. Who got the CEO job? Not the car guy. Now Rick Wagoner is causing massive losses all over GM. This is no accident. This is routinely the lesson in the auto industry.
So the bean counter blames the unions for two extra pistons in every car? Another mentions his 5.0 Liter Mustang. Obviously a low performance car designed to attract the ignorant. The numbers. 5.0 liter engine did 205 horsepower. A standard performance 3.0 liter (small V-6) is supposed to do 210 horsepower. An informed consumer knew the Mustang wasted massive energy making much noise from one of the lowest performance engines in the world. But again, do we use knowledge and numbers to know? Or do we just feel because the Mustang and Rick Wagoner are making a lot of noise?
GM will constantly keep begging for money until the man who stifles innovation is removed – Rick Wagoner.
Let’s see. The US government gave $100million to develop hybrids in the 1990s. Those cars were built. But spread sheets cannot measure innovation. Therefore Dodge ESX3, Ford Prodigy, and GM Precept – all hybrids in 1999 – were denied a market. Thank goodness we have Japan to repeatedly save American innovations – from W E Deming to the hybrid.
BTW, ABC News cannot report this. GM puts fear in all news services when the LA Times’ Dan Neil on 6 Apr 2005 accurately reported “The Pontiac G6 is a sales flop. At General Motors, let the impeachment proceedings begin.”

No, don’t give them another cent! I own a small business, how come I don’t get my billions?? They build crappy cars that I don’t want to buy, so let them go, sink or swim! They are burning 2 billions a month anyway, so 25 B will only last them a year or less, what then? we act like we have too much money, bailing out all these crooks, if we start now, they will line up with their tin cups rattlleing.I can’t barely pay my taxes and now I have to support these bumps for the rest of my life. No way!

I say NOT A DIME for the auto industry that refused to listen to the American public who asked for fuel efficient smaller vehicles and Detroit produced the monster SUV’s and then tried to make them smaller and more palatable. The Japanese listened and most of us drive their cars because we saw the return of high gas by OPEC and futures traders. Now they all want a government bail out. Let the CEO’s with golden parachutes give up a portion to save their industry. Why should the public who was never listened to give further relief?

After 4 bad new American cars, I finally gave in and bought a Honda suv 31mpg, LOVE it!Before I bought, I went to my mechanic, we became buddies since he worked on my car all the time, I asked him about a Honda, he said “well, if you bot it, I guess I won’t see you again, but if you bought a GM I’ll see you in 3 weeks”
He’s right, I haven’t seen him in over a year and the only negative is I kinda miss him, but LOVE the car, just put in gas and drive. . . .I will never buy another American car again!!

Did you read what was posted previously? GM makes crappy cars because too many still buy them. Did you not learn the lessons from 1979 and 1981? The only reason Chrysler and Ford were saved – we stopped buying their products. We voted out top management at Chrysler and Ford. Therefore bean counters that stifled innovation were replaced by car guys. Thanks to Iacocca, car guys fixed cost controlled designs – and Chrysler had record profits in only four years. Thanks to Petersen, the engineers finally designed the first car in 22 years – Ford Taurus.
What kills a company? Buy American. What saves a company? Free market – buy the best. Those lessons are all through the 20th Century – and discussed above. Please don’t insult anyone with Rick Wagoner’s “buy American” myths. Patriotic Americans believe in the free market – buy the best. GM still has not fixed itself because too many so hate GM as to buy products devoid of innovation.
Please learn from the technology and history. Please read previous posts. Buying GM products and giving them $billions of free money will only make the problem worse. There can never be a solution as long as Rick Wagoner remains. As head of GM North America, he created losses. Now as CEO of GM, he has created losses everywhere. Bean counters routinely stifle innovation. See GM’s Precept as but one of hundreds of stifled innovations.

Let all of us remember we just bailed out those investment bankers who wrote bad loans and we are now paying for those non-working ideas. How many good paying blue collar jobs and every day white collar jobs did that save is my question? Now when the auto companies need the same I here quite a bit of crying and pointing of fingers and the auto companies are asking for 75 billion not 800 billion. I say let the government help them out with prudent restrictions on how the money is to be spent, like not using it to buy out your competition or paying bonuses to the upper management that put them where they now are.
Remember there are many good paying blue and white collar jobs that would be lost, in these companies and out of them, if any of these companies were lost and what made this country strong was it’s industries and those workers that put in a days work and took home a good check and spent it on goods others made and the services others provided.
Times are tough yet now is the time to help save these companies and work towards making this country strong and competitive again.
You complainers go buy some cheese to go with your whine.

First let me make it clear I am sickened by the thought of loaning money to the Big Three. That said I have two comments. First, if we let the auto companies fail many more jobs will go with them. This vacuum will eventually be filled with Japanese, Korean, German and other auto makers selling (and hopefully building some) cars here, but the impact will be staggering. Second, while I think all three could have done more to build fuel effecient cars many people (most) would not buy them unless the price of gas went up. And it only went up when it became more scarce. WE (through our govenment) could have added a tax to raise the price and encourage conservation, but the voters would not accept it. So, like always, with our backs against the wall we look for the alternatives that have always been there.

WE HAVE A 2005 CHEVY WITH LESS THAN 29,000 MILE ON IT. SINCE THE WARRANTY EXPIRED 6 MONTHS AGO WE HAVE SPENT $2,000.00 ON THIS CAR AND HAVE TO PUT IN ANOTHER $1,500.00 IN REPAIRS AND SOMETHING ELSE IS BREAKING. WE ARE SELLING THIS PIECE OF CRAP, AND BUYING A TOYOTA. NO BAILOUT.LET THE CRAPPY CAR COMPANIES FAIL.

hey gov big wigs- i had a lot of unexpected bills this month that i hadn’t planned for. can you give me millions so that i can get back on track? i’m so sick of my tax money going to these big companies because ‘they didn’t plan ahead’… give us a break!!!!!!

Let them go. They have hindered progress in the US and world for years and we would be better off without them.

This industry is needs to adapt to the market. This is the economy we live in competition will prevail the best product for the consumer. Auto Manufacturers spend more money on marketing the newer models to the public to “keep” selling to maintain their greedy profit levels.
Electric vehicles such as the RAV Electric Vehicle cost equivalent to a 111.1-mile-per-gallon to keep. General Motors Sold the Patents to the batteries that run this vehicle to TEXACO, Yes BIG OIL.
Chevron-Texaco own the rights to the worldwide patent to the EV95 battery that runs this vehicle.
In California the environmental state. CARB eliminated most of the Zero Emissions Vehicle requirement, allowing for car manufacturers to move to making Hybrids: half electric / half oil.
Public money should not be used in this manner. Forgive the working man for not wanting to trade in their vehicle in such a tight market. Auto should start making solar panels and develop hydro-electric power sources.

Obama should not give any money to them
unless it they start building green vehicles with smaller engines…..If the
Chinese & Japanese & Indians take over so
be it….at least the vehicles will be more efficient for this day & age !!

the auto industry has been selling their high mileage technology to Big Oil for a while now. Let Big Oil bail them out. It was shortsightedness on the auto industries part, not America’s. I remember in 1986 or somewhere around there that Honda’s civic was getting around 46 miles PER GALLON. Does no one remember these cars? I do. Now they tout their FIT as some smart great gas mileage car at 34 MPG. WAKE UP AMERICA. We are being fleeced bigtime.
Where did these high mileage cars go from 30 years ago. It’s a bunch of crap.

The wages that are paid to auto workers are outrageous! $40 an hour is extremely high, and if they want to look at saving money they should combine the big 3 and not put this burden on the tax payers if they go into bankruptcy. I am a military member and if anyone deserves to make $40 and hour we do!

DO YOU WANT AMERICA TO DISAPPEAR? We must help the car companys. We helped the banks and they had a party. So we will have stiff stipulations for the car companys to recieve the loans.3 or 4 million people out of work could be our END.We are also to blame,we wanted the big SUV,S. ADMIT IT.Where do you work? Trickle down is a fact of life. TRUCK DRIVERS,MACHINISTS,SERVERS,HOME BUILDERS,INSURANCE SALESMAN,LOCAL STORES,WAL MARTS,CHILD CARE,ALL OF US, PARTS STORES ,ALL OF US … WE WILL FEEL THE EFFECT! WHAT IS WRONG WITH A MAN MAKING 40.00 DOLLARS AN HOUR? CEOS OF BANKS ,INSURANCE, CAR COMPANYS , YOU NAME IT MAKE MILLIONS NOT BREAKING A SWEAT. TO TAKE CARE OURSELVES WE MUST! I NEVER THOUGHT IN MY LIFE I WOULD WORRY THAT AMERICA COULD DISAPPEAR. I DO NOW. I FEEL I HAVE LIED TO MY CHILDREN. WHEN DID WE STOP TAKING CARE OF EACH OTHER? WHEN? WHEN? I DO CARE! TO THE NEW PEOPLE OF MY COUNTRY, I KNOW YOU CAME HERE WITH A BELIEF OF A NEW LIFE . I AM SORRY FOR THE GREED YOU HAVE FACED. THE JOBS YOU DO ARE NOT JOBS WE WOULD NOT DO , BUT THEY ARE JOBS WE WANTED PAYED FAIRLY FOR AND RESPECTED FOR. GREED PUT YOU IN THOSE JOBS WITHOUT THE SAFETY PROTOCOLS THAT ARE HUMAN. WHAT GOOD IS THE BAIL OUT OF THE BANKS IF 3 TO 4 MILLION MORE PEOPLE ARE OUT OF WORK? WHO WILL TAKE OUT ANY LOAN? NEW PEOPLE TO THIS LAND WILL SOON FEEL AS IF THEIR OLD COUNTRY IS RIGHT HERE! I BELIEVE IN YOU , AMERICA , STOP , BREATHE, THINK, THINK , LOVE!