Bail Out Auto Industry?

Indeed that is the scary part!!

ITS crazy how everything is finally catching up to all the greedy bassstards in the big 3.

 

I said no! Build a car people want to buy, be smart about your business, and you wouldn't be in this situation. Why should my tax money be used to save businesses with shitty practices and let them continue the same?

 

DO you think they WILL get bailed out?

 

It would be bad to have these jobs lost but the same thing happened during the Great Depression. Thousands of jobs were lost but the U.S. made their way through it and recovered. People learned how to live with having less and they were probably better off for it. they learned how to live within their means. They learned what was really a "need" vs "want". My Father grew up during the Great Depression and yes he said it was hard but they survived. He actually grew up in an orphanage and made himself into a great man.

 

yes!

 

i was gonna respond but thats pretty much exactly what i would have said...

 

Well they helped Chrysler out in the 80's......they seem to thing they can be the savior of the world so I wouldn't doubt it. Damn F'ers

 

i'm the same way. Unions are bleeding the auto industry dry. Americans have the ability and potential to make a quality car but where's teh motivation? they dont have it. they have a high paying job, that doesn't require them to work hard, just threaten to quit in mass everytime they are unhappy. in Japan and Germany it's EXPECTED that you do your best. if you dont, they replace you with someone who will. it's a cultural difference. Unions have finished serving their purpose, now they are just dragging the industry down. unions need to be dissolved

 

my grandfather worked for foreman at GE and I was told that he always threw a fit over the unions because He couldn't do a damn thing to get his employees to actually work and not goof off.

 

unfortunately yes. and they wont learn their lesson. the lesson should be.... "we make shitty stuff, we dont eat. we work hard and make good stuff, we prosper" but the lesson tehy are learning is "we make shitty stuff, uncle sam gives us billions". Once again, where is the motivation to do better? In school, if you flunked a test but the teacher gave you an A anyway would you study harder next time? hell no! you'd party your ass off before the next test cause you expect to get an A either way. But if you flunk a test and have to tell your parents you're on academic probation the you'll improve your study habits and work hard for a better grade. same pricipal

 

I'm as liberal as they come...what do you expect from a bleeding heart school teacher? That's why I love this example, nd.

However, I also teach my kids (my own and my students) that they need to be responsible for their actions. I voted no because there needs to be some accountability for past actions.

What do they say about insanity? ...it's doing the same thing over and over, yet expecting different results.

 

Let Detroit Go Bankrupt
By MITT ROMNEY
Published: November 18, 2008

Without that bailout, Detroit will need to drastically restructure itself. With it, the automakers will stay the course — the suicidal course of declining market shares, insurmountable labor and retiree burdens, technology atrophy, product inferiority and never-ending job losses. Detroit needs a turnaround, not a check.

I love cars, American cars. I was born in Detroit, the son of an auto chief executive. In 1954, my dad, George Romney, was tapped to run American Motors when its president suddenly died. The company itself was on life support — banks were threatening to deal it a death blow. The stock collapsed. I watched Dad work to turn the company around — and years later at business school, they were still talking about it. From the lessons of that turnaround, and from my own experiences, I have several prescriptions for Detroit’s automakers.

First, their huge disadvantage in costs relative to foreign brands must be eliminated. That means new labor agreements to align pay and benefits to match those of workers at competitors like BMW, Honda, Nissan and Toyota. Furthermore, retiree benefits must be reduced so that the total burden per auto for domestic makers is not higher than that of foreign producers.

That extra burden is estimated to be more than $2,000 per car. Think what that means: Ford, for example, needs to cut $2,000 worth of features and quality out of its Taurus to compete with Toyota’s Avalon. Of course the Avalon feels like a better product — it has $2,000 more put into it. Considering this disadvantage, Detroit has done a remarkable job of designing and engineering its cars. But if this cost penalty persists, any bailout will only delay the inevitable.

Second, management as is must go. New faces should be recruited from unrelated industries — from companies widely respected for excellence in marketing, innovation, creativity and labor relations.

The new management must work with labor leaders to see that the enmity between labor and management comes to an end. This division is a holdover from the early years of the last century, when unions brought workers job security and better wages and benefits. But as Walter Reuther, the former head of the United Automobile Workers, said to my father, “Getting more and more pay for less and less work is a dead-end street.”

You don’t have to look far for industries with unions that went down that road. Companies in the 21st century cannot perpetuate the destructive labor relations of the 20th. This will mean a new direction for the U.A.W., profit sharing or stock grants to all employees and a change in Big Three management culture.

The need for collaboration will mean accepting sanity in salaries and perks. At American Motors, my dad cut his pay and that of his executive team, he bought stock in the company, and he went out to factories to talk to workers directly. Get rid of the planes, the executive dining rooms — all the symbols that breed resentment among the hundreds of thousands who will also be sacrificing to keep the companies afloat.

Investments must be made for the future. No more focus on quarterly earnings or the kind of short-term stock appreciation that means quick riches for executives with options. Manage with an eye on cash flow, balance sheets and long-term appreciation. Invest in truly competitive products and innovative technologies — especially fuel-saving designs — that may not arrive for years. Starving research and development is like eating the seed corn.

Just as important to the future of American carmakers is the sales force. When sales are down, you don’t want to lose the only people who can get them to grow. So don’t fire the best dealers, and don’t crush them with new financial or performance demands they can’t meet.

It is not wrong to ask for government help, but the automakers should come up with a win-win proposition. I believe the federal government should invest substantially more in basic research — on new energy sources, fuel-economy technology, materials science and the like — that will ultimately benefit the automotive industry, along with many others. I believe Washington should raise energy research spending to $20 billion a year, from the $4 billion that is spent today. The research could be done at universities, at research labs and even through public-private collaboration. The federal government should also rectify the imbedded tax penalties that favor foreign carmakers.

But don’t ask Washington to give shareholders and bondholders a free pass — they bet on management and they lost.

The American auto industry is vital to our national interest as an employer and as a hub for manufacturing. A managed bankruptcy may be the only path to the fundamental restructuring the industry needs. It would permit the companies to shed excess labor, pension and real estate costs. The federal government should provide guarantees for post-bankruptcy financing and assure car buyers that their warranties are not at risk.
In a managed bankruptcy, the federal government would propel newly competitive and viable automakers, rather than seal their fate with a bailout check.

source

 

I wonder what would the folks on a GM, Ford, Dodge forum think of this, maybe our responses are influenced a bit on the matter we all own a non american car.... just a thought

 

x2

 

Oh yea, but i mean, the opinion of those who find that US cars fit their needs.... what do they think of the bailout...

 

my company did really bad this year, maybe i can get a bail out and go on a $400,000 spa getaway with my family.
f these guys they screwed up not me.let them figure it out. why do we have to pay for it.

 

see if you can bring a guest

 

Hell, I bought my Tacoma partly due to knowing it was built in the US unlike some "domestic" models made in Mexico or where ever outside the US.

 

As much as i'd like to say NO, I think it would be a bad idea to not bail them out, after all the taxpayers will be able to recoupe their money back from the tax revenue the auto industry generates, not bailing them out would put a further strain on the economy, but the gov't should add conditions to this bailout such as restructuring the entire organisations.

 

The problem is that Gov. has no business getting involved. That is NOT what the Gov is for. and the money will never be recouped.