Thoughts on the bailout...

[Mike621]

I think this sums it all up really well.

[processengr]

Originally Posted by Mike621

I think this sums it all up really well.

LOL!
How about this:
14,000,000,000 (14 Billion, bailout Phase 1)
Divided by
138,000,000 Taxpayers, est., USA 2008 ( Wikipedia)
= $101.50 each...

[Tim]

I feel that giving the companies money when no one is going to buy their cars anyway is a big waste. The government should give customers up to $20,000 in rebates for every domestic car purchased so it will encourage people to buy their vehicles (up to a certain amount of vehicles of course).

[immortal_suby]

bwahahaha!

[jeffast]

****ing bull ****, mike has it about right.

[TomsSVX]

Originally Posted by Mike621

I think this sums it all up really well.

****ing Democrats... BTW this should be in Political

Tom

[Subix]

My mouth pretty much dropped when I seen all this chaos about a auto-maker bailout on TV weeks ago. I can't believe it. The economy is bad, times are rough, so now everyone is going to cry bailout? Give me a break.

Take it like a man (the ceo and board) and learn how to deal with it, like every other CEO in the tons of other industries that are getting **** on right now but aren't crying for a bailout.

At least they have to give up their jets, from what I've heard.

[NapaBavarian]

Originally Posted by Subix

At least they have to give up their jets, from what I've heard.

I did find that entertaining...

Now remember class, we only bail out people who take showers before wrk, not people who take showers after work

[Bobb]

Hi everyone, Well the LOANS for the domestic auto makers are dead for 2008. The consensus from the guys that follow the auto business is that Chrysler is gone even if they get the loans. And its also likely that the General will hit chapter 11 after the new year. Ford has said that they will not take any money but would have liked to have had a line of credit in case it was needed. Toyota uses about 48% of the same parts suppliers as the big three, so there is no telling how a failure of the domestic auto industry would affect the imports. However if anyone thinks putting Three Million Americans on the street ,unemployed,will have little effect on what they do I think they should rethink that. My mother in law has lost about $400,000.00 in the last three or four months and I don't beleave it has hit the fan yet. Lets hope the new broom can get the counrty going again. Take care and have a great holiday, BOBB

[NapaBavarian]

Chryco has been gone for decades, Jeep was sort of a life jacket

[JaySVX]

The auto makers weren't part of bailout, they were in trouble and asked for a loan. They needed this because other banks weren't lending due to the economy.

Sure, if no one buys a product, the company will go out of business. That's not the issue here right now though. With the economy in the danger it's in, if Ford, Chrystler, and GM closed their doors, that's 300,000-500,000 jobs gone. What do you think that would do to the economy? I say float them for a bit, wait until this recovers a bit, then let them sink or swim. Don't make everyone suffer to prove a point to the Automakers.

[dcarrb]

"Foreign import" is redundant (what other kind of import can there be?), but the line, "plus the cost of your Subaru" is nice touch.

I'm one of the numbskulls who believes the best way to put a charge in the economy would be to divvy-up all this freshly-minted money among working heads of households currently making under $50,000 per year. We'd blow every nickel in a heartbeat. And a few of us might even buy a new Ford.

dcb

[lhopp77]

Obviously the ONLY long term solution is bankruptcy or at least a form of negotiated bankruptcy so they can get out from under the huge union liabilities that their competitors don't have. Of course this would let them renegotiate supplier contracts also.

Union workers better get ready for a touch of reality--no matter what solution is elected. The companies cannot exist with the current structures and contracts.

A careful look at executive salaries is also called for, but as a total percentage cost this is really not significant. Its just a sore spot for most of us.

We can argue that loans or subsidies or any type of bailout is "socializing" the auto industry and it is to a certain degree. But, then the government is already involved by setting standards, performance and labor compensation standards---soooooo do they really operate in a free market??

Lee

[TomsSVX]

all good points lee

Tom

[1986nate]

Originally Posted by lhopp77

Obviously the ONLY long term solution is bankruptcy or at least a form of negotiated bankruptcy so they can get out from under the huge union liabilities that their competitors don't have. Of course this would let them renegotiate supplier contracts also.

Union workers better get ready for a touch of reality--no matter what solution is elected. The companies cannot exist with the current structures and contracts.

A careful look at executive salaries is also called for, but as a total percentage cost this is really not significant. Its just a sore spot for most of us.

We can argue that loans or subsidies or any type of bailout is "socializing" the auto industry and it is to a certain degree. But, then the government is already involved by setting standards, performance and labor compensation standards---soooooo do they really operate in a free market??

Lee

The union contracts are the reason for this loan. At the end of 2009 the Unions take over all Health insurance benefits and that is the big problem right now that makes up that $75/hr rates you might have seen on the news. Once the union takes over the health costs, it brings that number to about $50/hr which is very close to the $44/hr that it costs the foreign auto makers. The $75/hr takes into account the cost of all of the retirees and that is what they mean by legacy cost.