Auto Bailout.......

[Mahonri]

Quote:
Yes, sort of. It also decreases the value of the dollar, sort of.

SORT OF?

My retirement savings, (what's left of them) will soon be worth nothing.

ALL of the bailouts have been a bad idea.

Paulson and his buddies should be in jail.

OK enough of that.

 

[1acrefarm]

How many times and how much debt shall we run up repeatedly bailing out our Auto Industry? Ford always made their money on trucks and suvs. The recent fuel prices killed that. Why can't we drill on our own soil? Why do we put so many restrictions on it? If we drilled more of our own wouldn't that create more jobs here and help stimulate our economy? If we produced more of our own energy wouldn't that help stabilize prices as well as give us less to fight for? Wouldn't stabilized fuel prices help the domestic truck and SUV market? Is keeping the polarbear from having to walk around the oil field more important than our national security and economy?

 

[PurpleChicken]

Quote:
Yes, sort of. It also decreases the value of the dollar, sort of.

SORT OF?

My retirement savings, (what's left of them) will soon be worth nothing.

ALL of the bailouts have been a bad idea.

Paulson and his buddies should be in jail.

OK enough of that.

My use of "sort of" had nothing to do with any of that. It's a simple
way of saying "in theory but not neccesarily in reality".

If you want to put people in jail I will stand with you on that one.
Let's start with Franks and Dodd and follow the money.
We will need a government loan to build the new jails required to
hold all of these crooks and Washington, Wall Street, and Detroit
will be empty.

Sorry about your retirement funds. 80% of the limited funds I have built
up in my 38 years are in money market funds, which has been my strategy
since March of 2000. I wish my 59 year old mother had listened to me.

 

[PurpleChicken]

Quote:
I agree with most of that. What I see as the failure of the three American
car companies problem is their failure to diversify their product lines.
We are creating the American equivalent of Airbus by bailing them out.
Heck, why not just make them government run?

I'm all for drilling and developing alternate energies to stabilize prices
and increase our energy independence. Even with that fuel prices and
populations will still continue to rise. A child can see Ford Expeditions
driven by soccer moms is not a sustainable, or intellegent concept.

I drive a Dodge Sprinter for work, made by Mercedes. It gets 22 mpg
and completely outperforms any Ford van I've had. Even the Europeans
have figured it out. Ford sells an almost identicle van but it's not
available in the U.S. Hmmmm...

 

[Verboten]

The whole mess is just sad.
I’ve heard it said in conversation that the US auto industry was not responsive to what consumers wanted - well that is just **. Their forte for years has been larger SUVs and trucks that have had import restrictions placed on them - does Toyota have plants for its heavier trucks in the US just because it thinks that they are too expensive to ship? -ha!
Then the fairly rapid increase in gas prices *combined* with government changes to mandate more fuel efficient vehicles has nearly done them in (congress at 'work').

I say that if the big 3 feel that they need to, that they should file for chapter 11 protection - that sticks the bill (responsibility) where it belongs - with their shareholders, lenders, and yes their current and former employees.

Destroying industry in whole areas of the country has been done before (in the recent and not so recent past) even when they were *making* money - strange how ‘democracy‘ works.

I was however glad to hear that recently the US auto industry thinks that they are now on par with the quality of overseas competitors’ offerings - I thought that they had ALWAYS claimed that their quality was SUPERIOR to justify their prices!

 

[DuckyBoys]

I really don't see the point of writing anyone to complain about it anyway - the people spoke up about that first bailout, a 10:1 ratio AGAINST, and look what happened.

They DO NOT care what we think because they think we are too stupid to understand that this is for our OWN GOOD.

 

[kstaven]

Quote:
North American auto manufacturers would not be in this state if the cost of fuel here was as high as europe.

Losing more jobs is a very bad thing. But if our manufacturers refuse to meet the standards of the competition then they will not survive the long haul. The bailout will just slow their demise by a year or two.

 

[horsechick]

Quote:
It's simple really, just print more money.

Our gov does it all the time.

Hi,
Isn't our money, (U.S.A) the only money in the world not backed by some sort of gold/silver etc?
Thanks

 

[horsechick]

The big 3 made mountains of money when they stated sending thier jobs to mexico and outsourcing.
Unfortunately they did not lower the cost of their vehicles and pass that savings on to the consumer, instead, they went UP in prices and the big wigs wallets got fatter and fatter....as they kept all the difference.
Now they wonder why they can't sell $50,000 vehicles???
Am I the only one who sees why? LOL!
I think they deserve what boat they are in now and need to sink or swim on their own.

 

[Mahonri]

Problem is, there are car manufacturers who are making it here in the US. There are Hyundais being made. There are car factories in KY and Alabama that are pumping out cars and making money.

If the big three can't compete then they need to go the way of all bad businesses.

Detroit is going south because of UNIONS. Plain and simple.

Insanity is when you continue to do the same exact thing and expect a different result.

Bailouts aren't going to work. They will simply slow the inevitable.