Auto Bailout?

The automakers have got the money now.

What's the word from the Detroit three? Well, it's going to take a little longer to negotiate with our suppliers than we thought. And the UAW - Well, maybe we don't exactly want to agree to what we said before the government handed-over the cash. As one, damned mad taxpayer, I say jerk that money and tell the states affected to get their unemployment offices ready for a flood of applicants.

The country will adapt. It will be painful and it will take time. This taxpayer is finished being laughed at.

SAVAGE SAYS: Can you hear me applauding?!

I hope they fail and I hope it happens overnight.

The news is mind numbing. My hope is that the Obama administration will attempt to bring some sanity back to the "Emerald City" I am encouraged by the choices he has been making in regards to people he is choosing for positions in his adm. If he fails,I will throw my shoes at him!!!
So the Treasury Dept. chose to hand over hundreds of billions of dollars to financial institutions with no strings attached. Is that a correct assesment? Now the big 3 are asking for a fraction of that in the form of loans to stay solvent. What we see here is politics holding precedence over the well being of our economy. Senator Shelby{alabama} represents a state where foreign car makers have established mfg. plants in said state. He and his supporters have made it clear they want to deal a death blow to the UAW and to all other unions.
I am not going to argue the pro and con of having labor unions. I do feel that in a democracy working people have the right to have their interrests properly represented. As such, I feel we have a distinct interrest in keeping the auto work force intact. We have to support the mfg. segment of our economy. We cant be a service oriented entity and beleive that will keep America booming.Producing product to export has allways been the backbone of a thriving economy
I read your article today. You know what? Stay away from Washington{lol} You have an exceptional mind. Do not expose it to the toxitity on the Delaware.

Thank you for the insights in your Sun-Times column this morning.

We can hold Congress responsible. But don't you think we can also hold responsible an administration that failed to produce and support the type of financial leaders who would have had the knowledge, the professional integrity, and the courage to head off Congress at the pass in the first place?

It shouldn't have taken a monetary genius, should it have, to predict, or realize, that the new ability of the banks, starting in 1999, to bury bad mortgages in packages of good ones, and keep selling the resulting securities off (over and over again) into a world-wide secondary market, would ultimately lead to galloping inflation and market failure?

The Constitution gives Congress the power to regulate the currency. Congress is subject to executive checks and balances. Now we see what happens when Congress is allowed to mix regulation of the currency with promotion of community reinvestment..

One wonders if Congress was responding to pressures from home builders' lobbies. I think it was Plato who raised the question of who guards the guards.

I read your article regarding Congress and reality as it studies what went wrong with the economy and who is to blame.Rep. Frank nor Sen. Dodd will ever admit that what they did with the support of most of their peers certainly aided the mortgage abuses and subprime mess.

About the only thing you left out of your article was the roll they played in the economic collapse of the big three auto makers. Sure, the american auto makers made mistakes regarding what to build, when to build, and being too generous with their empoyee benefits. But what brought them to their knees was the financial mess that Congress helped to grow and which is choking the economy. In raking the auto C.E.O.s over the coals, both in the House and Senate hearings, Congress pretented that it was only the big three suffering.! Never once did any say, wait a moment--the foreign car makers are having the same problems the big three are; namely, they can't sell their cars either because of the financial mess we created. They, too,are cutting production schedules, closing plants, laying off employees--the same as the big three.They are probably hurting financially also but how much we will never know because we have no access to their financial records.Their sales are way off also. Could the real problem be something other than the big three's past mistakes?No one asked those kinds of questions and they were trying to find causes for the big three problems!

Perhaps, it's wishful thinking on my part but wouldn't it be great if Congress would admit to their scew-ups once in a while? And this is the body that is going to lead us out of the financial mess we find our country?

I think we should have demanded CHANGE before giving the banks a free-for-all windfall. That exorbant cost will not need to be repaid to taxpayers who footed the bill.

The big picture is that bailing out the auto industry will actually make a difference for every American citizen, unlike the conditionless "ask-and-it-shall-be-given,-no-questions-asked" bank bailouts. We can retain millions of jobs which will be valuable during and post conversion.

We never asked the bank executives or the oil tycoons or even those in Washington to take a paycut as a civil service to Americans during this bad economy. And before you say no one in Washington was asking for a handout, please let's not forget that the US is a borrower as well as a lender. They are asking that the workers take a pay cut, not the execs. They want the ones who are struggling to struggle a bit more while a bank executive somewhere in the US took home a $16 million bonus check for 3 days of work.

Where are our priorities? I know the average American is tired of everyone getting bailed out but them, but the failure of the auto industry is definitely not going to help anyone's situation. It will in fact make the situation grossly worse.

Terry, I am convinced that this country will not become healthy until something is done about the Lobbyists. What’s the difference between the lobbyists and the Illinois Governor. If our Governor committed a crime, then what do you call it when our politicians take the advice of Lobbyists for whatever reason? Additionally, not until each State becomes responsible for what happens in that state, enact rules and regulations in order to do business in the State, and ensure that those rules and regulations are being adhered to, nothing is going to change. I blame the states for a lot of what is happening. No oversight into predatory loans, credit card fees, bank fees, etc. We desperately need oversight which is as good (or better) as demanding that people have birth certificates, drivers licenses, etc.

I really appreciate your insight and information on our economy.
What I'd like to know, (if you happen to know), how can we (the American people) keep unethical candidates from running for office. Are they not vetted thoroughly or is it only on the sole basis of having enough money to even be in that position to run? Or they have the dollars because they have gotten the money to run unethically in the first place.
We must do something to stop this horrendous corruption that has taken over like the plague. I am interested in your response.
Thank you.

Terry

The old adage is still true today -- giving money to a politician is like giving a hand grenade to a monkey.

Perhaps the bailout question is best answered with another question -- which is worse
Not bailing out the industry and see the immediate negative impact or
Bail out the industry hoping it will get its cost structure corrected only to likely fail later?

Do not know, but perhaps the financing portion of the bailout should be from the US government {we the people} and the biggest beneficiaries of the automobile, Exxon Mobil

What do you think?

What seems to be overlooked here is the fact that the Big 3 were doing sort
of OK until the current economic crisis. This can't be compared to children
spending too much and being bailed out by their parents. The Fed should have
stepped in long ago to thwart the current economic crisis by prohibiting ARM
and NINJA, and other creative real estate loans. Yes, the Big 3 certainly
need to get their act together, and from what I've heard they have been
improving their quality control and developing hybrid technology. But, now,
with people afraid to make large purchases combined with a lack of funding
sources (read that banks), people are not buying cars. It's not just the Big
3, al lathe foreign car companies are suffering as well.