LMAO that Obama resigned a week early. I guess pretty-boy couldn’t wait to get his new title, and now 3 million people most of whom voted for him are gonna take it in the shorts.

Let’s not help the auto industry since they got themselves into this situation, but let’s bail out Wall Street that mismanaged their assets in order to pad their wallets. Gee, wonder who the Republicans are buddy buddy with? Gratned, I’m not keen on a bailout, but maybe they should file bankrupcy, re-organize, possibly do away with the UAW, get new management, and come out leaner and more efficient.

im gonna sign my name even though its right above my comment in bigger font anyway
A4

Buzzgt,

Your ideas sound great, but the problem is they can’t reorganize due to the lack of creditors out there. It will have to be a Chapter 7, meaning a liquidation, not reorganization of GM/Chrysler. Maybe there is still a miracle in Detroit, but now it’s looking grim. Can this really mean Ford will be the one who lasts? Amazing.

Chapter 11 isnt an option. Unfortunately people like Sen. Shelby are too naive and ignorant to know that. After watching him on TV it became apparent that his primary concern is putting the UAW out of business. He almost seemed excited about the idea of the UAW and GM failing.

The last time this was done the government made millions with Chrysler stock and yet all these republicans are saying they dont want to “waste” taxpayer money. How many republican senators could name 3 current Detroit products? My guess is not many. They are telling us about the poor products and lack of public interest (6-7 million customers a year dont count) in those products but cant cite any specifics. Whats so ironic is that southern states are big on pickup trucks, the exact type of vehicles that GOP politicians are suggesting Detroit shouldnt have been building. The South keeps the GOP in power AND is big on SUVs and pickups but the GOP says Detroit should be building more subcompacts to meet “demand”. These people are idiots.

Mayer _Ray_nagin

You are a bombastic idiot. While I agree that the big three got themselves into this situation. They need to get it together. They need to make better cars and this all stems from the late 70’s to the early 90’s when they thought they could put out crap and we would buy it. But to bail out Wall Street and not help the Auto Industry just doesn’t seem right. It is funny how all of this has come to a head at the end of the Bush regime but now here we are again. I happen to be an Import guy but I love cars period and I hope that the big three survive. Obama wants to help them and bring them up to compatibility with other manufactures. This can not be a bad thing because the problem with the big Three is management. Get that old way of thinking out the door and bring in new ideas.

so when GM crashes, atleast we can blame the republicans!

Buzzgt, I was thinking the same exact thing. All these banks giving out huge loans to anyone with a pulse and now people like me who spend responsibly get screwed. Gee you only make $40,000 a year. Here’s a loan for a $450,000 house. Enjoy!

Rallying needs to go deeper than Detroit. It is the fault of the unpatriotic slime of the Earth who chose to call themselves Americans yet they buy a forign piece of sh1t car instead of a superior GM car. These people need to die. They are not Americans.

Buy GM people, it’s your duty as an American.

The Republicans are sure in a sticky situation.

On the one hand, they’re ideologically opposed to government intervention in private sectors, such as the auto industry, but on the other hand, by not helping to give GM a hand they are risking the destruction of a major American corporation, not to mention the potential collapse of the entire industry as a whole, and millions of job losses stemming from everything from the manufacturing plants to the suppliers.

The GOP cannot afford to take such a stance.

I agree with renzogtr…mayer ray nagin is a ****ing fool.

Bash Obama, go ahead, but look where we are NOW, another **** UP within the Bush presidency. Another fall for the GOP. Face it…Obama is the next president, and he will be implementing policies that will help this, and other situations.

The end.

@Need more oil for GM, are you an Al-Qaeda terrorist assigned to stir-up rhetoric on car blogs?

You call yourself an American? Might want to look in your rearview mirror for a world of sh1t rollin up behind you. Only those who drive GM will be safe from the wrath.

Sen. of Alabama is right, why bail them out since they got them self in to where the are at right now. The cost they need to think about is the pay they have pay on those CEO and Exce., for last couple years.

pzimet – Bush did not do anythinig wrong, so get that fact straight. He is right, not to bail out the Automobile at first place cause they make too much money and not find the way to bail themself out the situatioin.

This is call TOUGH LOVE FROM REPUBLICAN, and as tax payer I do not agree we need to bail out the big three, there is way to turn everything around and they have to find it on their own.

Need more oil for GM….if you are not a Native American, you are not “REAL” American, and you don’t have the right to critic other people regarding the issuse.

Congrats LLN. on your proper use of the word “failing.”

If there’s a bailout, it should be in a manner described by the Wall Street Journal — basically, the executives and boards all get replaced, and a federal reciever takes over.

I like the idea of Steve Jobs taking over GM.

Richard Shelby should be nominated for a certain award given by Hustler.

buzzgt: “Let’s not help the auto industry since they got themselves into this situation, but let’s bail out Wall Street that mismanaged their assets in order to pad their wallets.”
Yep. Who EVER thought mortgage-backed securities was anything but a bad idea?

sj79: the GOP has become a southern party. Maybe the Libertarians can bridge the gap.

renzogtr: “They need to make better cars.” To some extent. I think the actually need to SELL more of the good cars they have now, and STOP MAKING THE OTHERS!
” I happen to be an Import guy but I love cars period and I hope that the big three survive.” Boys, it looks like open-mindedness has reared its ugly head.

bada_bing70: I blame everthing on the republicrats!

Need more oil for GM: “Buy GM people, it’s your duty as an American.”
No.
It’s my job to buy a dependable vehicle so I can support my family. That’s why I drive a Buick.

@pzimet,

You’re generally right but let’s make a distinction between traditional GOP values and the current instance of the GOP, which seems to take a diametrically opposed view of government spending. The current administration spends like Democrats and that’s not in keeping with conservative values.

Problem is that there’s less value in the economy which translates into fewer resources to allocate to struggling companies in the wake of deregulation, shoddy management and idiotic financial practices. At this point, Bush doesn’t even care. It’s the end of the line for the GOP in the White House. He’ll take an opposing view based on traditional GOP values not because he believes in such values but because there’s nothing he can really do anyway.

Obama is in for a rough ride as there’s more immediacy and more pain generally than when Clinton took over from Bush Sr. The current administration has spent the country dry so Obama will have a really difficult time in finding resources to maintain the status quo. In fact, the balance sheet indicates the status quo vis-à-vis standard of living is clear – something must go. What we are witnessing is people’s reactions to this – get to the head of the line for a bailout because if it’s First Come First Served anyone at the back is getting nothing.

“This can not be a bad thing because the problem with the big Three is management. ”

You are right. The management that brought us the Malibu, CTS, Enclave, Escape hybrid, Cobalt SS, Corvette/ZR1, Tahoe hybrid, Vue hybrid, etc. needs to go. They are doing everything wrong. None of the products they have introduced or are working on are worth a damn. Ford is preparing to introduce 4 European models starting in 2010 and rolling out a new, more efficient Fusion next year. Ecoboost is also coming next year. Why would you fire Ford’s management? BTW, some of Ford’s management came from Toyota. GM has a ton o hybrids on sale, their best styling in decades and several world class performance vehicles. Why the hell would you fire that management team now? The team that improved the products and got concessions from the UAW should be allowed to stay. Besides, no one has told us who would realistically step in and fix everything overnight as you people want.

Every sphincter muscle on Earth knows what to do with GM & Ford, except shareholders. Did anyone on this board has shares of either one of publicly traded companies? Are those people ready to walk away from any equity they have in companies? Neither senate or congress are asking their opinion, but giving them a great option to loose everything to future stakeholders.
If this is not reminiscent of Third Reich or Bolsheviks or Cuban revolution, what is? Perhaps people who actually OWN companies should have right to speak or actually being asked what they want to do? Not what union want to do (we sort of know), not the failed leadership desires (fairly clear), but what are intentions of rightful owners of those companies? Perhaps they will decide to liquidate and get what they can for factories, tooling and unsold inventories? They may get more what everybody is willing to offer.

Once the Big Three go down due to a lack of US support perhaps Toyota, Honda, or Nissan will build the US military, through their US factories, vehicles such and Hum-Vees, Jeeps, and tanks, if we are ever attacked on US soil.

See if we would of had Gore every car would had to been green vehicles by now to help combat global warming. I blame the people in Florida, Bush and the Detroit 2 & half for the mess were in.

Why bail out a broken industry? So they stay in business a few more months or even a few years. Does this automatically mean that they will clean up their act? Nope. I always pull for American, but they always disappoint me. Too bad…

trantz,

Check your facts. Former big 3 is out of military biz for a long time. They just want some of taxpayers money to spend, because they’ve already wasted their investors.

HAY!!!!
It’s $25 Billion now for GM, or $156 Billion later……
LOL….

“The Big Three are asking for up to $50 billion in low interest government loans”

So why is GM asking for $50 billion buy then self’s, and…

“Sen. Richard Shelby of Alabama where Mercedes-Benz, Hyundai and Honda all call Alabama home, but none of the Detroit Three have operations there.” ….AND HE DID SAY…. “I do not support the use of U.S. taxpayer dollars to reward the mismanagement of Detroit-based auto manufacturers in such a way that allows them to continue and compound their ongoing mistakes.”

What is going on?………..

If you would think about it the government takes over the manufacturing for production of military vehicles, and jets, if we were ever attacked on US soil.

And I thought about. If factory owned by Honda or Jeep it will be taken over by government in the case of war. So what the difference who owns it or better question where headquarters are? There are a lot of investors in US own shares of Honda, Toyota, Suzuki etc. By the same token 4-5 months ago the largest registered investor in GM was Russian former KGB man Derepaska (also owner of Russian auto factories). BTW, while GM is bleeding money, it is investing 300 millions in Russian factory. Do you think it is accidental expenditures? Yet today they sold only $230 mils worth of Suzuki stock. How patriotic are they?

Sounds like they are opening up some cashflow by selling Suzuki shares, and investing in foreign markets with growth potential… in regards to GM being patriotic, they are only as patriotic as the rest of the US citizens are. Either way, it is obvious I care about GM staying in business, and you don’t, Borat, so we will never be convincing each other of anything.

We’ve been bailing out Jap factories all over the states with no taxes for decades and financial incentives every time they think about building a new factory. Alabama has given far too much tax payer money to the Japs and Germans, yet that knucklehead Shelby doesn’t want to help real American companies with a loan. Its only a loan folks, not a bail-out like Wall Street is getting. Fords new management has only been on the job about 2 years and they surely can’t turn that ship around in that time, but they’re trying and I think they’ll succeed. Give ‘em a chance. I’d much rather see my (tax payers) money go to help American companies than be given away by the billions to every country with its hand out, even those who hate us! Don’t give ‘em a dime until everything in America is fixed! Nuff said.

trantz, you are right we are disagreeing. I think that American citizens are much more patriotic then GM management and UAW non-leadership. Taxpayers should not be asked to share result of their labor with union heads, incompetent management of private corporations. US citizen deserves the best product at the best price and if company cant provide it, they can try their luck in global economy. And if global economy cant support corporate aspirations, well, perhaps another company will take its place with better management and better work force. C’est la viv

I love the comment further up the page about its the fault of the american people for not buying american cars that they are going under and if you dont buy an american car you are not american. What a laugh. I am Australian and yes i drive and Australian made Ford, however jsut because my friends drive imported cars does not mean they are any less Australian as I am. If GM, FORD and CHRYSLER had of kept pace with the rest of othe worlds auto makers and given the american public decent cars, and cars that they wanted then maybe people would still have bought them. There was a time where people here were hesitant to buy Aussie made cars because they were not up to scratch with imported vehicles. Times are changing here and people realise that we can build world class cars in Australia, they problem we are having is the cost of fuel, as most cars built here are large family cars. There is a lot of things that have caused the Big 3 to be in this situation. There is not just one single issue. But i believe what is clear is that the public tax money should not bail out anyone! The companies got themseleves here, they can get out of it. Its not just the US economy that will be effected by the collapse, two of the three automakers here in Australia are owned by 2 of the Big three. Holden = GM and Ford Australia = Ford Moto Company. Thousands of people here working directly and indriectly for the auto industry too, but I still believe NO BAILOUT.

They’re not asking for a Bailout, only bridge loans to get them past this economic meltdown. No company can forecast sales falling off the chart overnight! And remember FoMoCo made a profit earlier this year B-4 the economic “perfect storm” hit. We must have a strong American owned industrial base in order to sustain a strong economy. Remember the American Auto Companies built America’s middle class!

trantz: “Once the Big Three go down due to a lack of US support perhaps Toyota, Honda, or Nissan will build the US military, through their US factories.” I’d like somthing more solid than “perhaps.”

Borat: you mean “c’est la vie.”