“… though he hasn’t given a reason for his seemingly abrupt change of heart.” LMAOROF

Have you cut your stake in Ford — lately?

Speaking of stakes, maybe Kerkorian’s buying up all the wooden ones before Halloween.

he can afford silver still (and garlic)

Actually makes me feel very good. My looses in the market are inconsequential compare to this. I feel like a genius!

Great bargain stock … if they can survive.

MercMark……………bargain?

You do realize that without a bailout Ford would have to file for bankruptcy. Ford can not afford to make fuel efficient cars without getting 25 Billion from the government.

Any company that would dies without governmental assistance can not be a BARGAIN.

Kirk is going senile I think.

And ya’ll do realize that if Ford goes under and Chrysler is gone as well that you are going to see a collapse in the American economy, right? 1 in 10 U.S. jobs relies on the success of AMERICAN car companies. Not the Asian or European car companies, but the American ones. I do not know about the rest of you; but, I do not feel like sitting through months of Congressional hearings on how/why this happened and the backlash against the foreign automakers (which will only make parts supplies more expensive for GM . . . assuming they do not go bust as well). If you all are so against bailouts (and fundamentally, I am as well) then you have to accept that the Asian companies have succeeded at the expense of your economy. Every time you buy an Asian import you put money into the Asian economies. Every time someone in Asia buys an American car it helps out our economy; but, the system is not stable. American manufacturers have never had the level of access to Asian markets that the Asian manufacturers have had in ours. So, the only fair way to avoid bailouts is to put up trade barriers against the Asian and European manufacturers (I have not heard as much about European trade barriers to U.S. autos, but feel free to correct me).

If you want to drive an import, that’s fine; however, until those countries from which we import cars remove their trade barriers, we should penalize them. Or, if you are one who believes it is okay for Japan to set a percentage of new cars that can be American, but you will not be okay with the U.S. having a mirrored policy then I think you should pay a HUGE tariff on your import. Don’t like it? I don’t care. I don’t like listening to import buyers say American cars “suck.” Why do they suck? Maybe because they are not making enough money to put into R&D, fit-and-finish, etc.? Are my ideas protectionist? Yes. Is protectionism bad for the international economy? Yes. Can America save its own economy without protectionist policies that only MIRROR those of other countries? No.

shesh.. Even though a billionaire lost confidence in Ford. That says a lot.

I do agree with Lionwithoutpride but up to a certain extend. If Big 3 learned anything from they would have seen the shift from truck/minivan to more fuel efficiency cars. Just think about it

Drive a 5.7L truck to work (80 miles round trip) or drive a eco-box 1.8L-2.5L. Its a no brainier if you ask me with one I would drive. The higher gas price made it more apparent.

Most imports are made in US to get around the currency exchange and the cost of importing the cars from country of origin.

Big 3 said that that is the major reason why they don’t import there European/Asian counterpart cars into the US it adds additional cost In fact, Leftlanenews articles mention this.

I totally agree with you LIONWITHOUTPRIDE! Its time America treated other countries exactly the way they treat us…. Free trade isn’t free when we are the only ones practicing it! Believe me, every other country needs our economy far more than we need theirs. To all Americans, America should always be first in every way. America cannot survive long without American owned manufacturing. And congress: STOP giving all our money away! We need to fix everything in America B4 giving anyone a dime! Nuff said!

D@mn…can’t this old man give it up already? Why doesn’t he find another hobby instead of d!cking around stocks?!?

freeyellow2000-

I agree with you that many imports are built in the U.S. to get around the currency exchange and import tariffs. That said, that is not a good thing overall. It is good for the jobs it provides; however, the corporate taxes go back to Asia/Europe, the imports are GETTING AROUND THE EXPENSES THAT AMERICAN COMPANIES CANNOT GET AROUND (how many GM plants are there in Japan?), etc.

That said, you are right that the Asian and European companies did not get as tied up in the truck/SUV craze; but, I do not think it was anything more than luck. Toyota would be my example. Their biggest SUVs and trucks did not really hit the market until just before and just after the latest gas crunch began. Leftlane printed plenty of stories about how badly the Asian and European companies wanted a piece of the highly lucrative big vehicles pie. Then again, Toyota was still well placed to weather the gas crunch because they had long ago solidified their hold of the small car market by making top-notch vehicles.

I have owned it before, I am one of those whack-job Ron Paul supporters; so, I HATE bailouts. Yet, if that is the only way to save our auto industry, which has huge implications for our economy AND our ability to militarize for REAL wars, then I will swallow my pride and accept it. I do not think this is the only way. The first step is to go to our Japanese, S. Korean and German (if indeed they have the same restrictive measures, which I simply do not know) allies and try to negotiate the lowering of their trade barriers. If they refuse then we simply mirror their own tariffs. Sadly, I do not believe there are any politicians brave enough and strong enough to take this message to our allies. And, overall, the American people are either not able or not willing to see the necessity. Hopefully I am wrong on both counts. Just remember, 1 in 10 jobs. 1 in 10!

Where are you getting the 1 in 10 job stat? Source?

LS7-

My suggestion is that you Google it. Why do I not just provide the link to you? The reason is that when I looked it up this afternoon (having read it awhile ago and the article I read said it was U.S. auto manufacturing alone) the links which quoted the same stat seemed to infer that it related to the Auto Industry as a whole (including imports). As I disagree with this interpretation, I will leave it up to those who are intrepid enough to do their own research to decide which way they wish to take the information. Either way, the point stands that the health of the Auto Industry as a whole is important to the overall U.S. economy.

p.s. If you are having trouble locating it, try search terms like “U.S. auto industry” and “1 in 10 U.S. jobs.”