Comments on: Do We Need A Detroit Bailout? Really?

Declan McCullagh Assesses Claims Automakers Bailout Is A "Must-Do"

[caldwellptr]

Everyone knows by now that it isn''t the Unions that are holding up the American Dream of Good Jobs at Good Wages, - it is the financiers on Wall Street who make $35 million dollar bonus pay. Let the Unions go. Create more jobs through mortgage schemes so that all Americans can become rich financiers.

Unions = BAD LOW PAYING JOBS
Bankers = GOOD HIGH PAYING JOBS

[noloyalisti]

Just so everyone knows. This is about workers and their unions which we ALL need to keep healthy and strong. The auto worker EARNED everything they have including their pensions and health care. They are the ones who created the wealth.

To let these slimy, anti-American wacko Republicans take this away is just continuing the sad, sorry disaster that is privatization and off-shoring of jobs.

[jsd330]

rbullock440 If you check other articles on this site, you would see that toyota, honda and the other foriegn automakers are in the same position. Their sales are down, they are shutting down production at plants, and toyota is halting construction on a new plant in Mississippi, that is supposed to build the hybrid prius. Plus they all get subsidies from their governments.

[spiritwalk]

The US auto industry loses an average of about $2,000 on each car they sell.

What''s wrong with this picture?

The simple answer would be to drop the average cost of a car $2,000 to break even and more than $2,000 to make a profit.

The simple answer would be for everyone who works in the car industry, from top to bottom, to take a 2% cut in their income to keep the industy afloat and have jobs to go to.

The simple answer is that nobody is willing to do that. They want a "bailout". A bailout images bailing water out of a boat before it sinks.

The simple answer is to fix the holes in the boat. As long as there are holes you will have to keep bailing out over and over. Cutting costs will fix the holes. Cutting salaries a small percentage will cut the costs.

What''s wrong with this picture?

[samthetvcat]

You know what troubles me about all the bailouts aren''t the bailouts in and of themselves, it''s just the concern that maybe Washington hasn''t really given enough thought to like a big-picture future vision of where it is they see us going (?)

Like, okay they say they want to see car manufacturers succeed, but then what about manufacturing in general - where do they stand in terms of that whole idea that it was something we were going to delegate to developing countries with cheaper labor forces? Are we still going forward with the idea of having an information economy, or are we moving forward with a new idea of having more of a mixed economy that is going to include a revival of manufacturing?

And then what about our whole relationship to debt and consumerism? What is it we''re ideally supposed to be doing right now - have we (collectively) been accruing too much debt that we need to be paying off, or are we wanting to acquire more debt so we can go out and buy more stuff? There''s kind of mixed messages being sent, don''t you feel - like that credit was too available, but also that credit is frozen . . .

I don''t know how to explain it better - it just feels to me like we''re lacking a clear direction of where we''re headed (?)

[declanm-2009]

d7767w: Yes, a look at how we got here is a topic for a future column. Stay tuned.

tincup356: By Bailout Party, I was referring to a subset of both major political parties. Citing Bush and Democrats as members should be a hint. Follow the link in the column for background.

wontontiger: Thanks for your kind words! I plan to keep doing the same in future columns.

[gingerdeano]

Look if there is an auto maker bail out to keep them afloat for a while there is still one huge problem NO ONE CAN AFFORD TO BUY A CAR, sales are down and will not pick up until joe plumber gets a job.

[jamsr28]

Hey all you idiots that live in a dream world!The economy is in terrible shape,unemployment is climbing,the dollar is not worth anything,another million job loss is not an option!The auto industry is tied to the steel industry,the rubber industry,the plastics industry,the glass industry.It''s NOT JUST ABOUT AUTOMOBILES IT''S ABOUT AMERICA!!!!!!!!!!!!

[jamsr28]

Hey All you thinking people who say no bailout.Do you all work for the government and drive rice burners? probably by next year you''ll have to live in those rice burners,there won''t be any jobs left,maybe you''ll be in foreclosure.Then we''ll see who wants some of that bailout money!!

[jamsr28]

I think a lot of these genius reporters are going to lose their jobs.Newspapers are in trouble,unemployment is high.When and if the Auto industry goes so will a lot of advertising-there goes more newspapers-more reporters jobs.The economy is going down faster that an avalanche in new snow!Who will be next?Probably You!

[hitoyou11]

Do We Need A Detroit Bailout? "NO"

[jsd330]

ms1-1-1 Why do tyou keep saying chap 11 if you want to bust the unions you have to go chap 7. The airlines went chap 11 and they still have unions. The airlines also got a bailout after 911. They are the next in line for a bailout, passenger traffic is down.

[rbullock440]

Why is it that Toyota, Honda, and any other maker of foreign cars are not crying? The big 3 make junk & they got what they deserved!

[berdo289449]

To all you Newspeople who say you are unbiased but seem to give your opinion each night on your programs need to look into this one and quit with your opinions and listen to the people..
To all you in the Congress which by the way has the lowest approval rate in the history of this nation..I salute you and I send an open letter to anyone or all who feel the way l do about this No give a *** Congress and about all their moaning and groaning.. You talk big but say nothing.. You attach raises to important bills this nation needs for your benefits or for the benifit of your friends like the justices raises.. You know l speak the truth.. You make sure you have the best of retirements, hospitalization, and vote yourselves a raise when you need it..but for God''s sake do not give 2 million people about to lose their jobs with the American Auto Industry a hand. You are about to do away with them.. I pity you.. you will eventually get your turn..somewhere .. Carma is for real.. Your afraid of the Unions who really are the reasons for the Auto Industry going down.. and you will not even try to help your people to keep America American and Strong.. Just who do you represent and what drum do you follow..??

[jsd330]

Since the majority of the people say no to the loan.
Let''s just put them all in chapter 7, sell off all their assets( of course there won''t be any buyers)layoff all the workers(That gets rid of the UAW)The workers won''t get their 95% unemployment, the creditors will be lucky to get pennies on the dollar, the money owed parts suppliers they can kiss that goodbye, warranty''s on cars null and void (no dealers they''ll all be out of business to).And we''ll still be paying for the bank bailout, which has done nothing for the economy and how many banks even after the bailout are going to go under? kiss those tax dollars goodbye.

[declanm-2009]

tincup356 is right: Both major parties are guilty of bailout mania.

timothyone: If you think I''m a "right-winger," you may want to check the column archives for what I wrote on election evening. The first sentence: "The Republicans deserved to lose."

avoice: Thanks for the some common sense.

nolalou: I didn''t mention McCain because he''s not really relevant to the current debate. Paulson is, so I mentioned him.

[debinok1]

Any money given at this point isnt going to help them keep plants open or keep people working, it will go to cover their workers union packages, 90 to 95% lay off pay, health and vacation packages, and their retirement commitments. There are programs out there to cover those, unemployment covers 66% of their wages granted not for 2 years but they would have money coming in, retirees over 60 get SS and medicare, we dont need to use the taxpayer money or loans from china to pay for impracticle business practices when there are other options.

[debinok1]

At this point with only 14 days left till the new year, after 2 of the 3 stated they would not survive without some kind of financial assistance until that point, I dont see what they can do in 2 weeks that they have been unable to do up to this point. Chrysler is closing all of its plants for at least 30 days. It is to late now. Let them file Ch 11 restructure, IF they qualify, IF they dont then Ch 7 liquidation of assets.

[ceb969]

With the UAW over paying the workers and the BIG WIG of the have there head in the sand until this is fix I do not think with the people should give money to the BIG THREE AUTOMAKERS. For this how many other companies are we goingt to bail out(airlines, retail stores or the corner store how has 6 employees) were will it stop?

[clathrate]

First of all it''''s not a ''''Bailout'''' no matter how many times the author wants to call it that, it''''s a LOAN!
Second, is he putting G.W. Bush in the so called ''''Bailout'''' party, what bout McCain, since he was for it too?
I''''m not saying there is any easy answer to this crisis, but the author of this article is a MORON!


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Posted by nolalou

An unsecured loan given away to an unprofitable business without some sensible covenants IS, for all intents and purposes, a bailout GRANT, not a loan. For a loan to be a loan there has to be a reasonably good probability for it to be repaid, otherwise it''s just a deadbed gift.

Unless there is a massive, painful restructuring at all levels of the Big 3, there cannot be any reasonable expectation that they will ever be profitable i nthe long run.

It is YOU sir, who is the unsophisticated moron here.