Comments on: Automakers Seek $50B In Loans From U.S.

Industry Wants Help To Modernize Assembly Plants, Develop Fuel-Efficient Vehicles

[ubrew12]

They''re probably asking now cuz they know an Obama administration wouldn''t give them a dime.

Trying to convince Americans that we could burn oil like there was no tomorrow indefinitely. Talk about swallowing their own Kool-aid. Let the automakers go Japanese. Labor will do just fine, it makes no difference to them WHO owns the company. Its just all the investors in Ford, GM, etc that will lose their shirts... and deserve to.

[colvinatch]

I find it the height of hipocracy that the political right, the GOP, the nazis who currently run this country is all for a free market and profit taking... that is until it fails, then of course we want a big government bailout, witness the banks who were all about making as much money as possible from risky loans, when they fail... bail us out. Now we have an automotive industry wanting a bailout, why weren''t they putting money into R and D during their hayday? why weren''t they putting money into the bank for this day? Instead they were all bout distributing wealth to their shareholders int he form of dividents, now they are standing in line with their hands out. ABSOLUTLY NOT!!!

[cdfoxtrot2]

I say fu_ck the auto makers. They were asked, over and over, to produce fuel efficient vehicles and fought them tooth and nail through their lobbyists. Now they have to pay. The moron-in-chief also resisted tougher fuel standards, years ago, and bears some responsibility for this. Why they should get a bail-out from taxpayers for their terrible decision-making is beyond me. If taxpayers do end up forking out corporate welfare money to these people, it should be in return for equity - not some derisory interest on some loans.

[ramos937]

No, No, No, A THOUSAND TIME NO.

If Toyota and Nissan can build auto plants in the USA and operate at a profit, why cannot Ford and the rest of the domestic car companies do likewise?

[brianbwb-2009]

No loan, if we put out 50 billion, I say we buy them out, and nationalize them. Instruct their engineers to quit holding up progress, and start designing and producing the most energy efficient cars possible. They should not be rewarded for their inability to conduct sound business.

They layed off Detroit, without concern for the lives of the people they threw away, why should we have any concern for them?

Modernize and build factories in the US only, don''t pay for a slave labor factory in China.

[ubrew12]

"Automakers Seek $50B In Loans From Gov''t"

Isn''t that the same amount they spent on advertisements convincing Americans that without an gas-guzzling SUV they weren''t real, independent Americans. (the kind with a daily need to cross a swollen mountain stream). For a while there, it seemed on TV that if you didn''t own an SUV you were probably a hippy and possibly ''rooting'' for the terrorists.

[sparks224]

"The CEOs are bright people and the buck stops with them...."
Posted by drivelphobe

Unfortunately all of the bucks stop with them. Regardless of how poorly they run the company.

All of the taxpayer''s bucks will stop with them too.

[drivelphobe]

The auto manufacturers need to face up to their prior miscalculations and face the consequences. NO BAIL OUT! The CEO''s are bright people and the buck stops with them. If Al Mullaly didn''t see this coming, he should be fired. Businesses that build non-competitive products and refuse to acknowledge change, deserve to go down. It''s a tough life. They have ignored the obvious and attempted to squeeze every last dime out of their old factories, manufacturing equipment, tooling and tax breaks. Time to pay the piper. There is no reason the autos don''t get double the mileage they currently get, and alternative fuels should have been on their to do list for the past thirty years. Let them go down.

[sparks224]

$50 Billion from taxpayers so they can build more big dumb trucks?

If we''re going to loan them the money, we should have some say in what kind of cars they build.

Why did Toyota choose to build a 45mpg car, and GM did not?

[cbsfan73]

kevboom wrote:
"Congress has made sure we have no fuel-efficient train infrastructure in this country, and it''''s taken decades to get Congress to approve higher fuel standards too."

This problem first cropped up back in the early seventies and our leaders have had over thirty years to solve it.

Thanks, Mr. Politician, for stabbing the American citizen in the back.

[cbsfan73]

I have total confidence in American engineers and blue collar workers.

It''s the greedy fools at the helm that are the problem.

[kevboom]

"watch the airlines line up next for a bailout..."

I believe the government already props up that industry. Anything to keep oil-guzzling airplanes in the air burning more oil to keep oil profits flowing. God knows all those kickbacks from the oil lobby to the crooked Congress has made sure we have no fuel-efficient train infrastructure in this country, and it''s taken decades to get Congress to approve higher fuel standards too.

At least they''re talking "loans" here that presumably would be repaid, not that I''m holding my breath. Frankly, this is tax money better spent than more handouts to oil companies to "increase production" and generate "alternative fuels." After years of tax breaks to big oil, we see just how effective that government handout has been. And sadly this is all McCain has to offer with his energy plan--more handouts to oil companies who he claims will drill, while strangely enough they''re already sitting on millions of acres of unused oil leases, effectively keeping production low and driving prices up. It doesn''t take a rocket scientist to figure out who he''s really trying to help, and it''s not the people.

[sistatee-2009]

Let''s see; I can''t afford a new car, but GM wants ME to loan their multi-millionaire CEO and his worthless, bungling, overpaid corporate managers $50 billion! Only in the United States (what''s left of it) do the homeless lend money to rich. When the next revolution starts, count me in.

[shanev137]

"Conservative Republican" Bush has spent us into oblivion...more than any other president in our history.

[haoli25]

After the auto industry gets their $50B, watch the airlines line up next for a bailout...or errr...handout.

[cbsfan73]

afmca asked:
"When are voters going to throw these immoral, corrupt politicians out and vote in a party that will extract real benefits for Americans for our tax-payer supplied subsidies."

Herein lies the problem folks. Don''t hand your power over to a political party.

This is the same as poking your own eyes out and asking someone to lead you around.

Can''t you see this America? No, you can''t, for you have already blinded yourself, preferring to be lead instead of leading your self.

The solution will come when we stand up and demand the right to vote on issues facing the nation. No longer allowing politicians to vote our consciences.

Only then will the nation be of the people, for the people and by the people.

[j_flood]

This is a poor approach to take. Few if any companies deserve taxpayer money to revitalize their business. Who is next 84 Lumber, Home Depot - because home sales are down? Because high paid CEOs made poor choices while the rest of the industry seemed to understand the times is not the basis for a bailout! I''m a native Detroiter and know that refusing the money will cause pain. But so much of this could have been avoided with sound decisions as far back as 10 years ago. Wonder what Buffett would say/do?

[afmca]

I knew it was just a matter of time. I say, NO loans unless there is totally new management. U.S. Auto corporate leaders are truly incompetent. They are the ones that ignored the marketplace, fought the increase in mpg standards, placed high efficiency technologies on the back burner, and based their entire futures on gas hogs and newer versions of 1960 muscle cars.

First taxpayers bail out the incompetent airlines and are screwed with $25 baggage fees; what will our taxpayer money get in return for bailing out the 3 stooges ... GM, Ford, and Chrysler.

Other bloggers put it best. Corporate welfare for failed CEOs. This folks is the Republican dream for America .. Reagan started it and Bush/Cheney has perfected it ... when are voters going to throw these immoral, corrupt politiciams out and vote in a party that will extract real benefits for Americans for our tax-payer supplied subsidies. If they can grab our money then corporations must be made to provide living wages and healthcare.

[dls3221]

Perhaps the US auto industry should look to Korea, India and Mexico for aid. After all, that''s were their automotive jobs are at. Those countries have the most to lose if they go bankrupt.

[juwboy]

USA -- socialism for the rich, capitalism for the poor.