Comments on: Mixed Views On $17.4 Billion Auto Bailout

As Supporters, Critics Debate Bush's Plan For Loans To GM & Chrysler, Canada Steps Up With Package Of Its Own

[fedupman]

The GM employees have not made concessions the last two contracts. The men and women Make To good Money we dont care about anyone else. We have not given back health care, profit sharing, just to name a few. We also bought homes and autos we can''t afford on our paychecks. If our paychecks are slashed how many of us will have to file bankruptcy or lose their homes? More problems for the economy. Did the government ask the bank tellers to take a cut in pay?
You people need us we need money..you need unions..

[hissteps4u]

This is a stupid idea. This will now allow them to survive and will ultimately cost us a fortune as tax payers. Most americans are against this WHY are they doing it. To H-E-L-L with the Big Three they deserve to go the way of the Dinosaurs. But the Unions and Move on with the Bankruptcy which is enevitable at this juncture.

[zzy-izzy]

The bottom line there are to many cars in the USA now if no one made a car for five years there would still be to many there are millions of used cars that they cant sell.

[downtowner97]

General Motors, Chrysler and Ford have around 45% of the U.S. auto market today. In a typical year, that%u2019s more than 8 billion cars bought by Amerians.

Renton98
_____________________________________________

How can 8 billion GM, Ford and Chrysler cars a year be sold to 300 million Americans? That would mean that each of us, including men, women and children, buys 26.66 American cars. I don''t know about you, but the VW I bought two years ago is enough for me.

[downtowner97]

This bailout has one purpose: To keep the US auto industry from dying on Bush''s watch. There is no way this influx of cash will change the way the big three do business, because they''re not being asked to change the way they do business. There is also no way this influx of cash will make Americans any more likely to buy a Ford, GM or Chrysler vehicle.

[actornaught]

I wonder if the people at Toyota Honda and the others think this will not happen to them.
Posted by zzy-izzy at 10:44 PM : Dec 20, 2008

They have outright announced their hope that the Big 3 don''t fail. It would lead to the failure of common suppliers and vendors. There''s more interbreeding among them than you might think.

[zzy-izzy]

I wonder if the people at Toyota Honda and the others think this will not happen to them.

[missingamerica]

lollll...well, it is easy to comprehend the reasoning behind the Congressional Republicans'' unwillingness to use any of the bank bailout money to help the American automobile manufacturers.

They keep their millions in the bank and want them protected, while with the possible exception of a token American automobile to leave in their driveway as PR decor, they drive BMWs, Mercedes, and such.

[zzy-izzy]

Look George Bush was no better at running the country that GM was at running there company. Thank you Phill Gramm for letting the crooks steal it all.

[renton98]

Ten Things The Taxpayer Should Know About The U.S. Auto Industry Now That They Own It

David Kiley
BUSINESS WEEK.COM

During the hearings for an auto bailout, there was plenty said about America%u2019s carmakers and the United Auto Workers. Some criticism was dead on, but much of it was either way off base or exaggerated. As is most often the case when rhetoric and politics rule the day, the truth really lies in nuance. Here%u2019s our Detroit team, David Kiley and David Welch, to sort out the fact from the hot air:

Detroit is not a lost cause
There was plenty of rhetoric on TV cable shows during the last several weeks saying that %u201Cnobody is buying Detroit%u2019s products now.%u201D This is not true at all. General Motors, Chrysler and Ford have around 45% of the U.S. auto market today. In a typical year, that%u2019s more than 8 billion cars bought by Amerians. Sixteen other companies make up the remaining market. The market share of GM, Chrysler and Ford is much lower in urban media centers like New York, Los Angeles and Washington DC than it is nationally. That may help account for why some TV anchors and pundits in those markets characterize the Big Three as hopeless. It%u2019s worth noting here that Ford is trying hard not to take the loans, and is hoping that it will emerge from 2009 as the company that did not need the tax-payer loan to stay afloat in the Recession. Good Luck.

http://blogs.businessweek.com/mt/mt-tb.cgi/12797.1259313360