Obama On Auto Bailout: "Patience Is Running Out"
(CBS)
"The American people's patience is running out and they should seize on this opportunity over the next weeks and months to come up with a plan that is sustainable," the president-elect said.
Mr. Obama wouldn't say if he had any specific changes to the plan laid out by President Bush this morning because he had yet not examined the exact details.
He did say it was "absolutely necessary" to restructure the industry, but also added that all stakeholders should be a part of the process so that it was not just "workers bearing the brunt of the restructuring."
As he has every day this week, Mr. Obama held a news conference to announce picks for his Cabinet and other major offices. Today, he named Democratic Rep. Hilda Solis, Calif., as his pick for secretary of labor, Republican Rep. Ray LaHood, Ill., for secretary of transportation, former Dallas mayor Ron Kirk for U.S. Trade Representative and venture capitalist Karen Mills to head the Small Business Administration. Other than Mills, we knew about those picks earlier this week. Read more on the picks.
During the question-and-answer part of the presser, Mr. Obama was also asked about the economy and the size of the stimulus package he is preparing. The Washington Post reports today that some published reports have tagged that number as high as $850 million over two years, and some say it could be even higher.
Mr. Obama did not provide a specific number, only saying it would be a "bold" approach. He argued it was a necessary step in light of a deteriorating economy.
"We’re not intending to spend money lightly," he added. "I'm a taxpayer like everyone else and I don’t want to see money wasted."
Mr. Obama has now announced his entire Cabinet, a few days earlier than any of his predecessors. You can see the whole list here.
The president-elect now plans to head off to Hawaii for a vacation, so we do not expect to see much of him for the next week or so.
See Also:
You can read more on the bailout plan and reaction here.
You can see the basic details from the White House plan here.
President Bush's complete statement
Reaction from the automakers
And here are the exact terms of the loans as given by the Treasury to car companies (PDF): GM | Chrysler
Best-selling author Mitch Albom on his first nonfiction work since "Tuesdays with Morrie."
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See all 29 CommentsPosted by oleander8 at 10:57 AM : Dec 20, 2008
Yeah, they just got a loan. at this point it would be prudent to refer to the subprime mess. This "loan" looks a lot like that situation. Let''s loan money to someone who probably will not be able to repay it. Our government needs to learn that it cannot spend it''s way out of this mess.
Posted by oleander8
Great point oleander . . . I support the loan, and I believe in the big 3 and want to see them succeed. I would just really love to see them all stop playing hardball at the bargaining table and instead focus on doing whatever it takes to make their company viable . . .
Posted by hclinton2012
You know what gets my goat are all the ''centrists'' who think embracing ''free trade'' somehow makes them more enlightened, so they''re conclusion is therefore that we need a TRILLION dollars to make the economy work.
GDP is comprised of 5 elements . . . rather than focusing on the markets and growing exports they think Government spending in the TRILLIONS is the solution and that makes ME far left?
Five elements to the GDP, and team Barack''s economic recovery plan only focuses on 3 of the 5. Therefore, I give his solution a 3 out of 5.
All these fake threats of possibly letting the industry go sort of get contradicted when both Barack and Bush also state that they''re not going to let the industries fail under their watch.
With so much at stake, shouldn''t the Government also be trying to put together a plan of how they see the companies becoming viable so when GM and the UAW are reluctant to make concessions they can point to their alternate data?
Otherwise don''t the key players just have incentive to maximize their own take at taxpayers'' expense since no President is willing to let them fail?
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Oh my God! Not another THREE company MONOpoly. Mono means ONE.
The only monopoly I see is the UAW, which, under the law at the time the Constitution was written, and for about one hundred thirty years thereafter, would be a criminal conspiracy.
So, if the writer was saying he wanted the UAW to be illegal, I could go with that.
(Of course, you won''t be around to see it, Droolers)....LOL
If we had followed the Constitution in the first place against ''''monopolies'''' then we wouldn''''t be in this mess and we shouldn''''t leave the possibility of this happening again!
BREAK UP THE MONOPOLIES NOW!!!
ENFORCE ANTI-TRUST LAWS NOW!!!
Posted by whitemale08 at 08:09 PM : Dec 19, 2008
End Globalization now !!
Keep it all made in America.
Bu$h and his ignorant good-ol-boys cannot leave office fast enough!
What a waste of our resources - these goobers undid 50 years of progress...
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See all 29 Comments