GM Govt. Bailout?

[CKaelin]

What do you guys think?


http://community.nytimes.com/article...prod=permalink

[tk-421]

I believe the US needs the auto industry too badly to "let them fail". They will get a bailout just like (apparently) everyone else these days.

[SailDesign]

I think if we keep bailing them out, they will keep producing cars that the American public don't want.
For those who still want to argue that we DO want these vehicles, I ask them to explain why GM is giong broke if their cars are so great..... It ain't rocket science!

[Phaeton]

I have no love for American cars. On the other hand I don't want 1 out of every 10 people in this country to lose their jobs.
The guys building the cars, dealerships, parts stores, foundries etc, all will be out of work if we allow gm to fail.

[SailDesign]

Originally Posted by Phaeton

I have no love for American cars. On the other hand I don't want 1 out of every 10 people in this country to lose their jobs.
The guys building the cars, dealerships, parts stores, foundries etc, all will be out of work if we alloy gm to fail.

I agree there, but still feel that there must be something in the bailout that stops them from carrying on the stupidity of building cars people, on the whole. don't seem to want.

[ChinoCharles]

A bailout for the US automakers would have to be focused on retooling the industry, not just getting them by on the bills so they can make 40 more demandless cars next year. We need to get Ford making some Civics.

[SailDesign]

Originally Posted by ChinoCharles

A bailout for the US automakers would have to be focused on retooling the industry, not just getting them by on the bills so they can make 40 more demandless cars next year. We need to get Ford making some Civics.

Yup! What he said!

[TLyttle]

Let the upper echelons of management at GM bail themselves out: they can sell their houses, stock options, etc and dump the funds back into the company; they stole the money anyway. There should only be one layer of managers above the factory floor, period, and their hands should be as dirty as those of the workers...

Gandhi said, in part, wealth without work and business without morality will destroy us. The US has already started to move on the "politics without principle" part of that quote.

[mikenacarato]

i hope by us auto market your not referring to gm medium/heavy duty...thats one of our biggest markets. gm medium duty is massive in the usa....as far as cars are concerned...i dont care for them too much.

[Bob_VT]

Let them sell off the useless factories for scrap and re-build for something useful

A comment was made on Public Radio that we are bailing out the people that caused the problems.......

Institute the gas guzzler tax on SUV's

[b1ah]

they will be rewarded for thier backward thinking, it'll happen

[PaidTimeOff]

Originally Posted by Bob_VT

A comment was made on Public Radio that we are bailing out the people that caused the problems.......

Institute the gas guzzler tax on SUV's

+1

SUVs should be taxed more or buyers should be forced to prove that they in fact do need an SUV (+5 family members living in the home, or need an SUV for business). Almost no family needs a vehicle that big. My sister, who's married and has one child with another on the way, bought a Saturn Aura SUV because "she needed it". Forget that. My parents had both me and my sister and we never had anything bigger than a Toyota Corolla. In fact, I distinctly remember when I was around the age of five, my parents drove us around in an old 2-door Tercel hatchback. It's a waste of fuel and a ridiculous waste of resources.

[PetersRedYaris]

I sincerley hope they do not get bailed out. I can't believe the way failure is rewarded these days. I would love to see Toyota buy them out...

[PaidTimeOff]

Originally Posted by PetersRedYaris

I sincerley hope they do not get bailed out. I can't believe the way failure is rewarded these days. I would love to see Toyota buy them out...

Toyota, though in FAR better shape than the big three is suffering as well. I read an article that stated they have almost no debt, but the auto industry as a whole is pretty much screwed right now. Toyota also made a few mistakes of their own including introducing a brand new large truck in order to fill a void in their vehicle lineup right before gas prices skyrocketed and their old-school practice of refusing to lay off permanent workers, which looks great PR-wise for the company and is great for their employees, but could cost the company big time in the long-run if this economic situation doesn't improve soon.

[ChinoCharles]

No, see, I don't think you guys understand. You can't just completely disenfranchise 1 million + American workers, many of which came out of high school and directed their lives towards one industry. Those million people (who pay taxes too, by the way) are innocent victims of a much smaller contingent at the top.

The question is how do you provide help to the industry and ensure that this won't happen again. There has to be oversight, but to what extent? Yes, this is the government dipping hands into the private sector. Yes, it is mildly socialist... but the alternative would put some towns to bed and throw millions of people into an already bleak job market. Don't forget those workers have families... they'll suffer, too.

I think what you'll see is a bailout and then a phased retooling of the industry to make it more compact and specialized. I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of the offshoot makes (Saturn, Mercury, etc.) are discontinued and more focus put into the major brands that own them. A section of the bailout will probably be earmarked for R&D, and these companies are going to be expected to be turning out a much more viable product IE: no more Dodge Challengers and other absolutely moronic business moves. Lets see some innovation. Where is the damn petroleum-free vehicle?!

[PaidTimeOff]

Bailout would be fine with the proper oversight and regulation by the government in these companies especially now that the government has financial stakes in them. All the guys at the top of the chain should be held accountable for what happened to the companies and should be immediately fired without any benefits, severance, etc. Their sole responsibility is making decisions for the company in order to prevent exactly what's happening to them now. Why should anyone ever be rewarded for doing their job completely wrong?

I would prefer to see these companies sink with the captains that navigated them into the shallow reef, but there's no way that the workers on the lower levels of the companies should be put out of jobs for decisions they had no hand in making. Solution: Bail out the company, fire every single executive simply for the fact that they drove the company into the ground, hire new workers to take their place, and regulate and oversee up the butthole with a requirement of centering R&D on alternative-fuel technologies as chinocharles suggested.

[Nigal]

If a company is unable to run it's business so that they offer a marketable product then they should be allowed to fail. It will only strengthen the rest of the industry in the long run. Bail outs do nothing but prolong the suffering. Look at AIG. They are already coming back to the trough for seconds.

Can anyone honestly say that it is right and proper for a company to assume all profits yet we, the tax payers, assume all risk? No.

[SailDesign]

Originally Posted by ChinoCharles

Where is the damn petroleum-free vehicle?!

Don't hold your breath, Charles. I don't want to see 1 million workers on the street any more than you do, but the company as it is today cannot be allowed to keep building trash at the taxpayers' expense..