No Detroit Bailout
Detroit can't compete with Alabama, let alone China, Matt Kibbe writes
Reader Comments
All the Autocompanies have millions of people who they pay retirement for if Detriot is not bailed out all the retires from over 100 years of car compines and the car companies the big three bought go to the federal government to pay for. If you do not bail them out you will have to pay for those expenses with out taking into account the lose and any other companies that go down in one of the largest metropolitan area in the United States. Either way you will be bailing the out in some way just if you wait you won't get anything good out of it.
Steal from the Poor
I agree that the Detroit automakers and the UAW have no right or rational for calling on the US taxpayer to prop themselves up after years of bad decision making.
Both management and labor have responsibility for their current situation. In particular, I have no desire whatsoever to contribute to the UAW's pension and medical ins. fund (VEBA). I don't, and most American taxpayers don't, have such gold plated benefits packages. To use taxpayer money in this way would simply be a "rob from the poor to give to the rich" scheme.
Simply put, the past labor contracts are unsustainable and must be changed, much more radically than the current 2010 contract, before any of the Detroit 3 have a chance of being competitive (and if they can't become competitive, don't waste a dime of taxpayer $ on them).
They had their chance
The big 3 had every opportunity to change their ways and change their cars into something the people wanted and what was necessary to move away from oil. No one bails ME out when I make a business mistake. I feel for the people losing their jobs over this. I'm now cut back to eating just rice myself. Let nature take it's course. Thank you everyone, I'm enjoying your comments.
financial bank mess
New York thinks that the money institutions are all the country needs.
How arrogant---we need real jobs where people work, not shift paper
around like a shell game.
Detroit Bailout
Once the TARP (the Troubled Asset Relief Program) is used for a non-financial company, it will open up the floodgates to other non-financial companies. I've read that home builders, credit card companies, and even an association of plumbers are going to put forward proposals as to why they should be helped. The TARP was intended just for banks, which are the only institutions that we absolutely have to keep going. Without them, everything collapses. I also believe that $25 billion will not be the end of it. The Big 3 are burning through cash so rapidly that they'll be back at the public trough again in three months. They should go into Chapter 11, and let the UAW make serious concessions if they want their employers to stay in operation. (With benefits, the average UAW worker makes close to $150k a year!) And let's not forget that the U.S. Treasury was bankrupt many times over before this catastrophe started. It's money that would be borrowed from our children and grandchildren.
Loans vs. bailout
The oil companies don't need domestic auto companies of America--Americans do.
Detroit bailout
why don't the big oil companies come forward and bailout the big 3?
taxpayers pay enough as it is.
The myth
The continuing myth of the foreign auto companies being superior.
No Detroit Bailout
The automakers certainly should not get a bailout. Let them go into Chapter 11 bankruptcy, so they can get themselves competitive again if that's possible. They can start out by renegotiating all of their inflated union contracts. If the government does step in with our tax dollars, it should be the first in line if - and when - something goes wrong. The taxpayers should be in line ahead of the stockholders, creditors, bondholders, current and retired employees, and corporate officers. The Big Three are probably a decade behind their foreign competition when it comes to making fuel efficient cars. Look, for instance, at any GM dealership and you'll see that they have no small/high quality cars to sell. To GM, small means cheap - meant to wear out in two or three years.
