The Public Is Not Sold on the Detroit Three Bailout
Here's my Creators Syndicate column on my ambivalent attitude toward government aid to the Detroit Three auto companies. For one who grew up in the Detroit area in the 1950s and 1960s, the plight of these companies is gut-wrenching and astonishing. I can't help imagining going back in a time capsule to that time and place and explaining to people what would happen 50 years later. It's like the thought I often have when I'm strapped in my seat and the plane is taking off: I wish I had Thomas Jefferson next to me so that I could explain (insofar as I understand it) how airplanes were working. The difference is that I imagine that Jefferson with his knack for cutting-edge machinery would have understood, while my 1950s Detroiters wouldn't.
The public is evidently not sold on the Detroit Three bailout. Pollster Scott Rasmussen reports that only 35 percent favor government aid, while 45 percent are opposed. Young voters are split, with 37 against it and 36 for it, while 27 percent remain unsure. And Americans apparently distinguish between the need to aid financial firms that provide credit vital to the economy and the need to help ailing manufacturing firms like the Detroit Three. A USAToday/Gallup poll showed that 47 percent of the public felt that "providing loans and other help" to the Detroit Three auto companies "is not very important." In contrast, 60 percent felt that setting new financial regulation was "critical" or "very important" for the economy.
Tags: Detroit | General Motors | polls | Rasmussen Report | Chrysler | Ford
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Reader Comments
do NOT bailout
It's interesting that Toyota is managing to open new plant these days and yet the 'big 3' are asking for public handouts.
Given the fact that GM can't even make a door hinge that doesn't need pin replacement after a year or a rear defogger that actually stays attached to the rear window I find it insulting they even dare to ask for help. How will they ever repay that $34B that is 34000 millions of dollars!!! how about asking the big oil companies for a loan?
I don't see how the 'big 3' can recover even with the bailout. The bailout will just delay the inevitable collapse. The blood sucking unions, the sense of entitlement, the American mentality (more power=larger engine instead of more power=more efficient engine) - not looking promising!!!
Also what is with the 3 CEOs now saying they will work for a $1 a year - this is a misleading BS. Most of their income comes from 'unearned' bonuses not from salary. The salary is a small fraction of what they unjustifiably get from the company.
about the auto bail out
I don't believe the government should use tax payer money to help these auto industries. Does the government bail out people who can't afford to pay for car payments? NO !! Why does the government repeatedly bail out all the rich people? This is wrong. The government just keeps throwing a life line into a sinking black hole that never ends. These auto makers must learn a lesson from this. Hardship makes businesses try harder and hardship gives wisdom.
Big 3 bailout
Let the oil companies bail them out - they have been sleeping together for decades - who will be hurt the most if the big 3 finally do what they have been told to do since the 70's? Start manufacturing fuel efficient cars that ease our dependence on oil - but they have not listened. I agree with Larry - same old tired management with the same old tired policies. And when the executives fly to Washington in their private jets with their hands out makes me sick. Let them file Chapter 11 and reorganize and we might finally see some real change in these companies.
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