The Next Bailout: Detroit

you people are really hilarious. the government is going to give bailouts with taxpayer money to anyone who will get them elected. they do'nt care what it does to the middle class. frankly, i would be delighted to see what happened if for 1 year every middle class person refused to file a tax return. i don't the IRS could prosecute millions of people. would be funny to see the outcome. this lousy sorry ass excuse we have for a government is really pathetic.

I agree that Big Auto is in trouble. However, I never saw any of them trying to push the government into higher MPG, even though they have known for a long time it was coming by their European market!!
When does it become the people's turn to be bailed out??????
Almost all cities and counties will be and have been losing money because of the foreclosures; if they don't get our property taxes, then we all will be hurting more than you know!!!!

@Crazy Badger - I agree with you, but I am interested to see what each candidate says. Again, if they say no, they risk the wrath of Michigan and other states whose industries and workers support Detroit Auto. Your thoughts?

What happens when all the property tax goes unpaid from all the foreclosed homes???
Cities & counties depend on property taxes to run & if no one owns the home, no one pays the property tax...... Schools, roads, city & county jobs, they're all going to get cut . Cities & Counties will be looking for a bail out too.

It's crazy that the US Govt was quick to help save the very companies that helped to create these "dire" financial situations initially. FreddyMac, FannieMae, Bear Sterns, AIG, Loheman Brothers, etc were hurting because they ignored initial warnings about funding risky mortgage loans. Feddy & Fannie had internal checks that previously preventing them from getting entrenched in sub-prime lending. Yet, once they started to reap additional profits from "questionally-documented" loans...they looked "the other way" and continued to accept as many as they could process. Even when other strong financial businesses were failing, Freddy & Fannie were still accepting sub-prime business at a time when they should've been limiting or declining it.

The Detroit Big-3 are guilty of not "keeping up" with the foreign competition. May I add that they do get funding from their respective governments for research and development for new technology. It's silly to see Congress laugh in their faces when they come to them for help. Had they not vetted the economical reverberations if one of them went 100% bankrupt? Remember 1 in 10 working people in the US has a job related to the auto industry. That's scary.

When any of the Big 3 must shut an auto plant. The city or surrounding town usually dies soon after. Remember if GM has to close because of a lack of funding, they'll have to close 10 factories...in Ohio alone.

It's crazy that the US Govt was quick to help save the very companies that helped to create these "dire" financial situations initially. FreddyMac, FannieMae, Bear Sterns, AIG, Loheman Brothers, etc were hurting because they ignored initial warnings about funding risky mortgage loans. Feddy & Fannie had internal checks that previously preventing them from getting entrenched in sub-prime lending. Yet, once they started to reap additional profits from "questionally-documented" loans...they looked "the other way" and continued to accept as many as they could process. Even when other strong financial businesses were failing, Freddy & Fannie were still accepting sub-prime business at a time when they should've been limiting or declining it.

The Detroit Big-3 are guilty of not "keeping up" with the foreign competition. May I add that they do get funding from their respective governments for research and development for new technology. It's silly to see Congress laugh in their faces when they come to them for help. Had they not vetted the economical reverberations if one of them went 100% bankrupt? Remember 1 in 10 working people in the US has a job related to the auto industry. That's scary.

When any of the Big 3 must shut an auto plant. The city or surrounding town usually dies soon after. Remember if GM has to close because of a lack of funding, they'll have to close 10 factories...in Ohio alone.

Have the Big 3 trully completed a full internal assement of thier operations? What I mean is the operational and elimination of layers of non critical employees. Why would you pay a union memeber $28+ per hour to sweep a cafeteria floor for 8 hrs. a day, then pay overtime on weekends. This is just an example of course, there is no loyalty for your products. I have purchased all Big 3 brands over the past 31 years and the quality is still questionable. if I am going to spend $35k+ of my money i want to purchase something that will last and is quality. treat your vendors with respect, they are too your customers, remeber they see what goes on in your production and HQ facilities. They discuss this among thier friends and families and quiet frankly I have heard more about how unproductive the big 3 employees are at every level form friends and family. The world does not owe the union anything - get it out of your heads. You are employees of a company trying to compete in a world market. I do not owe the right to have excess days off, vacations, retirement etc. Yes you have worked but you earned it it's not a right that the rest of us should pay for it with our salary and wages. Take a true deep look at yourselves at every level all you together past and present brought this onto to yourselves. Top Management, top Union Leaders all hold accountability in this crisis.

Give us 100mpg car fleet, on AVERAGE, within 10 years and you get the money.

No the japenese Gov. "Gave" the money to toyota to develope High MPH cars.Check your Faqs.Detroit thru-out it's history has paid it's own R/D.And the japaenese Govt. Paid for Japans R/D.The U.S. govt. made the CAFE
standard and told the Big 3 to build it at it's own expense.Think people.