The Next Bailout: Detroit

I worked for a "big 3" supplier and was "down sized" in 2000. Years ago they started putting pressure on their suppliers rather than address their union problems. Now they are caught with product they can't sell, high internal costs and products that take time to develop. We are a free market capitalistic economy. Let car companies that understand the market supply the market. Maybe that is why U.S. made cameras are extinct.

I have a solution for Ford. They can sell the Silverdome, the Detroit Lions footbal team and all the other non automotive assets in Michigan. I was once staying at the Hilton or Sheraton Hotel in Dearborn and a bartender said "Ford owns this hotel, the shopping center across the steet and pretty much everything in and around this area."

I have a solution for Ford at least. They can go ahead and sell all of their non automotive assets in Detroit such as the Silverdome, the Detroit Lions football team, hotels, shopping centers etc. I was once in a bar at the Hilton or Sherton Hotel and the bartender told me that Ford owns the whole town, He said "They own this hotel, the shopping center across the street etc...

Absolutely no bailout for the automakers. They have mismanaged their operations for decades, falsely inflated our economy here in Michigan and throughout the U.S.. They have operated on graft, greed, arrogance, and turned a def ear to their marketplace for decades. To bail them out would condone and proliferate these practices. They need a strong wake up call. They need to hit bottom.

The past few weeks have produced some pretty disgusting stories and this has to be among the most disgusting yet. Detroit failed to see the writing on the wall and continues to do so with arrogance. Instead of helping our country out by doing what they can to help reduce our dependancy on oil they are fueling (pun intended) the problem. Who excpe the Consumatives (read conservative wanna-be's) would even pretend to think an SUV that is supposedly a hybrid and get's 22mpg is what we need? When will these people learn that we really don't need to get around in gigantic piles of gas guzzing hypocracy in order to be Americans? To bail these people out is the ultimate low blow. If we are going to react in a mindlessly stupid extreme, I'd rather go the other way and hold them responsible for our gas problems and jail their CEO's, how's that for extreme?

Typical congressional response. They don't want to help the automakers because they no longer haver their own money invested in the auto industry. How can they bail out Wall Street and the big banks and insurance companies . . . . simple that's where their money is. GM has had hydrogen Auto and has had it for nearly 10 years but Congress is only interested in drilling for more oil.. Why aren't they all over the hydrogen vehicle . . . simple the Middle East would blow away with the wind if we weren't buying their oil! It's time we get rid of everyone in Congress that can't get their heads out of the sand and see where Bush has led us over the past 8 years!

Typical

It's too bad that congressmen and the senators do not have their own money in the auto industry anymore . . . otherwise it would be a no brainer for them. Funny how they can bail out Wall Street and the big banks but thumb their nose for our auto industry! GM has a hydrogen auto and has had it for years but rather than push for this alternative to oil, our legislators would rather have the Oil industry drill for more oil all the while knowing that it is a short term fix!

Fannie Mae, Freddy Mac, Bear Sterns, Lehman Brothers, AIG and the rest of the failed institutions have failed primarily because of former Senator Phil Gramm. The Gramm-Leach-Biley Act stripped away the regulations separating banking from investment companies, insurance companies and mortgage guaranty companies. Those regulations were added after the Great Depression when it became obvious that allowing banks to be in bed with the stock market was a sure way to rig the system to collapse, as it did in 1929.

Lo an behold, a few years after the regulations were removed, the sh!t has hit the fan, and the inter-related investment, insurance, mortgage and banking industries are now starting to collapse, and guess what, you, the taxpayer will have to pay to clean it up.

Phil Gramm is the Senator who brought you the "Enron Loophole" that de-regulated futures trading, causing the prices of oil, gas and food to spiral out of control.

Senator Phil Gramm was McCain's top economic advisor until recently, when he was forced to step down after he said that there is no problem with our economy other than a "mental recession" on the part of a "nation of whiners." Phil Gramm is the man who McCain said he wants to name Secretary of the Treasury if he becomes President. You have to believe John McCain when he says that he knows little about the economy -- so little that he doesn't even know who to choose as an advisor.

Barack Obama addressed the Enron Loophole, futures trading, short-selling and Wall Street de-regulation months ago in his economic position papers, which are available on his website. Obama has been saying all along that he is going to put in strict regulations and clean up Wall Street.

McCain just started saying that he favors regulation in the past couple of weeks. How is it that McCain is going to put in new regulations, when he plans to appoint Phil Gramm, the man who authored the de-regulation, as Secretary of the Treasury? McCain says he would fire Christopher Cox, the SEC Chairman, to solve the problem. However, the problem is caused by lack of regulations on the legislative level, regulations that were removed before Cox was appointed. The SEC can only enforce regulations that actually exist, so making a scapegoat of Cox solves nothing. I would suggest that McCain is guilty of saying what's politically expedient, that he does not actually intend to regulate the banking industry. McCain knows that most Americans are unaware of the details.

I am a middle-aged white conservative Republican who loves America. I am voting for Barack Obama.

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/15050.html
http://www.newsweek.com/id/145011/page/1
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/editorial/outlook/6007788.html
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9A01E0D81038F934A25752C0A9649C8B63
http://my.barackobama.com/page/community/post/stateupdates/gG5Rzb

The point is well made that Detroit made what the consumer wanted to buy. The minute gas hit $4.00, Americano longer wanted new SUV's and the automakers were unable to make the switch to small cars overnight. It takes months if not years to change production from one model to another. Example is the new Camaro and the Honda hydrogen fuel car; coming along slowly. Another point well taken is that when the cash register is closed at Ford and GM the cash is still in the U.S. With Toyota, Honda, Hyundai and the others, the cash is in Asia. As I write this the Fed's are going to bail out the banking industry, it would seem that our economy is in serious trouble and I think that this is exactly what was intended on 9/11. We must hang strong together right now and overcome this problem just as we did all the others since that tea party in Boston 230 some odd years ago. This is the United States of America and we will overcome this problem just as we did all the others. Together.

I bought a small business 3 years ago. It's not doing as well as I had hoped. Hey politicians....how about a bailout for me??? Oh wait.....I'm just a small business which you don't care about. It's only if a multibillion dollar business makes bad decisions that you decide to step in and help it out. Thanks. Thanks a lot. Go f***k yourselves. Enjoy your last term in office fools.

Go republicans Go; Vote Obama get rid the current administration!

I think that all of the over paid executives should take about a 50% pay cut to start helping with the ailing auto industry. Make them all take pay cuts and it would help with some of the issues.

Auto makers have had years and lots of finances to do this for many years, and now they want more on the backs of tax payers. In the end they will still pass on the cost to the consumer - so we pay twice for their greed.

Can Congress bailout the Detroit Lions for years of mismanagement and failure too? They're owned by Ford.