The Next Bailout: Detroit

Let's not forget the unions - they too have had their hand in the automotive pot for a long long time which also drives up the price of cars. This is not a simple problem nor will there be a simple answer. However, as long as those in control continue to look only after themselves and their respective pet interests NOTHING will ever get resolved - until it's too late. The auto industry is its own worst enemy, slow to react, arrogant and bureaucratic - but it has had a lot of outside "help" to get it where it is today. I live in a suburb of Detroit - it still facinates me that EVERY local ad that comes on television for car sales caters to automotive workers and their discounts...It has never occurred to the automative powers-that-be that not EVERYONE who lives in Detroit works for the auto industry...it's yet another example of their short-sightedness.

It's really a vicious circle that seems so painfully obvious to everyone on the outside looking in (but it's a classic case of not being able to see the forest for the trees)...You take the greed of the union, the safety and environmental regulations imposed by the government, the slow moving behemoth automotive companies, the outsourcing of parts to other countries - put all those ingredients together and it becomes a recipe for disaster.

Let's all hope for a better 2009 where greed and complacency takes a backseat to the spirit of cooperation and honor...

Wishing you all a new found peace and hope for prosperity

Hey RangerDan

The gov is already talking about selling the water rights to foregn countries that will then control the water.

havent you heard about that yet?

They even say they own the rights to RAINWATER, and its reported on FOX NEWS too.

www.infowars.com if you want the truth

How much does the owner of the detroit lions (ford) pay their best player?

How much could FORD get for the DETROIT LIONS if they sold them to get the "BAILOUT" money?

How much did FORD save with the BUSH tax cut?

How much a year does FORD save by paying sweat shop employees to make the cars in china?

One way or another, they aint using my tax dollars for the big 3 who should be renamed to the 3 that went bankrupt in detroit.

Detroit mayor in jail for lying and corruption, they are all criminals in gov and until you realize it, the will loot us until "ONE DAY WE WILL FIND OUR CHILDREN HOMELESS SLEEPING ON THE STREETS IN THE COUNTRY THEIR ANCESTORS CONQURORED" as the gov live like KINGS with all their friends there to join them.

Next they will bailout the airline industry, then again each and every year give ISRAEL another 50 billion and give PAKISTAN another 10 billion so a few months later they can fire upon our troops just like what is happening now on the afghanistan/pakistan border.

if the gov bails them out, you will have to realize its all true and they are looting you into such a debt foregnors will eventually collect it from each of us, door to door with their troops.

You all must rise up and let GOD put his hand of protection on you and the coutry in a battle to take back what is ours and NOT theirs.

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 caused 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

I absolutely, positively agree that auto industry NEEDS these loans. Too much has been spent on bailing out speculators, hedge funds, and investment banks. The tax payers will never see that money again. However, an investment in our DOMESTIC manufacturing and engineering is a good investment that will benefit ALL of us. It will help us become more independant on foreign energy and manufactured goods. Our congress would be very stupid to pass up this opportunity. Do we really want to bend over for the Asian battery cartels, like we are already doing with OPEC?

If the government sits still and lets the big 3 fail, it is obvious that no one in the thread below will really care except maybe one or two of you. But, consider how unemployment will skyrocket when cars are no longer built by the big 3. What about all the industries related to the automobile business? Steel, rubber, plastics, leather, aluminum manufacturers. All the business related to maintenance of automobiles from audio to car washes. Will the refineries lower the price of gas when we stop buying it? I think the price of home heating oil may just skyrocket. Perhaps we should take a hard look at what Detroit has done over the years. Do you think the government has anything to do with why cars cost as much as they do? The restrictions and regulations that have been and are being placed on the industry have definitely added to the cost of a car. Emission controls being foremost and then the mpg restrictions on top of that. The safety factors built into cars today are not cheap either. Think about all those belts and air bags. Computers and sensors built into the engine and drive train. Most cars today require little more than routine oil changes for the first 100,000 miles. A far cry from the points, plugs and grease jobs every few thousand miles 50 years ago. Detroit builds fine cars that the Japanese have copied and in some cases improved upon but the gap has closed between the two and the American car is now global too. The next time you see a truck load of GM, Ford or Chrysler cars, remember that the rail cars and trucks that carry them are all part of business. Windshield repair and automobile insurance and the list goes on. Take a close look around you before you try to solve this problem by cutting it off.