Detroit: Begging For Help

Agree with the earlier poster that we need to be making more QUALITY items locally and buy locally. We are the most ingenious people on the planet, we should be making the BEST cars so that the damand will be there. The problem is that GM has been turning out uncompetitive products for a long time and is too slow to retool. A massive bailout would be setting a bad precedent - when will it end? If we bail them out, they will only go under again 5 years from now. It's a bailout of thinking and attitude, not money that is needed here.

Christopher Thaens
Tampa Bay, Florida

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How many industries have already been forced to fail so developing countries and their dictators could profit from our loss of jobs and futures?
The steel, furniture, clothing, food, high tech, low tech and any other tech industries have already been killed here in the USA. Sure, you can bottom line manufacturing, using slave level wages across the world; but what have you accomplished when you have bankrupted the people who used to buy all those consumables? Well, the answer is now apparant: global financial meltdown beyond the nightmares of those who DEMAND control of the world.
I dare say; we now have shown the impotence of those "Oh so smart" Global One World Order idiots. When the consumer can no longer consume because he has no job or money, bad things happen to economies on a massive level.
The only cure is a return to the common sense approach. Nothing is bought here that is not made here!! Localism not Globalism.
Solves all sorts of problems created by the MORONS in charge.

Its going to be hard for anyone to find jobs when there are no jobs out there.10 million Americans out of work already....dont see 10 million jobs being created in this country anytime soon so adding 3 million more to the mix will not help.The auto industry must be saved not by a bailout but by a bankruptcy and a complete restructred plan for the future.

Let them fail.......People act like if the industry goes under our country will be destroyed. That's bogus!! It will be tough but those companies have gotten too big and need to be downsized. Maybw we actually have a new automaker in the US. Besides GM cars are crap!

While I understand the reasoning behind having to bailout the three big American automakers, I still have to ask, what are these executives going to give up? I mean yes as tax payers their personal money will go to assist in these bailout plans. But these executive employees typically get extremely bloated salaries and stock options. So are these people going to cut back on their compensation for the good of the company? Because, clearly their business strategy has not been working and now they are near bankruptcy. Top management has clearly made terrible business decisions that produced below par products. The average Americans is furious at the fact we the people are giving handouts to a company who frankly does not produce a quality product. You don???t see BMW, Honda, or Toyota coming to the government for handouts. (For those of you who don???t know, they have auto plants in the southern states.)

So if these automakers are going to the Americans people looking for a handout, our congressmen better have some solid stipulations in place.

First, until theses companies pay back the Americans people, these bloated salaries better are brought way down. Yes some people might think government is crossing the line by dictating to the private sector what employees compensation should be, but if those companies are going to be borrowing mine and your money, then they shouldn???t have a choice.

Second, and this is the most important, these failing automakers desperately need a restructuring program. Let???s face it, some these brands are not desirable. For example, why does ford still produce mercury? The mercury brand is a wasted time and effort just makes Ford (the base brand) and Lincoln (the luxury brand). Here???s a free consulting tip for General Motors:

Brands to keep:
??? Chevy (base brand), Cadillac (luxury brand)
??? Saturn (base brand), Buick (luxury brand)
??? Saab

Brands to discontinue:
??? GMC (wasted time and effort)
??? Pontiac (wasted time and effort) (the consumers know that the Saturn sky and the Pontiac solstice are the same car)

Yes getting rid of these brands could hurt financial in the short term, but in the long run it will be worth it.

x

If we can send billions to Wall Street to bail out the financial masterminds who gambled and lost billions and begged Washington to cover their losses; we should be willing to help out Detroit. Yes, both Wall Street and Detroit are guilty of extreme greed and criminal stupidity. They deserve to be humiliated and investigated and punished for their bad behavior. But a failure of both Wall Street and Detroit would drag millions of Americans down with them. And their only mistake was believing that highly paid executives actually knew their ass from a hole in the ground. As we bail them out we should remember that they have to be watched very closely to protect them from themselves. Left to their own devices as they have been; they will revert to the same greed and stupidity that created this crisis. The idea that capitalism functions best through self regulation by capitalists belongs in the dumpster. We, the tax payers, have to bail them out and we have to become their probation officers checking up on them constantly to make sure the old, bad habits do not return.

In this current time what some people call and economic slow down, I see it as more of an economic shake down. It is hard to believe in a country as the United States with countless unemployed or under employed people with little to know economic support and with supposive 47 million with no health care and God knows how many more under insured people who are struggling and losing their homes livelihoods and what little bit of the American dream that they have worked so hard to achieve slowling slipping away while corporate America has spent the last 20 years or so maximizing profit by moving factories overseas putting out poor quality products and then want to get in front of the line to asking to use our tax money to bail them out. I say "No new American jobs, No bail out".

In this current time what some people call and economic slow down, I see it as more of an economic shake down. It is hard to believe in a country as the United States with countless unemployed or under employed people with little to know economic support and with supposive 47 million with no health care and God knows how many more under insured people who are struggling and losing their homes livelihoods and what little bit of the American dream that they have worked so hard to achieve slowling slipping away while corporate America has spent the last 20 years or so maximizing profit by moving factories overseas putting out poor quality products and then want to get in front of the line to asking to use our tax money to bail them out. I say "No new American jobs, No bail out".

don't give them a DIME ! FIRE all the top execs and bring in the japanese auto execs to show us how to run a company !!

I'm curious, how many of you spouting off about letting the Big3 go down, what do you drive? Fuel efficient cars each and every one of you? Are you all people who have made the very best choice when it comes to getting off of big oil reliance? Again, just curious.
I am a Big3 contract worker - no pension, no huge salary, pay my own healthcare benefits. There are more of us at the Big3 that employees. At least as far as white collar jobs go. What would you have to say to me? I am trying my best to keep my job, do a good job at what I am tasked to do. Pay my bills, spend my paycheck in my community buying goods and services from all the small companies around me. I am one person, multiply that by all of us. Sure the companies have made errors, big ones. I was conflicted from the start about taking an automotive job - didn't want to work for the evil empire, but it became apparent quickly that if I wanted to eat I needed to work. In Michigan that is pretty much automotive. I lived in California and worked in the tech when that was booming, but then came rolling blackouts, Enron manipulated energy price increases, lack of cash flow for tech companies to keep the server farms going and pretty soon I found myself out of work with no where to go but back home. I've already been through one complete failure - moved, started over from zero and built back my life. I own a house and have a kid in college. I just want what you all want - a decent living, in a place I can stand. If the Big3 goes under there is an entire state immediately down the tubes, many others to follow. For the record, people aren't getting pensions anymore, they have 401k's like the rest of you. Healthcare benefits are still a part of the package, but hey you have to give people something to live in Detroit! Salaries are in line with what college educated people make for white collar workers. Line workers have had it good - but you cannot blame them for getting the best deal they could while giving the best years of their lives to a physically hard job (if you haven't worked an assembly line you have NO idea).
I don't know what the answer is, but I am saddened to see so many people be so heartless when we are talking about people. People just like you who have families and bills. Laugh, love, cry and die just like you. This is America where I thought we stood up for each other. Looks like maybe I was wrong and the country is full of a bunch of "me first - me only" people who gladly drove the SUV's (someone bought them) and now only care about themselves. Shame on you. These are human beings you are talking about - not throw away automans. You should be ashamed of yourselves.

GM is a white elephant (pun intended for all Repugs) that belongs to the last century. They refused to build their future and have resisted every innovation - whether its building greener and leaner cars rather than gas guzzlers or offering cars with better emissions standards. They've been on the wrong side of energy reform and forward-looking proposal. By the laws of capitalism they deserve to fold now. They are the dinosaurs of the past - why now do they need a socialist bail-out????