In Defense of Detroit

Your last sentence ,only the Government can save them---IT'S THE TAXPAYERS--STUPID..

A Much Better Bailout Plan
For years now, the Big Three automakers have been unable to produce cars competitively, largely because they have to buy their employees??? and retirees??? healthcare through private insurance, whereas workers in all other industrialized nations are covered by cost-effective national healthcare plans. Even the foreign manufacturers who produce here undercut Detroit by recruiting a younger, healthier workforce.
Now that the bottom has dropped out of the market for SUVs and light trucks, the Big Three are facing certain bankruptcy and need a bailout, possibly for loans to fund the $51 billion they owe to the VEBAs they promised to set up for their retirees??? healthcare. However, the VEBAs will purchase health insurance through private, for-profit providers, which skim off up to 30% from the top, as compared to Medicare, with only a 3% overhead. It would be far better for Congress to allow the UAW workers and retirees to be the first to enroll in a program based on the Conyers-Kucinich Bill (H.R. 676), an expanded Medicare with no premiums, no deductibles, no co-pays, and no hassles. Like Social Security, the H.R. 676 program would be funded by a payroll tax of 4.5% from employers and 3.3% from employees.
Will this save money for Detroit? You bet. If we???re going to bail out the Big Three, let???s do it in a way that solves a real problem that is strangling U.S. manufacturing: the burden of private health insurance..

It does not matter. I will never buy another car made in Detroit.They did it to themselves and don't tell me otherwise.They had their chance ten times over.The unions are have just as much blame as the big guy's.Greed from both put them in this spot.No one is going to bail out my savings program for retirement.You can not pump new blood in a dead man and have him come back to life.It is over!

I agree wholeheartedly on the labor issue. No reason they should make 150% of the national average for the same level of skill. And as for complicated bankruptcies, anyone heard of an airline or two filing Chapter 11? No bailout there. How about Kmart - was anyone lining up to buy expensive electronics or other items when they filed? No, but they made it out anyway. The idea that GM should get a bailout because they wouldn't be able to move inventory since people would be afraid to buy cars from a Ch. 11 company is insane. Take a look around - no one's buying cars anyway! And if they are, do you think they're not aware of the problems with GM already? Would the official designation of chapter 11 really make a difference? I say let them fall. I'm sorry for the jobs lost, but the writing was on the wall about fuel efficient cars years ago. Toyota launched the Prius over 6 years ago. American car companies needed to get out of bed with big oil and do some R&D that would save fuel. They chose not to and we need to let them reap the consequences.

Aside from the argument as to whether we should bail out the Big Three (and I don't believe we should), where's the logic that it will even work? GM wants most of the $25 billion discussed just for itself, yet they are burning through their cash reserves at a reported $6-8 billion a quarter! So, what are we, stupid? Do we really think that they will completely re-tool their managment, their car designs, their entrenched labor contracts, cost structures and alike all in 4-6 months??? Giving them cash now WILL ONLY end up benefiing exec compensation and preferred shareholders. Its patently flushing taxpayer money down toilet. No jobs will be spared, no hard-luck stories averted. No matter how hard Daniel Gross and Nancy Pelosi scream for "fairness" this has futile waste writen all over it.

Don't spend a dime on a bailout until the contracts with the UAW are all dissolved and the autoworkers are paid a fair wage for unskilled labor - $10 to $15 an hour. And please don't even think about bailing out their pension plans until you provide a comparable pension for all Americans.

Chrysler is a public company and one can rest assured that Cerberus Capital Management, the parent company of Chrysler, would not have shared any profits with the American taxpayer.

As an aside, the CEO of Chrysler, Robert Nardelli, received a $210,000,000 golden parachute for running Home Depot - and corporate morale - into the ground (and this was after he received $38.1 million from his last yearly contract). Is this not enough slop from the trough for the hogs?

What Gross is ignoring [being a partisan,he sees things in a 180 view],is that one of the ''liabilities''he mentions IS the UAW. Obviously,the End Of The World As We Know It,did not arrive upon the collapse of AMC and STUDEBAKER. However,BETHLEHEM,US,KAISER,CARNEGIE and other steel giants wrecked the now infamous ''Rust Belt''due precisely to union and corporate mafeasence,and fell themselves,ushering in the era of Korean-made steel and iron.
Take CHRYSLER for just one instance. Its new CEO,was the same one who has helped drive HOME DEPOT into the ground and got away with a 212 million dollar severance package[one of those ''CEOS Who Made A Mountain Of Money''that Gross wails over]. The UAW for its portion,demands all-encompassing health,vacation,wage and overtime packages that are totally unrealistic given the present economic status of this nation and the on-life-support condition of their employers. Worse,Democrats were willing to fork over the bailout dough with absolutely zero oversight, or regulation, alarming even Obama [the GOP was already dead-set against this scheme to begin with,prompting Sen.Dodd[D-Ct] to call a temporary defeat].
It esacpes Gross that decent-quality,extended warranty,lower-cost ,higher mileage vehicles are being built in America by American workers right now. The only differance is that they are foreign,mainly Japanese and Korean companies that are non-union,yet demand no bailouts,and offer their employees competative wages,and benefits resulting in even lower turnovers than the unionzed Big Three.
Who have learned nothing. GMs new crossover is the ADVANCE,with a crummy 20-22 MPG and a pricetag that begins at 30 grand. Same damned deal with the Ford EDGE,and the pitiful Chrysler CALIBER.[once you move into the ''X'' models] Described by those such as CAR AND DRIVER as ''tinny'',''cheap'',''cramped'',''low pickup'', rife with problems,low fuel efficiency, and carrying an unreasonable price tag [and bear in mind that these are 2008 models].
Mirroring American selfishness in vehicle selection and models,Detroit has given the nation a product out of synch with global priorities as these apply to energy conservation,climate change and pollution, and size-weight demands out of proporation to what is actually needed by the customer. A revolution in thought as well as technology in this area is most needed at this time.

Not for nothing but who do you think is going to buy the ???insignificant three???s???
cars? Not me, not my wife, not my children. And let???s be really honest, not their employees or CEO???s of those three. There is barely an, or should I say a American made car in my neighborhood. Hondas, Mazdas, Hyundai???s, BMW???s, Mercedes, and Toyotas. So the deal is the feds are going to give another failing, incompetent, and greedy group my money; and then what: all government employees will be ???given??? at more taxpayer expense a new ???American made??? car to drive on government business every year. Let them go bankrupt. Sometimes a bitter pill is the only pill.

I am a retired airline worker and I went through two bankruptcies, and had our union contract thrown out, wages cut, and eventually lost my job. The airlines did not stop flying or selling tickets at first. The first, Eastern Airlines, eventually liquidated, but second one, Northwest Airlines just merge with Delta Airlines to form the biggest airline in the world. Hopefully, they will be more competitive and profitable. I have sympathy for the UMW and their contracts where workers are laid off but continue to get about 75% pay for months while not doing anything. This is a lot of what makes the price of cars so high. Let them feel some of the pains of capitalism like the rest of us have. Welcome them to the real world.

You can't possibly compare the financial sector bailout with a retail product bailout. Its simply absurd.

I don't see how Obama and the Chicago mob will do any better at producing automobiles than the Politburo and the KGB did. The cars will just get crappier than they are now, until they resemble the infamous Yugos of eastern Europe. Eventually, they will have to put higher and higher trade restrictions on the importers so their brand can compete. What a joke. QUIT WASTING TAX DOLLARS!

As part of the Bailout, US Auto Industries should place at its foremost the goal to become globally competitive companies that produce very attractive and high quality products at globally competitive prices.

Current US Autos are targeted to a segment the US market that has heavily subsidized fuel and customer values that are far out of synch with global customers. US customers have limited concern about vehicles that meet global efficiency patterns. Among US customers there is two much focus on luxury, speed, and excessive gadgets that are not normally desired by thrifty shoppers or customers in other countries outside the USA. The USA industries should go back to basics and provide the extras as add-ons that are available to the customers or added on by after-market specialty firms. Excellent service in the sale of the product and other services to the customer are also required. These are the traditional components of corporate competitiveness.

Additionally, auto sector companies must demonstrate that the management of the auto industry management practices are socially acceptable. (This practice should include the lifecycles of the product through its entire development phases from the source (mine and manufacturing sites for the product inputs) to the boneyard or recycling stations.)

This concern for quality control and requirement is not local or provincial in nature, but international. Customers in many parts of the world have increasingly pressured companies to protect environmental and social values, as well as provide quality products and services.

bjacobs28377

When GM said bankruptcy was not an option, a truer statement has never been made. If any of the domestic autos goes bankrupt, that's it pull the plug. Want proof, see Daewoo. They never returned. Its not like the steel industry or the airlines. These a big ticket branded purchases. NOBODY will buy a GM car if the file for Bankruptcy. You don't agree with the autos getting a bailout, then fine, no wasted tax money for the investment and commerical banks either. It was their poor decision making and greed that has caused the housing implosion and the resulting financial mess. Let them fend for themselves. We all can pats ourselves on the back, that we stood our ground and avoided wasting our tax dollars. Of course we'll all be doing it standing in line at the soup kitchens. What you people don't understand is what's going on is unprecidented. Domestic autos sales haven't been this slow since WWII and that was only because the entire manufacturing base has shifted to war production. You couldn't buy a new car if you wanted. I know more than most that the auto industry needs reform, I work there. I see it everyday, and it has been moving there, Unfortunately the wave of change was overtaken by the tsunami of the financial meltdown.