How to Bail Out General Motors

If we don't manufacture anything in the USA how do we have an economy? I think from what I see in developing economies is them manufacturing products and sending them to other countries.
If we lose the auto companies where do they find jobs? Work at Mc Donalds for minimum? How do you make payments on your foreign car and overpriced home?

It looks to me as if the doomsday scenario will come to pass...Chapter 11 for GM and Chrysler, Chapter 11 or worse for many shared suppliers, Chapter 11 or worse for many of *their* suppliers, Chapter 7 for the GM and Chrysler dealer bases as the sales trajectory shifts to Ford and the Japanese/German/Korean brands, chaotic production stoppages and quality declines for all remaining manufacturers as the massive supplier base grinds to a halt. Innumerable auto-plant-community small businesses out of business due to lack of customer expenditures. My guess is that we'll avoid a depression as formally defined.

One thing to watch will be how GM handles the international bookkeeping in regard to which distributed or shared assets are attributed to profitable extra-US operations like GM China, Britain, Germany and Australia...in fact, it'll be interesting to see if those extra-US operations are killed by the dissolution even though they have positive asset/liability ratios and positive local cash positions in addition to their profitability. Likewise, it may be interesting to watch how the distributed or shared liabilities are allocated.

If we go into depression because the government couldn't manage the economy and wouldn't set a consistent strategy for both gasoline pricing and fuel economy and then stick to it, who will the voters blame? I'm surprised that certain Republican senators aren't focused more on that question.

The power shift in the election was mostly cosmetic, as the Feds and company will continue to drop financial bombs on our soil.

Ride the horse in the direction it is running. Folks, we have been shown that our government will grant bailouts no matter what the vast majority of citizens say. It is pointless, in this political climate, to debate yes or no. The only productive topic is - How can our bailout best benefit us?

Electric Vehicle developers are stonewalled when they try to obtain large-format nickel metal hydride NiMH batteries. Chevron Oil has gained control of the patents covering most large-format NiMH batteries. Chevron, and the combined strength of the oil/automotive industrial complex, now controls the production of these batteries and they are squashing the technology. http://www.evworld.com/article.cfm?storyid=1198

Financial Terrorism - Prosecute companies who are blocking electric vehicle development under The PATRIOT Act. In international technology blockades, use the United Nation - http://www.icj-cij.org/homepage/index.php?lang=en. Seize the patents, and insist our automakers immediately mass produce non-petroleum cars and trucks as a major component of the eminent bailout.

Or, http://www.greencarcongress.com/ explains PHEV NiMH patent suppression.

There is no doubt that our auto industry must be restructured. It's also questionable whether politicians are competent enough to tie the strategic changes required to our taxpayers dollars. Particularly as the track record seems to indicate they are more often tied to fund raising efforts of the lobbyists.

However, to simply let this industry collapse under a Chapter 7 would not only be be devastating to our auto industry -- but would most likely start a cascade of collapse that would crush what's left of a manufacturing base that supports our national security interests. The simple solution may be to let our auto industry collapse, but the smart solution -- particularly if we need factories for ramp up for arms, and aerospace -- is to shepherd the critical components through these times until we can untangle what we need from what we want.

I'd like to hear more from purdue1, or anyone, why GM wouldn't be eligible for a Chapter 11?

The auto companies SHOULD NOT be bailed out . Instead the government and the utility companies along with the postal service should place orders for a large number of hybrid high mileage vehicles that will get over fifty miles to a gallon on gasoline. With the PO in hand they can go to the banks and borrow the money like any other company can.
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Why should the government bailout the Big 3 auto companies? There was no bailouts for the steel industries all through the 80s, 90s and early 2000. Many companies went bankrupt or filed Chapter 11 and reorganized. The companies downsized and people lost their jobs.

One of the main problems with the Big 3 is that have not been building cars that people want... cars that get higher gas mileage. Instead they have made millions of trucks and huge SUVs that regular folks can't afford to buy and they don't want them anyway. Toyta and Volkwagen are doing far better and are even hiring workers.

The legacy insurance packages is what is killing the industry, but the Auto Workers Union won't budge on less of a package.

In the case of the steelworkers the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) took over their pensions when the companies closed down. People got far less than what should have gotten.

The auto industry needed severe reorganizing, but the government should not bail them out.

Who has the most money to lose if GM goes Bankrupt...............simple answer.....Current Creditors, UAW workers and retirees, shareholders ( many of who are UAW workers and family. If these are the three parties with the most money to lose of GM goes Bankrupt then fthe first solution is the Current Creditors come to the table.....put there loans on non accrual basis, modify maturity dates and write down the loans on their books. Secondly the UAW has to come to the table with a wage and benefit reduction package of no less than 50% of the current wage/benefit package......they average UAW worker earns $ 73 an hour.....no company can operate with those type of production costs............Toyota on the other hand has ave. hourly costs of $ 43 per hr...........................so there you have it..............the players in the company itself MUST be the first source of financial relief for the Corporation.........................certainly no bailout should occur unless the players do their part first.

Are these kinds of 'bailouts' legal in terms of international trade. Surely this is a kind of government subsidy for overpriced cars, and exporting them won't be allowed by the WTO. I could not imagine America would allow a European or Asian country to do something like this with one of their exporting manufacturers.

We should NOT help any auto factories or auto dealerships in the states where the GOP's don't want to help them, let the factories and dealerships close in those states and all those workers get laid-off. We SHOULD ONLY help the states whose senators vote to help the auto industry.

The oil companies must bail out the automakers. These guys have a symbiotic relationship that has caused the Big Three to drag their feet in producing more efficient vehicles. Don't punish me by taking my hard-earned tax money. I don't even drive.

The oil industry needs to come to the aid of the auto industry because without the automobile the oil industry will be next.

How much do you make? I'm sure that there is a foreign writer out there who would be willing to do a better job than you do for 1/10 of the pay. Lead by your example. We can no longer afford expensive hypocrits.