Detroit Gets $17 Billion

If the loans are coming out of taxpayer's money, shouldn't the taxpayers receive interest back on top of the loan repayment?

Tough spot for President Bush.
Prudent economics don't usually make for popular politics. His resilience in the face of opposition to the war on terror has proven that he's not overly concerned with merely having a popular legacy.

However, he is cognizant of the fact that despite so many polls showing that the auto bailout is not popular among the general public, the public has a very short memory, and that the media will portray him as personally killing Detroit for years to come.

Ten years from now, teenagers would know that some white guy named Bush single-handedly killed the American auto industry, but they wouldn't quite know how. It's just what they had always been told.

http://www.autospies.com/news/Toyota-expected-to-report-first-loss-in-70-years-39097/
Who's next?

This whole bail-out for the automakers is nothing but a bunch of non-sense. Bush is out the door here in not to long.....what does he care about the money that gets handed out? Not him, and why would it......Once he is out it will no longer be his problem. The automakers dug them selfs into the holes that they are in, and should have to suffer for their actions. Other companys would come right behind them and build more vehicles, thats a fact that everyone knows. This country can no longer afford to buy 30,00, 40,000, 50,000 thousand dollar vehicles.......Heck, most familys are having a hard time paying the bills and putting food on the table, and these companys think that it is a smart idea to build thousands upon thousands of these "High Dollar" vehicles. As a american tax payer I can say I am beyond upset with this whole bail-out for these companys! All that is gonna happen is the money given to them will be spent and they will end up back in the hole just as they are now. But hey, this country is in so bad debt, what is another handful of billions gonna hurt, right? My question is can everybody in america just get in real bad debt and then get a few billion to bail them selfs out.......Seems to be the trend around these parts.

From someone who has worked in the auto body repair industry for forty two years and seen all the mistakes the car companies have made along the way, the only ones that have really grasped the reality of a learning curve and heeded it are the Japanese. I'm sorry to say we are not even in the game anymore, let alone the same league. Fuel prices are down now for a reason but they will return. When they do, it is my hope that the American public recognizes that, that will signal the beginning of the end of the fossil fuel era, and that includes the so called "clean coal technology" that is by it's own nature, a contradiction in terms. Nothing is dirtier than coal, Nothing. We have but a few short decades left to figure this out for our children, and I suspect the big three aren't only not on the same page...... they haven't even picked up the book yet. They're still shuffiling through the halls of the library looking for the catolog card.

R.I.P. Big Three.......

I understand that Bush gave money because he wants to save Big Three. For their own sake, he should have been the same stubborn conservative jerk, because he killed at least two of them. This money could sustain them under Chapter 11 where unions have no say. Instead we have ow different scenario. Whatever concessions they are talking about - UAW still has power to refuse to cut wages, and it will. In 4 months there will be a report, money is gone, nothing has changed, public outcry is so big that even Obama will not dae to give them any more money. Then indeed Chapter 11 will not be an option.

I can see bailing out (temporary) GM, but bailing out Chrysler is essentially bailing out a bad investment by a private equity company. If the private equity company that has a lot of cash does not want to put more money into Chrsysler, it really sends a very strong message - something like good money after bad. Also private equity, unlike GM, is not into car business for the long term. They will cash or bail out at the first opportunity. Indeed, they remind me of Gordon Gekko of the old movie Wall Street!

opps forgot my 7 year old truck is a Toyota Tundra

Sure bail them out, now they will raise the price; build more "NEW"cars that will be in the repair shop even more. Why can't these automakes ever see why Americans aren't buying American??? Simple build Americans a car that don't send us to the poor house, with constant trips to the dealership for repairs- then telling us that the part they have to fix has a $50 to $100 deductable each and every time and having to pay rental cars fees on top of that! My 7 year old truck -still running fine- has cost me only a few hundred bucks in repairs- AND I WAS ABLE TO DUE IT MYSELF- try and repair a "American made, backed by union pride car!" Build a auto that works and I buy it!

At last, after an anxious and discomforting delay, President Bush orders an emergency $17.4 billion bailout for the ailing Big Three on Dec 19. This is the first step towards nationalization of the auto-industry.

Actually why not? If free marketing with no proper regulatory monitoring fails, then there should not be any qualm or harm to try nationalization. In which case, the industry will be answerable to the government, hence the public and taxpayers.

Perhaps nationalization has returned triumphantly, albeit it was frowned on once upon a time. Nevertheless, ensure that good PLANNING and proper MANAGEMENT prevail.
(Tan Boon Tee)

Let's see now, hmmm.... They take you hard earned money, they convince you that you are "Free "and therefore in control, they give you the right to vote as Free people to reinforce your vision of patriotism, and then they make statements like the following:

1. "It's not based on any particular data point, we just wanted to choose a really large number." ??? Treasury spokeswoman explaining how the $700 billion number was chosen for the initial bailout, quoted on Forbes.com, Sept. 23, 2008

2. "The fundamentals of America's economy are strong." ??? John McCain, interview with Peter Cook on Bloomberg TV, Apr. 17, 2008

3. "Decisions by the Secretary pursuant to the authority of this Act are non-reviewable and committed to agency discretion, and may not be reviewed by any court of law or any administrative agency." ??? Department of the Treasury's proposed Emergency Economic Stabilization Act, Sept. 2008

Still with me guys? If these don't give you heartburn, I've got a lot more where they came from.

You can't make this stuff up

As much as I detest the thought of bailing out a business, it was absolutely the right course of action, if only for one reason. The precedent set by bailing out the financial companies. They mismanaged their funds and business, and yes, a couple lost everything. Giving a mere fraction of the bailout money to two auto companies, who mismanaged their funds and their businesses, should be given the exact same consideration. And at least, by trying to support companies that provide THE lifeline for so many families, its purpose it multi-fold.

Wait.

So congress said no, so Bush took money that had been allocated by congress to another purpose?

Misappropriation of funds. Nice.

"In the midst of a financial crisis and a recession, allowing the U.S. auto industry to collapse is not a responsible course of action," Bush said.

Since when has George Bush given a damn about the responsible course of action? Certainly not for the past 7 7/8ths years.

As a retired GM worker, I have lived within my means and the only thing that I ever bought is a house and a couple of cars over 37 years. No boats, motors, RV's, nothing. I've put my earnings back into my house. GM hired me out of Vietnam, wounded, disabled when no one else would hire me. They sent me to school and I took advantaged of that. Thank you GM.

GM and Chrysler better not spend any of that money to buy foreign parts to put on our cars. Bring our jobs back now!!!