Money Beat

You gotta be kidding. Tax payers to bail out failing businesses because of their own stupid mistakes? Capitalism lives, and if you screw up your company, this is what happens. Not our fault they were more concerned about profits instead of making a quality product.

Obama owes the Unions for getting him elected!!!

Here we go!!!

Google The Rapid Economic Recovery Plan it actually DOES something for Main Street instead of someone saying it does!!!

Couldnt agree more with you! They built garbage cars, and wanted an arm and a leg for them. its a bout time they meet their maker.

umm...I dont wanna give my tax money to irresponsible companies any more =[

Tax credits for people who buy new cars? How about tax credits for people who make do with what they have, tighten their belts, forego new credit and learn to live the frugal life of the past generations that led to the wealth of this nation in the first place????????

Obama owes the taxpayers a fair shake for getting him elected. NO MORE AIL_OUTS!!!

Not another bailout!!!

I think they make them like crap to make people have to go buy another as soon as they get it paid off. Which is stupid! You should pay off your car & be able to keep driving it.

OK, I'm just a bit confused here. The US Gov. is not a bank. It just infused banks with billions of dollars (actually, it forced many banks who didn't even need the cash to accept the cash) so why don't the automakers go to the banks for the loan? I'm no financial expert, but that just seems to make more sense to me.

I totally agree with letting
Big Business tumble...They made this bed to lay in ...for years they were making sub-standard and often unsafe vehicles for the joe consumer. Now they want us to feel sorry ? GET A LIFE

As for the employees my heart goes out for them and may'be we can help them some how.

John

Garbage? Thats an under statement y'all. I mean seriously, $55K-60K for a truck? $20K for a crappy focus that wont last 5 yrs? Why? You can buy a bad ass Japanese our European car for about half the price. Let them fail.

Oh! Only $75B. We can relax then. For a while I thought the automakers would ask for an astronomical amount of money. 75 billion dollars is easy enough for the government to cough up, after all, it's just taxpayer money and there's always more where that came from.

You know, I'm tired of "bailing out" these stupid companies. How about the government bails us out, the citizen.Yep, 600 dollars totally did the trick. You know, GM and most of the other automakers make quality vehicles, but the prices are too high! maybe if they'd actually make their cars affordable, they wouldn't be in the mess they're in.

How many times are the taxpayers going to be forced to save this sinking ship?
The local GM plant continually threatened to pick up and leave if they didn't get local tax breaks..for keeping jobs here and not shipping them overseas. The city needed revenue badly and it's largest employer refused to pay it. They're closing the doors anyway this year for good, two days before Christmas. Some 'free market.' Let's throw more money at more incompetents. That will fix it. Yeah, maybe if I start bouncing checks and spend money I don't have and make some really bad decisions I can get the government to subsidize my life, pay for college.... Right.

Why don't the automakers go to a bank for a loan? Banks have to stop lending money to organizations that are bad credit risks. So they couldn't get a loan. Haven't you been watching - our goverment is taking over responsibility for all the bad loans that bankrupted other companies. They say that these people will now pay up. It's a miracle.

I would like to know where anyone, everyone thinks this money is going to come from????!!!! The US government is up to its eyeballs in hock! Holy mackerel, who is going to pay these funds back? Is the government going to lend dollars (like what happened to Chrysler a few decades ago) or just give it away? I for one don't want my children's children paying taxes for this fiasco. Before Congress even thinks about upping the ante for further funding some deep thought needs to be given pertaining to how these funds will be repaid. This is getting ridiculous!

Let fail, shrink, retool, whatever, but it was their business model, engineering and marketing that got them to this point, not the taxpayers'. Workers will be rehired at Toyota, Honda, Lexus and other plants.

Talia, GM, Ford, and Dodge might make semi-quality trucks, but their cars are garbage.

If they would make a better product, change when times dictate, and not pay someone working in an assembly line $50,000 to install a windshield wiper, perhaps they would be more fiscally sound. I don't want them to go out of business but we cannot afford to support every stupid business/industry.

Talk about creating a moral hazard!!! Auto industry is acting like the government has knocked on their door to make a deal. Auto exec's are thinking --"lets give them a high ball number, maybe we'll get half, still chop jobs, and keep our golden parachutes if we fail-AGAIN"

I'm a Democrat and most of my family works in automotive, but this is sickening. If we bailout to these numbers than our country is basically calling capitalism DEAD ON ARRIVAL.

I would say give them the money with a few conditions attached. 1) Develop a car using hybrid technology that achieves a 50 mpg minimum. 2) Offer a bumper to bumper no deductible, no questions asked warranty for all of their cars. No more buying a brand new Sebring and have it start using a quart of oil every 600 miles after 5200 miles driven and then saying it was my fault when I provided maintenence records for all of my other cars showing a spotless maintenence history. No more tinny, cheap, plastic cars.

I would say give them the money with a few conditions attached. 1) Develop a car using hybrid technology that achieves a 50 mpg minimum. 2) Offer a bumper to bumper no deductible, no questions asked warranty for all of their cars. No more buying a brand new Sebring and have it start using a quart of oil every 600 miles after 5200 miles driven and then saying it was my fault when I provided maintenence records for all of my other cars showing a spotless maintenence history. No more tinny, cheap, plastic cars.

shameless corporate moochers.....who is going to bail out the taxpayer who has to pay for all of this non-sense!

Instead of giving all this money to big business, give it to the people. We pay off what we owe, which will go to the big business. And they still will get the money they want just from another direction. And we all can start over with no bills. As far as the car companies go let the union step in and bail them out. After all they are the one that put them in this mess. Paying someone $20.00 plus to turn a screw or tighten a nut.

Obama and the Dems will bail them out. Unions overwhelmingly supported his campaign.

Sheila - not all the banks are struggling and many are still lending - actually, the cash the gov. gave the banks was designed to prevent exactly this type of situation. Just like the homebuilders (who are now out of work along with their crews), the automakers should be required to work out a deal with their lenders. If they made bad business decisions and have a bad credit rating, why should the government assume that risk? It's time to let these companies sink or swim.

I completely agree. The Big Three built cars nobody wants with shoddy quality and bad design. They made tons of money making gas-guzzling SUVs while the Japanese automakers make do tiny profit per car on gas-saving, quality endowed automobiles. Now they are screaming for cash infusion? What happened to the execs that made tons of money during their glory-days? Make those guys pay pack their bonuses before any so called "bail-out" discussion starts. Would the government bail me out if I partied too much, and become a bum? I don't see the the government bailing out homeless American so why should this be any different? SUCK IT UP AUTO EXECS!!!! You made bad choices so live with it. The American people are not here to bail out your mistakes...

In the end, it doesn't matter what we taxpayers think. Big Government does what big government wants to do. We're expected to just shut up and defer to the the wisdom of Pelosi and the gang.

Fed Up, you can thank your local union for making sure those assembly line workers get that $50,000. I know people that work the line at a local Ford plant here that make about $70,000!!! I wish I worked for a union!

You see when you give out money to AGI and Wall Street bankers, now you will have every defunct industry from cars to airlines standing in line for huge bailouts or loans from the government. The congress needs to learn to "just say no to them". This is no free market and I'll be dammmmned if I am paying for every poor management or corrupt action by the commercialized world. Go succcck raw eggs - no way!

Well they bailed out The others, they should bail the auto makers out also.

Even though the do not need them for their Future Plans, they are not high tech, Money maker or new.

Right and fair should come in line at some time and equality needs to apply.

NEWS FLASH: CAPTILALISM IS SHELVED IN AMERICA!!!! Company Fat Cats concede defeat after driving companies over a cliff. One anonymous CEO commented "I enjoyed blowing smoke at investor meetings but honestly I didn't mean to cuase such a mess"

Before leaving for his vacation home in the Carribean he commented "I was one of the lucky ones that hired my own compensation consultant, I'm not hurt'n but I do feel sorry for the working Joe"

save the auto industry for National defense reasons, make them retool like they did in WW2 ! Form a new company where people get paid sixty percent of what they are currently, force them to build electric, natural gas fueled light weight (carbon fiber) vehicles, all (GM Ford Chrysler) built for similar bumper height, for crash prevention provisions.

****
"umm...I dont wanna give my tax money to irresponsible companies any more =["
****

How about the greedy non-working Unions.
I don't want to give them any money either!

I say let them Sink!

Okay, so what's the deal? We already bought mortgages to help those who bought beyond their means. Now we are going to help pay pensions for overpaid union workers because they are buddies of Obama and help keep their employers in business to give away even more so we can pay again!!!

And more companies will line up now that the messiah and a Democratic Congress will take power. Hey, I'm going to stop paying my mortgage and car payment have hard working stupid Americans who pay their bills pay for MY debts. WOOO HOOOO, a New Deal is finally here.

Le tthem fail. I would feel bad for the honest hard working labors, but..I', tired of paying a years salary for a car that won't last....What happened to the cars that you could pay off & keep for years. Heck if you wreaked it it would hardly get a ding.

I work in the toilet puck industry and it's really gone down the drain lately.

I don't know maybe people are trying to save water and only flushing every other sitting. Maybe the imported ones small better, but don't worry I have a plan to make everything small like sweet potato pie.

My industry needs $5 Billion NOW to shore up puck production as no one is buying.

If there is one thing all Democrats, Republicans and Independents taxpayers can agree upon is that there seems to be no end to these bailouts or shall we call them handouts.What's next biling out the casino industry?Instead of playing pass the taxpayers' loot to every panhandling industry, why don't our elected officials rolll up their collective sleeves to address the mortgage crisis that lead to this mess. We own Fannie & Fredie so let's start there. Take the loans that are salvageable and rework the terms so that people can stay in their homes and pay their mortgages. Something as simple as reworking the amortization schedule (i.e. turn a 15 year note into a 30 year) can save hundreds if not thousands on monthly payments and payments can be made to the lenders and gotten of the government's books.Forget the bailouts. Fix what is broken.

now would be a good time to see what the bonus's are for the last couple of years from the auto makers... I vote NO !!!!

I think everyone in America should just stop paying on debt for two months straight. House, Car, Boat, or Banana Farm, just stop paying.

Maybe someone in D.C. will say "This is insane, we need to stop bailing and let the fire burn itself out"

I don't think there are enough collection agencies in the world that could handle such a case load. I would be like a lottery, you could be the one who gets off for free!!

Let's save the working Joe! He is more responsible!

Our elected representatives must be deaf.No more bailouts..whether it's Wall street, Main Street, or a dead end street. Look what AIG did with its "bailout". It booked a "retreat" to the St. Regis.I think the rest of us would have enjoyed that little get-a-way, especially with our "OWN" hard earned money.They must think that the American taxpayers are a one big bottom less pit. Enough already.

MAKE them unite and put out economy cars. That should be worth 40billion ...... jees!! whats next.. ?? we can all boycott this crud here y'all. we just all quit our jobs. that would fix that. At this rate, George Harrisons taxman " 1 for you, 19 for me " is just around the corner..

Detroit built literal trash for years, some of which was so outrageously defective it resulted in the fiery deaths of the hapless vehicle owners. And some of the stuff built in Detroit had product defects that caused the vehicle owners to pay through the nose for repairs. I saw these defects first hand. Over the years, eventually the public got so pissed off they looked for alternatives. Now the bloodsuckers who were paid a gazillion dollars to run these enterprises into the ground want WELFARE payments from the government, welfare payments that you and I will SUBSIDIZE. If you have half a brain, pick up the phone and tell the Detroit automakers to go to H--l.

No way - you made stupid cars that didn't fit the market well, you've had decades, and a past bailout to change, and haven't cared to. We aren't going to be suckers twice!

oh, yeah? Are they going to have a big party at resorts like AIG did after the bailout? Now people are kicked out of their own homes and get strayed on the street, retirees see their 401k disappear. Was there anyone who saved them?? Now auto makers go bankrupt for their own stupid business mistakes and say, "give us money and help us"? I don't think so. It should be a good medicine for them to let them handle their own mess. Did they give consumers incentives when they were selling big gas gazzlers and making lots of profits? Why do we need to help stupid companies w/ our tax money? I don't think so!

How about letting one of these captains of industry file bankruptcy like the law ALREADY allows and reorganize their business affairs the way most small businesses or the average person must do when they fall into economic extremis. This is insane. Read our lips..No more handouts. I prefer to give money to Goodwill. It least I know I will actually be helping the needy.

Maybe if everyone commenting here understood that the car industry is in this condition because the UAW. That's right the UAW. They have to build into every car or truck a margin to cover there union retires pensions. Every year we all saw the UAW workers picketing and holding the industry 3 hostage. No workers no cars. It's that simple and the UAW does everything in it's power to make sure it's still as strong as ever without forcing them to close the doors. Well the big 3 are getting close to shutting the doors and we all might praise that. But then, we the tax drained citizens will be bailing out the pension funds. And oh yeah, we'll all be driving foreign built cars tilting the trade deficit even more. So, don't bail them and see what happens. We need to bail them but we also need to make a buck doing it. AIG paying 11% wasn't bad deal. Something similar works for me.

I don't believe in bailouts anymore than others posting here but pause and think before you rant. 1/10 jobs in the US is tied one way or another to the auto industry. It's not a matter of letting these companies fail(which they deserve), if the these companies go under the entire US economy will begin to collapse. Nobody lives on an island people, wake up. As quoted on the BBC today "the collapse of the auto industry in the US will all but guarantee a depression. No job in the united states would be safe." The trickle effect will be tremendous.

This is making me sick. If I ran my business into the ground is anyone gonna bail me out, of course not, and I dont expect them to. I say let the american automaker be a thing of the past, it aint 1920 anymore, time to make way for some new businesses, not the old failing ones.

Time for a "PEACEFUL" Revolution.

I think everyone should just QUIT going to work. Quit paying their bills. Sit the hell at home and go NO WHERE.

I bet after about a week, these STUPID IDIOTS we put in Washington just might get the PICTURE that we are TIRED of the CRAP!

If you don't want to go that far, the Contact your Congressmen and say HELL NO! Tie up his Fax Machine, Flood his Email BOX. Keep doing it day after day after day.

After the grueling BEG FEST the Auto Exec's decided they needed a peticure at the Royal Toe. They hopped in their Maybach (couldn't be caught dead in a US car) and spent $5,000 per toe for a total of $160,000, including $10K for company logo's on each left toe!! Not sure what they did for the right toe and didn't want to ask!

The big three automakers provide about 2.5 million jobs and the auto support industry is what, 5 or 6 million more. It's the rock or a hard place again, to let them fail could add 6 or 7 million people to the unemployment line, what happens then?

Let's see..we the taxapyer have bailed out the home mortgage underwriting industry, the insurance industry, the investment industry, the banking industry, the airline industry, AMTRAK,and now the auto industry...Hmm. Is there a sector of our economy that hasn't stepped up to the plate yet for its piece of the pie?.If there is, I am sure that they will be part of a rescue package to be named later.

I'm with you Phil, make them DO something for the money. Unlike the banks that are setting on the billions provided them instead of making loans, why didn't we REQUIRE them to make loans as part of the deal?

I am a Obama voter and I say get rid of Unions and get rid of Nancy Palosi. Am I thing only Obama supporter that thinks that the congress made Americans suffer for two years just so the same Americans would blame Bush and the Reps. I believe calling it the way it is. I didnt support McCain because he was more like Bush than not. I also blame the Dems that have been lead the Senate and House and played with our lives, our finances, and energy policies, just so everyone would point fingers at Bush and the republicans. Palosi (Sorry if that isnt spelled right) should be kicked off, brought to justice for messing with the welfare of American lives.

@BigPicture

And, let this ALL happen again! Yea.. it may be hard, but so be it! The Crap Needs to stop.
Keep bailing them out, they will continue to do the same stupid crap!

Like having a big bucket of apples. The ones on the top look good, but the ones on the bottom are rotten. If you don't take them out, the others will go rotten faster. Yea.. it is a pain, digging out the bad ones and then it makes it look like you don't have many apples at all. BUT, guess what? You are better off for it. Because the good ones will last a little longer.

I am not for the bailout of the auto industry. If congress should go along withn the bailout it should require ALL their overseas operations be brought back to the USA.

Big Picture...agreed if this was the only one. But there is no end in sight. Every week another industry (and you can see the ones I have listed) due to its own faulty business practices or inter connection to another industry's idiotic or reckless busienss practices is asking for a handout (er..bailout).At some point, the piggy bank..i.e the US Treasury will be bare. And simply handing them gobs of money is like giving them a license to steal.

Give all the auto retirees a brand new SUV from the lots instead of their pension payments for next year. That should get rid of inventory and generate about $50B in savings.

You folks that "want to make them suffer", they aren't the ones that will suffer. Common everyday middle class families are the ones that will suffer if these giant businesses are left to fail, not the CEO's or the board of directors, but YOU and ME and the guy next door.

@Lee S,Benson AZ

I can agree to that IF:

You make the UNIONS get out of the Car Industry all together.

Or, you will end up with another bunch of UNION people building MORE useless cars here in the US.

That's not a bad idea Dave, if the retiree WANTS a new car instead of his pension, but don't force them if they would rather pay their rent instead.

Why do I suddenly feel like we've become human ATM Machines for failing industries.

ajax, the union didn't decide what type car to build and they didn't force people to buy SUV's either.

ellen, where would you rather they get the money to stay solvent, China, India or Russia?

Millions of taxpayers are not fortunate enough to have any pension benefits. Why should their tax dollars go to guarantee or subsidize the pension benefits of auto workers or auto executives?

I have a great idea. All United States taxpayers should show up at Capitol Hill on the SAME day with identical hats in hand.Then we should form one long line. We can call ourselves a large failing American industry and ask for our bailout.

I see a lot of you pointing the blame at "The Man" (USA Car Makers). Granted, I am sure a lot of them have made stupid ideas and done stupid things. But, I don't care how smart a business man is, he can not compete with another industry that can build a car cheaper, whether that be in a foreign plant or be in a plant in the USA that has no Union!
The Car Makers we are talking about are UNION SHOP Car Makers. Not foreign or foreign owned USA NON-UNION shops.
They can not compete and NEVER WILL.
We BAIL THEM OUT, it will be a TEMP fix ONLY, doomed to come back and bite us in the rear again later. It is time to get it over with.

JR,
It is not "only" the auto industry...it is becoming "every" industry.

@JR,

I worked in a UNION for 10 years. I lost my job because the UNION here drove the Company to bankruptcy with stupid demands.
If my machine broke down, I could not be sent to help out in a another department, I either went to the break room and sit on my rear or went home AND STILL got paid for it.
My UNION rules did not allow the Company to put me somewhere doing something. Sweeping the floor, help in Shipping, what the hell ever. BUT NO, the company lost my hourly wage of 43.95 an hour for me to go sit on my rear!

They killed the electric car, remember? Because they weren't going to make astronomical profits off it's sale. Then they made SUV's, slurping gas like a chocolate milkshake. Now they want help. I have a '0' credit rating. Why? Because I never bought anything on credit. I paid my bills. So I am rewarded with nothing. If we let them fall all those jobs will be lost.
So let's bail them out. When they get solvent again make them give every american a CAR. They suck.

... and I agree with a previous poster... if we bail them out they must bring ALL of their operations home to the US. Period. they should never be able to profit from operations that threaten the stability of our country. Traitors.

Most of the comments show these people dont have a clue.The us auto companys failing would mean a loss of a half million jobs .it will affect every industy in the U.S those who lose jobs wont be spending their income ,or lack of in other places belive if the BIG THREE all fail ,it will make the depressionof the 30 s look like christmas-DANIEL ORR

@dennis Paul Hastings
Sadly, that is not Free Market. That is socialism. :(

As bad as it will hurt my family and friends, I (and I think they are too) am willing to let Free Market work. You work and earn it, you prosper, you fall on your rear, you fall on your rear. Don't ask me to help you up either.

@Daniel Orr

Trust me, I have a clue. It will hurt, it will hurt like hell. But, evidently, the people of this Country need a serious smack in the rear to get them to see that We have to stop living past our means, stop expecting that everytime we fall, someone is going to pick us up and pat us on our head and send us on our way again.

You truly think that bailing them out is going to FIX anything??? Evidently, they did not finish up ALL that Kool-aid they were drinking at Obama's Triumph Speech and you got a hold of some of it.

It has to end. Sorry. Painful, yes. But, it has to end.
Just like Smoking.. COLD TURKEY may hurt like hell. BUT, it isn't anywhere as BAD AS LUNG CANCER!

Ajaax
You are right about the unions. That is one of the reasaons they are onverseas to start with.

Let 'em fold. They make crap anyway. I wouldn't own a GM car if you gave me one.

Why should tax payers once again pay for irresponsible decison making of companies. In a free market economy, the ones that fail will pay the price. However, it seems that we move away from this principle and depend on the state to bail everybody that is in trouble out. Sounds like socialism to me but we don't want to admit that government is the only source that can save us now.

Tax credits for people who buy new cars? How about tax credits for people who make do with what they have, tighten their belts, forego new credit and learn to live a frugal life?

People need to learn within their means. If you don't have enough money, get another job.

the bailing out of auto in. is a big issue as the auto,s that they build are not sohot and people need to pay for the cars that they buy, so why should auto in.not have to be handle the same way,like stop making cars that don't sell and are not a good product if japan can made good cars, why can't we, someeone said on the news that americans made the first auto, sooooooooooo,after making cars for50plus years something good should be being built,right. CEO'S should not be alond to get greedy with more then someone can live on in one life time not 5. sink or swim,not bailout.

cool-- Force GM, Ford, and Chrysler into manufacturing only high gas milage rate cars and trucks. Make it a condition of both $25billion chucks of bailout monies provided by the taxpayers. Furthermore, even if we have to violate and abrogate treaties, place import duties on foreign trucks and cars and an excise tax on domestics based on gas milage rate. Take this opportunity to destroy OPEC. And, you can push it as a "green objective"--not that I care since I'm an anti-environmentalist and really, really want to destroy OPEC by driving [pun intended] a stake through its oily heart....

I too have a clue. I was likewise opposed to bailing out every exec. on Wall Street who bought or sold a security backed by junk mortgages. Now there is no endpoint to this bailout m/o. During the S&L crisis of the 1990's,Congress created RTC to buy up the assets of the failed S&L"s and sell them at a reduced price and eventually removed them from the US government's books. We are not addressing the root problems of this crisis which are those toxic mortgages underwritten by Fannie & Freddie that were launched into the investment & credit markets.That issue must be addressed or we will NEVER dig ourselves out of this mess.

A healthy automotive industry is not vital to a healthy overall economy. Functioning banks are necessary to make the economy work. Wall St. needed to be bailed out. Detroit doesn't.

Obama proposes a new peoples car,
a cross between a Trabant and VW beetle called the "Obama"
to get Americas auto industry working again in exchange for a $75 billion dollar bail out package for the post capitalist auto industry.

After having lived in Detroit for 35 years and working for the Auto Industry I am completely disgusted at this bailout. The Auto Industry is full of waste, greed, and laziness. This has nothing to do with the workers, but the way the industry operates.
I'd like to see the Industry leaders take off their suits and start busting their rumps to fix the problems rather than crying for a handout. THIS IS THE SOCIALISM that everyone is concerned about...

FIRST OF ALL STOP SLAMMING THE UNIONS.PEOPLE HERE MUST HAVE POOR KNOWLEDGE OF LABOR HISTORY IN THIS COUNTRY AND DONT FORGET THE ASIANS, CHINESE,CENTRAL AND SOUTH AMERICA. HOW MUCH ARE THESE PEOPLE GETTING PAID .HAVE YOU SEEN THE CONDITIONS? I AM NOT IN FAVOR OF ANY BAILOUT FOR ANY COMPANY. REMEMBER WE THE PEOPLE ---WHERE ARE WE ?WHO ARE WE? LETS GET OUR ACT TOGETHER AND CLEAN UP OUR OWN BACK YARD