More on Obama at the Oval

I like DobermanSpencer's comment. It may not be related to anything discussed in this political blog but it is true.

Second thought, let the big 3 go bankrupt. They are sending all their jobs and money overseas to other countries...most of them don't even produce stuff here in the US.

Thirdly, Both political parties are morons. Ditch the political parties and vote on how you believe.

Fourth, Personally I don't see why we elect someone with no military experience as Commander in Chief.

Fifth, It will be a long 4 years, maybe shorter if Mr. Barack Obama cannot prove himself to the American People.

Sixth, Even though we may have not voted for him, we still should stand behind him and at least respect his position of authority, We don't have to agree to respect.

Seventh, This whole thing, especially with broken promises and such, is likened to Ice Cream and third graders. This country has shown itself to be a bunch of kids running for ice cream instead of finding out how they are going to pay for it. etc..

Point proven, I think we just elected a moron.

Hey, maybe if Obama had spent the past few years in his senate seat doing what he was supposedly elected by the state of illiois to do, soem of his "wondeful" ideas would have been enacted by now!!!!

Instead he has spent the past few years preparing to make a greater impact as President! ;)

"Let's not wait for a new president before action is taken on the economy."

Obama is right, but a cynic would say that Obama doesn't want to take any responsibility for whatever goes wrong. Still, it would calm the markets if he'd actually 'not wait' to say SOMEthing instead of hiding away.

There are several reasons why the US auto makers are doing so poorly. Of course the first one is their late of foresight in producing fuel efficient vehicles. The others are all related to exorbitant union contracts and the money crisis created by the Democrats on the House and Senate Banking Committees. Barney Frank and Chris Dodd should be in jail for the mess they caused.

The first requirement for any bailout should be the nullification of the current UAW contracts. These should be redone to match the UAW contracts with the Japanese auto makers in the US. What Frank and Dodd don't want us to know is that auto workers for the foreign companies producing vehicles in the U.S. make $20 AN HOUR LESS is salary and benefits than do auto workers for the Big 3. Eliminating that difference alone will save the Bib 3 and put them on a more equal footing with the foreign competitors.

Any rescue plan that doesn't include substantial cuts in compensation for UAW workers will not be a plan to rescue the Big 3 American auto producers, it will be a rescue plan for the UAW, period. As a 25-year union member, we can't let that happen.

The entire subject of American car manufacturers ignoring the importance of fuel-efficient cars relates to the stranglehold big oil has had on our country for decades. They actively discouraged any discussion on global climate change in government policies.
If our government had been actively working on reducing emissions, our car manufacturers would have switched to making efficient cars long ago, at about the same time as the Japanese did.
That's the inherent weakness in our corporate structure. Greed rules absolutely, as well as only working toward this quarters profits, rather than looking at the long-term picture.
Japan limits corporate salaries to a multiple of the lowest paid worker in said company. Thus the greediest people aren't in charge but the best managers make it. Their corporate heads aren't into stripping companies so that they can get huge salaries and bonuses for a few years, leaving the company ill-prepared for the future. Their corporate people don't sit on each others boards and vote each other obscene raises and bonuses.

Our oil companies fought tooth and nail to deny global climate change for their own greedy ends, while weakening our whole country as our auto industry,electric companies,etc. were not being upgraded for the future.

Hopefully with a new president who understands dealing with the present AND planning for the future is what makes a great leader, our country and the auto industry can change for the better.

Ford doesn't produce a single fuel-efficient car that they make money on. They were the truck people, producing big pickups and SUV's, and when fuel prices skyrocketed nobody was buying anything they made anymore.

Why did they put all of their eggs in the truck basket?

I'll tell ya... because it's what YOU WANTED TO BUY. It's where you put your money. Companies will make anything that people want to buy. You forgot all about the '70's. Well, now everyone's going to pay for it.

I say no. I say let them go bankrupt. Let them solve their problems like big people do. It'll teach 'em a lesson.

Perhaps it'll teach organized labor a lesson, too... but that's not bloody likely.

Cries of "Save us! Save us!" Hah. Save Auto manufacturers for... what? Manufacturing jobs? Feh. Unions? Feh. Pouring more of our money down a rat hole.

Let them fail. Darwinian survival of the fittest. What happens if they fail? And so what? Why should my tax money be spent to keep blowing air into a corpse? It IS a corpse. Between the unions and the management and the most ignorant self-centered consumers in the world, we deserve it, just like we deserve everything else that is coming our way.

Osama bin Laden knew what he was doing when he set upon this nation. Two buildings drop and a nation slowly sinks to its knees, done in by itself.

You want to blame Bush? Good. It takes your eye off the ball. Let the stupid companies fail and lets be done with them. Perhaps then they will reorganize like real companies or perhaps the Koreans or Japanese will buy them out and run them like real companies.

My two(2) cents worth. The issue of big american and gas guzzling cars kept recurring because it fails to consider the framework of american lifestyle. If america will move into small and fuel efficient cars it will have to re-engineer a lot of infrastructures, roadways, long distance travels and other related ways which are incompatible to the american image and lifestyle. other countries such as Kapan or Singapore are designed for mass transport, hence the need for big vehicles such as SUV' and big engine cars is more for status rather than functionality.The american auto industry's woes will keep recurring unless they can find a cheap source of fuel or invent an entirely new kind of engine to maintain the american image and lifestyle. I believe this is easier than re-engineering the american infrastructure. It is not the fault alone of the auto industry.

The american car maker woes

The president-elect shows a dreadful lack of class, leaking the contents of his conversation with president. And, this one he can't pretend he had nothing to do with as he and President Bush were the only two people in the room.

Barack Obama: One mouth, two sides.

Since Bush has not given a damm for the common man, rest assured that he will not raise a hand to help anything or anybody in the last days.

President-elect Obama had a few great thought/ideas for Bush but par norm he closed his ears to it. No suprise!!

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Hey, maybe if Obama had spent the past few years in his senate seat doing what he was supposedly elected by the state of illiois to do, soem of his "wondeful" ideas would have been enacted by now!!!!

Since Bush has not given a damm for the common man, rest assured that he will not raise a hand to help anything or anybody in the last days.

President-elect Obama had a few great thought/ideas for Bush but par norm he closed his ears to it. No suprise!!

TJ - the cars made in other countries by GM and Ford? Do they live up to our stringent EPA standards and our stringent crash standards? If they were produced in the US would they cost the same? My guess is no. The labor costs in the US are much higher. The union members get much higher wages and much higher benefits. While the auto makers were making money they promised great benefits to employees including paying for people just to show up and sit in a room, and to pay retire health benefits. The unions exacted a price and the corporations are now paying for it. The auto makers wanted the unions to take over health care costs for retirees and gave them lump sums in the last contract to do it. That money came off the bottom line of the company. Now you can't renege on the contracts with retirees. But someone needs to identify the costs incurred by union involvement in comparison to non-union auto makers. We also need to move health plan selection to the individual. Right now the workers are not the consumers. THe unions and companies are the consumers as they deal directly with the insurance companies. The workers need to be the consumer. COmpanies need to pay into a fund to provide a base amount of coverage. THe consumer than can decide to pay more if they want. The base coverage needs to be adequate to handle preventive, emergency and in depth care without bankrupting the individual. None of this will change as the unions will have a lot more clout in an Obama adminstration

Guys,

I am not talking about Flex-fuel cars. They have been sold here for years!

These things do not offer anything special at all.

I am talking about the Hybrids & the Fuel-Cell based vehicles and how far we really have to go before they are viable in the real marketplace.

These flex-fuel cars have been around in the US for just about 10 years now and have made no significant changes in gasoline consumption!

In 1908, the Ford Model T got 25 mpg. We are no better off than we were 100 years ago, no wonder the US auto industry is failing!

Examples of more fuel efficient cars made in Brazil:

The Montana is based on GM's subcompact Corsa car. Its 1.8-liter FlexPower engine generates 112 horsepower at 5,600 revolutions per minute and 174 foot-pounds of torque at 2,800 revolutions per minute. But it's a spunky, stable little thing at high speeds. Its five-speed manual shifter works smoothly. With its barely five-foot-long cargo box, it offers urban utility while minimizing urban parking hassles. The interior is one of the best looking I've seen in any small truck. It averages the U.S. equivalent of 35 miles per gallon on the highway.

--The Chevrolet Celta, a FlexPower one-liter, four-cylinder subcompact car that is too much of a lightweight for long U.S. highway runs. But it would be perfect for daily suburban-urban commuting. It gets the U.S. equivalent of 40 mpg. You can park it on a dime. It's the perfect car for academic and corporate campuses. The engine generates 70 horsepower at 6,400 revolutions per minute and 86 foot-pounds of torque at 3,200 revolutions per minute. Cute.

--The Chevrolet Corsa hatchback and Chevrolet Meriva city wagon, both of which are excellent substitutes for American-style minivans that are anything except "mini" and small-to-mid-size "crossover vehicles" that are minivans pretending to be sport-utility models.

The Meriva and Corsa are straightforward family mobiles, elegant in their overall simplicity, efficient and economical in operation, and beyond sensible in meeting the daily transportation needs of most American motorists and their families.

The Meriva city wagon and Corsa hatchback also come with GM's 1.8-liter, four-cylinder FlexPower engine. They are maneuverable as heck, and they both get a bit more than 30 miles per gallon.

Mike C--Ford, an American car company, already has the technology to make a more fuel efficient car. They are already selling them in Brazil, where there is an abundance of alternative energy vehicles. Why can't Ford sell the same car in the US? There ability to sell these cars in the US has nothing to do with the Unions.

No time for the conomy. George Bush is busy righting (writing) a book on the results of his presidency. See George run. Run George, run.

MaryD ..What exacly in the leaked conversation should be private?

to add to my last post! the republican party has catered to the wealthy for 8 years.... while i pay more taxes than a ceo and barely make ends meet....

LOL...you need to actually look at real numbers, your ranting is just that...ranting...no facts...all just rehashing of political rhetoric

I really don't understand how bailing out all these companies (auto & banks) really is going to help. If no one can afford to pay their mortgages, credit cards, etc, how in the world are they going to purchase new cars.

Give us $300.00 stimulas package will not help. If they just gave everyone who paid taxes a quart million dollars, it would have been a lot less then what this bailout is, plus I'm thinking a lot of people would be able to pay off their debt and purchase new cars and other items.