The World Newser

THANK GOD.

Why should my tax dollars be used to bail out GM? GM union workers get 80% pay while on lay-off, I get nothing when I'm laid off. Plus, GM managers get company paid vehicles, usually a Cadillac every three months with insurance, gas and car washes paid for by GM. I do not want my tax dollars paying for these items.

No more polluted future- alternative energy is the way to go. Just think the Middle East will be ###### at us if we stop buying their oil. I guess they've been hearing this rhetoric for over 30 years and they believe we aren't going to be oil free. The Hydrogen mass transportation buses are now entering our major cities. That's a clue. More homes are putting solar panels on the their roofs that's another clue. Wind Mill farms are sprouting up through out the U.S. that's another clue and hopefully it will continue this infectious pattern.

Why does the American taxpayer have to bailout the auto industry? Why not go to your partner in crime...the oil industry. They've reported billion dollar profits. I'm sure they wouldn't mind.

I hate to say this but GOOD! Let the Dems take all the heat when this goes down the drain! For years we have been bailing the Auto Industry out! It is time for the Auto Industry to kick the Unions out! It is the Union cost that make them uncompetitive! For years the Union has rapped the Big 3! For all you union workers, I am sure that the Big 3 will be very happy to hire you back, might be less per hour but you would still have a job! Better than collecting unemployment!

DO NOT BAIL THEM OUT. Giving the automakers money will only postpone the inevitable. They will not get on their feet and pay it back - they will stay mediocre and crappy as always. Time to clean house and stop pouring taxpayer money into failing and doomed institutions.

We nreed to let the system run it´s course. The big three have fallen into this situation of their own accord. For a business to fail, thee need one of three things««« Bad Product«««« Bad management«««« or Bad employees! The Big3 have all of the above. For God's sake, GM is introducing a new Hummer this year«««« 6mpg«««« get real!!! What are they thinking??? We should allow the chips to fall where they may! If that means bankruptcy, so be it. That will force a change««« the courts will impose new mangement and the unions will be out of the picture. There are plenty of people out there looking for work to replace the union employees. The UAW guys are making around $40/hr«««« new hires in a reorganized company would be able to come in around $15/hr. «««« And there are plenty of people out there that would love to have the opportunity! If everyone in the current businesses of the Big3 lost their lobs because of the situation, nearly everyone currently loking for an opportunity would jump tight in and fill the void! Net loss of jobs««« nearly ZERO!! As far as the proposed bailout goes-----"Spending billions of additional federal tax dollars with no promises to reform the root causes crippling automakers’ competitiveness around the world is neither fair to taxpayers nor sound fiscal policy," Doesn't seem like rocket science to me!

Toyota, Honda, Mercedes Benz and BMW build cars here in the US with Union labor but you don't see them asking for a 'bailout'. Guess they did thier homework and the idiots in Detroit didn't. By their own standard of a
'free market' they should be allowed to collapse and be replaced by those whose performance, both financially and socially, deserves reward. Same for all those 'free market' banks etc. who are now bellying up for their welfare checks. Free markets without responsibillity and regulation is just another form of slavery for most of us.

I'm glad to hear there is not enough support. But keep letting your Congressional reps know you are opposed to this legal form of stealing from taxpayers.

The "problem" with Bail-Outs[Wall-Street, AIG and those lining-up for a piece of the U.S. Treasury as served-up by Czar Henry Paulson}, plain and simple, is CONGRESS. 10% (54 members ) are bright and knowledgeable 90% are incompetent. And you guessed it, members of the 90% class are in charge by virtue of arcane self-rules that virtually drowned the very few competent members of the House and Senate. This whole financial mess can be traced back to Public Law 106-554 Sec.1(a)(5) titled the Commodities Futures Modernization Act circa 2001.

The realities of the financial crisis finally surface, and what do the INCOMPETENTS do, stick their collective heads up their you-know-whats, and hand the keys to the U.S. Treasury over to Henry Paulson, ex CEO of Goldman Sachs.

Chapter 7 of the Bankruptcy code was passed many years ago. It has a purpose: liquidate poorly run insolvent companies the likes of AIG, Lehman, GM, Chrysler, Ford and every other company receiving or requesting a U.S. Treasury/Government bail-out. Chapter 11 is a cop-out, giving time and money to the same execs who ran their companies into the ground in the first place, is nothing short of CRAZY.

Congress ( the INCOMPETENT 90% ) assume the public is as dumb as they are; the public is not. All these companies deserve to fail, and, as far as Czar Paulson is concerned, he is nothing short of a carpet bager who is embezzling the U.S. Taxpayer out of over $700 billion.

YOMAMA ««««« I agree 100%. The foreign companies aren't doing great, but they're not in the line with ther hands out either. And««« they never will be! they're smarter that that. It's called cut and run! If it no longer makes good business sense, then they know not to continue. Look at DHL---- it's just not a profitable situation««« thank you very much, but we're out of here! But these guys in Detriot don't have a clue! They continue to invest all of their money in the development of products that no one wants! That's first and foremost why the foreign manufacturers are here!!! Because the American public wants wht they have. Last person leaving Detroit, please turn out the lights!

Don't do it - if a company gets so large that it cannot be allowed to fail through it's own mismanagement, then a company shouldn't be allowed to get so large. Period.

Here is what they should do. Do not give the banks the money instead talk to all world leaders. Have what they call a jubilee in the bible. Everyone is cleared of their debts around the world. All corporations all businesses all home owners all car owners all banks, all credit cards are clear and everyone starts over with good credit because no one is in debt. Even hospitals, churches, nursing homes everyone and everything is debt free.
the banks will have money to loan to people and this time do it correctly. People will not have credit card debts so they qill spend more giving businesses more money. Corporations will be able to hire more people. New businesses will start up. the auto industry will pick up business. Everyone will be a winner here.

wow, I am surprised that all of the comments previous to this were so against a GM bailout. Do all of you drive Toyotas? Yes GM has not had the best business strategy in the past 15 years, but it does employ, in aggregate, many, many people. And do the person who said knock out UAW people and replace them with people who make $15/hr, that is just stupid. Who does that help? So then you have a team of workers being paid low income wages. Thinking like that is one reason why our economy was so fragile in the first place...export all of the well paying manufacturing jobs and replace them with low paying service jobs...that was a bad shift in our workforce. Plus, people making $15/hr cant afford to buy a home, which is really the root of a lot of these problems. But, although it sucks for the taxpayer, I think that, as Americans, we shouldn't turn our back on an American company, but help them to thrive again.

Hey, plus, with globalization and all, the closing of GM would negatively affect jobs in other nations that produce the parts for cars or tires and what have you. This would further aggravate the worsening global economy.
If this came up before the Wall Street bailout, I think it would have been much more popular.

Wow, i never wrote this much on a blog or comments page before.

Obama has made promises to the UAW and he means to keep them. The big three will get their bailout and the taxpayer will get fleeced once again. The only recourse we have is to contact our legislators and tell them no no no money for the car makers. There are other car companies in the US like Toyota who are very successful and actually make a profit. But the do not have the demands of the UAW to meet so the price per car is less.

Meanwhile back at the ranch - those who moan and complain about NOT having enough hybrids and alternative fuel cars will build them in their basements! Umm - ok! Read my ID - that's who posts on here!

Bo from GM has been on the back of suppliers for a number of years, no breaks, no help only give, give, give to GM. Where is Bo now, what is he saying? Bo is out there with hat in hand looking for a handout from the Government. Bo are you still out there? Are you ready to help the supplier???????????

wasn't it a little while ago that someone wanted the American People to bail out the government? What happened to that situtation? Let's ALL start thinking like our ancestors and PAY as we GO. If you don't have the cash in your pocket you can't have it.Or better yet let's SAVE UP our money. I am a single mother of eight children and if I don't have the cash I can't go buy the food or pay the rent. Why should businesses be any different?

Since when did $15 per hour become low income? That's $31,200 with no overtime, which I am sure you will still get. Be glad that it's $15 /hour and not minimum frickin wage! If you can't afford to buy a house, rent an apartment, save the 20% down payment and wait like every other responsible American. Get use to living within your means. I get so sick of hearing that "I have kids to support and bills to pay." Hello, you made those decisions for yourself. Don't put this on the American taxpayer's back to support and bail you out. Tough it out like everyone else would. Trust me, you'll be better off in the end.

The management and unionized workers in the US auto inudstry are both responsible for the mess they are in. The companies fought safety and fuel standards for decades. Even some new vehicles do not have head restraints for rear passengers! They are making Hummers and V10 trucks! Ford proudly announced it would spend $150 to upgrade their cars: $75 for the interior (which is OK) and $75 for the three chrome bars on the grill (aimed at keeping us children happy?). They really need to look at the long-term reliabilty tables in the April issue of Consumer Reports.