I'd be twice as stupid at half the salary.  Maybe I can't...but I could try.

Where do I sign up?

Turning off brain now.

Ste

Yeah.  Nardelli--the Chrysler CEO--did such a great job as CEO of Home Depot...

Multimedia File Viewing and Clickable Links are available for Registered Members only!!  You need to or

I think the taxpayer's money is safe, don't you?   

Best,

George

Ok, I can't see letting them fall, but they do need some NEW management. Where's Lee Iacoco when you really need him?

There are about 3 million jobs (and the trickle down) depending on them to keep going. The unions need to give some, the CEOs neeed to be replaced with some people who actually know what the hell they're doing. The salaries need to be "adjusted" and the "packages" need to be eliminated. Times are tuff....

But our country can't afford to lose the manufacturing jobs right now.

We've seen the effect in Shreveport with the GE plant. Taxpayers are paying unemployment for a lot of laid off people right now. And that's just one plant.

We've got a big problem right now alright, but right now letting the car manufactures fall I really don't think would be a good idea.

Hugs BD

Hm.  Well, I'm pretty sure they're not spending $71 bucks an hour for the jobs they're shipping out to Mexico and wherever.  And with the US dollar's rise against the Canadian dollar, costs in their Canadadian assembly plants just keep getting lower.  Will heaving buckets of money at these jokers actually help?

Here's the best idea I've heard so far:

Don't give them any money at all.  Instead, require that the entire fleet of vehicles owned by the federal government be slated for replacement within four years with hybrid and plug-in electric vehicles. 

I've no doubt that some better-run companies would leap at the challenge, and could meet the demand.  What do you think the response of the "big three" might be?  I suspect that the whining would be impressive--and the demand would not, or could not be met by them, for a thousand elaborate reasons.

Best,

George

Yeah, we're in a really nasty spot with the auto industry in the U.S.  What idiots to take their private planes!!!!!!  

The U.S., over the past couple of decades, has basically become a service-oriented economy, and the autos are one of the few remaining industrial bases that we have located here.  NOT bailing them out means allowing them to go bankrupt (filing Chapter 11), and GM is quickly on its way there.  The problem with this is that they're capital intensive industries - and the UAW would likely be a real pain in the ass on giving up on claims against the companies.  Remember Delphi?  The auto parts supplier?  They filed for Chapter 11 back in 2005 - and they're still there.  

NY will survive the failure of Lehman and Bear Stearns - but what happens to MI, OH and IN if we force the big 3 into bankruptcy?  Michigan is already in trouble.  Its unemployment trust fund is already technically insolvent (less than three months of reserves).  Michigan is already facing a crisis.  Four other states are insolvent.  The number of people (in the U.S.) collecting state unemployment benefits hit a 25-year high of 3.84 million (on a seasonally adjusted basis).  !!!

Normally I'm not a fan of bailouts.  But who wants to buy a car from a bankrupt company when you have to worry if they can support the warranty?  And what happens to the resale market and the dealerships?  Service of the cars?  The consensus is that the US auto manufacturers need to shrink capacity by 40%. !! According to preliminary figures from the industry sales tracker Autodata, the seasonally adjusted annual sales rate plunged to 10.6 million - the lowest sales of autos here since February 1983.  Even last year the US was buying over a million cars a month.

It's not news that if allowed to fail, they'd need to deal with bankruptcy while recruiting new managers, corporate boards, restructuring labor relations - all while raising vast new sums of capital to invest in R&D and factory modernization for retooling.  

Sales by U.S. companies account for only 47% of domestic auto sales this year!  (10 years ago they had 70% of the domestic market).  So it's not like they've done a good job while NOT in bankruptcy!  The answer, clearly, is not just to hand them more money.  Just handing over federal loan money will not help with the high cost structure they've got given the UAW.

I don't know what the answer is.  I just know that we're all between a rock and hard place on this one.  

Laurie

that $71 figure is a little misleading.  That also includes what is paid out to retirees which the non big three car companies do not have to pay out.

However,  the UAW has to make concessions.

Quote:

The Japanese took what knowledge was available here as used it to their advantage. They listened to Deming, that's where their dedication to quality came from. They manufactured small cars to suit their needs. The first Toyotas and Hondas to come to the USA were akin to steaming piles of poo to the American consumer base. Small, cramped,underpowered and lacking the creature comforts this market demanded. When those cars didn't sell well, they studied the US market and came back with much improved vehicles, but still sold to a niche market until the gas "crisis" of 1973.

After the Pinto and Vega (turds that they were), the US manufacturers were willing to let them have the "small car" market because they had the rest of the bases covered, or so they thought. The Asians moved up in to the big 3's territory slowly but surely. Arrogance was the big 3's mistake, they thought people would stay loyal and buy what ever they sold.

Quote:

Perception is reality. The truth of the matter is Americans now look upon Japanese as bullet proof, even if they aren't. A couple of examples.....a guy I worked with purchased a new Pontiac in 1978. Twenty years and 250,000 trouble free miles later he finally bought a new car....a Nissan. I asked him why..... "I don't want any domestic junk."  

Second example.... A joint venture between Chrysler and Mitsubishi manufactured the Mitsubishi Eclipse, Eagle Talon, and Plymouth Laser in a plant in Normal, IL. These cars were identical save for interior fabrics, some exterior trim and name plates. The Japanese nameplate consistantly ranked higher than the other 2 in customer satisfaction. Perception strikes again.

B

I just saw that Toyota's CEO makes 1 million a year.\

I don't own an American brand car and I never will again.

Racer1_NC wrote on Nov 21^st, 2008 at 7:20pm:


Racer, I am still thinking about the look I would get from my husky if I were to tell him to get in the back seat of one of those old cvic’s without a shoe horn.

In regard to the big 3 bailout... Jay Leno made a fairly good observation last night ... divide the bailout among each American with the stipulation they use the money to buy a car.

I like that idea.

with warm regards,
Tony