US Auto bailout rejected
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- harlequino0
I wouldn't feel bad about bailing them out with taxpayer cash if it came with the concession that the manufacture of pretoleum cars will be illegal in the US by 2015 or so. Change yer shit up.
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- designbot0
Anyone have a link to the actual proposal? I don't think it's publicly available. If I recall correctly, the main part of the "plan" from these automobile manufacturers was to start producing "smaller more economical cars" instead of focusing on trucks and massive SUV's. wtf kind of plan is that!
Might have been a good one, 10 years ago.
- SteveJobs0
bail them out, but give every American a share of their stock in return.
also, ensure their plan is to eliminate all but one 8 cylinder models from their line ups.
each should provide a viable plan for ensuring that at least 80% of their production vehicles use an alternative fuel source by the end of 2010. this aggressive timeline will require a bigger workforce for the automakers as well as relevant 3rd party's.
ALL executives with paygrades above 500k, should take a significant paycut to help ensure the survival of the company.
All private jets should be sold before bailout begins.
Appointed czars who will report actions within each company - their communication with the government should be transparent and within public view.
finally, a gm and chrysler merge should be seriously considered.
- I likemonkeyshine
- or just sell them to bmw or vw....obsolete
- chossy0
Now you guys are making good noises.
- Frosty_spl0
Its not just the Big 3 that are going to burn. Toyota stock took a 10% drop this morning. You brits need to take your heads out of your asses. =)
- We fucked up our car companies years and years ago.chossy
- touche. haha.Frosty_spl
- TheBlueOne0
Cheney weighs in:
"Bush personally lobbied recalcitrant Senate Republicans after Vice President Dick Cheney failed to round up support Wednesday during a contentious two-hour meeting.
"If we don't do this, we will be known as the party of Herbert Hoover forever," Cheney told them, according to a Senate Republican aide, evoking the president whose inaction is widely blamed for helping trigger the Great Depression in the early 1930s. "
- What a wiener.designbot
- it's a little late to be trying to reclaim your reputation, you dick.monkeyshine
- "known as the party of Hoover forever"... No, you will always be know as the Bush party forever.IRNlun6
- designbot0
^ pretty funny actually....that at this point he is actually concerned about reputation...haha....much too late Mr.Cheney you have entered the realm of permanent douchebagery.
- ETM0
I think American cars... well GM and Ford anyway, have really been working hard to make better, more efficient cars. Ford especially has been showing some effort. Problem is they keep copying what Asian car companies are doing rather than innovating. So yes, they will always be behind that way.
But lets keep in mind, Ford and GM make the most affordable Hybrids right now (Ford Escape and Chevy Malibu). Should be worth something. I see plenty of the Hybrid Escape's on the road here, especially in fleets... couriers and taxis especially. Considering the volume of road time, I am glad to see it.
Biggest issue, is the domestics lose money on every vehicle sale, much because of the unions. Lets not forget all the fat pensions they have to pay out as well. The biggest thing the domestic brands can do, is restructure in a way that can allow them to get rid of the union. Union's are outdated concepts anyway with all the modern labour laws. The US soil Asian makers don't need unions, why do we?
- I think Chrysler still makes major crap and if 1 has to go, it's them.ETM
- ETM0
Also stop saying on US companies make BIG cars. Didn't Toyota just bring out the full size Tundra. Nissan has the Titan. Even Honda has the smaller Ridgeline. And the Asian makers make some hefty SUVs as well. Yes, they're playing to the US market demands, but that still makes them guilty of manufacturing such behemoths.
- designbot0
^ Right but the problem is not just making these enormous vehicles, but the fact that US automobile manufacturers actually focused on these. Instead of getting smart and following Honda or Toyota, with reliable economical smaller sized vehicles, they continued making these POS's even as gas prices sky-rocketed.
- ETM0
But, there is a 3-5 years dev cycle on a new vehicle. They can't drop everything they invested millions in when the gas and economic crisis hit so quickly. Its the same reason why Honda and Toyota ended up bringing so many large vehicles out in the last couple years as well. They started years ago when things were different. If this didn't happen, I would guarantee the Asian makers would be making some more large models to cash in on US tastes.
Lets not forget even Hyundai and Kia just released large SUVs as well.
- Lets not forget the Chevy Volt on the horizon. The next cycle will have more fuel efficient cars.ETM
- designbot0
I see what you're saying. I know they can't just drop everything and start making new vehicles. But also, this thing didn't just happen overnight. They have been hurting for a very long time, and for whatever reason, it seems like minimal action was taken to do anything about it. Seems pretty ignorant.
- ETM0
I agree, and I am not advocating a bail out. But there must be some middle ground, a better plan, to protect so many people's lively hoods.
More combined efforts need to be made... like GM developing the Vibe/Matrix with Toyota etc.
- designbot0
I'm with you.
And honestly, I think there are plenty of things that can be done without Government involvement.
- forcetwelve0
gm should have seen the writing on the wall years ago and started down-scaling the size of the tanks you guys drive over there. it really is ridiculous.
- it has nothing to do with that. the tanks sell well.sputnik2
- brandelec0
werd. lovely hummers
- mightcould0
This news pleases me. I hate to see people out of work, but the unions didn't help matters any. This was going to happen at some point.