[newultraclassic]

Bread Line '29!

Just kidding.

Is it right for the government to bail out the Automakers, and not all the other businesses?

Granted: if the automakers die so do the steelmakers and all the smaller supporting industries. However, where do we draw the line?

Why don't the government just give everybody money to buy a new car? LOL That would save the auto industry!

Perhaps if the Auto execs didn't get paid so much?

If the big three automakers go out of business, it will start a chain reaction of unemployment and welfare payments the likes of which has not been seen in modern US history. The events of 1929 will pale in comparison.

I'm not certain about the numbers of jobs to be lost but I heard on the news today that it might be in the neighborhood of 3,000,000 jobs. I'm talking about auto line employees, suppliers, management, car dealers, suppliers and other vendors. The further effect on services and retail businesses in areas where people are laid off cannot even be calculated.

You think you've seen and heard about foreclosures and retail business support failures? Hang onto your hat!

From what I just heard today, it looks like the Congress is going to let the car makers slide. If they do, there will be bread lines on the street in 90 days. If they let the car makers go, there will be hell to pay.

Just in Sacramento alone, 12 car dealers have gone out of business in the past 6 months. Just like the real estate issue, there is no credit in order for them to sell cars. In my area alone, three Ford dealers and a Saturn dealer are gone in the past 90 days.

It's easy to blame the car makers for poor management but the credit crisis is world wide at this time. Countries in Europe are approaching a depression.

Keep a close eye on the new democratic president and his mostly democratic Congress. That's a job I wouldn't want, especially with no experience.

 

[newultraclassic]

The auto makers are not going out of business, the truth is they will file for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy reorganization just like the airlines did, which means they will still be making cars. The workers and retirees will get screwed (along with taxpayers) but they ain't going out of business. The thing that will hurt the auto business, even with a bailout, is lack of demand, ie. declining sales. Folks are tightening their belts and hunkering down and that means a lot of businesses are going to be hurting from the big auto makers to the local small business. No bailout can prevent that.
Chapter 11 explained:
"Federal bankruptcy laws govern how companies go out of business or recover from crippling debt. A bankrupt company, the "debtor," might use Chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Code to "reorganize" its business and try to become profitable again. Management continues to run the day-to-day business operations but all significant business decisions must be approved by a bankruptcy court."

And if they do go bankrupt in Chapter 11, what will that do to consumer confidence? It will kill the rest of their sales. That's the wordt thing they could do.

 

[newultraclassic]

What's strange is the Dem Congress and Obama are the ones for the bailout, Bush is saying "too bad - go away."



$20,000 according to most estimates. But hey - you don't expect THEM to cut back, do you?? Ken Lay said it best - it is "difficult to turn off that lifestyle like a spigot"

I wonder what it cost for Obama's round trip flight to Hawaii for a visit to his dying grandmother. I'm not saying I care and I don't now who paid but it couldn't have been cheap with all of that security.

20K is peanuts. You can make a big deal out of the airplanes. I think it stinks, too but it's not the real problem now.

If the car manufacturers go out of busines, there will be food riots in a short time.

 

[newultraclassic]

Hey Pike hate to tell you this but Wikipedia is a very interesting but very unreliable source of information. Not that what you read is false but I wouldn't take it to the bank. I've never tried it but people can edit content. So I've heard but never had time to try it. Check it out.

I certainly agree with you on Wikipedia. It can be very good and it can also be totally wrong. Also unless you have a perfect comment with citations to support literally every word, when you edit it or add to it, the suits that run the place will try to shoot you down.

I try not to use it unless absolutely necessary and it's smart to double check anything you find there.