Lordy, lordy, the auto deal is dead and all hell has broken loose out here in Michigan. Don’t worry, Bush has $15 billion left in TARP and he will give that to the auto companies and at least leave the presidency on a somewhat positive note.
Yes, the deal breaker was the UAW since they said NO to any immediate wage and benefit concessions. They would rather GM & Chrysler go bankrupt and they all lose their jobs instead of giving into GOP demands. Hey, that is how they think.
Anyway, in the process of discussing this whole issue it became apparent that people still don’t get the big picture and keep asking naive questions that need to be answered.
HOW DID THE AUTO COMPANIES GET INTO THIS MESS? The short answer is Wall Street. The assholes on Wall Street screwed our financial system up so badly with their greed and stupidity that the country plunged into a recession with credit markets all but dried up. At this very tenuous moment, car sales as well as other sales, dived; no credit available and nobody brave enough to spend.
Like I said, this is the short answer; no company can survive a 50% drop in sales without DRASTIC measures. The auto companies could have possibly survived the drop in sales for awhile IF there was money they could borrow BUT, as I said, the credit market dried up.
WHY ALL THE BILLIONS TO FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS AND NOT TO AUTO COMPANIES?
Please remember that Paulson and Bernake went bonkers with billion dollar bailouts to banks, financial institutions and insurance firms which were all kind of linked, because they were trying the STOP THE U.S. BANKING / FINANCIAL SYSTEM FROM SHUTTING DOWN. If that happened, every company in the U.S. and every American in the U.S. would suffer or die financially; see the difference between financial institutions and manufacturers?
The fact is that no other U.S. manufacturer is asking for help and especially, none of the other auto companies. Many companies are just declaring bankruptcy as per our capitalistic system. If you read the paper you will see daily lists of companies declaring bankruptcy.
Ford Motor Company, because they were forward thinking people, is in a much stronger position to weather this economic downturn but they will too, eventually need a line of credit and that is all they are asking for.
GM and Chrysler were not as forward thinking as Ford but were making progress in restructuring; they just did not do it fast enough and now are stuck with enormous costs and no sales.
The unions and their so called legacy costs (pensions / health coverage) are one of the biggest factors in why the Big 3 are not prepared to survive this perfect economic storm BUT they were working towards diminishing the unions as factors (buyouts, etc.) and in time, would probably be in a lean and mean competitive position; economic events beyond their control occurred and they were not ready.
We should not be shouting at each other as to what is the right thing to do or the humanitarian thing to do, we should be looking at the situation with the best interest of all in mind and for that the UAW needed to step up to the plate and accept the GOP request to align their wages and benefits to those of existing non-union auto worker’s wages and benefits. It would not be that drastic since most of the new hires at the Big 3 already do that. No. the problem is the UAW leadership which refuse to see reality and believe that with a new Democratic administration coming in, they have a chance to regain their old power and glory and I say that this cannot be allowed to happen and the GOP opponents of the auto bill were doing just that!
Yes, the deal breaker was the UAW since they said NO to any immediate wage and benefit concessions. They would rather GM & Chrysler go bankrupt and they all lose their jobs instead of giving into GOP demands. Hey, that is how they think.
Anyway, in the process of discussing this whole issue it became apparent that people still don’t get the big picture and keep asking naive questions that need to be answered.
HOW DID THE AUTO COMPANIES GET INTO THIS MESS? The short answer is Wall Street. The assholes on Wall Street screwed our financial system up so badly with their greed and stupidity that the country plunged into a recession with credit markets all but dried up. At this very tenuous moment, car sales as well as other sales, dived; no credit available and nobody brave enough to spend.
Like I said, this is the short answer; no company can survive a 50% drop in sales without DRASTIC measures. The auto companies could have possibly survived the drop in sales for awhile IF there was money they could borrow BUT, as I said, the credit market dried up.
WHY ALL THE BILLIONS TO FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS AND NOT TO AUTO COMPANIES?
Please remember that Paulson and Bernake went bonkers with billion dollar bailouts to banks, financial institutions and insurance firms which were all kind of linked, because they were trying the STOP THE U.S. BANKING / FINANCIAL SYSTEM FROM SHUTTING DOWN. If that happened, every company in the U.S. and every American in the U.S. would suffer or die financially; see the difference between financial institutions and manufacturers?
The fact is that no other U.S. manufacturer is asking for help and especially, none of the other auto companies. Many companies are just declaring bankruptcy as per our capitalistic system. If you read the paper you will see daily lists of companies declaring bankruptcy.
Ford Motor Company, because they were forward thinking people, is in a much stronger position to weather this economic downturn but they will too, eventually need a line of credit and that is all they are asking for.
GM and Chrysler were not as forward thinking as Ford but were making progress in restructuring; they just did not do it fast enough and now are stuck with enormous costs and no sales.
The unions and their so called legacy costs (pensions / health coverage) are one of the biggest factors in why the Big 3 are not prepared to survive this perfect economic storm BUT they were working towards diminishing the unions as factors (buyouts, etc.) and in time, would probably be in a lean and mean competitive position; economic events beyond their control occurred and they were not ready.
We should not be shouting at each other as to what is the right thing to do or the humanitarian thing to do, we should be looking at the situation with the best interest of all in mind and for that the UAW needed to step up to the plate and accept the GOP request to align their wages and benefits to those of existing non-union auto worker’s wages and benefits. It would not be that drastic since most of the new hires at the Big 3 already do that. No. the problem is the UAW leadership which refuse to see reality and believe that with a new Democratic administration coming in, they have a chance to regain their old power and glory and I say that this cannot be allowed to happen and the GOP opponents of the auto bill were doing just that!
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