Weigh In: A Bailout for the Auto Industry?

Please- Wakeup!!! Do not bailout these pinheads in Detroit. They made this mess. Let them lie in it. Do no put our children at risk!

I think the premise is wrong... The auto industry will need assistance for many years not just bridge loans until 2010/2011 and the arrival of electric cars. First of all, with 9%-10% unemployment, you is going to buy these $40k cars? And how many will be sold? Probably not enough to revive the industry for several years out (unless the government is going to give taxpayers a free electric car in return for taxpayer investment in the auto industry now).

Bailout maybe... First, union workers must take a pay cut so they make no more than $50k/yr (median US household income). Executives can't exceed $250k. Inefficient plants must be shutdown and others consolidated. Nobody gets paid to stay at home and not produce. If you're not producing cars, you should be attending skill improvement classes at work. Surplus car inventory should be donated to active military families serving in Iraq or Afganistan (first, those with deceased members, then wounded members, etc.). With economists telling us 2009/2010 may be bleak (8.5%-19% unemployment), we're going to need money to save States & Local governments, pension/retirement plans, and other key industries. We can't blow it all on continuing to keep an inefficient car industry doing business as usual.

My tax dollars should not be used to help out the 3 auto companies unless the union contracts are renegotiated to be similar to other industries. Simply helping the auto companies just encourages them, and the UAW, to continue down the same ruinous path. For too long the union emplyees have been able to extract benefits which have been exhorbitant so why should taxpayers continue to fund these same benefits. Further more before my tax dollars are to be used these executive salaries and their bonuses must reflect the conditions they are in and strategies must be tailored to where cars need to be to gain market share with respect to quality and consumer needs.

BTW forced unionization should be against the law....talk about socialism at its extreme!

NO, NO, NO! Corporate CEO's making outragious salaries? Unions that want, want, want at no matter what? Let them sink! I am tired of my money and having it go to bail out corporations and banks! If I go bankrupt due to ineptness, will the government come and bail me out of a mess? NO! Survival only goes to those who are well prepared!

Yes! It’s unfortunate but, how is this any different than the financial bailout? The automotive industry is a core industry that has both direct and indirect impacts on the global economy. The failure of the financial industry was a result of poor government regulations and risky ventures. The automotive industry failure has been more about downward market drivers and less about poor strategic discs ions. Another thing to note, much of the current automotive distress has been a result of the failure of the financial system.

Absolutely NOT! They should have to sink or swim on their own. If they can't make a decent car that is affordable and people actually want to buy, let them go down. The UAW brought this situation about by thinking they deserve life-time employment, fully paid health benefits and a huge retirement package. Let them take pay cuts, pay more for benefits, just like everyone else when faced with financial crises.

The Big 3 should be allowed to go bankrupt and then be allowed to restructure under a "business model" which would be quite a departure from the current social welfare scheme they currently have drifted into. The autos/trucks they are trying to sell today are price burdened with the costs of benefits paid to employees who have not worked in as much as 20 or 25 years in some cases. When I retired some years ago from a large, multi-national American Company after 30+ years of employment my retirement package included company paid health benefits and life insurance. After 6-8 months the company encountered severe financial difficulities and I received a letter stating they could no longer afford to pay for those benefits. I was given a grace period of about 6 months to find my own coverage and the company benefit expired. I've made it just fine! I was mad at the time but I got over it and Detroit should get over it too.

At the end of the day, bail or no bail. They still will not make vehicles people will buy. For years, they produced sub-par, unreliable product. Let them fix this on their own.

Stop allowing unions in any work place we have labor laws in this century to protect the workers, all these guys do is cause higher prices in everything they touch, for example schools cost $200 a square foot in places without them and $900 a square foot where they exist and the materials cost isn't the reason it is the labor cost that includes these middle men unions. This isn't a party issue it is however a survival of this country issue!

I say we have to let them fail. Yes, jobs will be lost but why give them money only to have to give them more down the road. They MUST get away from the problems with the Union - they will never be successful if it cost 1500.00 dollars a car for health care compared to Toyota which is 110.00 a car. Pelosi and the dems are only about spending as much money as possible. We will never get out of this mess if we keep doing one bailout after the next. NO MORE BAILOUTS - are free markets work - they always have.

Detroit has been telling Congress to shove it when it came building cars with better MPG ratings, and now that the price of gas created a demand for more fuel effecient cars and Detroit has continued to build sub-20mpg gas guzzlers that are no longer selling that the government should bail them out! You are kidding right? The only way I'd see any kind of bail out is for Detriot to totally restructure itself into a more competitive business model... starting with the execs on down to the $75.00 per hour union workers. Why pour money into a business model that is destined to fail if not this year, next year unless it it toally restructured. The employees can look at it this way... better to have a job at half the pay than to have no job at all.

No more bailouts,the first ones should not have happened.Even worse is still having the top excutives(ie Barney Frank, Charles Dodd CEOs at AIG etc)in charge ,how can they fix it when they keeo doing the same things that caused it.There should be some form of over sight to see how the monies are spent.Many businesses have lost everything and no one is bailing them out.It is a hard lesson but maybe it is time to face the music and change the way things are done and learn you can't spend what you don't have(just like the average folks have too do) American needs to stay a free country of opportunity and one looking for handouts(socialism) Companies need to be told Put on your BIG BOY panties and suck it up.

There should NOT be any bailout for the automobile companies. Management made their current bed and should remake it on their own. They must make some hard choices to cut their excessive costs. First, ALL uppermanagement should sign contract modifications giving up ALL bonuses, stock options, restricted stock, options country club memeberships and other perks. Second, management MUST renegotiate the outrageous labor contracts that they signed with the automobile workers union. Pay/hour, overtime, retirement pay, health insurance (for both active and retired employees) MUST be reduced to reduce costs to acceptable levels. A bailout now without the above requirements would be nothing more than political payoff by the Democrats for the vast amount of money and manpower the union provided in the presidential primary and the presidential election.

Why should we bail out the American automakers. A big part of "capitalism" is that some businesses thrive and others fail. When businesses fail, new ones come along and take their place. The problem with the American automakers is that their labor unions priced themselves right out of the market. Along with that, American automakers have never shown any real market savvy by offering autos that Americans want, as well as trucks and SUV's, and being more flexible for changing market conditions. Other automakers, ie. Honda, Toyota, etc., are doing just fine with non-union workers and the companies had the market savvy to have autos people want to buy as market conditions changed. In my opinion, we should let the American car makers just go under. I fully realize that 2 million jobs, from manufacturers to the dealerships and everything in between, are affected by this but there are other auto companies to work for if that is the industry they wish to work in. Bailing out American automakers is just throwing good money after bad. Along with that, the UAW should take notice that by overpricing themselves, they have pushed the American automakers to the same bad ending another union group did to Eastern Airlines. (Remember them??) I am tired of seeing everyone being bailed of their financial troubles by the government. If they had just followed the primary rules of budgeting, living and working within their means, we would not be in nearly so much trouble today.

Let them declare bankruptcy like everyone else and come back meaner and leaner. If we bail them out they will just piss away the money like the banks are doing. BTW, when they come back leaner and meaner let's hope the boat anchor called the UAW isn't still attached . . . . haven't we all had enough of these people?

Absolutely do NOT bail out auto industry., A cash infusion would ONLY be approp if the unions were dismantled.

Let them fail. It's called Capitalism for a reason. In order to remain successful in a competitive capitalist market, companies must adapt and be nimble to the changing demands of the market. I'm sorry for the workers that lose their jobs, but would we bail out McDonalds or Subway or HP or Apple? I think not! Let the Auto Giants fail so that the unions will finally begin to realize the ultimate impact they had on business. They have served to selfishly protect the wages and benefits of their members with reckless disregard to the actual industries. Why have all of our manufacturing jobs been outsourced to other countries ... because the unions have driven up the price of labor in the US (specifically the manufacturing sector) to the point that the price of AMERICAN MADE GOODS has become to pricey for the US Consumer. CAPITALISM WITHOUT BANCRUPTCY IS LIKE RELIGION WITHOUT SIN! If there's no penalty for failure, then there's no need to strive for profit. Sound a little like government?

I am vehemently opposed to an automaker bailout, even though I worked for Chrysler for 19 years. Both management and UAW are responsible for their troubles and should bear the burden for creating the problems. I believe Pelosi and Obama are pushing for the bailout because the Democrats owe the unions bigtime.

What the auto industry needs much more than a bailout is an overhaul. Start making cars people want fuel efficient "greeN Friendly" with syle (not like the look-alike half melted bars of soap looking ones there cookie cutter pressing out.... and can the American working guy get a car that doesn't cost 50 grand?? Detroit is turning out too many vehicles nobody's excited about and nobody can resonably afford..... no bailout's gonna fix that!

where is my bail out?? if i were able to rack up 30b worth of debt and ask uncle sam for help i would be in jail!!!

No bailout, put a system in place to punish the excecutives, this kind of thing doesn't happen overnight they new it was coming.... and most likely they have sheltered thier own stash of cash so that when they leave now nothing can get to them. Trace the money from the lobby groups and you will find politicians that knew it was coming as well.from both sides of the fence.

They have not kept up with demand for more quality, more MPG, electric vehicles, etc. The UAW and the Federal Gov't has been complicit and the whole industry needs a restructuring under Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The Feds need Obama. I hope the Volt gives me a real charge.

Auto makers made high fuel efficient for years for sale in foreign countries but fail to do the same in the US. That failure should not be rewarded with a bail out. If there is a bailout, all board and senior management mst be replaced for the bailout to take place.

Why cant the American worker, take a pay cut, work harder and not want so much free medical etc.... I would think losing everything like Detroit industry would be an incentive! Quit picketing for more needs and start working harder to save your way of life! I am amazed at the pays people make and where most of the money goes regarding health insurances etc... Other companies are doing just fine! I guess an Obama way of life is the wait for the hand out and not take responsibility for your own community!

i think that if the govt. does not bail the big 3 out than we would be really screwed!!! all 150000 employees would hit the uninployement line at the same time and then the govt would have to bail out the govt!! when is enough, enough???

Absolutely not!!! They made their mess - they can either clean it up - or flush it!! Of course, that is how I feel about the whole bailout issue. It should never have happened!!!!! The American people, by an overwhelming percentage, were against this in the first place but would those who are supposed to be so smart listen - well, now look at the mess we've got. Absolutely asinine! Thank you Congress. I hope you are proud of yourselves - I'm not!

The Auto Industry will be better off if it is allowed to restructure under Chapter 11. Pouring cash on them will be just a waste of cash in the end. Besides, why should my tax dollars go to pay for the benefits of retired auto workers?

There should be NO more bailouts. We should not have allowed the ones to date. This is Socialism!!! The extent of Government involvement should have been (1)to cut Capital Gains Tax to zero to encourage investments, (2) guarantee all Bank deposits to $1 million to stop run on healthy banks,(3)reset all mortgages to a "reasonable" interest rate to reduce forclosues, and (4) lower Corprate tax rates to encourage businesses and jobs to stay in this Country. Then, the Government needs to "get out of the way" and allow the Capitalistic System to purge the excesses, the weak, and the dumb. NO MORE BAILOUTS!!! R/Joe

NO, absolutely not! The taxpayers in this country who are all struggling financially themselves should absolutely not be forced to pay for decades of misdeads by the management and unions of the "Big Three" U. S. automakers. I worked for both General Motors and Ford about 35 years ago. Even back then GM was referred to by its employees as "Generous Motors". Since the 1930's the U. S. auto industry would do its tri-annual negotiations dance with the UAW. Then whatever increase in pay and benefits the union was granted would be automatically added to the prices of the car line-up to provide a reasonable profit to the companies. Employees were underworked and overpaid. The formula and dance worked extremely well until the industry finally started having to compete with efficient and intelligent producers like Toyota, Honda Nisson and others. Now Madam Pelosi and Prince Reid want us to pay for 75 years of indiscretions by Big Three Management and the UAW. That is nothing short of stealing from the rest of the country to support a bloated, inefficient industry. It is Socialism with a capital "S". They must be allowed to use the bankruptcy court as the normal method for dealing with this gross mismanagement. Anything else should be cause for mutiny among the U. S. Taxpayers.

Let them all fail. That's how a free market works. If we start rewarding those who make bad investments then buisnesses will intentionally show a loss just to get a piece of the "bailout" pie.I suspect that's already happening.

When does it end? As the auto industry makes overatures, the airline industry is developing its own plan. After that, rail, tourism, retail, hospitlity, medical, etc. will want their bailout. Now there is talk of the banks wanting the feds to pay off consumer credit card debt? Whre will it end?

Let them all go under. They are the main reason why we don't have more efficient cars. Check out who killed the electric car on youtube. WKTEC pretty much sums up the auto industry and how they treat us.

No

lET THEM FIGURE IT OUT ON THEIR OWN. THE UNIONS ARE KILLING THEM AND THET HAVEN'T RESPONDED TO CONSUMER DEMAND FOR FUEL EFFICIENT VEHICLES.GET RID OF THE UNIONS AND START GETTING IN TUNE WITH YOUR CUSTOMER BASE.

NO not now wait to buy and break up then give nephew James his share-Uncle Sam needs a different engine. Joe Consumer laid-off, Joe Politician empowered, Joe Finance not in jail, and Joe Momma is pissed. Make something you can sell to a frugal consumer and build from there.

The car industry dug their own grave when they decided to continue building large SUVs and gas hogs. They had a chance during the Clinton administration to do the right thing and get funding to retool. They mismanaged their companies and are now trying to sell products that the American people do not want due to the gas prices. If a company can not change with the times, then they should be left behind. Jobs will be lost, but this is what has to happen to have management in the car industry replaced with responsible leaders that are ready to run a business with the changing times. If you look back at our short term history... Things we no longer use: typewriter, VHS tapes, 8 tracks, camera film, people no longer buy music CDs, most people now days use cell phones instead of house phones. Please say "NO" to the Bailout of the car industry. They had their chance. It's their fault! They could have cars that get 60 MPG by now!

No the auto industry should not be bailed out. Should I need to buy a new car I don't want my income tax to be used to build a car I will owe sales tax on and drive the car home through the pot holes in the road my taxes should have filled in. Bellingham, WA

NO, Let them go thru Bankruptcy like everyone else and restructure the following, Union Contracts, Lease agreements, etc. If they get My money from the Govt it will be business as usual.

Labor unions continuing demands has pushed GM and other automakers into a corner. Now we are suppose to bail them out so that the huge health care contributions and large pensions the unions negotiated can continue. Plus, reward the automakers for their own blind eye to the growing need for fuel-efficient cars. Couple that with the way they enticed customers in with their no money down loans. Is it taxpayers fault that they are now under duress? Is it necessary to continue their legacy or should we let other leaner, smaller companies emerge to be the powerhouses of the future? There is no way of knowing these archaic behemoths won't continue their insane mistakes but if we reward them with billions, they are almost guaranteed to. We have all had to learn new job skills, it is time the automakers and their unions face the new world.

I think the market should rule, let them fail! They have been unwilling to change their ways and update their business models like the competition. GM, Ford and Chrysler all compete amongst themselves with similar models of cars and trucks. GMC and Chevy both make the same truck! Ford, Lincoln and Mercury make the same cars! It’s insanity! Let them fail, the strong will regroup with better business models and come back to compete in the marketplace

No. If they are in trouble, let the unions bail them out. They are the biggest reason for their financial problems.

The Big 3 should be allowed/forced to file for bankruptcy, thereby voiding the union contracts, restructure and then compete with the foreign manufacturers on an equal footing. Government money should not be used for fringe benefits to current or retired employees. Its the American way.

HELL NO! I have lost 40% of my retirement account and the government now wants me to insure the overpaid union workers retirements and benefit packages who have helped drive away manufacturing jobs from this country!

Let them fail! Take the best of all three and consolidate to one. The management and the unions are the problem - dump both! Too much capacity of the WRONG vehicle. Oh - and American cars are kind of junk as well - quality control would be nice.

The greed of the US auto industry should not be rewarded with tax payer dollars. CEO's that make several million dollars a year all the way down to blue collar workers making a hundred thousand dollars a year with their union affiliations. From top to bottom they are overpaid. They should be ashamed of their feeling of entitlement. They should all take a pay cut and use that extra money to bail themselves out. Signed, Hard working in South Dakota.

Do NOT bail out the auto companies! Let free market forces work--they provide the ONLY long term solution. GM, Ford may "die" for now but will then come back stronger than ever. Also--they need to get out from under oppressive unions to be competitive again