6 out of 10 people can’t be wrong… can they?
According to CNN, 6 out of 10 people believe that GM, Ford and Chrysler should not get money.
Look at these guys….Do we really want to give them $45 Billion?!*
*notice how that number jumped from $25 Billion to $45 Billion in just a couple of weeks?
Simply unreal.
More later….
Categories: Blogging
Auto Bailout, Bailout, Big 3, Billion, Cars, Economy, Hearing committee, Politics, Washington DC
You obviously are not from the Midwest or have any friends or family that rely on the automakers to make a living(There are over a million people that work directly or indirectly with Big 3). Do you honestly think that what this country needs is another million people struggling to make ends meet and keep food on the table. It would be catastrophic if the Big 3 did not get some kind of financial help.
I believe there should be strict guidlines and mass restructuring for the auto companies when they recieve their bail out money. It is obvious that the way the Big 3 run their companies is not working but that does not mean the United States should throw in the towel on them.
Your right Joe, I don’t have friends or family that have jobs in the Big 3 but if I were working there, I would’ve started looking for a new job when I first caught wind of them begging the Government for money.
I’ll be doing some more follow ups to this as this is something that definitely interests me in how we continue to “Socialize” our society today.
-Aaron
Remember Aaron, I’m talking about a million jobs here. Where do you suggest that many people begin looking for work? How about the economic consequences of a population that large looking for work, missing mortgage payments and simply not consuming goods because of lack of funds. I think that even if you are not from the midwest and have no affiliation with the auto industry you would still strongly feel the economic effects of companies like the Big 3 going under. Please expand on your thoughts about how we continue to “socialize” out society. I am interested.
Let’s talk about it Joe.
Honda, Toyota, Nissan I’m sure will want to come in and start up plants in or near where GM, Chrysler or Ford are/were.
You will most likely see a stability of some of those jobs but of course, not all of them.
Then again… maybe they won’t.
Let’s take your doomsday scenario though…. Millions out of work.
What I have accepted already (which everyone else seems to still be in denial over) is that the Big 3 will fail, it’s not a question of “if” anymore, it’s “when”. Money now or money later will not save them from failing. With that, let’s say we loose all those jobs. You basically have Michigan loose those jobs. Trickle out further, and you have dealerships start closing up shop and laying off people.
We would have an unemployment number that would look grim, but it wouldn’t be the end of the world. People in those dealerships, would look to get jobs at other car dealerships, or maybe start a business doing something they’ve wanted to do but haven’t had the time or opportunity to. Others will file for unemployment and then look to get into another job.
That’s what the future looks like it will be.
Now, your other points. Right now…. GM, Ford, Chrysler are paying people on some assets, but the other sources of revenue (IE “borrowed money”) are loans of credit. Right now our economy is so entrenched in “borrowing” that people at the Big 3 right now are probably getting their paychecks on loans the CEO’s are getting in order to keep them working. Think about that and let that settle in for a bit.
They have NOT been able to turn a profit for consecutive (omitting Fords Q1 ‘08 black revenues) quarters. Why? Fundamentally, people don’t want to buy the POS cars that they produce. So even though you’ll have mom’s and dad’s not being able to pay their mortgages, utility bills etc, the economy will be correctly itself which means the sooner those people laid off will be able to get back to work.
Gosh I remember a time when I was growing up companies made money… and actually ran a profitable company and paid their employees with those profits. I suppose those days are gone since now you have the CEO’s who can’t run a company worth a damn asking someone for more money because they can’t manage it.
I got laid off my job in the tech sector about 4 weeks ago…. I’m already feeling this crappy economy, but the overall capitalistic market needs to self correct and NOT be propped up any longer.
What I meant by “socialize” our society… is just that. We have become a Socialist society where our Government (God Bless them) have decided (IE “done the thinking for us”) to use OUR money… that’s right Joe… your money and my money… To “bailout” these banks, financial institutions and now Auto industry giants…. who have made risky decisions and are now still asking for more money!
In part, our Government is spending our money in “our” best interests when quite frankly, they don’t even know where it’s going, nor seeing real results of the “bailouts”. They continue to deflate the dollar and prop up these companies that should have gone under and filed for Bankruptcy a long time ago.
Those are good thoughts Aaron and a very well presented arguement. I will think on your comments about the economy being “propped up”. Self correcting capitalist markets are indeed important in the overall scheme of things. However, I still believe that limited interference in a self correcting market can still have positive results in a capitalist economy that is experiencing troubles. I would say that the Big 3 are looking at being self corrected in a capitalist society right now. It’s simple, If they get their bailout money they can do two things with it: 1: Self correct by completely changing the way they run their buisiness so they can turn a profit and compete in a world capitalist environment. or 2: Completely fail, receive no bailout money and get no chance of restructuring. Fade to distant memories and we can tell our kids that there used to be an area called the midwest where many people lived. I will end up being your neighbor and we can fight over an IT job that I dont want but have to pursue to put food on the table.
Your thoughts?
Like I said…. They will fail at this point.
What could happen is what the Senators hinted at yesterday which is a government sanctioned massive re-org of their companies. That means, cutting the CEO’s loose, putting different management up at the top and having a government run car company with it’s agenda. What’s bad about that is of course it’s completely Socialist.
The underlying message of these guys begging for money to keep the companies afloat while they “adjust” is simply a smoke screen because truthfully as the testimony was heard yesterday, it’s going to take $75-$125 Billion for the Big 3 when it’s all said and done.
I don’t want Ford to fail…. I’ve got my Grandpa’s 66 1/2 Mustang that I want to restore and still have parts around for it and they actually have done the best job out of the Big 3 that I’ve seen.
Either way…. The era of “Free market capitalism” died the minute the first bailout package was signed and now, like always it seems…. we’re paying the price for it.