Pelosi backs bailout for automakers (Mexico: student loan, buy, closing)

[thecoalman]

the gov't may be smarter then we may think. they are turning to the idea that anyone who comes to washington hat in hand must be willing to give up equity in exchange. they take over most of gm , pump the needed cash in, the stock rises back from its current 1946 price and they sell it reaping billions.

The primary problem with this is you are providing no incentive for a company to do better, why bother if the government is going to bail you out? It's the reason communism failed, no one had any incentive to do anything. That's besides the fact the government should not own any part of business, we need less involvement of government in business not more.



They can make fine American automobiles, I had a Buick Century with 200K on it that ran fine and I put nothing into from the time I bought it with 88K. However I did take care of it. Only reason I sold it was because the paint was falling of, everything was pretty much starting to look bad. You'll find similar stories for any Buick owner but no one wants the "Granny" car.

[mathjak107]

Its not a bailout, its a takeover with shareholder and employee stock going to zero or close to it. right now deutch bank has a price target for gm of zero............ they will forfeit entire company to the gov

[SteelCityRising]

I'm sorry to see that some of you have had poor experiences with some of your domestic vehicles, but I'm in a similar boat to thecoalman. I purchased my 1999 Ford Contour back in 2003 when it had under 50,000 miles on it. Today it's sitting pretty at about 106,000 miles and has required very little work beyond routine maintenance. To say I've been very pleased by the quality of my automobile is an understatement. I've actually not even been taking proper care of my vehicle as much as I should either. I'm going to be taking it to the mechanic in about a week-and-a-half to get two new front tires put on, the oil changed, a re-alignment, and just a general "look over" of sorts, but I have a feeling my baby will come back healthy again, even though it's been 7,000 miles since my last oil change.

Why so long, may you ask? Well when you live in suburbia and NEED to be either at work or school seven days per week there is no way to be without a vehicle for a day. My break for Thanksgiving starts Tuesday of that week, so I'm planning on dropping off my vehicle at the mechanic after my afternoon classes on that day and then picking it back up the following Wednesday.

I've been nothing but pleased with the quality of my Ford and would be willing to buy another in a heartbeat. Unfortunately like I said though our domestic auto makers have CONTINUED to shove excessive SUVs and pick-up trucks in our faces. Who needs those besides the dwindling number of large families in our nation and the contractors/landscapers/construction workers who usually hold onto their trucks for years anyways? The Chevrolet Aveo looks like an egg on wheels. It's disgusting. The Chevrolet Cobalt looks like it's only a marginal improvement over the cheap-looking Cavalier, its predecessor.
The only domestic car I'd ever consider purchasing right now is the Ford Focus while I can think of a myriad of foreign cars I'd consider purchasing (Honda Fit, Toyota Yaris, Toyota Prius, Honda Civic Hybrid, Hyundai Elantra, Nissan Sentra, etc.)

[KarenRice]

I will say that the two best cars my family ever owned were both station wagons: a Buick Century and a Chevrolet Celebrity. My husband and I inherited the Chevy from my parents, and we kept it for a long time, affectionately referring to it as The Old Gray Mare.. That car had close to 300,000 miles on it when it finally said "please, let me die." LOL. So I will amend my earlier statement.

That said - we had a string of crappy cars - Fords, Dodges, Oldsmobiles (Olds Cutlass, nice looking but total lemon)...I don't think I have ever had a Dodge that I liked and that was reliable; same with the Fords.

However nice the Buick and Chevy wagons were, in spite of the fact that they were less than attractive - they still can't come close to the Honda Fit for gas mileage and looks.

[MermanMike]

My sense of the bailout for the banks, and now what is almost certain to come for car companies, is that they are trying to avert a sudden crisis...they are trying to turn a sudden crisis, into a prolonged, more gentle, decline. This will avoid the kind of chaos that would ensue if everything just feel apart within a few months. All the bailout will do, as I see it, is keep the fever low and prolonged. But I do not think it is going to fix anything. I don't see all these companies turning things around, and the government selling their shares at a profit. I think that is a huge pie in the sky. I claim no financial expertise, just a sense of what it looks like from where I'm sitting.

And no matter what happens, it will be okay, people have been living without the kind of indulgence most people now take for granted for thousands of years.

[to570717]

The repercutions of letting an auto Co. like GM fail are far greater than if the Gov steps in and rescues it. Lee Atwater alive in well in some of you.

[KarenRice]

Originally Posted by weluvpa

In 2007 I finally put my Diesel Chevy blazer to rest. It was a 1994 and it had 436,000 miles on it. Original owner and original drive train front to back. 1 turbo rebuild and 2 sets of injectors over 13 years. Not bad in my book. 20+ on the highway.

I did amend my statement - we did have a terrific Chevy wagon for some time. It was just kinda ugly.

[Mr Yuk]

Why should we reward auto companies for making inferior products? If this is truly a free market, let them suffer the consequences of their poor business practices. I honestly couldn't care less if these companies go out of business. It will have no impact on my life whatsoever.

[SteelCityRising]

Originally Posted by to570717

The repercutions of letting an auto Co. like GM fail are far greater than if the Gov steps in and rescues it. Lee Atwater alive in well in some of you.

Atwater references aside I'm firmly opposed to these bail outs on the grounds that they set a precedent that other companies can just announce they are struggling, panic the public into demanding "something be done" to their politicians, and get a nice lump sum from the hysterics-spawned government bailouts INSTEAD of tightening their belts wherever possible, revamping marketing strategies, etc. in order to take the responsibility upon themselves to turn their own struggling enterprises around. We all go through economic rough patches. I suppose this separates the "men" from the "boys" in terms of those who suck it up, tighten their belts, etc. and those who send out an S.O.S. signal.

Although many on this forum consider me to be a "stupid kid" I could have warned Ford, GM, and Chrysler YEARS ago that they would be destined for failure if they didn't work to better diversify their product lines. People are shutting up now because gas prices have retreated to barely over $2/gallon, but as soon as the economy rebounds (and it eventually will) the price of gas will shoot right back up to $4+/gallon, once again turning SUVs and pick-up trucks into white elephants. What revolutionary new hybrid models are these domestic manufacturers introducing to us that will take a bite out of the market dominance of the Toyota Prius? None. If you didn't bother to employ any long-term trends analysts to help you adapt to long-term changes in the economy, then you shouldn't be "rewarded" for your short-sightedness with tax dollars!

In that case I officially will open Electric City Realty tomorrow, hire ten people, claim "woe is me," and demand Mayor Doherty give me $500,000 of tax dollars to stay afloat, even though it was MY FAULT for failure to do proper market research. Don't tell me that Ford, GM, and Chrysler didn't have time to wean themselves off of shameful Escalades, Navigators, etc. and transition to attractive new smaller models that would give the plethora of fuel-efficient and sporty foreign cars a run for their money.

For as much as I loved Poochie in Downtown Scranton and thought the owner was a total sweetheart, it was the fault of her and her alone that the business went belly-up. In a city where even the upper-middle-class watch high school football games, hang out at corner bars, and listen to country music she narrowed herself to abysmally small of a niche market to cover her expenses. I would have rather seen her go under than be "rescued" with tax dollars because then everyone else downtown is going to go "what about me?"

Precedents can be a scary thing.

[to570717]

There are 2 miilion jobs connected in some way to GM. You really think it is a good practice top eliminate say 3/4ths of jobs jobs by letting this Co. Fail? This is a very intellectual issue, much like Healthcare reform. Sweeping assumptions and hasty logic do not fly when the situation is what it is. It is fine in a message board and that is what makes this board interesting but seriously dealing with this problem requires Gov intervention because it si the only recourse. The blame lies at the top of these Co., all republicans by the way!