Democrats Ready Emergency Legislation To Aid Auto Industry

New York Times:

Democratic Congressional leaders said Tuesday that they were ready to push emergency legislation to aid the imperiled auto industry when lawmakers return to Washington next week for the first time after the election, setting the stage for one last showdown with President Bush.

"Next week, during the lame-duck session of Congress, we are determined to pass legislation that will save the jobs of millions of workers whose livelihoods are on the line," the majority leader, Harry Reid of Nevada, said in a statement.

Read the whole story: New York Times

Comments

[schatsie]

Halberstam wrote about this problem 20 years ago and NOTHING HAS been done and the management is still collectinp pensions of 1 million per year...

The BOARD is also responsible for this mess and needs to be totally replaced... We need ownership and interest... Health Care and Retiree benefits are also at risk, so this needs to be nationalized and we need to prop this up with the TAXES on the RICH...

Also see 'WHO KILLED THE ELECTRIC CAR" and then decide if any management people should be kept...If I remember correctly the repugs also gave great tax breaks for buying the gas guzzling SUVs

[lochnessmonster]

No, no, no! An interesting call was aired yesterday on C-SPAN's Washington Journal. This former engineer and project manager left the auto business a couple of years ago due to the fact that the big three are now run by money people not auto people. Selling you a car has become the way they get money to invest. They could care less about putting a quality product out that meets the EPA standards. DO NOT BAIL THEM OUT UNLESS THEY CHANGE MANAGEMENT AND GET BACK TO MANUFACTURING IN THIS COUNTRY.

[TN]

As early as last year, the sec. of State of MI was fighting against CAFE standards.

[bbbear]

I fully agree and even go beyond that. If the taxpayer bails them out, then we own them. Reboot management, break up the companies, form a co-op, and hire real automakers with the autonomy to run their plants. It now takes GM 8 years to go from concept to production. Copy the Japanese model that goes from concept to production in 36 months. Sell off all foreign plants, encouraging them to join the co-op, and keep the right to build some of the efficient little autos built by Ford and GM but are only sold in Europe and Asia. Install single pay, universal health care in the USA, which will drastically cut the price of US auto's, provide health care for all and save upwards of 200 billion per year.

[schatsie]

We need to get a Warren Buffett deal, you know preferred stock with 10% interest and STRONG BOARD representation and cut off the CEO compensation... If the German bankers are happy with 600 grand (see the Economist of this week), then we can control the salaries and benefits here...(no more of that AIG stuff)....

We Democrats need to show the Repugs how to do this...I want it water tight.

[bbbear]

Exactly!

[kwright]

There are over two and a half million jobs that are related to the auto industry. Detroit is not the only place that will be affected by the failure of the Big Three. Something needs to be done. Unlike Wall Street, there are people in the auto industry that actually work for a living.

[partyofone]

What happened to the market economy and competition as the solution? Capitalism used to mean good companies thrived and bad companies failed.

Now it seems to be good companies are pilered by greedy executives and directors, turned into bad companies, and the tax payers subsidize their existence, their dividend payments, and their boneuses for executives as though they were good companies.

It makes no sense to anyone but the greedy corporations and the politicians they own.

[partyofone]

oops *pilered = pilfered

[bbbear]

A simplified overview of world finance: Large corporations and their need to continue to grow are simply unsustainable and must be continually bailed out by government. ( Adam Smith knew this, was against Big Corporation and pro small business. He also advocated government regulation of all business.) In the US, government bailout, ( Corporate Welfare ) is largely done via the Military /Industrial complex which forces government to seek out war and build expensive war products. The US then acts as a dumping ground for over production of Asian an European corporations which is subsidized by their governments. ( Corporate Welfare ) The US consumer gets extremely cheap goods, Asia and Europe then buy US treasury bonds which allows the US to prop up the Military/Industrial complex and engage in small wars.
It's akin to a chain letter, but one with great oversight by national banks which, as inevitable bubbles appear, always step in and scoop them up with tax payer dollars.. ( Corporate Welfare ) The least little wobble, and world banks come to the rescue.
Unfortunately US financial institutions got too greedy, made up their own criminal Ponzi scheme base upon real estate, and sold them as insured securities to banks around the world and wobbled the core structure.. Without world finance ( corporate welfare system ) the whole thing is now tumbling down. About the best we can hope for is to slow the fall and create a saner Paradigm for world finance....

[partyofone]

The American taxpayer is being told to provide life support for DINOSAURS. We cannot afford it. Thier extinction may be regretable, but it is the nature of capialism, pure evolution. Try to minimize the impact on innocent workers, but don't throw tax dollars into doomed corporations that failed to adapt when they had the chance, DECADES ago.

[scooperss]

Anyone know if this is true?

http://seekingalpha.com/article/105061-should-we-really-bail-out-the-big-three-automakers-with-73-20-per-hour-labor

[bbbear]

Workers wages reflect the high cost of life long health care which is provided by the Auto industry. Also, US workers have a high production rate, but are poorly managed, which drastically ups the cost of an auto. For instance, US management takes 8 years from concept to production of a new auto. Japanese management does it in 36 weeks.
Install Universal, single payer health care as well as decent management, break up the companies and hire real automakers to run them, and US auto industry can compete with the best of them...
That said, I strongly suspect your link is merely repub in nature..That is,. I strongly suspect repubs believe it's in their best interest for the USA to go into a deep depression while dems are on watch. The only reason Bush stepped in with the bailout was in the hope it would cause the market to rise and help McCain. Now that it seems to be headed for, at the very least, a deep depression, they will now encourage it to do completely fail.
If that's true, then you'll see this sort of thing stepped up even more...

[partyofone]

Our "leaders" are all for capitalism when there are profits being made and bonuses to be paid, but pure SOCIALISTSwhen there are losses. Let's let average citizens pay for the mistakes of hugely well -compensated but clearly INCOMPETENT, CORRUPT corporate executives and directors.

Is there no one in CONGRESS who represents average citizens? Is there no one in government who looks out for the good of We the People.

Both Bush and Clinton passed laws and failed at regulation that has opened the Treasury of the United States to be pilfered times trillions by grreedy coporations. It is a conspiracy.

Is there no end to this?

[scooperss]

If they're going to bailout these companies, then at least the top management should be FORCED to resign.

Same should have been true and done with the banks and Wall Street.

Rewarding these people for incompetence makes little to no sense.

It's giving the fox the job of guarding the hens.

[partyofone]

a start, and then require that they return any golden parachute compensation to the federal Treastury. Execs who get canned, get paid mega-millions in severance and they show up six months later in another high paid CEO postion, where they continue to practice highly compensated incompetence.

There should also be something in corporate management comparable to malpractice. Once you have driven a company to financial disaster, you are barred from rbeing paid to manage anothe rcompany forever. Maybe that would end some of this corruption. Ir qouls certainly bring new people into managment, quickly.

[schatsie]

See GRAIF CRYSTAL.. This is the WASP MAFIA country club set and will cover each others azzzz.. and the Judges are now almost 70% republican, so we cannot expect justice for the privileged from them....

[Matt51]

We need a bailout. We need one which works. Which means - all new upper management, especially at GM. It may also mean Chapter 11 is necessary to reduce the automakers debt so they are viable.

[partyofone]

You are treating symptoms not causes. This is much bigger than GM, or AIG, or Freddie and Fannie Mae. This a a huge assault on our economic system by greedy corporate leaders who do dnot want to accept the consequences for their actions. Does capitlalism work or not? Let the market fixx this and leave the government and our tax dollars out of ti.

The only way the US goverment can fund these bailouts is to BORROW MONEY, on which we will pay interest forever. It is not a solution, it is robbing Peter to pay Paul.

[VivaZapata]

time to admit that capitalism has failed us. the government needs to buy up the big three (if there are still three left), separate them into smaller entities, force them to retool (gas efficiency, safety, etc.) and then sell each entity separately. however, bailing out these guys should come second to a big public works project that builds solar powered rail lines alongside the interstate highway system.

all of the patchwork attempts to save the god of capitalism are failing. flexibility is what is needed now, or we'll never climb out of the mess. lenin recognized that strict adherence to socialism was unworkable and instituted NEP. perhaps it''s time to recognize that strict adherence to capitalism is also unworkable.

[partyofone]

We saw Soviet communism fail in the 1980s, and its seems , we are seeing the same for Amercan caplitalism now. The big question is how long American policitcal leaders will weaken our democratic government to feed the greed of incompetent corporations.

[openhand]

Who Killed the Electric Car?
Who Killed G.M?

[Carolab]

This is ridiculous. They aren't doing a thing to produce environmentally friendly, high-mileage vehicles. Why should we bail them out unless they agree to retool?

[rf-hawaii]

Hmm. Why, indeed. Because the Republicans severely damaged the economy and made it very hard for these folks to continue to do business. As a Democracy we do what we can to protect the livelihood of our citizens. If a government loan will help a large number over this difficulty, then that's what we'll do.

[partyofone]

They agreed to retool decades ago, and then went on the SUV binge, encouraged by American consumers. It is a market economy. You should be sharking you fist at every person who bought and drove an SUV in the last two decades.

[KarateKid]

Remember, everyone, Chrysler has been bailed out once already, and look what they did. I'm a Democrat who favors not giving the auto industry a bailout. Even if we "bail" them out now, they are still going to fail in two to three years and be a bigger problem then.

It would take years for them to complete the retooling of their factories, and why should we trust these dolts who have not listened to the consumers for decades?

Besides, we already have a thriving auto industry right here in the US. Only, they're Japanese and German owned. I don't see them asking the government for a handout.

Capitalism is made of failed and successful businesses. Why prop up a bunch of idiots?

[PT6]

Ask for a change in management and a complete conversion to GREEN in ONE YEAR!

Produce ONLY HIGH Mileage Cars from now until Green Cars come on-line!

NO SUVs OR BIG TRUCKS unless they are Hybrid and get at least 25 miles per gallon!

Insist on average of 30 miles per gallon or NO FUNDING!

[Emlyn]

Cars and trucks cost too much. Let them cut the price. The first car I ever owned was a 1965 Mustang, a brand new car, bought for $3,000 at 3% interest. We need cars in that price range - they will sell them then.

[partyofone]

Or just let some corporations fail, maybe others getting in line for government bailouts will get the idea.

Use tax dollars to pay their laidoff workers to retool their lives, and provide inscentives for well managed companies to convert to GREEN.

I would much rather bolster unemployment benefits, than add billions to executive bonuses, and then still pay unemployment benefits, when the companies dramatcially down size. Let the companies crash and burn, look after their workers, and let the stockholders foot the bill, not taxpayers. That's capitalism.