Dems Give White House Ultimatum On Auto Bailout

Democrats sent a clear message to the White House tonight - make some of the $700 financial industry bailout money available to the domestic auto industry or else. And they want an answer by Friday.

Automakers returned to Capitol Hill today two weeks after a chilly reception from bailout weary lawmakers.

Read the whole story here.

Comments

[autobailout]

As a lifelong democrat, I am appalled by my elected reps trying to get these bailouts through. The banks didn't deserve it and the auto industry absolutely doesn't deserve it. Everyone is hurting. I am a small business owner on the UWS of Manhattan and I am eating egg salad from a plastic container every day. These auto workers make $56 an hour and their cost of living is low. It's like making $200 on one of the coasts. Our lawmakers need to start thinking of the people who elect them, not special interests.

Protest the bailout at http://www.autoindustrybailout.com/petition/

Enough with the handouts unless you're going to give them to everyone and not just select groups of people.

[FaceYourFears]

I hope the majority of Americans aren't as stupid as they think we are. They're playing a game....the hearing was all smoke and mirrors to make us think the auto industry wasn't getting a free ride. It was all part of the plan from the very beginning.

[findmind]

I am made literally sick by the double standard and just plain indifference to the auto industry...This is nothing more than a Union busting operation by the Republicans...Union members are a solid source of the support for Democrats, we worked our butts off to get Obama elected...and it would serve the Republicans well to see GM get liquidated while they laugh up their sleeves..and destroy everything we've worked for. So we wither on the vine while Citibank can sneak in on a Friday night and have a check for $300 MILLION dollars the next morning.
And I'd love to know where all the auto workers making $70 and $80 an hour are...my husband has worked for Ford for 15 years, busted his be-hind making 500 trucks a day..EVERYDAY...and makes $26.00 an hour...He hasn't had a raise in 8 years (and I assure you I'm not complaining). I just grateful he has a job, at least for now.

[slowhand0728]

SO wasnt today the "OR ELSE" was supposed to take effect? What I miss?

[ssg13565]

Another reason why there is so much bigger todo over the car company bailout than the bank bailout is that most of the public know what a car is. Many fewer people know what a CDO or credit default swap is.

This is a syndrome we see in town meeting of small towns. People will argue over something they think they understand rather than something they don't. That is why the multi-million dollar school budget gets passed with minimal debate, but there will be huge debate over whether the town hall should get a pushbroom instead of another kind of broom.

[tbone99]

the other reason is by broaching it in crisis terms they made it sem as if there was no alternative. The fact that BOTH candidates backed it immediately, never truly debating the pros and cons didn't give people any hope that there could be a choice.

[SailFree]

An ultimatum? Wouldn't it be better to sit down like adults and discuss options rationally?

[ArturoYee]

You are right - quote from the article:
Start quote:
ABC News' Z. Byron Wolf Reports: Democrats sent a clear message to the White House tonight - make some of the $700 financial industry bailout money available to the domestic auto industry or else. And they want an answer by Friday.
End quote.

Problem - maybe the ABC report is an exaggeration?

But - real report or not - congress needs to pass new legislation vs assigning funds from TARP (for financial institutions) to funding manufacturing companies.

Democrats as a party has the votes - they should do it if they really believe it.

[Erdgeist]

Without a reasonable bailout, as a nation, we are going to unemploy over 3 million workers who are directly and indirectly connected with the auto industry which is also going to fan the flames of foreclosure on these people which economists warn us is contributing significantly to this recession. In case this point was missed, how is laying off workers not going to increase the rate of home foreclosures?

[research]

Unless you want love paying 36B$

in 26 weeks of 3Million people unemployed,

We must figure out some way to keep the companies alive.

I hope we just Buy a controlling interest in the stock for less than 10B$.

We appoint new boards and CEOs.

We probably should also start breaking the companies up into smaller pieces.

No MORE TOO BIG TO FAIL.

[tbone99]

First appoint new boards and CEOs , then we'll decide whether to loan them money or not.

These guys are failures

[research]

How about we just require congressional committee approval for any major spending till we find the right candidates.

[aspertame2]

I agree that GM needs to be saved, and that jobs need to be saved. But not that stocks and the current infrastructure of corporate leadership needs to be saved.

If there exists a legal way, the government needs to take receivership of these failing companies before they start selling off assets and laying off workers. That's the only reason I hesitate to join those who say, "let bankruptcy do its job".

It's going to take some measure of socialism to keep the means of production (to invoke a bit of socialist jargon) in American hands, which is simply necessary to keep this country out of indentured servitude to international wealth. Short of some viable third choice, the question remains: is it going to be socialism to buck up the investor and moneyed class, or socialism to rescue the truly desperate with jobs (not charity), and to restore the middle class?

And no, I don't want us to be the United States of Government owned businesses, but we need a firewall at this point against what's Good for Business, and very, very bad for the future of a free democracy.

[hkphooeyd]

Union busters and Class Warfare is what is really going on here. Please people, this would be on big step toward killing the middle class. Don't let this happen and write your Congressmen and Senators and tell them that we will not allow them to get away with this. And if you think these auto workers are over paid @ 28$ an hour, save your post for you are not living in the real world. This is a modest living and that my friends is slowly slipping away too! Wake up people and save the middle class. Speak Up!

[JJK]

The only class warfare that I see being waged out here is by people who try to stereotype as "union busters" those who take the view that we should not bail out an auto industry that has known for 30 years that it had to make fuel efficient cars in a cost effective manner, but has failed to do so.

The way to "save the middle class" is not to shore up a failed industry, but to allow that industry to dissolve and restructure itself for a competitive future in which legitimately sustainable, middle class jobs can be created in the production of cars that many more people will buy.

"Saving" jobs with a stopgap bailout that is destined to fail and waste billions of dollars of (mostly middle class) taxpayers' money is only postponing the loss of those jobs and making it even less likely that we can keep them in the United States.

[hkphooeyd]

Your solution is the quickest way to depression proposed. And excuse me, destined to fail, you should get your facts in order before you make these kind of remarks. Really! Was it failing 1 yr ago, nope has it failed in the last hundred years nope. Capital is the only way out of this and our government is our last stop. Your job would be affected too, but I forget how short sighted your statement really is. And have you figured out how many bilions will be lost if they fail, guess not! Being misinformed is just how they want you. Good job!

[Kassandra]

I think it's also that the industrial states went blue and the Republicans are trying to "punish" them. As if everyone hasn't been "punished" enough by these criminals.

I WISH I could call my Senators and Conresswoman.......but, fortunately they lost their seats in the last election..........(first time Democrats have held those seats since the state was founded! heeeehehheheeeeeee) and are no longer interested in the country's problems. Oh, I DO have one Senator I can call. I'll do it.

[gardener1964]

We must give these three a "loan".The collapse of these giant companies would trickle down with devasting implications for so many of the support industries.I'm no fan of autoworkers unions,but it would be a trickle down problem for us all.The big three should ask for more to really stabelize the industry.But they should drop all suits defending gas millage standards,and show dedicated resources for mass transit,green cars,and show thoughts for the outlook ten or twenty years from now..The future is getting warmer and they should be getting greener.

[TimmySlagle]

How is that different from Corporatism?

[helonias]

Bail out the Ponzi Scheme

But not the Car makers.

Way to go

[Nan2008]

Are we supposed to BELIEVE that the Democrats FINALLY GREW A SPINE? The Impeachment of George W. Bush was tabled, letting AiG get what they want. HOW MANY TIMES? And we're hearing rumors that NO ONE BOTHERED TO TRACK THE MONEY GIVEN TO AIG. It's completely absurd as to what this administration has been able to get away with. And didn't Karl Rove tell the Democrats to stick-it when subpoenaed to testify at a hearing? WHAT EVER HAPPENED TO THAT? HMMMMMM? ALL BARK NO BITE.

[mcantwell]

Here is your Answer as to WHY no one has been tracking the money. I posted it earlier in the thread.

Everybody in America has been asking, "Where is the Board that is supposed to oversee how Paulson is spending the TARP funds?"

As it turns out, the Oversight Board has yet to be approved. Guess why? Last night CNN did a segment on how ONE idiotic REPUBLICAN Legislator ( who has refused to come forward and be named) has been holding out his Vote this entire time because he doesn't care for one of the board members. This idiot is the reason why there has not been a Board to provide oversight and accountability for the TARP funds that Paulson has been handing out to Banks that didn't need the money.

[hkphooeyd]

Wonder if there is any leaks out there to who this guy is, and I heard this same thing about a week ago. Sure would like to know. You would think that with the magnitude of the crisis we are in, 1 person should not be ABLE to hide his disruptiveness. I hope we do find out, and then we could put the pressure on! At least I would be 1 voice hounding relentlessly.

[neoconumb]

The 63% of the people that were polled this week who believe they won't be affected by the folding of the Big 3 are in denial. In good times we might have been able to deal with this better. But now we are in a major recession. The question is are we headed into a depression. The loss of the Big 3 would cause economic ripple effects that cannot be explain merely by mathematical calculations. The psychological aspects alone of lossing the Big 3 are enough to throw us into a depression and that will effect everyone.

[BuckeyeGal]

Yep, thousands upon thousands laid off in the last year. Doesn't take a genius to see why people aren't buying cars.

[timberdoodle]

American citizens need some sound information on the consequences of letting the automakers fail as the cost to the government alone in unemployment, welfare, healthcare, lost income tax revenue, lost sales tax revenue in states etc. etc. will likely far out weigh the cost of a loan. Also it is just a loan not a gift like the financial institutions got with no accountability.

I guess the difference is middle class versus the elite.