What are your opinions on this.

Do it if it will help good blue collar hard working Americans in their jobs and also incentivize the auto companies to produce more energy efficient autos.

Otherwise, don't do it.

Now that a Dem is in the White House I'd be more prone to agree to do it. Stands to reason that the working slob will benefit more than if Rep was running the show as their protocol would be to give the companies a check without consideration of what MAY get down to the workforce once the pigs at the trough get through divying up the pie.

Oh, unless of course that con artist salesman at Millenium Toyota, that tried to lowball me, on my Corolla is involved. Then I say bleep em all....

I'm completely against the bailout. Why the hell should the American taxpayer get stuck with the burden of subsidizing corporate mismanagment and the greed/corruption of unions? It's time for us to practice a little economic Darwinism and allow the free market to determine which companies stay afloat and which one's sink. Well-run, efficient, and forward-thinking companies have earned the right to stay in business. The bloated, mismanaged, inefficient union-ensconced companies will have earned the right to get kicked to the curb. Sorry GM, "no soup for you!"

quote:

Originally posted by 17keith:
What are your opinions on this.

I don't like gov't bailout of private companies but in the case fo the 700 billion bailout to pump some stability back into the economy and keep it from getting worse, I thought it was the right move once Paulson's initial plan of totalitarian control was revised with oversight and other common sense principles.

The automative bailout - I don't know. We can't keep bailing out every business or industry that engages in mismanagement or is in the red.

But in the case of the auto industry and its trickle down effect of jobs in so many sectors, I have huge concern what would the fallout be for millions of everyday Americans and families. The economy has really bit into sales of American vehicles, so in some way, it can't be all blamed on mismangement and greed.

If bailout is the decision, I'd like for the money to be taken from the earlier bailout package and redirected where feasible.

Any bailout should come with strict rules - like strong oversight where, for instance a bi-partisan board of economic experts and successful businees execs would oversee use of the money as well as create a protocol of rules these auto companies must follow.

Also, money given or loaned should on only be dispensed in portions at a time and verifiable benchmarks would have to be reached to receive more.

I know what has been proposed are strings - aside oversight, any bailout would contain preconditions such as investment in alternative fueled vehicles. Also, a gov't equity stake so at some point, the treasury gets $$$ back with interest.

What MUST be eliminated are absurd compensation packages. The initail 700 Billion bailout is still having circumstances of high payout to execs which is insane. No taxpayer money should ever be used for that.

Here's what I want to know. What would be the material differences in $$$$, jobs and other capacities between Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization vs. bailout.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Tolerance,

The lesson that should be learned here is that NO company should be allowed to get so big that if they fail the country is in trouble.
AIG, etc. were bailed out for that exact reason.

And of course our "representatives" bail these MF'ers out without any conditions.
After 911, when the government "bailed out" the airlines the airlines took the money and laid off people. Those people laid off were the same taxpayers that paid their employers to lay them off.
Another question would be, why does the war in Iraq cost the same whether violence is up or down?

quote:

Originally posted by Grote:
The lesson that should be learned here is that NO company should be allowed to get so big that if they fail the country is in trouble.
AIG, etc. were bailed out for that exact reason.

And of course our "representatives" bail these MF'ers out without any conditions.
After 911, when the government "bailed out" the airlines the airlines took the money and laid off people. Those people laid off were the same taxpayers that paid their employers to lay them off.
Another question would be, why does the war in Iraq cost the same whether violence is up or down?

It was the memory of what the airline industry did along with the golden lifeboats accorded CEOs after the most recent bailouts that pushed me to vote for someone other than a Republican for Pres. I just had enough of their "let them eat cake" attitude.
If you remember my analogy of trickle down economics and the horse eating the hay, let's just say that this was one bird who just got tired picking through the horses crap for some seeds to eat.