Autoblog

GM is just asking for a share of the 'wealth' that The One has pledged to spread around, can you blame them?

Besides, Pelosi and Reid never saw a spending increase they didn't like, this is as good as money in the bank for GM.

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If GM goes down the tubes, 500,000 jobs will go with them. Our economy is already in the dumps, but that would just about finish it off.

GM certainly got itself in this mess with so many bad decisions over the years. But all of us will suffer if it goes under.

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Actualy I believe Ford expects to receive extra funds if GM gets them. That's part of the reason they probably didn't jump on handing out that 11 billion loan, they'd have to give another 11 billion to Ford if they did.

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Jared my man, over the last few years Ford, GM and Chrysler as well as other automakers have cut so many jobs, so many as if one whole company went out of business altogether. And you know what, we are alive, the economy is struggling but not due to those jobs.

Believe it or not there�s a world after GM and taxpayers own GM nothing. Also there�s no Obama or Congress, they are not spending their money, they are spending TAXPAYERS money. And taxpayer should not subsidize Wagoner�s salary.

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I heard FORD is hiring back 1,000 works for the F150 line. Showing signs of good faith.

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Exactly! Not to mention they invented the concept of "out sourcing" the domestic industry. If they want money, bring all the foreign factories back onto US soil. Either that or they can only sell US made car in the US. That include all parts. Only then, will the tax dollar be worth supporting them.

ooh and don't forget a 50% pay cut to all the excutives and 15% cut to the union.

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Actually that was the Japanese auto manufacturers that invented outsourcing. American auto companies simply followed suit.

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@TJ

Actually Pelosi and Reid didn't like the roughly $8Billion/month going to help Iraq which had over $70Billion in surplus from oil money. So to say they haven't seen a spending increase they don't like is what it is... a LIE. To say the republicans have been any better at controlling spending over the past 8 years is plain ignorance of facts.

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Gabgool
"Jared my man, over the last few years Ford, GM and Chrysler as well as other automakers have cut so many jobs, so many as if one whole company went out of business altogether. And you know what, we are alive, the economy is struggling but not due to those jobs."

The automakers have cut jobs but you see, this why you would be a terrible CEO, it goes deeper than GM. If GM went down then you could kiss Delphi goodbye as well many other suppliers. You could also kiss all the jobs provided by dealers goodbye since they have nothing to sell. Then you could kiss goodbye to restaruants, stores and so on in small towns across the U.S. and more so in towns and cities that had a factory.

Its bigger than just GM.

Should Wagoner be paid millions? Probably not but should Gettlefinger be paid as much as he does? How about the guy that does nothing but bolt a battery plate down? I would say no to them as well.

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@ McLovin:

total federal spending, in billions:
1998: $2,133 earmark: 2,143 projects for $13.2 bil
1999: $2,164 earmark: 2,838 projects for $12 bil
2000: $2,217 earmark: 4,326 projects for $17.7 bil
2001: $2,256 earmark: 6,333 projects for $18.5 bil
2002: $2,390 earmark: 8,341 projects for $20.1 bil
2003: $2,501 earmark: 9,362 projects for $22.5 bil
2004: $2,580 earmark: 10,656 projects for $22.9 bil
2005: $2,683 earmark: 13,997 projects for $27.3 bil
2006: $2,787 earmark: 9,963 projects for $29 bil
2007: $2,804 earmark: 2,658 projects for $13.2 bil
2008: $2,931 earmark: 11,610 projects for $17.2 bil
2009: God only knows. Revenues are going down, spending is going up, and now there is nothing to stop a liberal, big govt congress and a new president who has proposed $1trillion of new spending without naming a specific program he would cut.

I do not forgive the Repubs for their spending from 2000-2006, and just the same I do not

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Your an ignorant Hill Billy! GM Built America! It was fine when GM was building the military vehicles to take down Hitlor,but now in their time of need you say that? GM build world class vehicles,it is perception that has to change. But when dealing with folks like yourself who cannot even brush their teeth at night.....it is a tough sale. See you later fruit cake....

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"...your failed attempts at recovery."

Failed attempts? The money is just now getting out to banks and such who want it. Regardless how we feel about the bailout, we need to wait a little longer to judge.

And what do you mean by "your". Are you canadian?

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The money in in the banks and they are using it to buy other banks. The bailout failed.

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@aaron

How do you figure him saying "your" means he's a Canadian? He's referring to GM douchebag

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tankdog, tell me, how exactly did the bailout fail? It bought the banks time and lets them clean up their balance sheets so interbank lending can resume. The alternative was wait around until banks couldn't meet their obligations, and a run on the banks (think great depression) led to massive bank closures. So yeah, it totally failed...
I'm curious, what exactly did you think the bailout was supposed to do??

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Yeah, by lowering taxes on the middle class he'll already be helping the auto industry since it's the middle class that makes up the vast, vast, majority of auto purchases. And the current economy has basically killed auto sales because the middle class is facing some tough times.

If Obama cuts their taxes and lowers their healthcare like he's promised, then people will automatically have more money to buy cars with. Well, assuming the economy doesn't continue it's death spiral anyway.

I don't really know if we should sink bailout money into the Big 3 to help them though, and if we do it better be a bailout where we'll get all our money back and then some. The bank bailout wasn't optimal (honestly they shouldn't have let Lehman Brothers fail, would have cost a lot less money), but at least we'll *probably* get our money back someday. We just don't know when.

But the real problem with a Big 3 bailout isn't government ownership of companies or even messing with the free market. It's that the Big 3 like to be saved by bailouts only to then spend the next few decades doing dumb crap so that they'll probably show up in 2028 asking for yet another bailout. It's like lending money to a cousin with a gambling problem, they never know when to stop gambling. Betting it all on massive SUVs and trucks while neglecting legacy costs was a huge gamble, and it's blown up in their face.

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bitter much?

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