Nope, IS. The problem as I see it (and this is obviously another thread) is that if you give money to the big three just to keep them afloat, who are you really keeping afloat? The one thing no one is touching is who this bailout is for. Its for Unions. The purpose of the bailout is to keep union (overpaid) workers employed. If we keep throwing money at problems instead of fixing them, eventually the money WILL run out, and then what? Well, you will see union (overpayed) workers performing fellatio to feed their families. They should go bankrupt instead, reorganize, eliminate these union contracts, pension funds, and over abundance of dealers that they do NOT need. You're not going to fix the problem with the big three by giving them my money so they can pay people at earn on average of $75/hr with no formal higher education and in some cases, not even a high school diploma. Look at Honda and Toyota. They build cars here and make money doing it. They are not in trouble. They have 1000 and 1500 dealships, compared to some 7000+ that GM has, for instance. They pay their workers $50/hr on average, and do not have unions of the past, and 50+ year old contracts that suck money out of them. (oh and before you say CHEAP overseas labor, no, Honda and Toyota build their cars here in the US with US workers). GM right now makes 16 million cars a year, but only sells 10 million. WHY? Because they need to make the other 6 million cars to keep union workers employed. Keep under contract suppliers and dealers in business. Its simply math. You cannot make more than you can sell, you cannot spend more than you make, and you certainly cannot continue to sell cars to a dealer for $1000 (per unit) less than it costs to make them and continue to stay in business. The burn rate right now is more than that 25 billion in 8 months. Then what? K-Mart went bankrupt (chap11) and emerged, bigger, better and brighter as a result. Ultimately going bankrupt is likely the only thing that will really keep people working. Oh, they will have to work for less, but GOD DAMIT, they will have a job! If you take more money from me, and others in society and give it to places like this, NO ONE IS GOING TO HAVE A JOB!!! Chapter 11 is the only hope for the big three. Anything short of that will motivate the public to stop contributing to the IRS.
Thanks for explaining it so well, something tells me the socialists won't see what you wrote as a bad thing, they will want to hang you for blaming the mafia errr I mean unions for a big part of the problem.
I agree. Some of the things I've heard and seen about these employees and the benefits they receive blow my mind. I used to work in a health insurance call center back in my college days about 5 or so years ago. Man, they have some serious benefits! Better benefits than any company or organization that I have seen. Their health insurance would cover ANYTHING without question or authorization. I think they shoud file Chapter 11 and deal with it. Didn't some of the airlines file Chapter 11 and able to reorganize? If we just hand them money with no limitations, exceptions, or regulation we will be paying them to continue to make too many cars that people can't buy right now. That doesn't make any sense to me. Let's hand them money to build things that have no demand right now. Isn't that prolonging the problem?
When they continue to fail even after we give them money, then what? What's the plan then? The only option is to declare bankruptcy and fix the problems. Short of doing that, NO ONE WILL HAVE A JOB, MUCH LESS ANOTHER POS FROM DETROIT.
I was talking with a coworker about this earlier today and he said he felt horrible that people may lose their full benefits. The way I look at it: Would you rather have less/no benefits and KEEP your job, or have NO benefits and NO job? I've been listening to the hearings on this and the previous bailout today and it sounds like most of the Senators are pissed. One Senator even said that the first bailout equates to the biggest bait and switch scheme in history, why in the hell should we do it again?
People are only going to lose benefits and jobs if we throw money at the problem. Declare Chapter 11, reorganize, make things more reasonable and sensible, and I bet NO ONE will lose their jobs, save for some real dead weight and management. Throw more money at this, and then what? What's next? More money? When does it end? The money is not there.
Detriot isn't doing something right as American workers are building Japanese cars that are selling well. Doesn't seem that the UAW wants to five up anything.
"It costs over $73 per hour on average to employ a union auto worker, according to University of Michigan at Flint economist Mark J. Perry. 'Is it right to tax the average worker making $28.50 to [save the jobs of] workers whose labor cost is over $73 an hour.'" - CNSNews Supporting the bailout supports union labor, thats all nothing else. No green, no advancements, nothing.. Just labor. Compare this to the the Japanese automakers paying out 1/3 less, but making a profit, better cars, and keeping workers just as employed! The cuts have to come from more than just corporate jets (which actually save money for the executives in many cases). You need to cut your union contracts and renegotiate them. This goes for the benefits, and other expenses that drain the bank account. Why on earth does GM make 16 million cars a year when it only sells 10 million cars a year? Answer? It has a labor force (under contract) that dictates the volume of production in order to maintain a level of employment. That translates to losing money. Its painfully butt fucking stupid. If you sell 10 million cars, make 10 million cars. Either lay off some of your work force, or make everyone (management included) take a 1/3 salary cut. Its fucking ridiculous to think that our democrat controlled government wants the average worker who makes no were near $73/hr to bailout people who make that much money. Its ridiculous. I'd rather rap a rope around my testicles and pay someone twice that to yank on the rope all day. What the hell is the matter with people today???
Back to the original topic as far as the homeless go - construct concentration camps and hold them there until they decide to quit living like hippies and get a job. The ones that want to stay - great, keep them there! But it will quickly weed out those who do it out of sheer lack of caring/laziness (and yes, there are plenty that do it for that reason). As far as the Auto unions (besides the fact that Unions have launched this country into a potential crisis from bad decisions in the past), let them fail. I hate to say that, because I live close to a major manufacturing plant of one of the big 3...and we'll definitely be hit economically, but we need to cut the umbilical cord while we still can. Let's quit holding hands and FORCE companies to make better decisions. If I overdraft my checking account and get charged for it - lesson learned. Let them fail and be forced to re-tool, and send them on a day trip to a Foreign automaker's plant down south (which is where they ALL need to be to avoid all the union bullshit) to see how it's SUPPOSED to be done.