My Friend's Comments

[c3po]

I was talking to a friend of mine on Friday night and the topic of the Big 3 Bailout came up.

He told me that we must not let the Big 3 go under because they are the backbone of our economy, and if they fail it would sink us into a severe depression.

I have 2 cars, 1 is a Chevrolet, and the other is a Mercury.

I asked my friend what kind of car does he and his wife drive.

He said, " I drive a Mitsubishi Galant, and my wife drives a Toyota Sienna".

I said, " What are you doing to help the Big 3 buy not driving 1 of there cars. I also asked him why he did not have an american car."

He said, " I bought these 2 foreign cars because I think they are more reliable".

If he thinks they are more reliable and a lot of other people think the same thing, the Big 3 are in trouble, how can he justify saving the Big 3 when he does not have any intention of buying 1 of there cars.

If you need a quiet place to go take a nap, visit 1 of the Big Three's new car dealerships, I guarantee you will get plenty of rest and no 1 will disturb you.

 

[addyguy]

Classic "It's not MY problem" thinking!

Priceless.

 

[c3po]

The funny thing was, we were standing right buy his Mitsubishi Galant and his wife pulls up in her Toyota when he starts talking about saving the Big 3.

 

[Cutehumor]

yep, let's give the big 3 a bailout, and we turn around and keep buying foreign cars anyway. so, why give the big 3 a bailout again?

 

[ajchien]

Do we have to bailout the big 3? Why not let one or two declare bankruptcy and then help the remaining one or two acquire the good portions of the ones that went bankrupt? kind of like the financial institutions.

 

[tom slick]

Then the question becomes why did the big 3 get the bad reputation and what are they going to do to break it and become "most reliable" in the eye of the consumer?

will bailing them out fix this issue? why would a consumer want to buy a new car from a company that potentially won't be around to the end of the warranty period?

another consideration is the amount of parts suppliers to the big 3. there are something like 600,000 employees of the non-UAW parts suppliers.

 

[scoobie]

the big three are run by greedy pig CEO's that look at how to fatten their paycheque, primarily. The Japanese look at at a matter of National Honor, or disgrace, if they build a good car or a bad one. If the Japanese had been building cars similar to the big 3, the CEO and the engineers would be commiting Hare Kare, to regain grace from this national disgrace.

It really is an attitude: the CEO's, and the workers too, just look for fat pay cheque, and who cares whether they build sh*&t or not. The Japanese CEO and the engineer has a noble purpose, that it is a human quality to excel and build a superior product.
We need a cultural revolution, and CEO's should be put to work sweeping the streets and picking tomatoes and beans for Wendy's.
The workers need to understand that if they are building garbage, they need to go on strike and demand to build good designs. We need a shoe throwing moment here, and send everyone out to work the fields for a few years, then come back.

 

[newtoncd8]

That is interesting.

The part that confuses me, GM has stated that "it needs $4 billion by the end of December and an additional $6 billion in the first two months of 2009."

So, let's say they get the $10 billion and that gets them through to March 1, 2009.

Then what? How will this company get turned around in two to three months and start making money? Or, do they come back to Congress in March 2009 and ask for another $10 billion for another 3 months. Where does it stop?

 

[c3po]

I think GM is about 60 Billion dollars in debt, and to really bail out the Big 3 it would take 125 billion dollars.

This is insane, let's bail them out, but nobody or hardly anyone wants to buy there vehicles.

 

[Johnny]

I think everyone should call it the Big 2 because Ford is not asking for a bailout. They have money.

 

[Nyquist]

Here is the problem in the whole thing. The entire auto industry is interconnected. GM, Ford, and Chrysler buy parts from distributers in various places. Honda, Toyota, et al. also buy from those distributers. GM by itself is big enough that if it goes under, it won't be able to pay the distributers. Because of that the distributers might have some big time troubles which would drastically slow the supply of parts to Toyota, Honda, et al. This in turn would hurt the other manufacturers as well because they won't have the parts they need to build vehicles. If they can't build them, they can't sell them, and their businesses start hurting too.

Given that this has been a slow year for vehicle sales it might only be a 4 month shock to the system, but it could be longer. This is just another interesting facet to consider.

 

[paul246]

Its a capitalist society, let it be a capitalist society.

If you don't know how to run your business properly you shouldn't be in business.

Forget handouts or any other social assistance. That is what capitalism is all about, isn't it?

 

[tom slick]

Although I agree with you in principle, what do you do with the 800,000 workers that almost instantly have no job and had little to do with the failure? how much does it cost to assist them?

 

[Cutehumor]

Originally Posted By: Curtis Newton
That is interesting.

The part that confuses me, GM has stated that "it needs $4 billion by the end of December and an additional $6 billion in the first two months of 2009."

So, let's say they get the $10 billion and that gets them through to March 1, 2009.

Then what? How will this company get turned around in two to three months and start making money? Or, do they come back to Congress in March 2009 and ask for another $10 billion for another 3 months. Where does it stop?


an economist testified during the bailout hearings that the big 3 will need at least 140 billion to survive 2009

 

[Cutehumor]

Originally Posted By: paul246
Its a capitalist society, let it be a capitalist society.

If you don't know how to run your business properly you shouldn't be in business.

Forget handouts or any other social assistance. That is what capitalism is all about, isn't it?



6 months of unemployment is probably cheaper than 140 billion dollars. I say let GM skim two or three brands out of their lineup with bankruptcy. They keep saying that no one will buy a car from a company who files for bankruptcy. well, they are bankrupt and need a bailout! My bro-in law won't buy a big 3 vehicle right now because he wants the warranty to last. The bailout talk has scared him away to a foreign car!

 

[OVERKILL]

Originally Posted By: scoobie
the big three are run by greedy pig CEO's that look at how to fatten their paycheque, primarily. The Japanese look at at a matter of National Honor, or disgrace, if they build a good car or a bad one. If the Japanese had been building cars similar to the big 3, the CEO and the engineers would be commiting Hare Kare, to regain grace from this national disgrace.

It really is an attitude: the CEO's, and the workers too, just look for fat pay cheque, and who cares whether they build sh*&t or not. The Japanese CEO and the engineer has a noble purpose, that it is a human quality to excel and build a superior product.
We need a cultural revolution, and CEO's should be put to work sweeping the streets and picking tomatoes and beans for Wendy's.
The workers need to understand that if they are building garbage, they need to go on strike and demand to build good designs. We need a shoe throwing moment here, and send everyone out to work the fields for a few years, then come back.


Scoob:

A couple of questions:

The Toyota sludge debacle.
The Toyota frame farce.
The Subaru Head Gasket issue.
The Honda transmission problems.
The Mitsubishi oil burning.

Are you saying there are people falling on their swords because of this stuff? Because somehow, I highly doubt it.....

But you mentioning it in the way you have (this is not an insult) very much proves that pushing the point that this is the type of thinking that goes on in Japan is why many perceive their brands in the way you've described.

How can a few union rednecks ever expect to live up to that which is a Japanese vehicle, assembled with HONOUR!

 

[greenaccord02]

LOL,
I'm not going to say scoob is right about the motivation here, though the heart of what he's saying is valid.
As far as the specific problems you point out with certain import cars, let's look at the cars we make down here in America. At least you can be specific about problems with imports. These were the exception to the rule and are widely known because they are so far removed from the norm for those makes. With American vehicles the exceptions were the cars that actually held up. Your Capri and Town Car for example. The average American car purchased in the past 20 or so years practically fell apart as you drove it off the lot. It's not an accident that things have played out the way they have.

 

[OVERKILL]

Originally Posted By: greenaccord02
LOL,
I'm not going to say scoob is right about the motivation here, though the heart of what he's saying is valid.
As far as the specific problems you point out with certain import cars, let's look at the cars we make down here in America. At least you can be specific about problems with imports. These were the exception to the rule and are widely known because they are so far removed from the norm for those makes. With American vehicles the exceptions were the cars that actually held up. Your Capri and Town Car for example. The average American car purchased in the past 20 or so years practically fell apart as you drove it off the lot. It's not an accident that things have played out the way they have.


Of course not, it's a well plotted scheme

 

[kingrob]

Originally Posted By: Johnny
I think everyone should call it the Big 2 because Ford is not asking for a bailout. They have money.


Or, we should call GM and Chrysler the Needy Two. Or our new 2 mouths to feed.

Quote:
Of course not, it's a well plotted scheme


Planned obsolescence!

 

[bullwinkle]

I'm still trying to figure out how the Big 3 made any money BEFORE the credit crisis hit-must have been a LOT of markup in those SUVs & trucks to cover the UAW expenses & still turn a profit!!