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What's your view on whether or not the U.S. government should bail out the Big 3 automakers?

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Nope, it shouldn't obviously. I don't want my taxpayer money to "reward" the big 3 auto execs and their stupidity and negligence. All it is doing is postponing the inevitable, and in the end, the only one that comes out on top are these execs who laugh all the way to the bank and yet another cushy CEO job. Amazing country it is, that consistently ruining not only a company, but an industry, gets you rewarded while the grunts below suffer.

I have no problems with the U.S. government helping out the auto workers, retraining them, unemployment benefits, etc. etc. That is what I want my taxpayer money to go towards. If I was a small business owner, and it failed due to my stupidity, am I allowed to go cry to the government for handouts?

Those who forget the past are condemned to repeat it.

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No, U.S. government should not, but Japan's Automakers should extended helping hand to Big 3 based on business ethics and moral obligation.

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Absolutely not, the best thing to do is to let these companies file bankruptcy. The big three have dug their own graves, as has the UAW. Bankruptcy would force them to reorganize their business operations, modernize their production and supply systems and force a realistic labor negotiation with the UAW.

A few of the suppliers got smart a few years ago and either started making parts for Toyota, Honda and Nissan. The only suppliers that I think will sink will be those that formally were owned by one of the Big 3, like Delphi, Saginaw Gear, Lear, etc. Ford closed their engine factory and sent it to Mexico years ago and GM has been buying most of their parts from GM China. The only reason any of the plants are still open in this country is because they are afraid of a consumer backlash. One of China's car makers wants to come into this country but the Big 3 has been fighting them. Can't have anymore competition now can we? GM buys most of it's parts from GM China, Ford buys most of their parts from Korea and Mexico and Chrysler was getting parts from Japan which of course didn't help the suppliers in this country.

he UAE has a trillion dollar investment fund same with Dubai. I also fear that the kind of deal they will make with the industry won't help the workers but will sure build up the bonuses of top management. Lets face it, the auto industry has been claiming losses for the last 10 years but haven't done anything but spend money overseas. GM China made over $200 Billion last year. Yes the auto industry UAW employees make good wages, but so does management the average annual salary for a UAW worker is $50,000 a year, Rick Wagner alone makes $34 million with all of his bonuses and options and salary and his benefit package is far better than the UAW workers. Then add in the package that was given to Lutz to come out of retirement and the million dollar salaries of the rest of the top brass at GM. The federal government has been subsidizing the auto industry for years the same as they have the oil industry. Maybe the auto industry should go to the oil companies begging for handouts.

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No they should not be rescued. That is not how unregualated, trickle down capitalism works. The American electorate voted twice in a row for a President who was and is a total incompetent. It is under the Bush administration that the present financial meltdown has developed. Imagine if Al Gore had been elected, I am sure he would have ensured that the car industry would have been forced to produce more environmentally friendly autos and would have been given governmental support. But, the electorate decided otherwise. So be it. I am sure the present situation would not have happened under a more intelligent administration.

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No, not least because the "Big 3" are not the big 3.

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No way. Let these dinosaurs die out. The American car companies all but killed off the US public transport system so that Americans had to be dependent on cars, then proceeded to sell them gas guzzling junk. When Americans started buying European cars their overpaid CEOs did not getting it. When the Japanese made a splash in the US they still didn't get it.

They still didn't get it when their CEO bums flew to Washington in their company jet to beg for taxpayer's money to bail those deadbeat companies out.

You can be sure that that bailout money won't go to the workers but into the pocket of the CEO bums whose collective stupidity and laziness drove those companies into the ground.

Americans ought to cheer if the so-called big three go. Then they can have viable public transport like the rest of the world.

Or maybe the big three should be nationalized. That's an idea.

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Loans, ok free money No. I just dont want the world to be dominated by the Japanese motor industry, I know they already are, sure they make good cars but like everything in Japan its the same BORING. I like to have a choice, something that the Japanese people have very little of. I think you need competition, look what no competition has done here. So if they will agree to do something other then the nothing that they have been doing I am ok with it. Plus other countries like here in Japan the industries have always relied on free money or very low interest loans how do you think they have survived for so long,that is also one reason why its hard for the US guys to compete, along with exchange rates, legacy costs that no other companies has to deal with, come on Toyota makes 1/3 of its profits just from the exchange rate, that's free money, I wish we had that.

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Chapter 11, with government loans for restructuring (otherwise its chapter 7 and complete liquidation). Break the unions, tear up the contracts and defenestrate the managment. There is no reason that these companies, esp. Ford, cannot be reorganized into profitable buisnesses. But a straight bailout will perversely insure their complete failure.

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If the money goes to the rank and file for re-training, mortgage payments, food, etc while the CEOs are let go with a polite 'thank you' and a handshake, then yes, the government should help the car makers but only because the number of people that have jobs in the industry. Suddenly having 100s of thousands of unemployed, under-educated people on the street is not conducive to social rest. Unfortunately, the government will probably give the CEOs some cash to help 'reorganize.' This reorganization will result in massive layoffs and bonuses for a few.

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My first instinct is to say no, they shouldn't be bailed out. But if any one of the Big 3 goes under, I fear there will be hundreds of thousands of layoffs and whole economies in some regions will collapse. That's how revolutions get started.

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America's roots are buried in revolution.

As close to my heart as the big three may be, go ev or get out. We don't need to be burning fossil fuel, eventually this single fact alone could wipe every one out of the picture.

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I feel extremely sorry for the regular American auto worker having to try to get by with all of the labor cuts, while the top management fly in private lear jets to meetings around the country and around the world. First and formost, all of these parasite managagent level and CEOS should be fired! Let somebody from the regular working ranks have more of a say in how to run these car companies.

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Labors all over the world have already suffered lower pay and other worsening conditions for some 5-10 years, the US labors need to know this situation will also happened in the states soon and then last for long time.

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In the mid-early `90s I left the US and came to work in Japan. The fuel efficient cars, especially the kei-ons, really impressed me and was glad to see so many advances and effort being made to create environmentally friendly cars. Of course, the high prices for gas was/is a big factor in all this. I really felt that this would've been a great direction for the US to go at the time.

I returned to the US in `99 and found everyone and their grannys driving giant Ford F350 pick-up trucks, Excursions and huge SUVs everywhere. And I mean everywhere! The average fuel economy had actually declined. How disappointing it was to see how dramatically the US had digressed from attempting to make smaller fuel efficient cars in the four year period that I was gone.

The US auto industry is reaping what they've sowed. I knew for certain 10 years ago that this day was coming and I don't feel one ounce of sympathy for the Big 3. The US consumers were/are collaborators in all this. They've always had a choice and they chose big. That's too bad.

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Yes, some sympathy for those regular Joes (cliched and incorrect as that may be) that will lose their jobs, but why should their jobs be more protected than any others, and why weren't they doing something wiser with their money and skills when times were good? Unions were good at getting them raises, but not mush more.

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Absolutely, but in the form of a streamlined bankruptcy with guaranteed financing. The Japanese government basically bears many of the costs for their auto companies that U.S. companies are forced to bear. That is why U.S. companies start with a $2000 cost disadvantage. Also, the Japanese goverenment has for many years manipulated the value of the yen to give the Japanese companies are further advantage. Sure, the U.S. companies have made mistakes, but, they have not had a level playing field in years. Give them that, and see what happens.

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hereforknow;

Please explain how a car made by American workers (non-unionized) in the US by a Japanese company starts off with a $2,000 advantage over a similar car made by a US automaker.

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No.

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No way! Believe me when I say that I do feel for the workers of the industry and the industries that support them . The repetition of the same car under a different brand though is wasteful and really just stupid. The fact that Lincoln and Ford put out the exact vehicles under different names has always been a mystery to me. GM needs to take a hard look at getting rid of Oldsmobile where they only seem to be supported by China's wealthy. The writing really has been on the wall for awhile, and this could have been averted.

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It will be interesting to see how this plays out.

Labour costs at GM, Chrysler, and Ford are about 30USD higher than similar plants in Tennesse, etc where Toyota and Nissan build cars. The higher cost is negotiated and protected by the unions who now have a choice - lower salary to become competitive or no job. The former will hurt deeply because people would have boughts houses, etc based on their income.

If the goverment helps, it will have every other industry following on right behind asking for bailouts. If the taxpayer has to support the auto builders, why not the house builders (having a much harder time right now)?

Someone mentioned this already, but the public has played a big part in this. For years the US auto market has centered around big cc engines that pay little respect to the finite resources on this earth. These same US auto makers build excellent cars in Europe, and more or less dominate the market through their brands there. The big diffrence is that when the oil price peaked, people in the US could NOT shift the big trucks and SUV's in the US - they couldn't sell them and no-one could afford to fill them with petrol! In Europe, most people had fuel efficient cars already AND many people have access to public transport as well.

Many people have woken up, but it is probably too late for the giant US automaker to survive. All is not lost though, either through bankrupcy or a takeover, many of the workers will be re-employed (albeit at lower salary). It will be a hard time for many, and thats were the new administration needs to focus, how to generate new jobs out of the mess the bosses have left behind.

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The UAW caused it... let the union bail them out.

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The big 3 literally pay 12,000 people to do nothing. They come in to job banks and do crossword puzzles. This is what the UAW demanded, and they got it. The average worker gets paid $140,000+ including benefits and they make mediocre cars with abysmal mpg. They've lived these excesses for decades and now they promise to change. As long as the big 3 are hijacked by the corrupt UAW no deal. Taxpayers do not want to subsidize the mob.

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The Dukes of Moral Hazard ride again!

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oh no, watch Japan bashing go through the roof again. they'll start sledge-hammering Toyotas and Hondas to pieces like they did in the 80's and early 90's. throw in some isolated murders of Japanese look-alike ethnic Asians, too.

there's nothing but contempt here for the trio. take the GM Volt for example. since Germany and Japan are so resource strapped, it's only natural that they excel at fuel economy. plus, they pay for their gas in U.S. dollars, not Yen or Marks.

contrast GM's brash and crass me-above-you bad-ass attitude with Toyota's patient, humble, consistent approach to economy cars. all of a sudden GM is bragging about being number one on fuel economy with the Volt. mr. number one.

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If its a matter of saving 10s of thousands of jobs then I support it...However, wages and salaries should be recalculated. No more excessive spending and execs being treated like they are heroes. I can lay off people too if I was the CEO of a company but that doesnt really solve any problems or make me a hero because I saved some money this way. Cuts should occur across the board so the savings can avoid job losses and company closures. An intelligent CEO should be able to cut costs through other means besides layoffs. AND Cut the unions out. They are also killing the airline industry...Too many unreasonable demands. If the government was competent and could monitor large corporate operations... a union wouldnt be needed. It`s time for the people in this world to speak up and not get shafted by all the corruption that goes on these days by people in senior positions.

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POV... no complaints about the job bank and the workers who have been there for MONTHS, and in some cases YEARS, collecting paychecks?

Point being... it is NOT only the senior positions doing the shafting. There are a fair share of lazy-ass american's willing to remain on the dole. They "complain" about not working, but as long as they get paid, they don't do anything. Those that ARE working, aren't complaining about the 70 some $$$ per hour wage, when toyota, etc.. pay 45.

No.... the greed goes both ways. The union caused this, the workers took advantage of the union's strength, and management exploited all of this turn out a crap product and maximum profit.

Let 'em fail. Those jobs can become part of the gajillion jobs the messiah has promised to create.

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