what a mess!
Senate is going to be talking about this tomorrow
privatize the profit, socialize the losses
i've actually found myself agreeing with some things that the republicans are saying.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/11/16/top-republican-senators-o_n_144163.html
some interesting facts from mother jones mag:
the $4 Effect
Decrease in total miles Americans drove this June, compared to June '07: 12.2 BILLION
Truck and SUV plants GM announced it plans to close: 4
GM's second quarter loss: $15.5 BILLION!!!!
GDP of Bolivia: $13.2 Billion
Transit rides taken in first 3 months of 2008: 2.7 billion
Increase from last year: 88 million
Transit rides in 1946, when US ridership was at it's peak: 23 billion
Number of Burlington Northern Santa Fe shares Warren Buffett has accumulated since January '07: 64 Million
yikes!
"A White House alternative would let the car companies take $25 billion in loans previously approved to develop fuel-efficient vehicles and use the money for more immediate needs. Congressional Democrats oppose the White House plan as shortsighted."
I was watching CNN the other day, and agree with some republican thoughts too [who would have thought].
The US auto industry got itself in this hole. Honestly, I don't see them fixing it. GM has been admitting for 2 decades they have been putting out crap cars, and all the the big three have moved major manufacturing facilities out of the states. Out of the past 8 Japanese cars I have bought, 7 of them were built in the US.
A big part of the argument for the bailout is Korea, particularly Hyundai. Every year Hyundai is producing more and more cars in the US, and they are the leaders of innovation [see Genesis]. During a debate on CNN one of the political analysts says that foreign manufacturers dont have to pay for innovation and pensions. They may be right about the pensions, but Asian, and European manufacturers have been paying for innovations the past 40 years while GM was putting out the same crap cars. GM did invest in innovation but killed the project when their friends in oil got worried [See Saturn EV1].
I think these companies should be on their own, the only issues are the jobs that could be lost.
Maybe we could give the $25 billion to profiting automakers [Hyundai, Toyota, Nissan, Honda] to open new plants to employ the workers being laid off by Detroit.
how about the $25B going to them so they can make buses to help out struggling public transit agencies.
i really have a rudimentary knowledge of this situation, it just seemed peachy
I recommend reading what Megan McCardle has to say about this brouhaha.
it seems auto industry expert neil young (yep the singer) has it all figured out.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/neil-young/how-to-save-a-major-autom_b_143749.html
