I’m starting to get angry and also a little bit scared about the future. I have no particular love for the Detroit 3 (they had to relinquish the Big 3 title once Toyota turned into a big player that was regularly beating one or more of them in monthly sales.) The auto execs are arrogant, overpaid, short-sighted and got themselves into this mess all by themselves. Instead of developing new technologies and innovative long term strategies they have focused on the bottom line of the next quarter. Their strategy has been to bombard us with low financing deals for the past five years. Couldn’t they foresee a day when Americans would have to tighten their belts and hold off on that new car purchase?
On the same note, duplicity and insincerity from the Washington crew doesn’t surprise me. How many of them have uttered the words “Buy American” in one of their campaign speeches? Yet now they stand on the brink of letting the largest manufacturers of consumer durable goods in the US go under. I understand if you don’t like them. There is not much to like. But have they thought about the impact of letting even one of them go bankrupt? Our economy is like a car teetering on the edge of a cliff. One good stiff breeze could cause us to plummet to the bottom. That will be one big fiery explosion.
They seriously can’t be thinking about letting the two biggest American automakers go belly up. Not after they doled out all that cash to the financial industry. I don’t remember any of them having to endure the endless interrogatories about their spending habits and recovery plans.
I think it’s time Congress quits posturing and grandstanding. The auto execs have been abused and slapped around enough by Congress. Give them the bailout already. The economy can’t withstand such a major jolt and hundreds of thousands of hard working Americans will find themselves without jobs.
FOOTNOTE: "Assume the position" takes on a whole new meaning for Obama's Treasury Secretary. He's screwed.
How out of touch do they have to be,to climb aboard their private jets and presume to ask taxpayers,who can't even afford to buy their cars,to bail them out!..It boggles the mind.
ReplyDeleteYou made a good point about congress as well...I don't think they are giving up any of their perks any time soon.
I do think they learned a harsh lesson from the wall street bailout,when it came to light that nearly half a million dollars was spent on a so-called 'retreat' the minute the check cleared,..they are at least asking for some some kind of accounting from the big 3.
It's my understanding that the auto industry will get it's loan,probably in December when the next session convenes.
Yeah - they are a real piece of work. The whole lot of them. I don't favor the bailout because of them. But living in Michigan I know how many towns here would become ghost towns. Since 1990 the US automotive industry has lost 50% of it's jobs. Ironically a lot of those jobs were lost due to the Big 3 themselves buying their parts from suppliers in third world countries. Another one of their strategies that has backfired on them.
ReplyDeleteI just don't think we can take such a big hit without making this economic crisis deeper and longer lasting.