Auto Bailout

Suffy · 11-17-2008, 06:49 PM

That's another major problem with the auto bailout as well as the financial bailout, it's creating dangerous precedents that can be exploited by dumb politicians to just give money away because someone has lets say for extreme purporses one bad quarter of earnings.

Jayman · 11-17-2008, 08:25 PM

Upper Management has taken a paycut, at least I can speak for GM there. All the executive staff has taken a 50% paycut, and there are absolutely no bonuses this year (or next) for anyone. Further, they are cutting the "little things" that help save cash: no more pool vehicles for employees to use when traveling to a vendor or another facility...you must use your own vehicle. They are abolishing desk phones and the voicemail that comes along with it...this will save mucho dinero. All overseas travel is also suspended. So those that were supposed to go to Europe for machine run-offs, etc..are halted and must do everything remotely from the US.

Granted, cutting these things suck, but it must be done.

As for "shredding union contracts"..holy jesus that would cause a ton of chaos!!! There would be labor strikes, no doubt. Not to mention that every 4 years when they negotiate a new labor contract with the UAW...there are many 20-hour days in a row that must happen to get the negotiations resolved. My dad knows...poor guy is on that board. He's thankful there's another 3 years before the next renewal.

Brandon · 11-17-2008, 08:41 PM

I would also agree with a proposed bailout plan but only if the upper management is completely removed. We don't want to go through this again.

Inogenius · 11-19-2008, 08:28 PM

So my boy Mitt Romney says...

Quote:

Let Detroit Go Bankrupt

Article Tools Sponsored By
By MITT ROMNEY
Published: November 18, 2008

IF General Motors, Ford and Chrysler get the bailout that their chief executives asked for yesterday, you can kiss the American automotive industry goodbye. It won’t go overnight, but its demise will be virtually guaranteed.

Without that bailout, Detroit will need to drastically restructure itself. With it, the automakers will stay the course — the suicidal course of declining market shares, insurmountable labor and retiree burdens, technology atrophy, product inferiority and never-ending job losses. Detroit needs a turnaround, not a check.

And he has a point.

I wonder if we let them go bankrupt, and that's when we give them the bailout money. Therefore they can actually restructure, and stay in business. Essentially it'd be like a DIP loan, only given by the government. Of course, I then wonder if we should maybe add a new Chapter of bankruptcy, where the CEO of GM/Ford/Chrysler has to report to a trustee in charge of the bankruptcy case.

Jayman · 11-20-2008, 08:43 AM

I heard Romney's statement this morning, and I understand what he's saying. If I can sidetrack a minute.....

Back 30 to 40 years ago, when things were going really well for the automotive companies, they did not take full advantage of the situation. Rather than think and plan for tomorrow, they spent freely. And now they are paying for it. Why do I think the automotive industry is in the crapper like it is now? Simple: they waited too long to capitalize on alternative fuels.

We have a facility near me that houses MANY of GM's old cars, dating back to the early 1900's. Part of the exhibit is old GM "concept cars". Did you know they had the idea, and even implemented it into concept cars of the 70's, of putting a hybrid engine..or even fuel cell technology?

But, why was it never implemented back then? Why didn't the research start all those years ago? GM didn't think ahead that, one day, oil and other fossil fuels will be in high demand, and as a result it could drive up fuel cost for the consumer. This would be bad for the economy - and sure enough it was. Maybe hindsight is 20/20, but surely some of the executives had to of thought of this all those years ago? But no....things were going so well back then, they probably had daily conga lines in the Renaissance Center in downtown Detroit.

Think in more recent terms: do you remember when they first showed us the concept for the new Chevrolet Camaro? When was that - the 2006 Auto Show? We are now entering 2009, a full THREE years later, and still we have none on the roads. How about the Chevy Volt, which is supposed to "revolutionize the auto industry". They've been talking about it for YEARS, and we still have nothing.

Maybe this is wishful thinking, and I know you can't build a car plant overnight, but things are simply moving too slow in this industry. We aren't getting the advancements fast enough in his industry, and as a result we are hurting. The "gas crisis" began how many years ago now, and as a result the new theory was: everything must have low gas mileage. Now, gas is at $2.00 average in this country (I know it won't stay that way), so what's the marketing theory now?

The Auto Industry must speed up their work, in my opinion. Because they are getting burned, and the pain doesn't look to be ending anytime soon.

Auto Bailout

This is a discussion on Auto Bailout within the General Discussion forums, part of the Non Wrestling Forums category; That's another major problem with the auto bailout as well as the financial bailout, it's creating dangerous precedents that can ...