Big 3 Auto bailout

[Enmore]

The German government is paying out 2,500 Euros (US $3,155) to anyone scrapping a car older than nine years and buying a new vehicle.

[jimzinsocal]

Saab

http://www.examiner.com/a-1861724~GM...l?cid=rss-Busi

[Meridian]

Saab

http://www.examiner.com/a-1861724~GM...l?cid=rss-Busi

I'm all in favour if it means Saab will go back to making decent cars rather than warmed over Vectras. But I doubt their ability to survive without a bed-fellow.



M

[jimzinsocal]

Im not saying a word. Read it yourself.
Kleenex availaible at the Rolleyes Building. Second Floor left.
Next to the Fiction Department of our Bookstore

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/...mestic-auto-i/

[Enmore]

Cars need to be less complicated. I had to take the front grill and headlight off just to change a frikkin bulb the other week. Plus, I found out today that to get at the oil filter, I have to take one of the front wheels off!

[old82]

yeah, i know. what is up with them cramming all this shit in such a small space? my dad had this old 70's ford ranger and there was TONS of room around the engine to get to everything. the mazda he had? nope. only air, if that, could fit in there.


and what is all that excess crap in cars nowadays for anyway?

[tucker]

and what is all that excess crap in cars nowadays for anyway?

It’s California smog equipment.

[AMDScooter]

Gee.. ya think??

Voter Pressure Mounts To Stop Aiding US Automakers

Another national public-opinion poll shows a large majority of Americans questioning whether the federal government should provide more help to the fading domestic auto industry.
A Quinnipiac University survey released Wednesday showed 65 percent of registered U.S. voters do not believe the government has a responsibility to help the automakers, while just 31 percent said the government does have such a responsibility. The survey shows more voters question auto aid than do aid to struggling banks or to homeowners in danger of foreclosure, though majorities on all three questions said there was not a federal responsibility to intervene.

The poll is the latest of several to show weak public support for additional aid since General Motors and Chrysler sent restructuring plans and requests for billions of dollars in new assistance to the Obama administration last month. The government has a March 31 deadline to approve the restructuring plans or deem them insufficient; if they are rejected, the administration could recall the loans already provided, pushing the companies into bankruptcy.

[Enmore]

Hmmm... looks like the UK might get a discount scheme to buy a new car too:

A £2,500 handout to scrap your old car: Ministers back scheme to kickstart motor industry

By Ray Massey


Motorists are to be offered up to £2,500 in taxpayer-funded handouts for trading their old car in for a newer model.

Ministers are backing the idea of a 'cash-for-scrap' bounty under plans to kickstart the motor industry.

A scheme pioneered in Germany has led to a 21 per cent rise in new vehicle sales in February. By contrast, the number sold here fell by more than 21 per cent last month, the tenth monthly drop in a row.

I'll believe it when I see it. My car is 10 years old this year.


http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...-industry.html

[Meridian]

Why would they care - it's not like Britain actually owns any proper car makers...


M

[Enmore]

Because they are desperate to be seen to be doing something. They're miles behind in the polls and are looking at a meltdown at the next election.

[kbohip]

I wonder if the French government has an auto buyback policy yet? If so, would it cover cars that have fire damage?

[Enmore]

I wonder if the French government has an auto buyback policy yet?

They do. New buyers get €1,000 (US $1,284) towards a new car.

If so, would it cover cars that have fire damage?

[AMDScooter]

A lot of the auto bailout news seems to be getting tossed into other threads so I thought I'd resurrect this thread. If a mod would kindly change the thread title to "Big 3 Auto bailout" I'd much appreciate it.

Throwing the BS Flag (Update)

The usual suspects have blamed the usual suspects in the GM bailout:

Austan Goolsbee, a senior economic adviser to President Obama, said the administration’s options were sharply limited by President Bush’s handling of the auto industry, and accused the prior administration of running out the clock.

“They shook up the can. They opened the can and handed [it] to us in our laps,” Goolsbee said on Fox News Sunday.

“When George Bush put money into General Motors, almost explicitly with the purpose — how many dollars do they need to stay alive until January 20th, 2009, there was no commitment to restructuring, to making these viable enterprises of any kind,” said Goolsbee, who serves as staff director and chief economist of the Obama’s Economic Recovery Advisory Board.

All of that is probably true, but the BS flag is thrown at the implication that the Bush administration left them with few options such that it had to funnel more and more bailout money into GM.

There was a clear second option - back off, tell GM that bankruptcy and restructuring are the best option and let the system take care of it. But they didn’t. They made the case that GM was “too big to fail” and that the “downstream impact” in terms of unemployment was unacceptable.

The continued bailout had two outcomes that the Obama administration wanted but won’t admit. One - they got a majority equity stake in the company. And they manipulated the bankruptcy proceedings to preserve that majority.

Secondly, it saved the jobs of a favored special interest group, the UAW, until such a time they too could be handed an equity stake in the “new” company through the manipulated process.

Without the Bush administration’s bailout, none of that would have been possible. And, of course, previous to taking office, Obama had lauded the handling of the GM problem.

So the Goolsbee blame shifting is more than nonsense, it’s nonsense on stilts.

UPDATE: Keith Hennesy, a member of the Bush administration who dealt directly with this subject and the incoming Obama administration throws a very detailed BS flag of his own. [HT: Rick Caird]

~McQ

And lets not forget whose idea it was when the "blame Bushy" rhetoric starts..

Obama Asks Bush to Back Rescue of Automakers
Democrats Draft Bailout Expansion

By Lori Montgomery and Michael D. Shear
Washington Post Staff Writers
Tuesday, November 11, 2008; Page A01

President-elect Barack Obama yesterday urged President Bush to support immediate aid for struggling automakers and back a new stimulus package, even as congressional Democrats began drafting legislation to give the Detroit automakers quick access to $25 billion by adding them to the Treasury Department's $700 billion economic rescue program.

. . .

[BlackDragon24]

Scoot, you can change the title yourself to whatever you like by going into advance edit mode in your first post