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154 Comments
- inactive, on 11/17/2008, -2/+39If the big three ain't selling then there is no need for suppliers to produce, on down the line. They made a good point on CNN the other day, if they can't make cars we want to buy we are only putting a band-aid on a cancer.
- voodoochild461, on 11/19/2008, -7/+31I blame the unions
- krekc, on 11/19/2008, -2/+24I work for a supplier and while business is slow, very slow, we are keeping our heads above water. The whole Michigan/Detroit economy is based on the auto market so if they go down, we all go down. Michigan as a whole is in a world of hurt right now.
- Akairenn, on 11/19/2008, -4/+26I sell poop on a stick. Unfortunately, the American people just aren't buying poop on a stick right now. So I'm operating at a heavy loss here. If the government doesn't step in and give me a bailout of one million dollars, jobs will be lost - and everything will collapse! Grocery stores will go out of business as I won't be purchasing huge amounts of food to make poop on a stick! Gas stations will close as I no longer need to travel to pick up said materials!
Chaos! Anarchy! C'mon, Congress, you gave the banks a few hundred billion. What's a million, to save the fine American industry of poop on a stick? - siszam, on 11/19/2008, -8/+23Their continued refusal to make reliable cars that Americans want has created this crisis.
- bishop, on 11/19/2008, -1/+16If a company is successful, the government wants to charge for windfall profits.
If a company sucks, the government wants to bail them out.
What type of logic is that?!?! - locojones, on 11/19/2008, -1/+13The suppliers are too important to fail, let's bail them out too!!! Free government handouts this way ------->
- Khast, on 11/19/2008, -1/+13I agree. I've worked for a union, not one, but 3 different unions over the course of my early working years. All 3 of the unions ***** me around, one of them I was hired, and put into the union, and laid off before I even started working....then was put in the roster, awaiting a job....problem, by the union's rules, I couldn't go out and look for another job while I waited for my number to come up. (Superiority comes first.) And I had to be able to pay my union dues each month (WITH NO ***** JOB)
No thanks, after that ordeal I AM NEVER GOING BACK TO ANOTHER ***** UNION JOB AGAIN....if my current job ever unionizes I ***** QUIT...... - northwatuppa, on 11/17/2008, -1/+12What its really beginning to look like is that the US auto industry will implode no matter what they do.
FTA: "The fragility of the whole thing is very much like a house of cards," said Bob Viswanathan, an assistant professor of operations management at the University at Buffalo School of Management. "Everybody knows that the finance markets are so interconnected, but the auto industry is worse."
AND: "We are all connected by some very thin threads and if any piece of the chain from the manufacturers to the small suppliers fails, the whole thing could fail," said Ann Wilson, the association's vice president of government affairs. - inactive, on 11/19/2008, -1/+12why no bailout for the construction industry? They employ more people than the auto industry and they have been hurting for far longer than the auto, bank and insurance industries. Suppliers, equipment manufacturers, Sub contractors, General contractors, Architects, Civil Engineers and the list goes on are losing their jobs and businesses but no one seems concerned about them?
Bailouts don't work, this is the third major bailout for the auto industry. If they haven't learned by now, then they should fail and go bankrupt.
The bailout isn't working for the banking industry why should this work. - sdwilly, on 11/19/2008, -1/+11or ever.
- Twee, on 11/19/2008, -0/+10It's important to note that Toyota, Nissan, Mazda, etc. are all manufactured in the US. The main company is Japanese, but the cars are built here.
- sjbdallas, on 11/19/2008, -4/+13May as well continue to reward bad business practices and poor management i guess.
- Trekhawk, on 11/19/2008, -0/+8Lord, everyone was making SUVs! It was unique to Detroit. Toyota introduced and continues to produce the Sequoia, the Forerunner, the Highlander, the FJ Cruiser, the Rav4. Even Volvo and Porsche introduced SUVs. It's what everyone wanted so everyone started making them.
- Trekhawk, on 11/19/2008, -3/+11The UAW is suffocating the Detroit automakers more. Toyota, Honda and everyone else are operating under the same financial conditions.
- jpmoney03, on 11/19/2008, -2/+10The Detroit automakers were in trouble before any of this started they just plain don't make a car that anybody wants and haven't for quite a while hence they are going under. Money won't fix their problem in the long run like it will in the financial sector that is a huge difference because they are going to fail eventually anyways unlike most of the financial firms that will pay the government back someday.
- fabkebab, on 11/19/2008, -0/+7It isnt a second crisis- Its part of the same crisis
- ObrokenO, on 11/17/2008, -2/+9When will I finally be able to read some good news :( seems like everything is getting worse
- Wholekernalcorn, on 11/19/2008, -1/+8How can we buy their cars when they've taken our money?
- borez, on 11/19/2008, -1/+8I wouldn't want to live in Detroit right now.
- quickgold192, on 11/19/2008, -2/+9then again, Ford's F series are some of the most reliable automobiles in the market.
- siszam, on 11/19/2008, -3/+10This may lead to 3 million job losses. That will affect all Americans. This isn't a "pfff" situation.
- inactive, on 11/19/2008, -1/+8We are *****.
- sdwilly, on 11/19/2008, -0/+7Pinchduck,
Are you claiming that Toyota doesn't have healthcare benefits for their employees, or sponsor a 401k plan? - Shaggy3, on 11/19/2008, -1/+7Good point. Its a market that our country is just not competitive in and it needs to be allowed to fail.
- inactive, on 11/19/2008, -2/+8The government already bailed out the automobile manufactures a few times before, lets just hope if they do it again they require them to have better regulation and re-create a new business plan. A bail out would just delay it from happening again, we need reform.
It's a real shame that the crisis is affecting the big three like this. I already know people who lost their jobs a while ago over factories moving, now this? Our unemployment rate is already high in Michigan, this is going to damage it even more. I might have to leave my state, the state I was born and lived in my whole life if this continues to happen. - tgc1, on 11/19/2008, -0/+6And just like that, it all comes crashing down.
- BESTenemy, on 11/19/2008, -2/+8 The government is guilty for insuring the debt of big 3 when they have shown themselves to be incapable of restructuring year after year. The government is guilty for awarding no-bid contracts for municipal transportation to Ford without shopping around, picking the vehicles with the worst fuel economy and lifespan.
United Workers union is guilty for keeping supplier lines at GM and Ford factories segmented from the main production line, driving the costs up. Unions are also guilty for their refusal to allow wages to fall during the deflationary period. They want their share for the profits on the way up, they refuse to contribute on the way down.
The Fed is guilty for allowing the money to flow easily into the credit market for financing of zero down sub prime quality vehicle purchases. Just like with houses, people were getting into cars they could not afford and now they're losing them through repossessions.
The congress is guilty for passing blank bailout cheques to wasteful enterprises such as the big 3.
People are guilty for being consumers as oppose to being citizens (concerned with the fate of their tax dollars).
The big 3 had been going bankrupt since the 70's.. There was a plenty of time to figure things out. Now it is too late to avoid the inevitable. The dinosaurs have to die out before the new, more efficient companies can take their place. - inactive, on 11/19/2008, -0/+6Yeah, but that's the thing. Which industry *isn't* interconnected? They all are.
Every single business depends on another business. It's a flimsy argument for a bailout of automakers that don't know how to make cars people actually want to buy. And they are totally playing the same card the finance industry did. - inactive, on 11/19/2008, -5/+11Move, adapt, evolve.
It's not what people want to hear, but that's how markets and capitalism works. It happened in Pittsburgh with steel, so Detroit isn't the first.
And it's hard to feel sorry for the automakers.. They've been getting beat up from the likes of Toyota, Honda, VW, and others for decades now. And they still haven't got a clue. - subterfuge, on 11/19/2008, -0/+6and no child left behind is exactly the opposite: you do well and you get more money, but if you do poorly they'll take your money away.
the solution is to just get the federal government out of everything. - geoffg, on 11/19/2008, -8/+14Depression II - The sequel even more terrifying then the original! (Coming Soon)
- wrenchone, on 11/19/2008, -2/+8The thing is though, a year or so ago, they WERE making the cars people wanted - they just happened to be SUVs. Are the Big3 at fault for focusing purely on SUVs and the like? Yes, but that's what America was demanding. When gas prices shot up, people suddenly wanted small cars. Unfortunatly, the auto industry doesn't work that fast. Gm and Ford were in the process of focusing more on small cars when the housing market crashed and took the rest of economy with it. Ford is still on track to introduce it's new small cars this year. You can't expect the car companies to change overnight, you have to give them time, and to actually look at their products with an open mind.
- Trekhawk, on 11/19/2008, -1/+6Did you want to live there in the past 30 years?
- divinediva, on 11/17/2008, -5/+10The global financial crisis is suffocating the Detroit automakers.
- stoanhart, on 11/19/2008, -0/+5Next semester I'm taking a world economics class at university. Studying the whole thing as it bursts at the seems should be fascinating.
- SteVisDiggn, on 11/19/2008, -2/+7I'm from Michigan... I'm a life long resident and i've never come encountered with a family that wasn't intertwined with the auto industry in some way. You have no idea what will happen if these companies fail to us here in Michigan. There are suppliers and people who supply the suppliers. The restaurants that cater to these employees so on and so forth. We might end up with a ghost south eastern part of Michigan.
Do not forget what the auto industries did for this country. - cargopete, on 11/19/2008, -7/+12Sure the Big Three may not have built the best cars, but the United States allows all foreign manufactures into the U.S. while Japan, China and many other Asian nations still restrict the amount of vehicles imported into their country. Let's at least level the playing field.
- inactive, on 11/19/2008, -0/+4America is bigger than the auto industry. Much bigger. And we do produce much more than autos.
- EssPii, on 11/19/2008, -6/+10Country who makes bad cars: Allows good cars into the country.
Country who makes good cars: Doesn't allow bad cars into country.
Sounds about right. - bballboye, on 11/19/2008, -0/+4And the analysts ware too idiot and stone headed to understand the trend of gas and future energy demand...all they needed was a world population census but they chose the crystal ball.
"Lies, damned lies, and statistics" - borez, on 11/19/2008, -1/+5Yep
- phishneslo, on 11/19/2008, -6/+10i love the fact that these washington analysts an pundits find it so justifiable to bail out the financial companies that started this whole mess (and whose fault it is), but have a problem with helping out the auto makers, who were crippled by the meltdown/credit crunch, but didn't have anything to do with it.
AND somehow fail to realize that they aren't just giving the UAW a [well deserved] slap on the wrist - they are taking down potentially 20 million workers? America doesn't make electronics anymore... we don't even have call centers... what do they want blue collar workers to work on when we don't have any manufacturing at all? - medicman55, on 11/19/2008, -0/+4Yeah, Detroit sorta sucks right now. Along with a horrible economy, its really cold here.
- HyperVirt, on 11/19/2008, -3/+7Yeah, but remember that your President is still in power. Obama doesn't take power until Jan. 20th. The more you know!
- borez, on 11/19/2008, -0/+3Nope
- EntropyFan, on 11/19/2008, -0/+3A point to realize is that while everyone says 'they don't make cars we want to buy', if you look at Honda or anyone else making small, efficient cars, they are taking a beating too.
It isn't that we aren't buying American cars; we just are not buying. - jbmcb, on 11/19/2008, -0/+3The domestic car industry, as a whole, accounts for over 5% of GDP. Imagine that vanishing. Doesn't sound like much, but it would make the current economic crisis look like a hiccup.
To put it in geek terms, imagine the economic impact of Microsoft, Dell, HP, Apple, Oracle, Sun, Google, Motorola and IBM all going out of business at the same time. - wrenchone, on 11/19/2008, -3/+6People's continued refusal to acknowledge that Gm and Ford do actually make good, reliable cars isn't helping things.
Recent reliability ratings have Ford almost neck and neck with Honda and Toyota. For some reason people always complain that the car they bought 20 years ago was crap, so obviously the ones made today must be just as bad. - wrenchone, on 11/19/2008, -0/+3They are. The Fiesta gets here early next year, and Focus and Mondeo in 2010. Like I said, you just need to give them time.
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