Cars, Cash, and Crap
I know you can’t turn on the TV or view the Internet without reading something about the current automotive crises hear in the US. I’m referring to the “Big 3”; uh, I guess you’d have to call them the “Little 3” now, as they’ve been surpassed by the Asian Automotive Market (Honda, Nissan, and Toyota).
Yeah, we’re currently spending billions (if not trillions) of dollars helping these 3 companies out and may end up spending more (The exception here is Ford Motor Company, which hasn’t taken any money yet) before it’s all said and done with. The ARTICLE for this weeks adds to the already heated debate on whether or not the government (The People) should be bailing out companies who make bad choices or simply fall victim to a really crappy economy. What do you think?
This is some what a difficult topic. If I had no outside influencing factors, i would say it is absolutely ridiculous that these companies are being bailed out because, bluntly, it is a part of life.
On the other hand, my dad’s business is near extinction and i would more than anything like the government to help him out in his economic crisis.
But to me, it still boils down to the fact that the government cannot help EVERY business so should they help any? I think the amount of money for the bailout is excessive and wasteful. There is a moderation….but where does that moderation lay?
I agree with what Anna is saying, it is a difficult topic to process. I do think that these motor vehicle companies are being given to much help. I feel that they really shouldn’t be given any help, but if the government is going to help them it should be just enough to get them back on their feet not fill up their bank accounts too!! And where do we draw the line? If we help them are we responsible for helping each and every other company that is going under? And when will the general public ever have a say in this…it seems that the government just does whatever it is that they want with no regards of what we feel should be done.
I agree that it is more complex than people make it. The whole issue is not black and white.
I do NOT agree with anna with her second statement.
Just because we cannot help everyone doesnt mean we shouldnt evaluate our priorities and help those who need it most. consider this analogy, you cannot cure everyone of disease, so why should we help anyone??
the ‘domino effect’ was talked about in the article and I think that is the bigger issue. So many things are interconnected, you cannot just attend to one factor without the others being affected. I am not an economist but as a student I would say that it is our governments duty to help the country and world as a WHOLE. It is not about weather a bailout itself is right or wrong, it is about the consequences of the bailout and if it will hurt or help our country
I think that this is probably one of the most complicated topics in the news right now. I feel that it is only right for the government to be helping these companies, but at the same time I don’t know to what extent is too much help. I believe that the degree of assistance has everything to do with who and how many people are being impacted. If less people are affected by a smaller company that is suffering, then they will get less financial help. These Big 3 companies hold many employees, customers and stockholders, so it only makes sense that the government is more wiling to help them. It is obvious that there is no simple solution to this complex problem. The current economic situation is taking it toll on everyone, so there really is no answer that will make everyone happy. I guess that the most we can do is keep ourselves informed about this issue.
Yeah, I totally agree with what Betsy says. I mean this is a pretty heated topic and not just that, it’s difficult to make a decision on whether to keep a company going or not. Assisting company’s, such as the Big 3, does deal with alot of the people who are going to be involved but who long will it last? With GM being in a tight situation like this, who knows, maybe the economy won’t help…we’ll see.
It’s a tough situation, as was mentioned previously, because so many people’s jobs are tied up in the automotive company. Many would suffer in one way or another if the government didn’t bail them out. But, because American auto companies should have been able to foresee these problems when they continued to make large automotive vehicles that were not fuel efficient, I do not agree with the government bailout. The rest of the world has been making fuel efficient vehicles and striving for better fuel economy for years. Corporate leaders were aware long before this that excessive size and fuel consumption was contrary to what was good for the planet, yet the companies continued to build large fuel guzzling vehicles for as long as they could because those large vehicles also netted large profits. When it all came to a screeching halt, then these companies expected the government to bail them out. I think they should have to face the consequences of their actions since they were fully aware what the consequences would be in a world that needs to be more conservative.
I agree with Jay! I think his point and scenario are very accurate 🙂
I do not like that fact that the government is helping car companies that seem very wealthy to the untrained eye. From a citizens stand point their cars and their multiple dealerships do not like they are hurting financially so how are they randomly billions of dollars in the hole and begging for money? It just doesn’t make sense to me. I do not agree to the fact that the government should be helping these companies…not as much as they are at least.
When people think of the “Big 3”, they think of Ford, Chrysler, and General Motors. They fail to think of the supplier companies such as Delphi Leer in Janesville and the countless people employed by these businesses. Oh, don’t forget about the car dealerships and the transport companies that ship parts and vehicles. Not only are suppliers and other companies linked to the “Big 3” affected by shut-downs or bankruptcy, so are the local communities that rely on the business that is generated from having a plant located within those towns (i.e. Janesville). Unemployment rates increase deepening the blow of the recession that results in increased prices of everyday essential items like toilet paper.
Yes, I agree that General Motors slacked in keeping up with innovation and competition with foreign automakers. As the global economy increasingly relies on oil and conflict heats up in areas of oil drilling or quantity obtained is diminishing, it’s almost inevitable that the price of oil per barrel will raise. GM should have been keeping up with their competition by producing a vehicle line that is more fuel efficient.
In the Summer of 2006, GM: Truck & Bus of Janesville was building nearly 560 jobs per day, 40-50 hours per week. Keep in mind that there are two other plants (Arlington, TX and Silao in Mexico) that were producing the same models (Tahoe, Suburban, Yukon). A person just has to ask, “Who are buying these SUVs?” and “Is the consumer demand for these vehicles that high?”
Consumer demand is important when deciding what product or service a company should offer and what improvements need to be made. If GM or another corporation of the “Big 3” claim bankruptcy, I think that consumers will continue to be disloyal and purchase foreign vehicles. Owning an American vehicle and preserving GDP will no longer matter.
If employees continue to lose out because of the “Big 3″‘s short-comings and lack of consideration for the well-being of employees, I don’t think they will remain loyal either.
I’m a former employee of General Motors. My mother and step-father have both worked at General Motors for 23 years. They’ll say that the government is not bailing out GM, they’re giving them a loan.
In my opinion we have already handed out enough money to enough companies- I think it is time to step back and let it fall out as it may. We cannot keep throwing out all this money to these companies. In the future it will be our children having to pay back what grave we are digging ourselves into. I think we have already spent a great deal of money, some of which shouldn’t have been spent. The economy sucks and I don’t see a good solution, but I don’t think this is the right one either. I think there are other companies out there, besides car companies, that need help as well.
This topic is a hard one to take a side on. On one side the government let the airlines go without help and made them file bankruptcy without help, but they are giving a lot of money to the car companies. At the same time, however, car companies help support a lot of smaller businesses and if one of the major 3 car companies goes out of business, I don’t see there being much hope for the others. In my family, most of us drive GM vehicles and have had very good luck, so to see the threat of GM to go away is a little frightening. So the question is do we help by giving all this money when we know that the companies could be doing better things, or do we risk letting them fall. It’s a hard one to answer and normally I am very against giving these companies so much money, especially because of the airline situation, but I’m not sure I’d like to see GM fall.
I really don’t know what to think concerning this situation. I have mixed feelings. Part of me wonders why we should treat GM differently than small companies that were forced out of business by the recent economic down turn. I also wonder if GM will have learned anything from this if just given a huge bailout by the government. Will we see this situation again the future? I am starting to believe that we need to let these large companies ride this out and make decisions without the idea of a bailout in their mind. If you look at AIG, they just keep asking for more money. What is to stop other large companies from doing the same? If we were to just let these companies dissolve I’m sure some of them would be able to come back, and maybe it would restore a little integrity in today’s world of big business.
I honestly do not know how to feel about this situation. On one hand, I do not understand where all of this money is coming from, but then do we really want to see our main automobile companies go bankrupt? I really do not think there is an answer to this dilema. No matter what the government does, they are going to be criticized. There is no way of knowing what will happen if we let the companies fail, maybe they could come back, but maybe not. If we want newer and better vehicles to be availabe to us, then we need to pay the price and help them out. We can not have both; not bailing then out and the continued manufacturing of vehicles.
there is two ways to look at it and each side has pretty substantial points, on one side the government might feel that since the economy is low helping out these companies will in turn help to keep people working and unemployment rates down, and on the other side we might see that these companies are still bringing in large amounts of money, yet say they there is no money there. It is hard to say what should be done due to the unstablility in today’s economy,there is always people who are going to disagree with the choice made so hopefully whichever way is chosen it does not affect us too much
Like someone said earlier this issue is not black or white, its all sorts of shades of grey and very complicated. I’m glad someone pointed out that while the gov’t cant help all failing businesses it should help the ones that need it most and effect the people the greatest.
Many people are connected to this issue because of the jobs under threat (ie. Janesville)
I will probably never buy a new American car unless things drastically change. The Big/little 3 failed to meet the demands of the people and willgreatly suffer because of their lack of effective and effecient competition with the foreign companies. As the article mentioned, Bankruptcy puts a damper on consumer confidence and vehicle demand. If this bail out doesnt work when will the gov’t draw the line?
Personally i think that they Government should not be bailing people out who abuse the money that they are given. I do not understand where all of this m oney is coming from either. Also you hear tons of stories about top exec’s that are getting this bailout money and then gettting huge bonuses or taking their workers on a vacation. It would suck for a car business to go under but it kinda just is how the cards fall i guess.
I dont agree that we should be having to help out these motor companies but what else is new. Everyone needs help. I dont understand the diferential of power and money given to these companies who do not know how to efficiently use it. If General Motors can’t keep up with demands on ever-changing technology then why grant them money to put themselves in a deeper hole?
I could honeslty disagree and I agree, the reason I disagree is because it it unfair for these 3 companies to be bailed out every single time that they need help, with finances to keep their company’s head above water! and the reason why I would agree is because big 3 has to be the top or number 1 sales of cars/vehicles not because they are foriegn but because of the quality of the car and maybet this is one of the reasons that the companies continues to get bailed out.!
I do understand the ripple effect that will happen to these smaller supply companies but I do not think it is appropriate to keep bailing out companies or whathaveyou that have failed. I guess I am an advocate of social darwinism. GM has failed to stay competitive and are having a hard time keeping up pensions, benefits, etc to its employees/former employees. I think bankruptcy is the best option for them so they can get to the core of the problem and make some changes. If anyone should be bailout, shouldn’t it be the people? Why don’t we compensate these workers who are now or going to be out of a job until these companies restructure themselves?
At any rate, Chrysler received a loan from the government years back and now they are back to the same type of problems because they did not fix core problems that needed to be addressed. Should this not be a warning sign?
I don’t think that it’s okay for our government to bailout comapanies because they made bad choices. If you are going to start a company or be the owner of one then you need to be responsible for that company and understand what risks you are taking. I think that by having the government bailout companies it really reflects how a company runs there business. I just don’t agree.