'Trust'

iTrader: (24)

Comparing the airlines is also an unfair comparison, as noted they did get screwed for 9/11. The key difference is that ALL airlines were/are suffering, with the exception of Southwest which i believe were the only ones on the black, not a few that provided a lesser product. Even though the economy isn't purley one of capitalism social darwinism, generally, rules, the rule is to provide a competitive quality along with a competitive price, if you fail to meet either you will not suceed, period. GM really needs to work on getting its act together, not making cars more and more expensive w/mediocare quality. For the first time in US history a foreign company, toyota, out sold a domestic, ford, last year, and unless domestic companies step up their products they will fall to more. My .02

WECIV

Arguing that we should have pure capitalism is ludicrous. Pure capitalism like pure democracy is anarchy and rule by the powerful against the weak. Hence why we have a federal republic and not a democracy. The big three should be helped out. We are sending so much of our economy overseas that we will not have the production base to win a major war against China. We waste billions of dollars assisting war mongering arabs in the Middle East. Let us put our aid money to good use, helping Americans in America.

Red Shift

Will they do anything with the ship sinking? They will bail and see how useless on the job market they really are. $25 an hour is excessive for unskilled labor. Averaging $1600 per car health care costs. PARASITIC!!

2000Hawk

iTrader: (5)

Just please do not let toyota buy out GM. I sware if toyota tries to buy gm im going to ******* lose it.
-Joel

nbm00ws6

iTrader: (4)

In the fall of 2005 the UAW and GM came to a agreement that was voted on and passed by the UAW current GM workers that saves GM around $15 billion dollars in the next few years by having the retirees pay for part of their health benefits and the current work force took a 15-18 month pay freeze and both have higher co-pay on their medicine and doctor visits. The agreement is said by GM to save them around $4 billion in the year 2006 alone. GM praised the UAW for their efforts in helping them out when they needed the most.

LS1LT1

iTrader: (16)

LS1LT1

iTrader: (16)

They already do, we cannot sell as many vehicles in most overseas nations as they are allowed to sell here.
Now there are other products that we export that can be hurt of course but I'm talking about vehicle versus vehicle here.

2002BlackSS

iTrader: (4)

I'm aware they already do, but the tarrifs are not in significant amounts and we don't have any trade agreements restricting imports based on exportation rates. As the largest worldwide consumer of the majority of products, that is how you leverage tarrifs against other countries without it hurting your exports. One such example would be to set a minimum required ratio of sales:

ex. exports/imports >= 0.5 would require that dollars earned could not exceed dollars spent by a trading nation. (Japan sells $20b cars to US, we sell $20b chickens to them). It has worked for us in the past, and as I see it is necessary for survival of our economy.

Those that think it is not important to have production State-side don't understand economics (yes, even some economists don't understand this one). You cannot base your economy on services, because services are not tangible, just as you shouldn't (though we do, in spite of our money being illegal according to the Constitution) base your dollar on a principle, but on something of value (i.e. gold/silver/precious metal etc.). Products have value, and while I understand that those jobs may seem menial, it is much better to have a menial, reliable job than to not have one at all, or to have a job market that is oversaturated with highly skilled people who have to compete for the opportunity to flip burgers.

technical

Maybe you should research the extent of the financial trouble the airlines had created before 9/11 and how the bailout did nothing to help them. 9/11 was just the final stroke. GM is following suit. BTW the genius said not to give anyone money.

Inspector12

iTrader: (29)

The fact is we (Meaning US citizens) are killing ourselves. Cost of living here with the high taxes we pay IE: 30% right off the top and the we are taxed when we spend it another 8.25% and some states have an income tax etc... I bet we don't see 40% of what we make! Taxed when we make it and when we spend it and taxed on what we own IE: Property etc... Then throw in all the foreign competition who work for pennys on the dollar. Well to try and make the most of what we make well by the cheaper good from the other country instead of supporting US companies! Who profits the foreign companies do and out US companies cut jobs etc... to try and compete but can't do enough to be competitive so then they go under leaving us job less and the cycle goes on and on until we are all out of good paying jobs. I mean they brag about how unemplyment is down, but what are the jobs people are working (Walmart, Mc Donalds, Toco Bell etc...) I see people working two low paying jobs to scrape by. Now a lot of this will not seem true for a lot of people because it hasn't gotten bad enough for the majority to realize it. The goverment leaves our boarder open because they want more worker to pay taxes just like a good company would want to raise profits so we end up paying more to the lawmakers and officials and more welfare programs etc... I could go on all day about so many aspects of this, but why no one listens or does anything about it. Bottom line we need to buy from US companies even if the products cost more that supports our economy and not the foreigners! We need to close the boarders and concentrate on things here in the US rather than other countries also.

djp1974

Should we help them, yes because it would have a severe impact on our economy. But things need to change in this country regardging the auto industry. A fact that has been proven time and time again (and not only in the auto industry) is that unions have ruined what was once a great industry in the united states. It is far to expensive to operate they way Ford and GM have had to and still maintain the ability to build a quality product at a reasonable price. Why buy a CTS or Lincoln LS for over $40k when you could buy an A6 or TL and get far more for your money. It truely is a free economy, and it should tell these guys something when just about everyone in this country wants to buy a Toyota over a Ford or GM product. They can do it cheaper and at a higher quality and you can bet your life you will get 150-200k miles out of the car if you change the oil every 5k miles. This should be a wakeup call for Ford and GM.