Reid, Pelosi, Dodd, Frank Renew Call On Bush To Use TARP To Aid Auto Industry
Since Rep. Richard Shelby and his gang of blue collar haters have blocked the bridge loan, the Democratic Party is asking Bush to let go of the funds from TARP to help save the auto industry.
Dear Mr. President:
This week the U.S. domestic auto industry submitted their comprehensive plans for restructuring their companies and moving promptly to produce more fuel-efficient, advanced technology vehicles which are essential for their economic future and for the environmental needs of our world. Hearings are underway in the House and Senate Committees into those plans, but it is already clear that action should be taken by the federal government to facilitate the implementation of these restructuring efforts and prevent the severe impacts to our economy that would result from the bankruptcy of one or more of these companies.
We have previously urged that $25 billion of the funds provided in the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act (EESA) can and should be used for emergency bridge loans for the domestic auto industry. The response from the Treasury to date has been that these funds should only be used to protect the U.S. financial sector. What is becoming clear, however, is that the failure of the Big 3 would indeed have a major direct and negative impact on the financial sector, not just on the economy as a whole.
We again urge you to use funds available to you through the EESA to provide emergency bridge loans to the auto industry...read on
bob you are sooo right , it's simply that the foreign manufacturers do'nt have health care or r&d costs
Not only does the Japanese government subsidize their auto industries healthcare, they also subsidize their Research and Development. The unfair trade agreements have all but destroyed industry in America, the auto's are the last stronghold. When the auto industry is gone this country will be nothing more than a paper tiger, super power my ass. It is time for universal healthcare, if we care about our way of life, we had better demand it. This country is sinking fast, will we grab the last rope or simply drown.
We must push for Healthcare and accept no excuses/
Obama's naming a 'health care progressive' to an important post in his addministration. She's for almost universal insurance, she said. Really...
I read it yesterday, i'm sure, either here or on TP...
You guys are just whiners...
These companies all have universal healthcare in Canada and are asking for multi billion dollar bailouts from us to...so ....no it isn't about healthcare costs.
"They say the Union worker make too much, but they said nothing about the wages of the Bankers."
EXACTLY!
NOBODY 2012
american workers so much? now that the election is over the quadrennial love affair that the repub party has with working class america has been put aside so fast it will make your head spin!
today, my anger at repubs has inflated to new levels. I just dont get them.
That's why they seem so angry, they don't get any either.
Their wives's have had their face so botoxed they can't even pucker up for a kiss.
And their worried that Amazon's new Kindle might make pages obsolete.
Diabolus est Deus Inversus
This common folk despising party truly needs to die.
The election is over so the GOP charlatans have returned their rented pickup trucks to the rental agencies and have given their "worker" costumes to charity. It really must gall them to have to pretend to like average Americans for the few months prior to each election; how they must long for the day after the election when they can start hobnobbing again with real Americans—the ones with the gold that make the rules!
Democrats No
Baucus, Mont.; Lincoln, Ark.; Reid, Nev.; Tester, Mont.
Democrats Not Voting
Biden, Del.; Kennedy, Mass.; Kerry, Mass.; Wyden, Ore.
those 8 folks were enough to pass it.
i am DISGUSTED w/ repubs for voting against this as a party, but DEEPLY dissapointed in Reid and Tester and dems for who voted against it along with the repubs who hate american workers.
Reid's vote was procedural so that he can bring it up for consideration again. The other no votes are a little bit disturbing, but they could have felt that there were to many concessions to the GOP in it—I don't know.
Is he still sick?
But Biden and Kerry, WTF?
"...But Biden and Kerry, WTF?"
After the presents they both got on Election Day, they should have jumped on this!
NOBODY 2012
EESA sounds like the name of a host of an afternoon TV gab-fest.
"You go, girlfriend!!!"
Diabolus est Deus Inversus
how ANY one could vote for these lunkheads is beyound me!
water powered car that they said was impossible?
In production since '01, held back by big oil
The Chrysler Natrium
Shrub will give $12-14 billion of TARP to GM and privately-owned Chrysler...few if any strings attached.
GM, Chrysler, and Ford will make it into the new year and then come begging to Obama.
Obama will do something aimed at helping them.
But GM and Chrysler will go belly up, because no one will buy their cars. Ford will follow suit into bankruptcy.
Ford and GM may actually get help from their overseas branches.
The EU is not going to let Opel or Saab fail, period. And Ford's European branch is not doing too bad, considering.
Chrysler is the only one without significant overseas diversification.
The issue that I have is that Chrysler is own by a fund that had over $100 billion in cash. So why the #$@#$ are they asking for taxpayer bailouts?
white house just announced that they will "consider" using TARP funds . . . according to MSNBC.
It would be ironic if its actually Bush who ends up doing the right thing. The irony would just destroy me!
I don't see how bush can refuse to do this, all things considered.
Say what you mean. Mean what you say. But don't say it mean.
Sounds to me like these guys are still in the mindset of being slave owners...and where they no longer have been allowed to actually OWN slaves...
..........slave wages are the next best thing.
DeMint thinks that the unions are 'antiquated'...well, as far as I'm concerned, my taxes going for their damned salaries/healthcare/pensions is an antiquated idea as well. Have they not thought about the fact is no one is working, there aren't going to BE any taxes to pay their salaries/healthcare/pensions.....
Oh, I keep forgetting, these guys are millionaires/billionaires anyway, so who gives a (blank)
As for those damn Dems who didn't vote.....WTH!!!!!!!!!!!!!
god, I am so sick of these people.
say the Civil War ended in early 1865.
Wrong: It never ended. It continues to this day.
Shelby, Corker, et al reflect the strong antipathy and resentment most native white Southerners have toward Northerners and everything Northern.
Indeed the Civil War continues today---the Union the backward looking mental defectives of the GOP are against is not the UAW, it is the United States.
I have an idea for them. They should secede immediately and deport themselves to Bolivia or Somalia where they can govern their corrupt banana republic without interference.
"We will find fulfillment not in the goods that we have, but in the good we can do for each other."
Robert F. Kennedy
Evo Morales is the first indigenous President of Bolivia, he is a Socialist and he is the product of a functioning democracy.
We, as has been typical in the past, have tried to overthrow him. We like corrupt strong men dictators in banana republics. But not democratically elected socialists like Allende, Chavez or Morales.
Somalia is a failed state.
Bolivia has a functioning democracy unlike us.
We are the banana republic.
statusquObama, change you can only pretend in
You're giving banana republics a bad name...
... maybe we should have let them go ...
The electoral map looks just like the civil war map - each depicting the two regions. This one is from the 2004 election - but I saw it done for this past election too. It really hasn't changed much.
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boosh needs a TARP just to eat his morning oatmeal.
Diabolus est Deus Inversus
Throw money at anything that moves. Its very American.
What no money left? No problem!
How will we ever get free of too big to fail corps if we do everything we can to prop them up and make sure they never go away.
There are great things that could come out of GM failing (Ford is not that insolvent, Chrysler, oh well)
You will see a lot of innovation, new start up companies and people using alternatives. Why do union members feel a job garanteed for life when most of our employment stints last 3 to 4 years
Maybe. But in the meantime ...
... My brother was a mechanic for a dealership in the affluent chicago suburb of Barrington. They closed their doors forever less than a month ago. Cash desperate Chrysler had started calling in the debt outstanding that is represented by the cars on the lots of the dealers. Most dealerships don't have a chance in hell of raising that kind of money. He said this is just the beginning. In the meantime he's out a job with very bad prospects to find another since other dealerships are also failing.
The domino effect this will have on our economy is real.
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It is reasonable to assume at least one has to fail, so why bail out all three? the economy is contracting folks.
Its like saying, I still want to see banks, credit unions on every corner. Not one of them should be closed during the financial crisis.
The first bail out did not work. What makes you think this one will?
You're putting words in my mouth.
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... after 1929. I suppose you could argue it was a fluke, but that seems rather weak.
and people were just automatons.
But since we are not a free market (there has never been such a thing), and people are not numbers... sometimes you have to bite the bullet and do something.
Bringing a new model on line takes upwards of 5 years for an auto maker. Cars just don't happen like some of the free marketers seem to think. Which what always astounds me about the pro-libertarian thinking crowd, they always give cold business advice but don't really know the realities of how business operate... at least at the research and development stage (and most libertarians I know are dropouts, so I am not expecting them to know).
In any case, it does not mean that we should not diversify and start seeding startups and competing companies. In the mean time we should patch up the situation. It does not have to be and either or situation. Until the new makes and clean cars come on line, we need to keep people working. There is no way the current receding economy could absorb the millions of unemployed the big 3 failing would create, period.
For advertising on Fox News and ABC radio. Go ask Limbaugh for a loan, douchebags.
The unions have not been advertising on Limbaugh or Fox. You'd punish working families because capitalists managers are in bed with the exploiters of labor. Aren't you the clever fellow?
So the Republicans are taking their bribes from Japan, Korea, and Germany now, I see.
The only principle in politics seems to be whatever will lead to reelection and/or personal profit. Blagojevich's desire to barter a senate seat for some sort of benefit is not that different from what occurs in DC everyday.
... Republican senators blocked a $15 billion bailout to General Motors and Chrysler late last night, after insisting that autoworkers accept “steep cuts in pay and benefits” next year.
i was glad to hear the workers did not concede to those cuts.
this is such a blatant attempt at union busting... more troubling are the other workers who go along with the lies... they don't get how the unions are helping their own wages...
They did the right thing. Their pay rates aren't as egregious as they have been trying to represent on the news programs.
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I am pro-union, but supposedly, the deal fell apart because the UAW would not commit to wage concessions as part of this loan deal. The concessions they were being asked to agree to were to accept non-union wages (essentially, what line workers make at Honda and Toyota, etc.) by the end of 2009.
They weren't willing to do so and were willing to lose their jobs over it. Does this make any sense given the economic climate we find ourselves in? Sounds a lot like cutting off your nose to spite your face.
The union movement helped create the middle class by fighting for improved wages and benefits. You are buying into Republican talking points about "unions" being the villains. It would seem that Republicans would like to see people be either billionaires or serfs. Unions have made concession after concession. What the Republicans want is to destroy the union.
No one is talking about the bonuses the banking sector continues to dole out with the bailout money they got.
White collar? No problem. Rapacious greed? No Problem! Here - have MORE money! Party on folks!!
Blue collar? Fuck you. We'll break you - you son's of bitches. How dare you try to have a middle class life?
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in a nutshell.
Oh - your hands get actual dirt on them when you work?
Then you won't mind living in a cardboard box!
Your child is sick?
Pray!
From what I've heard Ron Gettlefinger seems to be open minded on sharing the burden of cost cutting but don't want to bear the entire sacrifice. I think that is a fair perspective.
The GOP wants to make the UAW the scapegoat here with their $73/hour lying propaganda. They are the same party that has no problem with giving money to Citibank with very limited conditions by comparison, most comments I've heard about that are that deal is that it is a very poor deal for taxpayers. Apparently there is a double standard for Wall Street.
I agree with your comment that they are cutting off their nose if they don't accept their fair share of the burden here. Let's hope they remain open minded.
"We will find fulfillment not in the goods that we have, but in the good we can do for each other."
Robert F. Kennedy
sounds like you missed ron gettlefinger just now saying toyota makes almost 3 doolars an hour more than the UAW workers
In order to be fair to all economic classes, the Congress should
pass legislation that mandates that all employees of any company receiving federal bailout money receive compensation no higher than the best paid non-union line autoworker. This would include those in the financial industry who get bailed out.
As a show of solidarity, all employees of the legislative branch, including senators and representatives will have their pay adjusted to the same salary schedules imposed on others. And, all elected Congressman will escrow any outside income until the economic crisis has passed. Let the fat-cats try living on working-man's salary for a few years and maybe they'll get a bit more populist in their outlook; however, I expect they'll just leave Congress which will allow someone with a clue to take their places.
The reason why the bailout failed is squarely on the GOP's roof.
Let's stop buying in their bullshit, please.
The difference in labor costs between domestic and foreign auto makers is between 1 to 2%. Total labor costs ranges between 9% to 11% among makes in the USA. Yes, 10% is significant. But I find it very telling that the GOP propaganda machine is completely ignoring the other 90% in costs.
Labor costs, thus, are not the issue here.
Even if the UAW had agreed to even more concessions (they have been conceding a lot for the better part of a decade), the GOP would have found another excuse to blame the unions... like I dunno, the fact that the UAW members were refusing to sacrifice their first born or some crap like that.
In clear GOP fashion, they are blaming the victims for the GOP's decision. FUCK THEM!
The Diane Rehm on NPR will have her usual Friday program with pundits and “journalists” talking on current events. Here is some contact info for calling in or dropping an email. The program is at 10:00 a.m. EST. Email and/or call to set the “journalists” straight. They will likely be parrotting the Beltway conventional wisdom that will blame the unions for the failure of the bridge loan. Don’t let these hacks get away with it.
Call in: 1-800-433-8850
email: drshow@wamu.org
You see, the price of gas has fallen drastically. More importantly, consumers are not using as much gas, which we all know it is important to use a lot of gas.
So if we throw money at the oil companies, consumers will buy more gas, you see, thus returning them to profitability. The oil industry employees a lot of people. We wouldn't want to see them lose their jobs due to an economic contraction.
Can we give some money to the restaurant industry?
You see, people are eating out less these days.....
Big Oil is partially responsible for GM, Ford and Chrysler making cars and trucks that are no longer competitive with typically more efficient foreign automobiles. The oil companies certainly have deep pockets and an interest in keeping the domestic manufacturing industry working.
If I was some big shot oil CEO, I might look at this as the right time to either invest in keeping the big three alive or try to fill the void after they dissolve with new technology. If Big Oil has purchased all these great ideas for fuel effecient vehicles and squashed them, what better time to role them out as your own. The oil in the ground won't last forever and I can't think of a better way to keep the population dependant on your product for the next 100 years.
They would still be in business and the market would not have sold off further at that time. Jeez, Arthur Anderson would still be around to. I miss those ethical, responsible companies.
I wonder what ever became of their employees?
Regardless of the side of the issue you are on, why do we even have a congress? If they do represent us and vote accordingly, a presidential appointee can override what is in theory "the will of the electorate".
Tell me again we are a democracy.
Congress passed the bill, the Senate killed it.
D E F L A T I O N
It is here, it is now.
GM loses money on each car it makes. GM has a negative net worth of 60 billion dollars.
You best take off the ideological blinders.
Japan has been in deflation into a second decade. The rest of the world is playing catch up.
It is not about anti middle class or anti union, it is about the cycle. Inflation and deflation complete a cycle. The UAW is fighting the cycle by fighting wage cuts. The cycle will win.
They keep trying to fight a drop in home prices- it was a bubble, therefore it will deflate. Home prices cannot be sustained above 2.5-3X income. Reworked mortgages have a high failure rate. Again, they are fighting the cycle, they are fighting a deflating housing bubble.
The cycle will win. It is mathmatics. 100% of all bubbles burst and deflate.
The mother bubble is the credit bubble. It is deflating. The FED and Treasury are going deep in hock to try to prevent the mathmaticly inevitable, a deflating credit bubble. It will not work.
After the 1990's boom, we needed a 10% decline in GDP to correct for excesses. That was not alllowed to happen. The needed correction is now 20%. The FED and Treasury are looking to turn that into 30% if they continue down this interventionist path.
The more the inevitable is fought, the worse it will become. Look for a coming 30% decline in GDP and a Great Depression to occur, because they are working awfully hard on making it happen.
!
30% drop in GDP would pretty much mean the end of the world as we know it.
Let's not forget it's the blue collar workers who overwhelmingly support the republicans!!
They deserve this to come back and hit them. Why feel sorry for them? Feel sorry instead for all the people who did care about this country and the hell in a handbasket it's marching itself into.
One of the things that unions do is to educate their members with regard to which politicians have their best interests at heart.
My union(International Association of Fire Fighters) sends out a newsletter on a monthly basis that details WHICH politicians are doing WHAT to WHOM.
Firefighters generally vote Democratic.
As though their our lives depend on it.
Like the three hundred and forty three firefighters/medics who were killed because the Republicans couldn't be bothered to allow upgrades in their communications.
Please get your "facts" right.
Which is why the republicans want to destroy Unions.
Educated and organized electorates are like garlic cloves irrigated with holy water to the GOP vampires.
That is why they love the "right to vote" states, which allows them to have a captive audience of redneck dumbasses. Who are usually none too happy to vote against their interests.
In the last election, blue collar workers did NOT overwhelmingly support the GOP. Your post apparently assumes that people like the UAW were the sole decision makers for the Big 3 and consequently are entirely responsible for the current problem. Nothing could be further from the truth, in reality, the UAW bears the brunt of the Big 3's management incompetence, addiction to short term profits, and severe myopia.
Next time, do some fact checking before trotting out your simplistic baloney.
"We will find fulfillment not in the goods that we have, but in the good we can do for each other."
Robert F. Kennedy
These people believe they deserve to live well while most everyone else does not deserve to live well. Why?
Because you do things differently then they do.
If you keep voting for these ignorant republicans this is the kind of insanity we all get!
Anyone proud to be an American?
I know that's always been a mainstay of living there. (Use accent here and make it one word) "Hi..I'm-from-Clumbus-Hio-proud-tahbee-n-Merkan." But is it still true?
My first American partner (living in Canada) used to immitate that all the time, to great laughter.
far left loon >.<
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