The Answer to Detroit's Problem is Multiple Choice

OOPS! I left out NINE-HUNDRED and NINETY-NINE MILLION

As an expert witness, for all of the regulations by our government and financial backing by imports from their governments, Detroit should just be given money as a gift. 45 years selling cars .

We have become a gimmy society since the 1930's. FDR believed that we should be free from want. That is what we expect from a six year old, not adults who are suppose to take responsibility for our actions. Sometimes life is not fair. We will become a country of takers and not a country of producers if Detroit gets this bailout. The way we live in a society that isn't fair is buy buying less and saving more for those "rainy days" when we are hit with a situation beyond our control. I think that the three automakers should file for bankruptcy and let the others "who are tied to them" go under. Why? Because maybe then we will learn a couple of big leasons. 1) That there is no such thing as a "Deep Pocket" for whom we can get loads of money. 2) That we are not entitled to anything we do not work for. If we try something and it fails then we pick ourselves up and move on. I think the best leason we will learn is that the government will learn to live within their means and with the idea that at anytime (as we are facing now) money to fund a government may not be there and we will have to only fund those areas that provide security and hygene (police, fire, justice, and garbage collection). A different way of funding local, county, state, and federal revenues will be collected. This crisis may be a blessing in disguise. There will be no more cheating insurance companies and banks and government agencies because the deep pockets are gone. !!!!!!!!!ALWAYS TRY TO FIND A SILVER LINNING!!!!!!!!!!!!

What about a little vision. First, they must go Chapter 11. Then they may get to a position to lower their cost. Remember, they created these costs. Second, if they are given any money. It must be to transform their cars/trucks to natural gas. This is cleaner and their is an abundant supply. Third, then instead of a true bailout, we will work our way through this by helping the auto industry and providing many jobs as we make this change. Which would decrease our oil imports and provide us with a cleaner fuel and keep more money and jobs here. Note: These same people had the plan of the Capitol Visitor Center that was going to cost about 60+ million and was increased to over 600+ million!

My last 2 Amercian vehicle purchases where actually "assembled" in Canada & Mexico - if the Automakers get some of our hard earned cash, wil some of it go offshore?

How about choice #6, let any company that cannot make it go belly up. In that case Ford will be the last one standing. Nobody said business is fair, let the UAW members from GM & Chrysler work for Ford. Then, when the UAW causes Ford to fold, the problem will be solved.......

UAW autoworkers are scared -- those still working face layoffs with little hope of re-employment, having made too much money with little if any transferable skills. The white collar workers may have it easier finding other jobs -- just not in Michigan, where there aren't any. The unions are scared -- their continued survival at current levels is at stake, perhaps even their reason for existing. Their enemy is no longer the auto companies, but a combination of the union's own results & the current economy -- proof for anyone who has ever said: "Be careful what you wish for..." No one wants to go quietly into the night, so we'll see a bit more theater I think. There is no ignoring the truth, which is as Brian Sullivan amply demonstrated, a business can't loose money forever and not fold. That's not to say that Congress won't try writing check after check based on your future earnings, but that wasn't the question -- which is: "How do we Fix" them. The big-3 have to sell enough cars at a high enough price to make a profit -- that's the very obvious goal. It's probably fair to assume that hiring Apple's marketing team isn't going to be enough, leaving us with either building & selling a product for higher prices, or cutting costs so existing or lower prices include a decent profit margin. As things stand, the big-3 can do neither. They can't cut enough jobs to let them just produce the cars they can sell, following Toyota's lead. And they have been unable to date to produce enough cars that people would pay top dollar for. Bear in mind that their products are far from cheap now. If they're to stay in business by making a profit, rather than becoming nationalized, the drastic change they've been unable to achieve has to happen now, & can only happen if the reasons they've been unable to change are both identified and eliminated. And that's the catch -- the GOTCHA if you will. If the correct answer happens to be the UAW, Congress won't allow it, so we'll get more theatrics, & spend more of your money while waiting for the US economy to recover. A final note: the big-3 already spend less on the parts that go into their cars than their foreign-based competition, with obvious results of lost quality & lifespan... just in case anyone thought potential cuts there were possible.

When considering merging Chrysler and GM, remember the disastrous results from the merger of the Pennsylvania Railroad and the New York Central Railroad. Also remember that Chrysler was once a part of Daimler(Chrysler) and remember what a disaster that was. Certain GM and Ford cars have deservedly received praise for quality and reliability; Chrysler still lags far behind in both categories. The "Big 3" have been steadily losing market share for decades. The stench from the "mistakes of the past" still lingers in most consumers' noses and it overrides the admitted gains in quality and reliability at GM and Ford. Your option #5 requires an increase in market share on what remains of the "Big 3". Yet nothing I've heard so far gives me a clue as to how the remaining auto companies plan to counter the continued loss of market share which will avoid the specter of the one-time bail-out becoming more money down the sewer.

I have a question: All the talk is about how WE NEED THE ELECTRIC CAR to solve our energy problem. Does anyone understand that the batteries will need to be replace at some point at the cost of maybe $10,00.00 per car, the Fire Departments have been told to stay far, far, far away from one if it's on fire( haz. mat issue). What happens if you have to leave your home because of a Hurricane is headed your way and the traffic is back up for miles and your car has no ability to get a charge out there on the interstate? The Auto Industry did build what we wanted--- SUV's and Pickup trucks, it was the price of gas that did the sales for them in.If you want a tin can to drive-buy it, leave my SUV's and trucks alone11111

I have been opposed to government bailouts since the original TARP was force-fed down our throats. However, I think I have a solution to the Big 3 problem. Congress should immediately release 75 billion dollars from the 350 billion remaining in the original TARP legislation. These funds should be released to Secy. Paulsen, with the mandate that he make these funds available to the Big 3 in the form of loans, payable under the terms spelled under the plans put forward by the CEOs during their recent testimony before Congress. Since we know that Secy Paulsen had no plan whatsoever for the original 350 billion, and since doubtless he has no plan for the rest of the TARP funds, he should not be able to argue against this idea on the basis that it conflicts with his plans. This would provide adequate funding for the Big 3 to weather the financial storm created by Mr. Paulsen and Mr. Bernenke. Despite all the complaints about the unions (some justified, and some not) the fact remains that the Big 3 would not be in the dire circumstances they are in were it not for the utter and complete failure of leadership shown by these two men. The simple fact of the matter is that if there is no credit, then there are no car sales. If there are no car sales, then the Big 3 can never regain profitability. The automobile sales slowdown is not only a Big 3 problem. All automakers, foreign and domestic, have suffered double digit sales declines as a result of the complete lack available consumer credit. The blame for this lack of consumer credit lies squarely at the feet of the two men who are supposed to be able to effectively manage it. This plan would have benefits for all parties involved. The money has already been approved by Congress, so no further laws need be passed. And this time, Congress could actually exercise a little oversight. Something they failed to do in the first round of giveaways. The millions of Americans who will undoubtedly lose their jobs if the Big 3 fail, would not join the ranks of the unemployed. The myriad of businesses which provide parts and raw materials to the Big 3 would not be forced into bankruptcy. Secretary Paulsen and Fed Chief Bernenke could actually do something constructive for our economy, for a change. The alternative seems to be to allow a vast segment of our manufacturing base to disappear, and at the same time give Paulsen and Bernenke another 350 billion dollars to continue their relentless drive to completely destroy what is left of our economy. I am not for bailouts, as I said in the beginning, but if we are going to have them, then at least direct the funds where they will actually benefit the economy. Rather than handing many billions of dollars to Wall Street, with no idea how that money will be spent. Who knows, could go to give the CEO of a failing company a 10 million dollar bonus. Like it or not, the domestic American car industry is, in fact, too important for us to stand by and allow it to die. GM, Ford, and Chrysler have made mistakes, to be sure. Let's not us make an even larger one by standing by and allowing them to disappear.

Comment to Gary. I completely agree. I have no intentions of ever buying a car from one of these big 3. I will have to (against my will) pay to bail these publicly held companies who have been going downhill for years. Years ago I questioned how they could pay people to sit at home and not work and still stay be profitable. Well their business model has failed miserably and we'll have to pay for their mistakes. Disgusting. I personally know of a person who was a GM employee and has been out of work for three years and still being paid to sit at home. How many of you would get this same treatment in any other industry????

To jeff saturday You got it all wrong - these bailouts are adding up into the trillions. A trillion bottles of beer on the wall, a trillion bottles of beer. We took one down, passed it around, nine hundred and ninety-nine billion, nine hundred and ninety-nine million, nine hundred and ninety-nine thousand, nine hundred and ninety-nine bottles of beer on the wall. Nine hundred and ninety-nine billion, nine hundred and ninety-nine million, ....... - you get the point.

Blah, blah blah. Gimme, gimme, gimme. Our survival is important!! I can not (and never have) articulated how dire things will get if we fail! DOOOOOOM! DOOOOOOOOM!! DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!! The sky is falling! Pretty please don't make us stand up to the Union! Don't force us to make tough decisions! DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM! Democrats! We voted for you! You MUST SAVE US!!! DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM! Words cannot express my disgust over this crap. I will never vote again. Clearly, my vote is meaningless once cast.

Auto industry gets diluted talent; with most going to NASA. Get NASA back in the loop to joint venture with the auto industry and produce the next generation of cars with superior technology. Then we get back to what made us leaders in this industry in the first place - our best engineered industry leading technology.

God Bless Karen Duke. Finally some sanity in an insane time. I may be in the throws of Alzheimer’s, but I do not remember protests in the streets of Detroit demanding electric cars or grass based ethenol. I live in upstate NY and Fox News Alert it snows up here every 6 months for 3 months minimum. I had a family member hit in a head-on collision and the only thing that saved that family member (besides the great work of the Fire Department and Police Department) was the SUV!!!!!! I will not give up my SUV for all the reasons I just articulated. If we are going to get out of this credit crisis then Drill here! Drill Now! Cut the capital gains and employment taxes (Fair Tax), and demand that the mark-to-market accounting rule be thrown out for assets that are making money, and are on the books (or should be) as held-to-maturity or available for sale. I can understand the mark-to-market rule for trading securities since they are to be sold within a year. Who is going to hold a 30 mortgage bond for 3 months? It is earning income isn't it? Please get people who are smarter then me to fix this NOW!!!!!!!!! As Glenn Beck says "I am just an alcoholic" and I can figure this out; why can't Sec. Paulson?

You folks have no idea as to how to run an automotive company or support our industrial sector. You have a bunch of farmers, attorneys, real estate, doctor, vets... who have never run a business and are out of touch. Most are just politicians who couldn't even run a party store. You don't know that our automotive companies create wealth for our country... not the banks you bail out. You advocate BANKRUPTCY! YOU WANT OUR GOOD CITIZENS TO ACCEPT BREAKING OF AGREEMENTS THAT GO BACK TO THE TURN OF THE LAST CENTURY! You have no idea of how failure of our home grown automotive companies will affect every, I mean, every citizen in our great country. In Michigan, even the local restaurant, barber, farmer, cherry picker... you name it... is directly affected. I AM SURE IF YOU TAKE A CAREFUL LOOK... EVERYONE IN THE COUNTRY IS OR IS ABOUT TO BE AFFECTED! As I recall, the automotive companies are asking for a loan. They will pay back the government directly and indirectly. GM alone contributes Billions a year at the very least in the form of its employee and supplier income taxes. Not to mention the money these people spend throughout the country on goods and services which are taxed. One car that comes off the line in the US also generates sales taxes... over and over as they are sold and resold! You forget that on the Board of Directors of each of these automotive companies sits some of the most seasoned, brightest, and hands on business talent this country has to offer. Our congress should have some of them running our country rather than "vote getters." You folks in congress think that you can dictate EPA standards, gas mileage standards, car size and equipment standards, forget about having foreign automotive companies pay a fair duty, forget about how the foreign country automotive companies came to produce cars... many times with the workforce which once worked for the US manufactures. You forget about the fact that US auto dealers also sell foreign products! Yes, the foreign car makers don't need more than 1500 dealerships of their own when they can tap into existing US automotive dealerships for distribution of both new and used automobiles. Kick the foreign cars out of our domestic dealerships and see how many they will need. You forget that foreign countries have subsidized their automotive manufactures... USA has not. Whatever financial help the government here in the US have to the automotive companies has always been paid back. You forget that without the US automotive companies... you will no longer have competition to keep price in line... to keep engineering and new developments growing... to keep labor rates to the best standard in the world. To keep meaningful jobs here in this country... and employ our citizens globally! You forget that our automotive companies are actually owned by its shareholders... mostly Americans. You forget that Bankruptcy is a last resort. That you are advocating every company use it as a tool to get out of its employee commitments... supplier commitments... dealer commitments... on and on. These companies are trying to compete in an environment created by Nader, and all those attorneys who think that if something added to a vehicle at no matter the cost... saves one, even one, life or visit to the hospital for what may be related to a poor road or road conditions. You think that you can say all cars should get 20 miles to the gallon... why not say they have to get 100 miles to each gallon of gas. I suggest that you figure out a way to help make our automotive companies stronger! Sit back and think about the fact that our automotive companies have contributed to the wealth of our country... remember the industrial revolution... if it weren't for these companies where would we be? OUR AUTOMOTIVE COMPANIES ARE ASKING FOR A VERY SMALL INVESTMENT COMPARED TO THE DEVASTATION THAT WILL BE A RESULT OF THEM EXITING OUR WORLD AND COUNTRY WE HAVE COME TO ENJOY. IF OUR AUTOMOTIVE COMPANIES WERE TO GO OUT OF BUSINESS... WE WILL BE MOVING INTO A GREATER DEPRESSION. OUR LABOR FORCES WILL NO LONGER TRUST CORPORATION BENEFITS... AND OUR COUNTRY. YOU WILL BREAK THE NATIONAL GUARANTEE CORPORATION. YOU WILL BREAK THE BELIEF IN OUR SYSTEM AND SELL OUT OUR COUNTRY AND EVERYTHING IT STANDS FOR GLOBALLY! Think about it: The easy road is to deny these companies the relief needed during this slowdown in our economy. It takes a strong leader to realize what is right. It doesn't take a brain surgeon, farmer, real estate sales person, veterinarian, or anyone else who only knows how to get a vote to sit back and use some common sense. You know that the average voter in the US is not really aware... take all those votes that are cast just because of name recognizability... nothing more. God help us if one of these automotive executives gets kidnapped driving a car to Washington. Or, finds a drunk driver on the road who makes the wrong turn. Or is spending more hours worrying about their method of travel and actual travel time rather than hours doing what they do best. This argument posed by certain people in congress is so patronizing to get votes than common sense. Very childish and unproductive nonsense to get a sound bite for votes! You guys are sitting in a glass house that is about to break. Do you know what you just did to our private aircraft industry? Oh, I suggest you speak to many in government who fly around in private jets... last I heard, 41 of the 50 states are broke... yet we fly everyone around in private aircraft! Why do you allow candidates for political office run campaigns that last for years... travel to town after town... state after state... with the exact same message over and over... just as though we don't have today's mass communications! Oh, did they drive their own cars or fly on commercial airlines. What a waste of money you officials seem to ignore!

I think the real anger of the American citizen/taxpayer (whose willingness and generosity to help out the world since the beginning of WWII should not be forgotten)is that we know that Detroit has always been able to build a better product but has been unwilling to do so since the introduction of the once lucrative business concept of planned obsolescence.Their engineers went to the same schools that produced the people who gave us the space age and landed on the moon but who still after 50 years cannot produce power windows that dont fall off their tracks.These self proclaimed lords of finance along with their equally obnoxious counterparts in the UAW are very good at crying crocodile tears.Whenever the has been a challenge to their industry they have responded by producing bumper stickers about American jobs and rice burners or have produced commercials waving the flag with background music in CW style while some idiot drives a truck over rocks that even an Abrams tank would find difficult to cross while proclaiming in small print that this was just a simulation and not to do it in real life.And while this is going on another "financial genius" Thain wants a 10 million dollar bonus for selling Merrill Lynch to stave off bankruptcy to BoA with its 15 billion dollar bailout by the Treasury that instead of using to lend money cut off credit to Republic windows causing a sit in by fired union labor while the company reorganized and set up shop in a non-union state.As someone once said this is not the USA this is a state of insanity.We have bad plans for this crisis because we dont have first rate people in government only people who look good on tv and sound good in sound bytes.Working in government was once considered "public service"often performed by patriotic citizens who wanted to give back to the country for what they had received.Instead it has become another avenue of personal enrichment for those who serve.BTW all of this talk of saving the auto industry is predicated on the enormous assumption that there will be continued buyers for their product which from sales figures for the last 10 years is highly doubtful.

Its simple. stop all payroll taxes for 6 months starting friday. Have the treasury print the money to replace lost revenue, and send it to the IRS. Yes, some the items consumers will buy are auto's. Yes, just think of it, more grocerys, more that are able to pay on the mortgage, and yes that new shiny car. I know, it will not happen because its to easy.

One item no one seems to touch on is the underfunded Defined Benefit Program (retirement fund) the PGBC would get dumped on them. Between GM, Chrysler and all of the parts suppliers the government would be better off to give the Big 3 money for Research and Development to make greener cars (all of the foreign car company countries do this!) so we can compete and keep jobs in the U.S.. On top of the retirement fund costs, the U.S. government would then have how many more people on unemployment, welfare and medicare/medicaid. Has anyone contemplated the loss of tax revenue that keeps our govenment running? We all need to get out of the 80's and look at the J.D. Powers list of best cars. Every time we buy any foreign product, we take money out of the U.S. economy and at some tipping point we will no longer be a superpower. Last, one of the top three exports are parts from all of those small companies that supply the big three. Most of those go out of business if the BIG 3 go under or even file for chater 11.

The magnitude of the underfunded pension liabilities that would be dumped on the PBGC would by a factor of 10 exceed the $34 Billion these auto companies are asking as a LOAN. So, the PBGC would either go bankrupt itself or need a taxpayer based infusion of over $300 billion to do for the employees of these companies what the companies could do for the $34 Billion LOAN!

For those of you who forgot, the US Government is NOT A BANK. It is not supposed to lend money. The auto company's are asking for a loan, so, let them go to a bank! Oh, I forgot, they did that and all the BANKS SAID NO! Why should the US Government lend money, when the BANKS say no. Why should we and our elected officials believe the auto company's have a plan to fix their own problems? The banks don't believe it! What part of the US Constitution authorizes the Government to lend money? What part of national security warrants the saving of an industry comprized of 3 company's? Is a car company the only company that can make a tank? AND....... If you do believe in BAILOUTS, why not have the Congress buy GM and Chrysler, outright, as was mentioned by another respondent? That would be a true bailout! Why are our elected officials quibbling about the tax payer being guaranteed an outcome, when (IF YOU BELIEVE IN BAILOUTS) the answer is so simple: buy the company and run it in such a way as the Congress see's fit. I know why the Congress wont buy GM and Chrysler, because then Congress would be forced to actually do something other than PONTIFICATE. The Congress would actually have to take responsibility for its own actions and actually be responsible to the taxpayer! Good grief, Barney and Chris can't let that happen!

[...] sales turn that around in a short period of time?   The answer is it can’t.   As we wrote about over the weekend, the only solution is to cut costs and hope the economy, and car sales, turn around in 2009.    [...]

DC Frey: You wrote a long letter of BLAH!!!!!!!!!! It was said of the Piano industry in turn-of-the-century, the textile industry, and the TV business. All went out of business all couldn't compete. All had other industries dependent on them. The same with the Army, Navy, Air Force bases that were shut down and everybody cheered that. People's livelyhoods were destroyed that depended on the bases. If GM, Ford, or Chrysler execs were sooooo smart why did they agree to fund people who didn't work in the stupid Job Bank? The executives at the "Big 3" are the worst. No company has $1,600 per item of healthcare costs. BMW cars are more expensive then most GM cars and they don't have that cost. You can write a book and you are still wrong. At the Gettysberg battlefield the speaker before Pres. Lincoln spoke for an hour, President Lincoln's speach was 268 words long and took 2 minutes. In the speach he said "The world will very little note nor long remember what we say here..." Pres. Lincoln was wrong we do remember what he said. I believe that long speaches and essays are always forgotten. Nice try, but most of us know better.