Wednesday, December 3, 2008

THEY'RE BACK... The Big 3 Auto Execs are back in Washington DC begging for their aid packages...


Breaking News! Breaking News! Breaking News!
The Big 3 Automotive Execs from General Motors, Ford and Chrysler are back in Washington DC Thursday 12/4/08 to beg borrow and plead with Congress for a bailout package that will save the companies from bankruptcy.
All 3 Executives are traveling to meet Congress in hybrid vehicles after a disastrous public relations fiasco the last time they showed up. All of the Execs flew in on there corporate jets on the first visit and as one congressman put it with tin cans in there hands begging for taxpayer money.
Although hard to believe on the previous visit not one Exec was prepared to present a plan on how the companies would spend the money and when they planned on paying it back. I am still shocked at this but the Financial Industry set the tone as not one congressman complained when Wall Street showed up asking for their packages in their private planes and did not present a plan or finalize controls or regulations about how the money will be spent. I guess they learned their lesson after appropriating $700 Billion Dollars to the financial industry without strict controls, I don't think so. Since the Auto Industry is asking for far less money, I suppose Congress feels it should put this industry on a tighter leash.
We all know that the money will be appropriated, this show is dress window dressing to appease the public and further scrutiny. However the amount originally asked for of $25 Billion Dollars has now grown to $34 Billion Dollars. General Motors wants $18 Billion Dollars, $4 Billion before the end of the year, $8 Billion by March 2009 and a $6 Billion Dollar credit line, Ford wants a $9 Billion Dollar credit line that it can tap into if the others go belly up, Chrysler needs $7 Billion Dollars as fast as it can get it's hands on it by the end of the year if you can spare some change.
I hope that congress can get this right, although I doubt it as the plans call for most top execs to work for $1 Dollar per year and other execs forgoing bonuses, the companies need to shake up the executive ranks, these are the people that have been steering the ship for the last decade or two.
All of these companies need fresh perspective and insight to what consumers want and just an overall fresher image and you can't do it when it will be business as usual after the bailout. The companies have been hit hard with negative comments about design and my favorite "junk" vehicles that nobody wants to buy. The companies do not build junk vehicles as evidenced by NHSTA and other reports that state emphatically that the domestic brands are as good or better than their import competitors. I would also challenge the notion on poor design, come on have you looked at a Toyota Prius, it's not winning any design awards, it's a wedge on wheels.
I have not been sold on this whole bailout of industries in general but congress and Mr.Paulson (U.S. Treasury Secretary) has set this country back at least a hundred years with this whole bailout strategy. I will be writing more later but this whole bailout matter stinks to high heaven and I can't believe academia and other researchers have not been screaming about it. The whole notion that the world is caving in is nonsense. This whole mess was a Treasury Secretary coming to the rescue of incompetent Powerful Financial and Banking Executives whom he knew and wanted to save their hides. Mr. Paulson begged and pleaded that a meltdown was imminent, as if their was not precedent for these collapses and in fact there are, some other Bank, Finance company or Insurer would have picked up the pieces at bargain basement prices and life would have gone on, folks would still make their payments to those new institutions and the markets would make the appropriate corrections. AIG would have been broken up and sold off and every other Big bank or Finance company collapsing would have been swooped up by another bargain hunter. Once again the folks who drove the Banking and Financial services companies into the ground are still directing the ships, why aren't the stockholders screaming and why isn't congress making these companies accountable for the taxpayers money.
We will see Thursday 11/4/08 what happens next in this chapter of American history, since congress is re-writing how the free enterprise system works in America.
Enjoy Today!
That Car Guy

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