Like a bloodied warrior,
laying broken and torn.

Like a dying soldier, hopeless and forlorn.

But the blood, it be green,
the color of money.

And the soldier is an economy,
and it is anything but funny.

Broken are it’s people and shattered are their dreams.

Thanks to the ultra rich and their full proof schemes.

It is a tragedy with more pain to come.

Finance will be Hell, and their wills will be done.

http://www.usatoday.com/money/autos/2008-11-14-chrysler_N.htm

1) bring in some korean or japanese car firms, give them loans to take over/merge with GM & Ford and strong parts makers. Hope to g-d Detroit learns from them. If this takes bankruptcy so be it. They cannot/should not be allowed to continue to exist as they are. Sorry Michigan (I am a U of M grad).

2) In the summer/fall of 2004 I spent at least one day a week at the Ford dealer in SF. I was trying to get a Ford Escape Hybrid. Ford had beat toyota to the punch and was putting out the first suv/4X4 hybrid. My work ethic/diligence paid off and I got the first hybrid/escape from S&C ford. I paid full sticker. I have the car still and the mileage it gets is pretty solid. As for the rest of the car — from seats and doors to dash and folding mechanisms for the back seats — is a piece of junk. I am going to keep the car till it no longer functions, but I will not buy another ford, hybrid or otherwise.

Detroit wants to sell you as many cars as possible. They load cars up with flashy toys that break, and engineer them not to last much longer than a 5-year lease. They push ‘muscle’, not mileage. Detroit decided long ago that they didn’t want my family’s business.

I find this sad, because my grandfather was an engineer for GM. He walked across Europe to get the boat to America, because he wanted to go to the (then) best engineering school in the world: the University of Michigan. Whose preeminence was due in part to synergy with the car industry in nearby Detroit. A part of my family’s heritage is dying.

But I’m not sentimental enough to ‘buy American’ and accept Detroit’s contempt for my end of the market.

I’d like to know myself, and not just ’cause I’d like to see the sort of innovative, environmental jobs go to the US. I would also like to see more attention given to the politics of a bailout. I truly think that the GOP noise and threat of a filibuster is for show. All Harry Reid needs to do is threaten to hold the Senate in session until January 3 and actually force them to make good on their threats, and reason will prevail. If congress passes some action, a veto seems unlikely since Bush hasn’t vetoed much, an override is always possible, and the GOP cannot win national elections without at least some part of the old Northwest, since the recent outcomes in Virginia and North Carolina may be the start of a demographic trend–the true Rise of the Creative Class.

As near as I can tell, I think it comes down to a failure to imagine possible unintended consequences.

It seems to me that some think that getting rid of GM et. al. will leave room for US startups to grow into big auto companies, but I beleive the more likely exit strategy for the startups is to sell out to, or be merged into, an existing large auto company.

I tend to think the answer is no, because Ford was able to be vertical from raw mats to finished Model Ts because they were new and because of their volume (the did end up selling 22-23 million of the things). Also, this wasn’t even desirable, as they waited too long to innovate and GM moved ahead with more models.

As a result, I think a bankrupcy will end up merely reducing the problem of global overcapacity in autos. I also think that if you don’t have a manufacturing base in the US, the US design shops will also likely close or move, to be nearer the builders.

Lastly, I think a big shakeout of suppliers may damage the startups, enough so that truly innovative products like the Aptera and the various Tesla products go the way of the VCR, lots of solar tech and numerous other things that were invented, but are not made, in the US.

If the moronic Big 3 aren’t given some kind of bailout, you may as well say final rites for the city. Its not just the actual auto workers that will be in dire straits but all the other businesses dependent on the car companies themselves and/or their workers.

This is not to say managerial incompetence and greed should be rewarded. Why not have very strict provisions on giving a bailout. Meaning, you don’t get the money, unless you fine and replace management, bonuses and whatever niceties that current top brass gets are taken away, vehicle inventory has to be sold off at rock bottom prices, salary cuts for all employees that make over 70k, all new vehicles to be assembled and sold have to be diesel, bio-diesel, hybrid, or electric with a trade-in program for people to turn in their gas-only cars/trucks for an alt fuel one. and then a total restructure of the companies within the next 6 months or gradual dismantling of the companies over the next couple years. Maybe other companies like Fisker can do something with the pieces and the people. Fisker and Tesla already have some former GM/Chrysler engineers. Oh yeah, about Tesla getting a piece of the bailout, they were approved for the 40million they asked for.

Why not use the bailout as a way to change things without having an entire region collapse?

The Big 3 have made such a mess of their business in the US that “saving” them from bankruptcy might not be a service to anybody except maybe their inept management. Even casual observers have seen this train wreck coming for a decade or more. The management has responded by fighting the fuel efficiency rules and other changes that could have saved them. I don’t think companies that lobbied for SUV’s to be treated as work/farm vehicles for fuel efficiency purposes, then marketed them to the suburbs, deserve another chance.

As with the housing bailout, this is looking to save the top of the food chain, when the real need is at the bottom — in housing, homeowners and here, workers. The Bushies are trying to shovel as much of the $700 billion into their friends pockets as they can, this is just another example.