wrong !see we could go back an forth like this forever I will not respond to future post on this matter .

There might be some extra expense due to unions. But
this is the difference between America and everyone else.

Wrong again. The difference between the solvent foreign-owned auto industry in the US and the insolvent unionized domestic owned US auto industry is total labor cost, and this is due to the greedy unions. Selling the same number of cars, Toyota made money, while GM lost money. It’s simple math, but too complex for you, apparently.
It’s the unions, with their excessive wages, lower productivity due to their “work rules”, and the massive costs of their demands that non-working people be paid extravagant expenses.
If you can’t read that in the news, you must be illiterate, or you just don’t want to know the truth.

The high cost of gas is what caused this melt down and not bad mangement.

Nope. It’s high overhead and low productivity.

When we retreat, they advance. Too bad you’re too stupid to know that.

Toyota listed a loss as its worry now and I guess they just pandered to the workers demands and that is what caused them to start on the path to failure , you can bet they will be loaned the money just like the rest , the world is in the worst financial situation it has ever been in so look for more over seas failures because the American public rule the spending .Maybe I am missing something here but I never heard of any loans to the financial wizards of wall street just a bail out, the auto companies have gotten loans at a low cost not a bail out and there are stipulations added which the banks do not have any stipulations as they are still flying and spending the money, latest idea is they still get their bonuses for failing. in the 80′s Chrysler got loans and they were paid back and the workers paid them back, my guess is they will repay this loan also . I am not for government bailing any one out but when three companies as large as they are fail we would have bad things to happen if they are not helped. I bet you Japan will come to Toyota’s aid if they need it . if you don’t think the workers did not pay the Chrysler loan back then I guess the 4 dollar an hour cut they took then was nothing . You all may want to get a contract copy and read the new hire rates at GM Ford and Chrysler .Toyota panders to it’s employees by giving them a life time job the American auto companies offer no such benefit . the rest of the automotive world is in trouble also it is now just surfacing in the news . The high cost of gas is what caused this melt down and not bad mangement.

You are entitled to your own opinion, w4, but not your own facts. The price of gas has decreased about 70%, and the economy continues to slide. It’s about mandated socialism, dude.

And Robert, did you even read Rob’s article that 9 out of 10 worst cars were made by American automakers?

The consequence of having overpaid, less productive union labor, combined with the massive overhead from paying non-workers extravagant amounts of money. GM has 96,000 workers, but is paying health benefits to a million people. It’s hard to make quality stuff with such destructive overhead costs.

That was the single most uneducated, ill-informed and negligent expressed understanding of the manufacturing process as I have ever read.

You are beyond hope.

Bush’s presidency has been a miserable failure. The effects of his stupid handling of the economy are only starting to be felt.
It’s amazing to me that 3 months ago people were talking about how this economy is better than it’s ever been. Where are these people now?

Actually the economy was very healthy up to 2006 when the Democrats took control of congress. Our GDP surpassed that of Clinton’s administration right around the summer of 06.

I predict that Americans will shun GM and Chrysler products, since a very large majority of Americans disapprove of the bailouts.

Quite possible, especially if and when they get more cash from Obama.

The problems the auto industry is facing has more to do with their choice of product, inability for customers to get credit and health insurance costs. There might be some extra expense due to unions. But this is the difference between America and everyone else.

Partially true, but the legacy union benefits package definitely contributes to the problem.

If you give shit away people will take it, that’s human nature.

I wouldn’t call it a give away when unions use the threat of strike against the employer.

Welcome to the global economy. In this country if you make $10,000 a year you are in the top percentile of wage earners in the global community.

This, of course, presumes that letting the auto industry file bankruptcy and restructure its debt and business model wasn’t an option. Which it was.

Everyone I talk to and respect about such matters tell me that while it would cause short term pain, allowing a failing business to fail or for it to restructure under a bankruptcy and a new business plan remains the best course of action in this matter.

as I said no comment :

could not agree more about the government meddling and it has to stop . at my expense or yours . it is hard to come away from something. that was agreed on for many years and recoil and make it work when you are 65, what do you suggest I do turn my retirement over to the auto companies and don’t even think about the time I worked in 110 and 120 and the sweat running down my face and burning my eyes for 27 of 30 years and just walk a way with out a fight .??? For your info I make 1106 dollars a month from my retirement how much if not all of it should I do with out? , the insurance is a joke just like the kind you get at the place of your work and pay for . I have deductibles and premium paymens also . the insurance cost about 300 a month so I am getting 1306 X 12 = 15,672.00 wow what a over paid fellow am I . If you have not worked at a plant like I did you have no idea of the labor involved and the forced o.T 12 hours a day 7 days a week for two years and I could not turn it down if I missed a day it went against my absentee record and they could fire you over that after 3 days. Where the unions are rampant and destructive is in the the public schools systems and the arts . We also had a new hire rate of 7.00 an hour .

Bush’s presidency has been a miserable failure. The effects of his stupid handling of the economy are only starting to be felt.

Wrong on both counts. This bailout mistake does not make eight years of growth “a miserable failure”. If you think any Bush economic policies led to this meltdown of the financial, housing and domestic auto markets, please cite them, with cause and effect reasoning.
The real cause of the financial and housing problems is the affirmative action home loan mandates done by the Dems for thirty years, which distorted the market and led to its eventual failure. The auto industry stuff is obviously due to union greed. Neither of those has anthing at all to do with anything President Bush has cone economically. Without his modest tax rate cuts, it would be a lot worse.
If he had kept to free market principles, and had eliminated govt interference in the economy, we wouldn’t be in the situation we are in today. Govt always costs the taxpayers.

It’s the unions, with their excessive wages, lower productivity due to their “work rules”, and the massive costs of their demands that non-working people be paid extravagant expenses.

If you can’t read that in the news, you must be illiterate, or you just don’t want to know the truth.

Show me where in the news it says that unions are the only problem. You wont, because you can’t.

as I said no comment :

That’s a comment; why not just deal with the facts here?
I do blame the Dems for the high gas prices, but they were not the determining factor in the downturn. Restrictive Dem energy policies since Carter have cost us untold billions, maybe trillions of lost revenue, along with millions of jobs. The temporary high gas prices were an effect, not the cause.
The cause is govt meddling with the markets.