A Modern Parable: The Auto Industry bailout

no its not, its poor planning and lack of innovation.did you know toyota offered to partner hybrid technology to gm.their response at the time was it doesnt fit in our business model. Now tell me what the unions have to do with that?

You forgot a few items.

US automakers:
Pensions and Healthcare for the retirees.
Unfair trade agreements/tariffs

Toyota:
Culture. Toyota views employees as disposable and treats them as such.
Also...Toyota management despises all North Americans. You have to see it to believe it. There is a deep seated hate for us.
I know, I worked there.

furthermore, unions have to push for greater and greater demands every time a contract is up to remain relevant. iif they dont... why be a member of a union when you're perception is that they are not doing anything for you? that is also part of the problem.

Plus, management continues to pay themselves exaggerated salaries with fat bonus's and stock options even when the companies aren't doing well. Cutbacks, and restructuring followed with a management performance bonus for meeting the workforce reduction target...we have seen that time and time again.
There are 2 sides to the coin.
Both union and management need to work together and take concessions if a bailout has a chance to work. Otherwise...bankruptcy.

bailout to work?

fuck that. those fucking idiots ALL deserve to be unemployed (employees and management) and the nation will be better off for it.

we don't live in the soviet union or red china... i'm not working my ass off to subsidize the incompetence and idiocy of others.

Exactly my sentiments.

Poor planning and dismal innovation plays a part - but I say its secondary to the greed of the unions.

I work there right now... I haven't really seen any of this before. Can you explain your reasoning?

The car companies don't want a "bailout" - they want access to credit.

This is the part of the credit crisis that everyone is ignoring. Big corporations are the biggest players in the short term lending market. Who do you think borrows the money that generates returns for money market mutual funds? Commercial paper, corporate bonds, money market funds - giant corporations need access to these credit streams to meet their cash flow needs.

If you want to find out how much big companies use these financing channels.. go to an annual report and find the "statement of changes in financial position" section and look under "financing activities".

Managing cashflow is a major operation an a company with 150 billion + in revenue. The credit crisis has destroyed these financing sources. Hundreds of billions of dollars have come out of money market investment funds, corporate bond ratings have been destroyed, banks have stopped being market makers for commercial paper, bonds, etc..

Auto companies cannot reorganize under chapter 11. They do not provide a service like an airline - if any one of the big 3 goes bankrupt they are gone FOREVER. no one will buy a car from a bankrupt company, it won't happen.

Giving the auto companies access to credit to save their operation has a direct effect on jobs.. not like Citigroup which just took 20 billion dollars AS THEY LAYOFF 50,000 people. Providing 25 billion in credit to the auto companies will save millions of jobs.

In Canada, the gov't gave GM a couple hundred million a few years back...and GM promptly laid off hundreds of workers and shut down major production lines in Oshawa and St. Catharines.

This week General Motors in St. Catharines was shut down entirely as part of a rotating shutdown schedule. There is no optimism amongst employees that this won't become a more permanent arrangement (with or without a bailout).

Credit is given with the implication that it'll eventually be paid back.

I don't see that happening with General Motors.

Sure...I worked at Toyota Technical in the design engineering center and the management made no effort to hide their distaste for the N.A. employees. If you were a Japanese contractor they had no problems with you. If you were a N.A. contractor they treated you like garbage.
They refused to talk directly to you, instead they used an interpreter even though they spoke perfect english.
No eye contact with you.
They wouldn't respond when you greeted them. example: Good Morning
Never said please, thank you, etc...
They made certain you understood they had a "Us" and "Them" attitude.
Refused to discuss needed details about the job. Instead you had to deal with the interpreter that almost always knew nothing about the job.
I could go on an on......

I have worked with automotive design and engineering staff from all around the globe, and they were by far the rudest bunch I have ever had to work with. But....they do produce very nice vehicles.

Sorry you have to work there. Good luck with that.

Let's also not forget GM had one of the first production-line electric cars (probably the first since the early 20th century when electric cars were more common).

What did GM do with this incredible and futuristic vision? They sent it to the scrap heap.

I'm sorry guys, I'm a proud American. I believe in well made American products like porn, Leatherman tools, outlaw motorcycles, Kentucky Bourbon, Tilamook Cheese and Zippos. World War 2, the cold war, and the space race taught me that Americans can design and build some of the best and most fascinating machines in the world.

However, most new American cars I see are overcomplicated and unreliable. My friend Chris Lowden was driving a rented Ford Taurus. The engine spontaneously caught fire and the vehicle self destructed. When requesting a replacement vehicle, customer service asked what type of car she would like, Chris responded with "ONE THAT DOESN'T BURST INTO FLAMES!"

If America can design and build an efficient, reliable car that will last 10 years or 300,000 miles, I'll buy it. Until then, my next car's a Toyota or Honda.

jap men have very small cocks..

you would be angry too....

Ford makes a car called the UK called the ECOnetic -- which is a diesel car that gets over 65mpg. While VW is busy selling their diesel cars in the US market, Ford wont bother as they don't think anyone will want one. The prefer to try and market their existing range of cars as 'fuel efficient' (LOL), because they do more than 28mpg (30mpg).

Ford sucks. They have something they could try and sell, but will not bother.

In a market economy, if you make things people do not want -- you die. Unless you can trick your government to bail you out, at which point it is no longer a market economy but subsidized industry, like Fiat, etc. etc.