Quote:
Originally Posted by Eliot Ness
There is not an easy answer. Do I want to reward the CEO’s who have made millions with a bail-out? Of course not. On the other hand I can’t imagine what would happen to the U.S. if the big 3 go under; I seriously think the economy will implode. The ripple effects would devastate thousands of families and countless small companies and manufacturers.
The car industry is part of America and I can’t imagine this country without them. I sure don’t have all the answers but I don’t think we can let them fail. A bail-out will require guidelines, limitations, and change, but to just turn our backs on the American auto industry is the same as turning our backs on thousands of working Americans, and I’m not prepared to do anything like that.
|
No one wants to reward the ones that screwed things up. And you're right - I think the economy will seriously implode. Thanks for being another voice of reason on this subject.
I wish that Alabama Senator Shelby saw that. I know he wants to protect the transplant auto business in his state, but he is seriously mistaken if he thinks they'll escape the fallout from a GM bankruptcy. I had a chance to check out the list of suppliers in his state. I identified four that I know for a fact are disproportionately dependent on GM, and as such, would be in trouble in a GM Chapter 11 filing, plus one that would take a serious, if not fatal, hit. The Mercedes plant is particularly vulnerable.
Delphi is still in Chapter 11, and hasn't been able to get the financing to exit bankruptcy. They sold off their interiors division as a new company, called Inteva Products. Delphi is still so dependent on GM business, they're expected to collapse completely in a GM C11. Inteva is still do dependent on GM, they could be pushed into Chapter 11.
The two companies combined run a Cockpit Assembly Plant, that supplies 100% of the Mercedes plants interiors. Get the picture, **** Shelby? No Mercedes assembly until the bankruptcy courts and lawyers find a new buyer for that cockpit assembly plant - good freaking luck in this frozen credit business climate. Anyone got a spare $100 million laying around to buy an interiors plants and a plastics plant in Alabama?
And that's just Shelby's state of Alabama. Anyone want to ask Toyota what they think of a GM bankruptcy? Nissan? Honda? THe rest of their suppliers?