I’ve expressed my dissatisfaction several times over the past several months regarding the size, scope and consequences of the bailout of big business due to their poor decisions.
One thing I just cannot wrap my head around however is the reluctance to now give the remaining large car companies in this Country the same considerations we gave financial companies like Lehman Brothers, AIG and Citi Group just a month ago.
We didn’t ask for plans on how the financial companies we bailed out would spend their money, but we’re demanding that from the Big Three automakers (I’m not against a plan.. quite the opposite, just pointing out the difference).
We didn’t require Wall Street executives who were on the receiving end of our taxpayer dollars to moderate their bonuses or sell their private jets, yet those are two preconditions for the Detroit automakers.
So while I see and have talked about the downsides of a bailout, it’s important to realize that the consequences of just letting them fail will affect millions and millions of jobs, much more than the failure of a Wall Street brokerage firm.
It’s not just about the union members who design and build the cars either. It’s about people who insure and sell them too. Take into account one small cog in the engine of the car industry: those who work at car dealerships.
Dealers across the region are cutting jobs because of slowing sales, said Don Hansen, president of the Auto Dealers Association of Mega-Milwaukee.
Hansen said dealers selling brands of the Detroit carmakers employ at least 4,000 people in the region.
“But that number has been going down very quickly because the dealers have had to adjust to the current conditions, where far fewer cars are being sold,” he said. “The first thing they look to is the cost of labor. I’m guessing that’s dropped quite a bit.”
So while I don’t care for the idea of an all out bailout, it’s just irresponsible to kill off the auto industry in this Country through inaction. Allowing that to happen will kill off hundreds of thousands of jobs in America and tens of thousands here in Wisconsin.
While the kind of blank check we gave the financial industry is by no means the answer, there is middle ground that Congress can take to ensure the record job losses in this Country aren’t exacerbated by adding hundreds of thousands of auto industry workers to the unemployment line.
I live in the Washington Heights neighborhood of Milwaukee, WI with my wife Jen, our daughter Emerson, and sons Carter and Colton.
The big mistake of the recent estimated $8 trillion in loans, grants and guarantees made to the financial giants, which they seem to be either sitting on or spending to further increase their size through acquisitions smaller failing financial firms, should be addressed and reversed immediately. Our legislators will not admit that mistakes with that bailout have been made. Gross negligence on their part.
A couple trillion of that money could have bailed out the states to much better effect than the secret dispensation and deployment of these funds untraceable by anyone representing you and I.
Bailing out the Big Three auto makers would be a big mistake in my opinion, it’s a bottomless money pit. It would be better if they filed Chapter 11 and reorganized. Remember, Delta Airlines and Boston Store (among others) have filed Chapter 11, reorgnaized and come out stronger.
Congress has already handicapped the auto industry with its CAFE standards and other mandates. A bailout would have the government as de facto owners of the auto companies. We’ll all be driving Tabants.
P.S. to Dan. Any progress on the auto purchase front?
About the purchase.. a little progress. I’m still flat out stunned at the unwillingness of some car salesmen to work with us.
After another unsatisfying experience at the Audi dealer on Monday, on a whim I ended up going back to where we got our Nissan xTerra a few years ago and looked at some Altimas. The experience was a lot more rewarding and we’re looking at moving down that path now.
Got one more place to check out about a used hybrid, but at this point we may be moving away from the Audi I was originally looking at and towards another Nissan.
We should have a firmer answer by this weekend.
Dan,
You’d think the auto salesmen would be beating a path to your door with bargains, discounts and rebates.
I’m planning on buying a new car this Spring, maybe things will be saner by then.
That’s what we thought too.. I’d wait till Spring myself it we didn’t need something better for the winter/snow.