Ok, any bets on when the US will officially bailout the failing US Automobile Manufacturers?

3 billion loss by Ford and they are whining like a stuck pig.

4.2 billion loss by GMC and they are also whining like a stuck pig.

Hell, we gave 700 BILLION dollars to overly-greedy lending system.

When do you think the auto-bailout will occur, and how much of OUR money do you think the greedy car makers are going to get?

I was thinking last night that if the American auto manufacturing plants just said, "To hell with it!" and walked away, what then? I think that is what I would do. Why should they keep producing?

I have been reading about how GM was turned down by the Feds for a loan to buy Chrysler. Without a bailout, Chrysler will go down first, resulting in thousands of lost jobs.

Instead of lending $10b to GM, Bushco is now more focused on speeding up the process of the $25b loan program for fuel efficient vehicles.

I think the bailouts will come but it might be after Chrysler goes under. I predict next spring after Obama takes over things. He has said he supports providing aid to the auto guys.

I did my part...I bought a new F150. The deals are unreal right now.

You guys actually think big oil is going to let the american auto industry implode?

Chrysler will hold out for a bit but things certainly aren't looking good but GM could be Banko by the end of 2008.....

Keith

GM should have released the Camaro a year earlier but even in tough times that's going to be a hot seller early next year.

Hey... they can pull the same crap as the housing industery " no payments till 2015 !!!" and move a bunch of B.S loans to slackers.

Unions Killed the American auto industery.. plain and simple. They are funding the last of the folks who never had to plan ahead.. simply work 20 years and its gravey till you die.

Ask anybody in Detroit ( where they don't even make cars anymore ) about what a great thing the union is.

I've had some sort of first hand experiences with the unions. The Teamsters to be exact in Detroit. They tried to unionize my dad's Sears store.
Short story is they picketed and refused to deliver. Dad hired guys to deliver at night (scabs is what the union guys called em).
Teamsters found the trucks which were hidden in a corn field during the day and burned em all.
Dad's second in command got beat with a baseball bat on his way into the store. We got calls at the house saying that our house was next to be burnt down. Good stuff right there.
I've got some union friends and we just don't discuss it.
I've got nothing against union members as some of my best friends are just that. The organizers however seem to be evil fooking human beings.

DETROIT (Reuters) - General Motors Corp (GM.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) Chief Executive Rick Wagoner's salary and other compensation rose 64 percent in 2007 to about $15.7 million, mainly due to option grants, according to a proxy filed on Friday.

The GM compensation committee cited significant progress over the past few years in reducing the automaker's health care cost burden, increasing growth internationally and improvements in its cars and trucks in the 2007 awards to executives.

Wagoner's compensation rose from about $9.57 million in 2006. The figure was arrived at based on Wagoner's salary, all other compensation and the basis of annual grants.

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What's wrong with this picture?

Think there's a CEO union?

The real problem in big business today is the looking short term get my riches and get out attitude from the board on down.

Here's more:

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NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Struggling Ford Motor Co., which posted a record $12.7 billion net loss in 2006, gave its new CEO Alan Mulally $28 million for four months on the job, according to the company's proxy statement filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission Thursday.

The Ford (Charts) pay package for Mulally comes on top of the $7.4 million that aerospace company Boeing (Charts) had previously reported paying him for his eight months running that company's commercial aircraft unit before he made the move to Ford at the beginning of September.

I'd support the Auto Company bailout IF they closed all their foreign plants and re-opened the ones they closed down in the US, and brought back union workers.

The problem with all these is you can't imagine NOT doing them if you examine them in isolation. The problem isn't the ones you bail out, again, you can talk yourself into that.

The problem is once you bail them out, what then? The next car company? Or steel mill? Or tractor manufacturer? Why isn't my 60 person small business getting government funding? Crap, we're HIRING people not laying them off! Invest in me! (I'm kidding, but to make a point)

It simply must end. Besides the fact that we have huge deficits at the federal level, the real reason to avoid bailouts is they keep sick/off-track companies alive, when they should die, be picked over by smarter management teams, and rebuilt as new modern companies.

I heard a good idea on the radio recently. Since the oil industry is so dependent on the auto industry, and the oil industry has a few bucks, maybe the auto makers should get a loan from the oil companies.

Or there is the other option...

Maybe if the big three built cars folks actually wanted to buy, they won't be in this mess. They rode the pick-up and SUV market coattails for far to long.
Once gas prices went up, they were screwed.
Toyota had a 25% drop in vehicles sales and a 48% drop in first half profits, yet is still forecasting a 5.5 billion dollar profit for the year. I believe they have five us auto plants now.
Someone is doing it right and Detroit certianly isn't and hasn't for a long time. The big three have always been late with product development and releases. This is especially true in regards to hybrids and other technologies. GM has been touting the technology of their Volt electric car. Production doesn't even start on it until 2010. The Toyota Prius was introduced in 1997. Late to the game again.