Senators bash Big 3 CEOs, calls them dinosaurs

Let the big 3 die!

Once again.. draggin the line...

There should be "NO FISHING" warning posted on this site.

Amen to what the senator said.

If the BIG 3 are bailed out, then why not everyone else? What about Circuit City? What about The Lehman Bros.?
Let'em go!! They dug their own graves for many many years and deserve it. It's a real shame for everyone affected, but if they get bailed out, the system fails and it'll just be worse in the end. Same result, but with much more losses.
Quit while you're behind.
This is a good example of scrapping it all and starting over.
A lot of you take the japanese cars as examples of quality and reliability and ovver the last 30 years have gone on to become the most powerful car companies in the world. But don't forget, these people have no raw materials and their industries were bombed and nuked off the face of the planet not that long before their car industries took off. Bombed and Nuked, and they still became the best!!!
You can't tell me we can't recover from this even if they go down!!!!

By the way, I'm not a japanese car fan at all, but I must admire their resilience when the times got tough.

As far as GM goes I agree regarding the need for Rick Wagoner to resign. The only division he is interested in selling or scraping is Hummer. The reality is that Pontiac,Saab,GMC also need to go bye bye. But Wagoner is too cought up in GM staying the largest or second largest car company. That is now totally wrong. It is not about how big you are it is about your ability to make a profit.
Regarding Chrysler-I feel badly for them in the sense that Daimler Benz really gutted them and hung them out to dry.Nardelli had inherited a diaster. So far there has been precious little on the product front. If they get bailout money they need to use that to get new product to the market pronto. There should already be designs in the pipeline.I don't think Nardelli should go at this point.
Regarding Ford-Allan Mulluly seems to have made the most changes to car lines then the other 2.He is going to import 3 or 4 of Fords Euro lines to the US and the
redesign of the Taurus is the right move. He has also helped revitalize Lincoln from an also ran. To force him to resign would be foolish at this point. Further he turned Boeing around. Too bad he is not a GM. No I think Rick Wagoner is the only one that needs to go.

Agreed. Why don't they show the real reason the industry (and the whole nation) is a shambles... themselves.

That's right... I don't see Obama or any of the government moving to cut speculators out of the oil markets..

Gotta do 3 things:

1) Give the loans to the automakers, just like they did with AIG and the financial market criminals

2) Cut greed-mongering speculators out of the markets. Only allow oil-users to make contracts (oil refineries, petrochem co's, etc)

3) Tax gasoline to 2.60-2.90 a gallon. This will stem demand for inefficient vehicles, without detroying people's pocketbook & companies' bottom line. Use the profits from these taxes to fund technology for AMERICAN industry and research into alternatives.

It is now the American Way to blame the workers for everything.

Even the non-union companies I've worked for, the companies always cried the blues that the workers were causing them to loose money and profitability.

Real Simple, Just give the Big 3 a line of Credit and mandate money barrowed to be used only for R&D. Not Executive Pensions, Not Stock Purchases, R&D. R&D does not mean bonuses for Engineers either.

Chrysler is spening huge amounts of cash for Exeutive Retention bonuses.

The same senators probably get driven around in a Suburban.

HAHA, you're right man. Go to Washington DC... they all have the biggest SUVs and then complain about fuel efficiency because its trendy.

I voted obama/biden... but it still pissed me off see biden driving around one of his homes in an S-class. not because it's foreign (German cars don't bother me), but because here are the democrats... all about tree-hugging and efficiency and here he is driving an expensive gas hog.

Sorry MB, I love your cars but gotta call out these hipocrite politicians.

And another thing.. Once the election was over, I saw that useless waste of space sara palin riding around in a Toyota SUV. Are these politicians of ours that dumb and oblivious to reality? Do they forget that EVERYTHING they do is being watched & scrutinized?

Congressmen do not need to tell a company how to run its business. Most Congressmen are career politicians, only making speeches to get the support of the voters. Our Congress is the dinosaur. They get the same paycheck for the rest of their life once they are elected. Nice golden parachute. They put forth earmarks to help make sure that their voters keep voting for them. AND our gov't. is in debt a HELLUVA lot more than any public or private company IN THE WORLD. BUT let me say this, I was not in favor of bailing out big banks and investment institutes, insurance companies or any other company. A bailout is rewarding bad management. LET THEM FAIL and be born again hopefully as a better company.

The only problem that I see is this. Before the banking crisis ALL 3 did have a bailout plan of their own.(I don't agree with GM's plan) But how does a company plan for dried up credit markets? Further isn't the dried up credit markets the basic reason that all cars sales have tanked? So when congress screams bad mangement is it 100% justified. Had the credit markets not tanked would the American 3 be in these dire straights? The answer is no business that depends on credit markets to be able to sell their products can plan for a sudden freeze of credit. All car companies are affected. It is just that GM Ford and Chrysler seem to be the least prepared to deal with it. If the credit crunch happened 2 yrs from now would the American 3 have been better able to absorb it? By then the restructuring programs would have theoretically kicked in. Anyway this is another way to look at this bailout issue.

WOW... someone who knows what they are talking about. Glad to see Im not the only one on this site who has been saying these things.

The Big3 were in the midst of a Massive turnaround, as we can see with their greatly improved & desireable products, new union rules and contracts. Only problem was that during these trasitional years, the Big3 were running thin margins (or just breaking even). Had congress done its job **cough cough cough** and Bill (Jerk) Clinton not enacted the Enron legislation, the Big3 would be fine right now. Guess it was hard for Clinton though, villifying and killing Serbs took up too much time and he must not have had the time to think about de-regulation.

Credit crunch or not, the fact is nobody would prefer a Chevy over a Toyota. Even if both cars are of the same quality and price and equipment level. This means, Executives of the big (three or 2) did not do their job as far back as the mid to late 90s as compared to the other carmakers who invested in R & D. Just compare the products and the perception towards these products now. Assuming there was no crisis now and you need a car ASAP, whose dealership would you go to first? Toyota or Ford? Cadillac or Lexus?

OR which brand would you consider as your next car? Chevrolet or Toyota? Saturn or Scion? Chrysler/Cadillac/Lincoln or Lexus/Infiniti?

"Guess it was hard for Clinton though, villifying and killing Serbs took up too much time and he must not have had the time to think about de-regulation."

And i guess Bush and all americans were too busy killing Iraqis that they were too blind to see what has happened to their county and economy.

zorbeeze,

Your absolutely correct. Thats what pisses me off the most... Bush and the republicans wasted a trillion or so in Iraq but a loan to protect american automakers is so hated.........

IMO, investigate all CEO whose companies need a bailout. Make Ceos and other top executives return what they suck from their companies the last 5 years (excluding their monthly salaries). Also investigate board of directors bonuses and dividends the last 5 years. All these leaches and thieves should be locked up. This goes for all companies in all industries.