Congress Takes The Detroit 3 To The Whipping Shed And They STILL Have No Clue Why!

How interesting that all 3 US auto companies need help...not 1 or 2 but all 3! They shared the same mentality, which was to build crap. Now they have to suffer.
Shame on the other 2 CEOs who are not willing to accept $1 salary. This shows that they only want their company to survive so they can get more bonuses that's all. They don't give a crap that they're putting the other millions of employees at risk by not showing mercy to the gov.

Well yea the workers are the pawns that they control. But since they are the consumer as well they can fight back by boycotting.

"willing to accept" does not mean he will do it. Over my dead body that ANY CEO in the world would work for free, no salary, no bonus, no rewards. The shame should go to all 3 CEOs and the rest of their gang. Let them go to hell along with their garbage product.
No loyal American will allow for his tax money to be given to thieves so they would steal more. NO!!!

The only reason why Nardelli is willing to accept $1 is because he already fleeced Home Depot for $210 million.

What's boggling is that Chrysler ever hired Nardelli after he destroyed Home Depot when it was being challenged by Lowes. Yeah he agreed to take a $1 salary, for the next two months of the year, not 09.

Screw this guys again, taking their big jets. They were asked if they flew commercial, nobody spoke, they were asked if they would fly home commercial, nobody answered. Asked to sell their jets, no answer. Forget these fools. If they are afraid to fly commercial then what chance do I have to fly? If they deem it not safe then I guess we should all get private jets.

These lame asses need to stop begging and arguing for money and instead show the government some concrete planning. All I see is them asking for money, but I have yet to see one of them get up, turn on a computer and pop open a powerpoint presentation showing the allocated money, where it is going, the affect it will have and a timeline for payback.

Give me something I can read and stop following Obama's philosophy of "Change without proof". I still can't find one O-spenda supporter who can tell me what he is changing. And when they say healthcare I laugh. Who would want a governmnet who killed Social Securuity among other national plans to run our health system, LOL.

That's what I was thinking...why not start over? factories are already built and the engineers are there...just needs new management. It would take some time but better than waht it is now.

I listened to a bit of the testimony. I was totally shocked to see each one on them mention the problem was not in their business model or products, but they were the victims of the lack of financing funds.

EXCUSE ME! Look at how bad sales were BEFORE the credit implosion. The sales figures alone should tell you that that scenario is simply not true. They have been having big trouble long before the credit crunch.

I still can't believe these guys have the audacity to even ask for help from the taxpayer when all they give us in return is a shotty product for the most part and the CEOs themselves are living the good life, while bringing no benefit to their respective companies. I feel badly for the thousands of employees who have no say in how the companies are run, but at the same time we cannot afford to waste money on poorly run businesses who can't even bring some sort of plan to congress that shows they are serious about turning their company around. Even children know how to give a blank promise to stay ou of trouble, or clean their room in exchange for money, candy, toys, or whatever they want. These execs didn't even pretend to have an idea of what they'll do in the future

ShowTime: I totally agree. What I find interesting is the non-union auto factors in the south (Benz, BMW Honda, Hyundia) are not in this terrible financial crisis like the Big 3. I watched about an hour of the hearing and these CEO idiots just don't get it. Why should we the taxpaper give your car company bailout money, just so you can pass it along for your retiree's pension and health insurance. Why can't we require the Big 3 to file Chapter 11 which enables them to reorganize their finances, eliminate any obsolete product line or merge division and restructure contracts with their union people.

For those folks who also think GM's Chevy Volt is their "golden egg", I doubt that. That electric car only has a maxium charge of 40 miles. It also has a small gas tank but I believe to be limited to 2.0 gallons (or close). People would have to charge their car when they get to work, then when they get back home. I watched congress grill those CEOs and they still tried to defend why it's ok to use private jets; how there is little advantage for the non-union shops over them. I think if we do bail them out, some sort of stipulation should be attached where those CEO's are FIRED. They haven't done their job - period.

At first I was for baling them out. But after watching this for the past two days I think they actually do need to go bankrupt, pick up the few pieces they need to start over the right way and move on. These old dinosaurs still don't seem to truly get what needs to be done. Throwing money at them would only delay the inevitable. I hate that so many people would lose their jobs but their business model is truly flawed on so many levels.

You make it seem as if the current "Leaders" were responsible for this whole mess. This has been going on for DECADES. They were responsible for their own demise by thinking they were "it". I don't see anything criminal that occured-unless stupidity and being naive is illegal even though it should be. They didn't listen to the consumer/market and expected the market/consumer to dance to their tune because it was the "patriotic" or "American" thing to do.

There has been the concern that what will happen if the American 3 go bankrupt. Well I think this is where the government can then step in and help. What I mean is if all 3 file for chapter 11 bankruptcy then the government can step in and set up a program to back ALL warranteys and new parts for X number of yrs. That will then give the consumer confidence to continue buying their cars. Second it will allow them to reorganize at the governments discretion. When I found out that current union employees get 80% of their salary after they are let go that put me over the edge. The entire corporate structure of the US auto companies has to be rethought. What may have worked in the 1920's through the 1980's now no longer works.I now believe the US companies have the technology and ability to build cars just as good as their foreign competition but are strangled due to their selling their souls everytime they renegotiate a union contract. It is better to have auto workers employed making less money and having less benefits then having companies shut down and 3 million people out of work. Chapter 11 will cause people to lose their jobs but it certainly seems the lessor of 2 evils now.If GM can't wait for the Obama administration to take office so be it. If it is able to hold on then perhaps a bailout will work with many many strings attached to it. Restructuring has to be one of those strings.The pay scale and benfits must equal what Toyota and the rest of the foreign competition pay their employees.I also think the idea of a US auto company zsar to oversee the restructuring business plan of all three is necessary. It will then be the governments job to make sure people can get loans to buy cars.

Fact is, if you let the Big 3, or any of it's components go under, there will be serious repercusions in the market that will surpass any "bailout" monies you can give them.

Think about all of the direct company employees, then dealership salesmen, service techs, suppliers(Delphi = 100k+ employees), now each one of these 1 million plus employees will default on mortgages, car notes, go on unemployment, welfare, not buy clothing, other discretionary items, go on vacations etc.

I'd like to remind everyone that 2/3 of our economy is driven by consumer spending. If you take a sizeable portion of that out of the picture, we are in deep trouble.

On the flip side, if you do give them the money, will it change the fundamentals of their business. Will it make the consumers by their product? It is well known most people purchase their cars based on perception. Volvo=safe, Toyota=reliable etc. and it takes YEARS to create or destroy such a perception. Fact is if you give them 25 billion it will keep them afloat for a few months, they will return, guaranteed. When will it stop? Then who's next? Airlines again?

It's the literal catch-22.

Guaranteed return eh? How do you know? Are you an exec in the Big3? Do you have a leak in the Big3?

i think the no. of empployees that will lose their jobs is grossly exaggerated.

just WHERE did that 3 million figure come from? most i heard, was maybe 200,000 direct employees, with other closely related jobs totalling ~1.5 million max.

parts makers will have to downsize, but they can still supply the surviving (foreign based) carmakers.

and it's not like there won't be cars anymore for american buyers. the pool of buyers won't disappear. they'll just have different choices.

gov't bailout/loans will be mere band-aids. the big 3 needs serious basic SURGERY. chap. 11 will the knife they can NOT avoid. if some go on to chap 7, so be it.

XYZZ,

Not to be a jerk, but from your comment I can tell rather easily that you do not really know the auto industry insides very well.

"parts makers will have to downsize, but they can still supply the surviving (foreign based) carmakers."

If you knew the reality of the auto industry, you'd know that most of the suppliers are running so slim right now that any more deviation in the markets will cause disaster. You'd also know that ch11 means that the automakers DONT have to pay the suppliers all the debt that they are already owed. This means the suppliers go under / file ch11. Either way, the spiral starts and gets out of control really fast.

As for different choices, why should those choices be japanese or korean? America cannot afford to give more of our hard earned money to foreign nations that could give a rat's ass about america. Big3 make great cars with great quality and get great milage. They are better priced than their asian counterparts and help the AMerican economy, rather than take from it.

if parts makers are already on such thin margins, yes the big 3 not paying promptly to an even greater degree than currently would hurt. but they NEVER have to provide parts for free. worse comes to worst, THEY can file for chap 11 too.

what i had in mind, is that as the big 3 continue to lose market share, they can try selling to the companies GAINING market share. from what i've read, they ALREADY prefer dealing with the transplants.

as with american car buyers overall, they just shift their preferences on whom they deal with.

"As for different choices, why should those choices be japanese or korean? America cannot afford to give more of our hard earned money to foreign nations that could give a rat's ass about america. Big3 make great cars with great quality and get great milage."


why should freedom loving americans NOT be allowed to buy WHATEVER THEY CHOOSE?

if any car maker can't run with the big dogs (or even smaller but scrappier dogs more market savvy), then so be it. the market may be cruel. but that's capitalism.

"They are better priced than their asian counterparts..."

then they SHOULD be selling in greater numbers. the fact is, smart shoppers don't mind paying a premium for better quality. detroit assumed for decades that car buyers weren't too bright. WRONG.