I’ve had this page from the Detroit Free Press open in my browser for the last three months or so — mostly for the personal amusement of myself, my friends and my colleagues. And just earlier today, I began to wonder why I haven’t published the satirical piece in question on GM Authority.
No matter what you may think of the U.S. auto bailout, the fact is that it saved more than a million jobs, prevented the collapse of the domestic auto supply chain, and helped Ford (and even Toyota!) survive to become the lean, mean, profit-making machine it has become today. What’ more, the bailout saved an innumerable amount of jobs — bolstering a country ridden by The Great Recession. And let’s not forget the published reports quoting Steven Rattner that the state of Michigan would have been bankrupt if not for the federal cash infusion into GM (and Chrysler).
At the end of the day, the auto bailout worked by saving GM and Chrysler while helping Ford retain the rich supply chain that it is so proudly taking advantage of today. As Mike Thompson wrote for the Detroit Free Press, “Thankfully, common sense won out over ideology.”
Check the source for the humorously sarcastic animation of everything described above (highly recommended)! Disagree with what’s written above and/or in the Freep piece? Sound off in the comments!
Source: Freep
Comments
I am a big fan of government suport of domesitc industry, that’s what happens in other grown up nations like Germany, Japan, Korea, China; you know the kind of nations that have thriving ecconomys and viable industries.
BUT
The political CENTER, you know the grown ups; need to step up their game as far as public relations are concerned, far right retoric is simple strong and seductive, but it’s lack of annything elce but “let the market decide” is just simply dagerous for national security. Personally I think the far left and the far right are connected at the hip, The left in this country seem to only care about the environment, which is code for asking people to give up our western lifestyle and the human rights or foreginers, nice work if you can get it but the ship were in needs to stay afloat, first and foremost; and lets face it our lifestyle is a consumer one, it is driven by industrial production, and payed for by good paying industrial jobs.
The US and the UK for that matter have to start thinking like grown ups, were not the only naval empires on the earth and we need to a sustainable domestic ecconomy based on needed production insted of speculation and exploitation of foregin workers and currancy devaluation.
Just my thought
Maybee someone will open the GROWNUP INSTITUTE for CENTERIST studdies, Maybe we could convince Bob Lutz to give up on the republican party and start a Centerist one. annyway grown up practicallity needs some cheerleaders and and add caimpain lately.
Ya think
Bob Lutz — how about Dan Akerson, Whitacre, and the rest of the right-winged GM top brass? Heck, Akerson is a public supporter of the GOP — http://gmauthority.com/blog/2010/08/whats-that-future-gm-ceo-dan-akerson-dedicated-gop-supporter/
I could care less about names and parties — but I agree with you completely. There needs to be a “centerist” party — one that actually thinks through the issues at hand instead of taking a hard extremist stance. Oh wait, they’ll probably call that communism… due to lack of knowledge 🙂
I really don’t enjoy hearing the term “bail-out”. It associates the auto industry with the banking problems that occurred. The auto industry received a loan, not a hand out. The two situations are completely different.
Great point — I completely agree!
No… it was exactly that a BAILOUT! Without this “loan” GM & Chrysler and all releated industeries wouldn’t be where there @ today. They couldn’t have got that kind of money from anyone else at that point. This endeavor was entirely political coming and going and still is. And the statements being made now about the loans from OUR government leaders are so slanted it’s embarrassing. And don’t forget about the UAW receiving money before the bond holders during bankruptcy. I was their for 3+ decades (GM/UAW) and everything was always so TOP HEAVY proper level headed decisions were hard to come by. They should have been allowed to fail and regroup on their own and NOT be propped up or supported by our elected government and taxpayer funds. Once the money was given everything after that centered on justification. Failure is part of learned behavior … after that it’s called experience. It doesn’t come from a book or a political campaign / agenda. This is just an insiders thoughts (from experience).
Perhaps — but it wasn’t to the effect of the bail-outs in the financial sector… which don’t employ nearly as many people or contribute nearly as much to our GDP… or compete on as much of a worldwide scale as GM does.
You…”Perhaps — but it wasn’t to the effect of the bail-outs in the financial sector…” Me…”Once the money was given everything after that centered on justification”. This is EXACTLY what I meant. All private manufactuers in this country should stand or fail on their OWN behavior from decisions made… Period. And everyone caught up in the downward spiral loses their JOB!!! This includes management and all unionized / non-unionized workers alike. Banks are also included in this scenerio. Why is it Governments job to “save” jobs or pick “winners / losers” with taxpayer invested dollars? We all know the real reason and it’s shameful… Political favors / payback. When I saw my former union (UAW) receive funds from taxpayers before folks who believed and invested in GM that was “over the top”. It’s sickening…
But that’s exactly what this post — and the accompanying animation from the Freep — is about!
It seems that you’re putting ideology ahead of rational thinking… sure, the bailout (or whatever one should call it) wasn’t GM’s finest hour. In fact, the years leading up to it weren’t GM’s finest years… But was the bailout necessary? Yes. Was it successful? It will be in the long run.
And isn’t justification half of the game? I need to justify spending $30,000 on a Camaro to my significant other… someone else needs to justify spending $60,000 on a Heavy Duty Silverado. Justification is the name of the game, isn’t it?
As far as I’m concerned, I have no problem with the government giving GM the necessary funds to restructure and stay afloat. Isn’t the government one big business anyway? So it’s one business giving another (failing) business funds to turn themselves around.
And how do you know that GM’s bailout was funded by the taxpayers? That’s the one thing that I find ironic in this entire discussion (not just with you, but with everyone I talk to): who knows where the money came from… maybe it came from taxing imports… maybe it came from fining foreign businesses or revenue generated from green card applications. The point is, the government is a big company. And once it leaves my hands, it’s no longer “my” taxpayer dollars. If saving GM (and others) is what is best for this country (and subsequently) me, I’m game.
That’s my justification. 🙂
I guess justification is “half the game” when concerning a want, wish or desire on a personal basis. But don’t confuse it with a need. A need shouldn’t have to be justified or compared to another, just DONE and done with at least a teaspoon of “common sense” and/or pride concerning business transactions. And if failure is on the table concerning this need then so be it. And if folks believe our Government is “a big business” where is their pride on how it’s being run? It seems you believe my ideology is ahead of reality… right? I believe you confuse my ideology with my pride and respect of how a “problem’ is addressed. I care how this is done and the example it leaves in its wake concerning others later. The reality is, I am not afraid of failure or the devastating fallout from it. Even if it involves negative fallout for me, my family and/or you. Our Government is not a role model for business nor do I believe it should be “saving” businesses for the good of the nation and/or making decisions for my own well being. And when my Government takes my money (taxes) I still believe it’s mine and I do care and/or have pride what is done with it and the example it leaves behind.
No… I don’t believe our Government is “one big business anyway”? No business would run like our Government does and survive. GM tried it and was going down fast in the end but two birds of a feather came together. So what is the difference between the two? One could print money, continue to raise its debt ceiling and borrow beyond its means and the other couldn’t anymore. You, certainly Alex wouldn’t run or role model any of your endeavors like GM/ Government run their affairs or so I hope for you. I’d like to believe that common sense would “kick in” long before you prop up any business venture with more borrowed money than your business is worth. If not then the “justification” wheels will start turning and that should be a sign to you that this is the beginning of the end for your venture(s). If saving GM (and others) is what is best for this country (and subsequently) me, I’m ashamed.
Lets start a business Alex….