GM sends letters to GM vehicle owners.

[88JeepXJ]

That's awesome! So true, so true.

How ironic is it that unions were created to help workers and they may be largely responsible for having hundreds of thousands of workers thrown out into the unemployment line.

If the gov't bails out the Big 3 can they pass legislature that limits union power?

 

[Boatwrench]

That's awesome! So true, so true.

How ironic is it that unions were created to help workers and they may be largely responsible for having hundreds of thousands of workers thrown out into the unemployment line.

If the gov't bails out the Big 3 can they pass legislature that limits union power?

Drink some more kool-aid

 

[Boatwrench]

I have to say that unions are not the cause of our economic woes but a symptom and definitely a scapegoat for them. We have the lowest unionization level in the western world, if Germany,Japan and others can operate profitably with higher rates of workers in unions it shows that we have a problem with the fat asses in the boardroom, not with the union worker on the ground.

 

[rightseatsis]

With the record profits made this year by the oil companies, you would think they could pony up the money for the car companies to survive. If the Big 3 go out of business that is a lot less oil that would be sold. Let Exxon give them the loan.

 

[Ecomike]

I have to say that unions are not the cause of our economic woes but a symptom and definitely a scapegoat for them. We have the lowest unionization level in the western world, if Germany,Japan and others can operate profitably with higher rates of workers in unions it shows that we have a problem with the fat asses in the boardroom, not with the union worker on the ground.

On top of what you said (and I agree), I heard last night that France was the only country left in Europe that a positive GPD the third quarter, 1% positive growth, another example for your case or position.

What many of the others hear fail to recognize is that lower wages right now do not help the economy, they result in lower retail sales, lower collected sales taxes, lower collected income taxes, and lower economic growth all at a time when the economy desperately needs more, not less of them all. No economy can long survive with prices and wages declining. Non stop declining wages and prices lead to deflation, which leads to deflationary depressions and eventually world wars like WWII and the Great Depression.

That is why the US Treasury and Federal reserve are so panicked right now, and why they have essentially lowered the Fed funds rate to 0%, and resorted to socialistic money policies under a "free Economy" republican administration by having the government invest billions in the banks.

 

[Boatwrench]

What many of the others hear fail to recognize is that lower wages right now do not help the economy, they result in lower retail sales, lower collected sales taxes, lower collected income taxes, and lower economic growth all at a time when the economy desperately needs more, not less of them all. No economy can long survive with prices and wages declining. Non stop declining wages and prices lead to deflation, which leads to deflationary depressions and eventually world wars like WWII and the Great Depression.

That is why the US Treasury and Federal reserve are so panicked right now, and why they have essentially lowered the Fed funds rate to 0%, and resorted to socialistic money policies under a "free Economy" republican administration by having the government invest billions in the banks.

I look at several sources of information, here's an interesting piece from the Christian Science Monitor, and it must be true I read it on the internet->

"Where's a good deflation-fighter when you need one? US consumer prices fell in October at the steepest rate since 1938. If that starts a self-reinforcing downward spiral in prices, Barack Obama will need Federal Reserve chief Ben Bernanke more than ever. The former Princeton scholar is an expert on deflation, a pernicious destroyer of wealth.

In a famous speech before he became the nation's central banker, Mr. Bernanke said "sustained deflation can be highly destructive'' and it "should be strongly resisted."

His wise counsel was based on his studies of the Great Depression and of post-bubble Japan in the 1990s, times when consumers and businesses were sucked into a rare mental contagion in which they delayed purchases to see if prices would fall further.

Breaking such a negative pattern, or ending a phenomenon that feeds on itself, can take years. A drop in prices may sound good – who doesn't welcome gasoline at less than $2 a gallon or affordable home prices? But when this anti-inflation becomes rampant, people who are paying off their debt in effect pay more in value over time. Spending dries up. The economy contracts.

Avoiding runaway deflation is why central banks tolerate a low level of inflation – it keeps the bigger beast at bay. For most of this year, the US and many other nations had high inflation, mainly because of rising prices for oil and food. So it was a shock that US consumer prices – excluding food and energy – actually fell in October, the first drop since 1982. A sudden fear of deflation helped knock down the stock market.

The reality is that runaway deflation doesn't yet exist. And the task of preventing it lies with Bernanke, whose term at the central bank runs until 2010. His actions may affect Americans far more than those of Mr. Obama.

What's a Fed chief to do? As the éminence grise behind the recent financial rescue plans, Bernanke is very confident the government has the tools, if not always the will, of an FDR to reverse deflation.

The Fed's first tool is to drop the interest rate used between banks to zero. The rate is now 1 percent and may be dropped in December. The Fed can then "inflate" the economy by manipulating long-term interest rates that loosen credit, effectively "printing dollars." It's a move he describes as equivalent to a "helicopter drop of money." Deflation's foe is the US Mint.

The last time the Fed tried to ward off deflation, in 2002-03 under then-Fed chief Alan Greenspan, it overshot and helped create a credit bubble that then fed a rapid rise in home prices. Mr. Greenspan compounded the problem by not reining in the practice of banks taking on risky mortgages. It was, after all, risky loans that were the root cause of the 1929 market crash.

So while Obama must rely on Bernanke to slay the deflation dragon, the new president must also make sure the Fed doesn't overinflate and create another bubble.

How to do that? The Fed must set an inflation target, say at 2 percent, and stick to it. Congress may not like it. Lawmakers sometimes like loose money to create jobs.

Bernanke will need Obama's help to set that target. In fact, the two men will need each other to keep deflation in its cave. This dragon is a creature that must be slain with care. " <-end

 

[BlackCat01]

there are many issues that need to be addressed from the salaries top to bottom and looking at where you are doing things that are wasting money. American companies do not know how to tighten their belts - time they learn.
As for the loan or bailout; I am all for it, with the stipulation that ALL manufacturing is brought back to the US. Many of the GM models are made in Canada or Mexico - why should we bailout a company and watch our tax dollars go to pay the salaries of non-US workers. TIME TO FORCE THEM TO BRING JOBS BACK TO THE US... If Toyota and Honda can manufacture in the US and make money why does the "US" companies have to send manufacturing out of the country.

 

[Boatwrench]

As for the loan or bailout; I am all for it, with the stipulation that ALL manufacturing is brought back to the US. Many of the GM models are made in Canada or Mexico - why should we bailout a company and watch our tax dollars go to pay the salaries of non-US workers. TIME TO FORCE THEM TO BRING JOBS BACK TO THE US... If Toyota and Honda can manufacture in the US and make money why does the "US" companies have to send manufacturing out of the country.

Thanks NAFTA ! Started by President Bush the elder, signed into law by President Clinton, strentghened by President Bush the lesser and had backing for more provisions by candidate Senator McCain. Including giving up our sovereignty by having a trade corridor up the middle of the US from Mexico to Canada. Will be intresting to see what President elect Obama will do (but I can probably guess as he is a corporate lackey like the rest of them)