ultimately it's kind of sad that we'd be left with no remnants from that era... the roaring '20s and the advent of the horseless carriage. but how much do we really care about Michigan? people are quick to blame U.S. auto-makers for their own inability to compete with the Japanese. but i realize that it was American consumers which drove the market for huge gas guzzling monsters and set that trend. and it's specifically THOSE people, those American consumers, which are abandoning Ford, General Motors, and Chrysler. i'm sick of people crying "bailout". Obama has talked about subsidizing fuel efficient cars, but it sounds like that won't be nearly enough in time at this point. the irony is that gas prices are back to dirt cheap. and there isn't a whole lot we can do besides give the companies handouts. we did it to Chrysler once before. is it worth doing again?

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I don't know, maybe there is a time to say "adapt or perish"? You're giving them a fighting chance, it's up to them to take it.

I heard similar stories a few years ago about the Australian branches of various US and Japanese car companies crying foul over the fact that people were rejecting their wares in favour of more sensible and efficient cars, and demanding the government do something about that. I don't think the government did a damn thing. I thought the idea of companies basically demanding the government somehow force people to want their product, rather than giving the people what they wanted, was kind of cute.

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Time is the distance that you can't return by miles.

I escaped somehow. Let's go

actualy [sic] I have quite a blessed life if I'm honest. I have many people to love, hate few and have few money problem's [sic].... What more does a person need? Oh yeah and I have some kind of humbleness unlike you of course ^_^ ~ CarefulCarpenter

NO.

Not even if a gun to the head is involved or a military coup.

Blind 5 year olds run a lemonade stand with more efficiency than those motherfuckers. It's not even UAW that's off center, its the damn executives who have shit for brains.

Yeah, I'm gonna say no as well. American cars look great if you're into that sort of thing, but they om nom nom nom petrol like bitches and, to be honest, we could do without that right now.

Then again, wasn't there meant to be, like, some kind of "electric" car coming out at some point? What happened to that?

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Well I can see why people temper that attitude, but yes, having an industry that survives only because of subsidies and hand-outs is fucking stupid in most cases. If the government really wants a car industry, but can't expect anyone in the country to be any good at running it, you know what they should do? NATIONALISE IT.

This is how the world is meant to work. If you, as a government, desperately want something to exist, but the market won't support it the way you'd like it to, and if you pay huge amounts of money out to keep it afloat, that's what's known as a PUBLIC SERVICE. For them to attempt to pass it off as something competitive and capitalist-friendly is laughable.

See also: airports. Yes, I get it, we need them. But is it really so important to keep the spirit of HUAC alive that instead of just taking them over we just keep throwing money at them in the hope that this will make them good value for money, rather than just prevent them from evolving a better service?

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It's not just that people don't want to buy American cars- no one can afford to buy any cars anymore!

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I'm out for presidents to represent me (Say what?)
I'm out for presidents to represent me (Say what?)
I'm out for dead presidents to represent me

It's that too, but they wouldn't be charging so much for them if they didn't have to to turn a profit. The automotive industry has been in trouble for a long time, before even the last recession.

But no, for srsly, come to England, you'll maybe see one American car on the road like, per year.

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Obama said he wanted American people to buy American cars instead of buying imports. It was in a speech he made ages ago.Maybe its possible. I've seen HUMMERS parked outside shitty broken down double wide trailer shacks. People who care more about status than their house could definitely pitch in here....

Why must you talk in such a way about my home state? I find it rather ignorant of you. I do beleve that a "bailout" is the WRONG idea. I would rather see some sort of loan type program instead. Michigan has some of the highest unemployment rates and forcloser rates in the US and could use some type of help. I also think that there should be a major investigation into the ceo's, cfo's and the like. I also believe there should be a major investegation into the accounting practices of these companys. The top people in these companys should be put in check for there accounting practises and obsene pay rates and the perks that they receive. Don't forget that these companys revolutionized the auto industry not so long ago. And they also produced the autos that the people in the US wanted at the time. Unfair trade practices and and shipping of jobs overseas and to Mexico and other Latin American countrys have had a major part in the demise of the North American auto industry. Oil prices also had a hand in this. I fully belive that the big three can turn themselfs around with some help. And please don't blame the UAW or the Teamsters for the fallout of these companys. It all starts at the top. I also belive that the wallstreet bailout is total bullshit. Please forgive my long rant and the spelling errors in it as I have been up over 20 hours at this point. Also the quality and perfomance and looks and appeal of the automobiles made here in the US has come ALONG way in the past few years. But all this is just one persons opinon, mine. End rant.

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Sorry, I've lost my tolerance for the arrogance of the ignorant.

I think this is really tough because it isn't like we're just dealing with companies. Companies that did not have resources or foresight to innovate...and consumers who did not really have an incentive to change their behaviour.

However, millions of people are employed by these companies. Not to try to save them would be the wrong thing to do.

I would have agreed with the poster before me, but I actually have come to think that we have benefited more from outsourcing as a country than we'd like to believe. Boy, we do love those cheap electronics.

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"We believe that the best of America is in these small towns that we get to visit, and in these wonderful little pockets of what I call the real America, being here with all of you hard-working, very patriotic, very pro-America areas of this great nation," she told the crowd.

Why would they lend you money when you can't afford to pay it back?

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along the lines of what ophiel said,

companies cannot cry foul when the market forces which made them successful ultimately turn against them. if you want to live in the capitalist system you live and die by its rules. I hate the manner in which companies and banks which for years have complained about how regulations and state interference have held them back, are suddenly demanding bail outs with a sense of entitlement reminiscent of a petulent teenager.

unless the company comes under the rubric of 'too big to be allowed to fail', such as with the recent banking crisis in the UK, I think companies should be made to take their medicine, or the US should accept the fact of a more mixed market and increased state intervention within the economy. given that most attempts at things like provoke calls of 'communist', i think we're in for interesting times.

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oh yeah definitely it should. what was the question again? because it sounded interesting.

well considering it's the Dems fault they're failing, i think nancy pelosi should probably have to bail them out personally

the reason they're broke is because the Dems forced them to put all this money into alternative fuels and designing high-efficiency cars or whatever...to make them more "green" -and it bankrupted them because no one in america wants a shitty car that can only get up to 20 miles an hour and no one can afford to buy a "low emission" car when it costs twice as much. and only the rich are buying new right now anyway.

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first impressions are cheap auditions
situations are long goodbyes

these are FACTS people

This is wrong...on so many levels.

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"We believe that the best of America is in these small towns that we get to visit, and in these wonderful little pockets of what I call the real America, being here with all of you hard-working, very patriotic, very pro-America areas of this great nation," she told the crowd.

yes. so to the point that you know arguing about it in any detail would be a complete waste of energy.

As always, never was said what I would say.

and I'll add that a company that's "too big to fail" probably shouldn't exist in the first place. wasn't that the point to all the anti-trust legislation put in place so long ago in the US?*

*rhetorical question, people

Also J00z did WTC.

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