The Bridge Loans

[Hunter Morrow]

Well, I know that politics usually isn't allowed here, but considering that we were all well behaved could we discuss the automobile industry bridge loans/bailouts/etc?
Chrysler has said it will close all plants for 1 month. This situation has me petrified. I really wish we could give them the money in exchange for better MPG and emission standards.

[S197]

Chrysler closes its plants for two weeks around this time of year so technically it's a two week shut down, not a month. Still not good but a little less bleak... maybe.

In answer to your question, a few of us tried discussing TARP and other issues at the time but honestly it's near impossible to make any sort of meaningful discussion without it getting political to some degree.

[Kansas Viking]

Yeah, Ford is another one the shuts down this time of year. A lot of big companies do that. At my old job we used to get mailings from John Deere and Caterpillar letting us know that all shipments had to be there no later than a certain date in December because they shut everything down over the holidays.

[Mr. X]

Allowing either GM or Chrysler to fail would have crushed the market and put the economy in a death spiral. I'm a free-market guy but I'm not a looney free-market guy who thinks any kind of government intervention is bad (e.g. Larry Kudlow). Ford is being penalized by having the foresight of having gone to the credit markets last year and raised a pile of cash when investors were still willing to buy their bonds. Chrysler is a privately held company and I'm a bit troubled by giving public money to the fat cats at Cerberus. Why not do a match funding program with Chrysler where the gov matches whatever capital injection that Cerberus can come up with?

We're giving GM and Chryslere about 2% of the authorized funding of the TARP program. I don't understand what all the bellyaching is about. AIG got $150 Billion outside of the TARP program. GM and Chrysler are getting $15 Billion.

And let's cut the BS from these southern senators who are against providing funding for the Big Three. Did Shelby from Alabama complain when his state gave enormous subsidies to Asian auto makers to locate plants in Alabama? No. Not a peep. Why is a state subsidy okay but a federal subsidy not okay? No one ever asks Shelby to explain that.

[Demi]

It isn't simply about GM/Chrysler/Ford. It's about the guys machining parts they use across the country. It's about the dealers. The advertising, and on and on. It's also a fairly insignificant amount of money. The only people who could possibly be against this are hard liners who would be against it no matter what, based simply on principal (unless of course the receive a sizeable campaign contribution from one of the big 3)

Unlike the previous bailout, which was a mess, continues to be a mess, and I have a feeling looking back will be a terrible mismanaged disaster.

[PurpleMustReign]

It does seem to look like this bailout is a little more organized tham the last one. I just have a problem with the CEO's that are multi-millionares and will make out like gangbusters no matter what. Who was it that sent all of its top people to the Bahamas or whatever after they were bailed out? If I found out my company did that,, I would go after the top people with a nuclear bomb.
As lng as the Auto companies use the bailout wisely, I guess I am ok with it. But If I hear about any of them casing their stock options for 100 million dollars in the near future, I will be livid.

[S197]

Locking the thread for now.