Car companies take bailout money and sue government to prevent stricter fuel-efficiency standards

We should have gone trickle-up instead of trickle-down with the bailouts. That would have forced these companies to respond to the consumer instead of the other way around.

Um. so now the US has to spend even more money on the legal process?

@bcurtz : amen!

and @thedrugsdon't work doesn't have a clue what he's talking about. Boasting about the American auto makers struggling to pass the finish line with a 43 mpg HYBRID car?

It's already been possible in many other countries to buy a 41 or more mpg car for many years, that's NOT a Hybrid - we're talking just plain old petrol vehicles. Are you seriously telling me that to compete with the fuel efficiency of foreign petrol cars, America has to build a hybrid?

Something wrong with this picture.

The picture gets even rosier with foreign diesel models (but of course, to Americans diesel is the fuel of the devil).

And these foreign vehicles cost 1/3 of the price, last twice as long, and don't look like a designer's nightmare.

I sincerely question the sanity and / or intellectual capacity of anyone who defends the American auto industry's products at this juncture. I could understand nationalistic defense of the companies, or the jobs of their workers, but the facts show that their products are absolutely atrocious and at least a decade or two behind.

The reason the automakers are clamoring for handouts and suing the government is because they -know- they squandered the last 20 years - when all the other automakers were spending money on R+D, they were spending theirs on fat executive benefits, and paying employee healthcare because America's public health system is nonexistent.

They know they're screwed, they're just trying to get as much as they can fill their pockets with before they flock to the exits.

Haha take THAT Environment!

i don't think that we should have given it to them in the first place. greedy little bastards.

Depends which way you look at it. If you look at it one way... the government gives them money and they turn around and sue. The other way... the government gives them new oversight and require them to become profitable, and then pass laws that make that much more difficult.

Just buy a Tesla. Kill Ford, Chevy, and GM.

And this is why I bought a Toyota and why I tell everyone I meet to buy non-american vehicles. I'm sorry if that means I'm turning my back on my country but it's already turned its back on us when companies like these do things like this with our tax money. I will never buy GM, Ford or Chrysler as long as they have such a heinous mentality.

answering "thedrugsdontwork" maybe you should research stephen meyers and his fully functional water vehcile or maybe GM's EV-1 that was a smash hit...... the car companies have had plenty of time to re-up efficiency standards-- not to mention during Jimmy carter's term he had the car companies averaging 25 miles per gallon and that was WAY BACK. So before you start getting all heated about a subject you obviously have no grasp over, do a little research yourself and save everyone else 2 mins of their life from reading you're uneducated rhetoric. The bottom line is the car companies don't deserve this the least bit, and the fact they even got a slice of the pie in the first place pisses me off

can i get a amen?

The American Auto Company just makes Americans look bad. They are suing they're own people that helped them move up and give them a lot of money. Like another said.. its just like giving them guns and them using our guns to shoot at us. Its ridiculous. Imagine what reputation it gives to the United States.

You know these guys are blowing the oil companies for sure now.

they can probably take the money back. lending them money do have conditions with them, breaking those means voiding the contract, hence losing lawsuit and money.

dude
think about it
if you had the opportunity to get that much bank
why the hell would you not take that up?
there now gonna have hella bank to pay there designers to make the sickest cars
if that was you
youd do the same shit
gm was hella going down hill before the bailout too
and there trying to get back in these shitty ass economic times
there gonna be one of the normal functioning companies soon
apply for a job with them shit
haha

Awesome. rofl.

I don't know whether to laugh or be extremely pissed off.

But one thing is for sure, that is some tasty irony.

life is good. i live in sheltered world of southernutah

This honestly does not surprise me one bit. After hearing about Citigroup's upgrade of their corporate jet fleet, I was easily expecting the auto industry to kick back in some fashion.

These corporations believe that they should be able to operate under standards that increase their profitability off the products, not by transport-regulated standards that would require them to invest money in zero-emissions and higher fuel efficiency vehicles.

Were I standing in the President's position, I would immediately recall the funds given to the companies named in the suit. They accepted the bailout funds with this agreement in tail, and they will either take the funds with the agreement or return the funds and suffer. If the success of recalling those funds was only partial, I would submit legislation allowing foreign automakers with higher fuel efficient and zero-emissions vehicles to receive tax breaks until it crunched US automakers to the point where they would be forced to invest in the technology or risk the failure of their corporations.

There are several ways to strike back here, and those are only two options I'm freely giving. At some point, as the government is intended to protect the people, our leaders will have to crack down on those who enjoy taking advantage of us, and these corporations are clearly taking advantage of taxpayer funds, the consumer, and the legislation that made those funds available to them.

You know, this is BUSINESS....

The government has been fucking with efficiency law for many many years now. Seriously, it is not simple and easy to make cars run on electricity or alternate fuel, and by enacting stricter laws on fuel efficiency while these vital American companies are in the midst of the horrendous economy, is just pouring salt in the wound.

If you want to be pissed off at the mismanagement and the past mistakes of these corporations, fine. But do some fucking research before you start slamming US cars and pulling sales figures out of your ass. Saying shit like NO ONE BUYZ DEM and DEY SUK CUS DEY AINT TOYOTERS just makes you come off like a beaming fucking idiot, and in the process shows how little you know of the auto industry. Vast improvements are being made (at least in the way of Ford and General Motors) and considering their mistakes they are bouncing back quite well.

Actually open your mind and go look at a Ford Fusion hybrid that was recorded getting 43MPG. You'll be surprised at the steps these companies are taking.

And I can tell you, the Rubbermaid interiors are gone.

aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaagh!

How fucking ridiculous.

Just curious how many millions in American taxpayer dollars they're using to sue the American taxpayer?

My only requirement would be that they stop making the interiors look like they were designed by Fisher-Price.

Oh. My. God.
Why the hell did we think it was a good idea to give them money? I hope that whichever judge has to deal with this just tells them to go @%*& themselves.

Can the government take it back?

what else should we expect they are practically owned by BIG OIL. Stricter fuel efficiency laws would bring down demand and in turn oil profits. GMs probably making more money from Big Oil Lobbyists than actual car sales!!!! would explain their behavior.

there are enough fucking cars out there. It would do everyone a world of good to just let these greedy companies die an agonizing death. The people at the car manufacturing plants could get jobs at plants that make replacement/maintenance parts, there would be thousands of jobs created for mechanics(people would have to rely on the car they have), and there would be room for new companies to grow. Its time to tear the parasitic three out of the ground to make way for life that might actually contribute, rather than suck in resources and energy like a black hole (not to mention the fact that some how, their cars are becoming less efficient, 20 mpg highway! wow, guess cause you said it with an upward inflection we're supposed to be impressed?) F you big 3. Go crawl in a corner and die.

Why don’t the oil companies with their record quarterly profit$ in the BILLION$ bail them out? Until cars run on something other than gas, it seems like a natural fit, especially since they share the same bed. Taxpayers should not be the solution for a completely out of touch money-grubbing industry that keeps building cars people aren't buying.

The National News hasn't exactly picked this up on TV yet.. or didn't as of this morning...

::sighs::

Obama came out and told citicorp NO on the new plane, wonder if he will chastise this group as well? New role for a president.. but hell.

This just gives me a headache!

How lovely! /sarcasm off

I hope the government responds by winning the case, taking money away from them, and then setting fuel standards even higher.

They can shove it, I don't see Toyota, or Honda complaining. These spoiled American companies need a wake up punch, their way too cocky...

Why are we bailing these companies out? They Failed!!! It is not the American people's responsibility to pay for a failing company to keep running. Especially when they are going to turn around and spend that money on us.

Seriously, I am never buying an American car again - no one else is buying them, we can't ship them overseas cuz they don't meet standards elsewhere. I wonder why the industry is falling apart...derrrrr. They can eat their own shit for eternity. Obama, please put stipulations on the handouts from now on!

jackasses....

to prevent stricter fuel efficient standards? So are the Americans suppose to be living in the dark ages of car technology forever???

Let these monstrous blood sucking corporations fall to the wayside! WTF are we doing letting them off the hook like this, I'm sorry but that money should have been used for something else, food, hiv/aids, education screw these damn companies and their environmental polluting cars!

~ Mind Control

i would love to jump ahead 6 months and see if it was a good move

if the American automakers don't start worrying about fuel economy like the foreign manufacturers are they are going to need more than this "little" bail out... the world is changing... they need to keep up...

Definitely not where the citizens want to see their taxpayers money going towards. Time to take up arms. Actually, it's been time a long time ago.

It's like giving guns to your enemy and then seeing them turn around and shoot you in the foot.

It is called corporate mentality. If they devoted more time to actually running their companies (doing what they are overpayed to do) it's possible that they wouldn't be in the predicament they are now faced with.

That's just wrong. The nerve of them.

Damn..shoulda legalized pot and let the car companies crash.

I knew this would be a big mistake, WTF???