Saving car giants will cause havoc, Gordon Brown warns US

He's definitely not the only one saying this, but I agree with him.

As much as I want domestic production, we shouldn't be handing out corporate welfare for this bullshit. They SHOULD die, make room for REAL innovators. I read a really good article in the New York Times about that.

What's funny is that a lot of conservatives are asking for this bail-out and yet still simultaneously whine about "socialist" things like progressive taxes, welfare and social security.

There is no mouth large enough to fit the infected foot of modern conservatism in.

Most of us who have nothing to do with this mess are getting a financal hit, it is time for Detroit to pay its toll too. Everybody is overpaid in US Automakers: execs and union workers. It is time to cut their pay if they want to stay in business.

Total compensation per hour for the big-three carmakers is $73.20. That’s a 52 percent differential from Toyota’s (Detroit South) $48 compensation (wages + health and retirement benefits).
Execs too are making way too much money compared to their japanese counterpart.

It is time to negotiatiation if they still need their jobs.
No bailout is needed.

GM, Ford and Chrysler in particular are failing because they made a number of unAmerican decisions.

They shafted consumers for decades by designing their products to eventually fail. Engineers have come forward stating that certain details were notably left ragged so that the car would tear itself apart eventually. "Ford" stands for "Found On Road Dead". So, they got a collective reputation as a bad penny. Unfortunately they really don't have a monopoly on cars forever, so everyone deserted them permanently.

Next, the auto companies did everything they could to shaft the 1990s electric car effort in California. All electric cars were leased, then rounded up as soon as California regulators dropped the electric car rule, and crushed. (I know of one electric truck that survived the holocaust, and its owners really like it 10 years later.) Finally the auto companies made horrid fat cars that weren't good for the environment. These companies don't need the environmental groups, and the American public doesn't need them either. Funny how that worked out.

Then the automakers found ways to ship American jobs overseas. Really popular move.

So now the auto companies go begging to the government. What else is new?

The automakers don't need a chance to fail technologically. They need a chance to fail for being true political jerks and bad actors.

If Mr. Brown is such an expert on the economy why isn't England doing better?

wake up America

oh, i know. instead of a bailout package for car manufacturers, subsidize federal grants for companies that wish to adhere to strict environmental and fuel efficiency protocols. everyone wins.

or better yet, let car companies fend for themselves, and instead focus on improving and expanding public transportation systems.

i hate these false dichotomies of 'bailout or economic collapse'... why do the least imaginative people have the most power?

As an egsample common opinion people generally think when a large car manufacture go’s under it is devastating. Not so, here is why.
Said company declares itself insolvent. Workers are without work. The Investment made in said technology at this car plant is still workable. System shuts down and waits, company continues to develop in a new direction with the aid of another partner. After all General Motors has more going on behind the scenes than you would generally know about. Evolution doesn’t stop so why would a company with 100years of manufacturing and development behind it. The wonderful thing here is the new company becomes leaner, well managed and eventually we might be better off for it's demise. However not the current work force they are out of a job.

Iran is about to cut Oil production once again in a bid to stabilise the falling price of Oil. We now have the foresight to move beyond the dependence of Oil. OPEC is for once quite sceptic about their position as a global supplier of a commodity that has a limited future.
So let these big over blotted company go under, good companies with a strong footing will have enough capital to see themselves through the bad times.

businesses fail because they make incorrect decisions or can't compete in the market place. i wonder why vehicles like the HUMMER are still around and better yet why I should support a company that neglects what a consumer like myself wishes to see?

opinions are like assholes, everybody has one...

it seems like gordon brown would like to see the downfall of americana and the classic car. we were the first to develop the product. we were the first to develop mass production which is due to this product. we are a world leader in production of this product. the demise of the american people would be to let this product be taken from us.

the companies should consolidate, but even to consolidate or merge, they would need capital. if you want to see a revolution, add 3M to the unemployment figures. we have to aid the carmakers with stipulations of consolidation.

the main questions should go back to why we are having to help them out. its because of the avalanche of the damn housing crisis. if it were simply that the company and the product are proven unnecessary then sure, capitalism should bear its invisible hand in washing them out. the fact is that we need to produce this product and cannot afford to let millions be laid off.

he is correct.

we need to stop bailing out these 100 year old companies
that need to die and go away.

do we need gas powered vehicles in this age?
oh hell no.

do we need a 100 year old broken banking system
set up to entirely screw the citizens?
oh hell no.

we are bailing out all these companies that need to fail.
100 year old ideas and business practices are dead.

LET THEM DIE.

we need to evolve, to improve, to move on.
we need to advance our society, not destroy it to keep
these coporate criminals in power.

somebody needs to stand up and speak for the people.

where is the god-damned common sense people?

Gordon Brown shut up and run your own country.

Great piece tbowman, keep them coming.