Posted on 12/07/2008 7:53:28 PM PST by Ernest_at_the_Beach
With job losses mounting and Detroit’s Big Three automakers facing a battle on Capitol Hill over emergency federal aid, President-elect Barack Obama on Sunday predicted more hard times for the U.S. economy before it starts to turn around, and Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) threatened a potential filibuster of any attempt to bail out the automakers.
”This is a big problem. It’s gonna get worse,” Obama warned on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
“Things are going to get worse before they get better,” he added.
Obama’s comments came on a busy Sunday morning that saw Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice making stops on three talk shows to talk about the fallout from the Mumbai terrorist attacks, and lawmakers clashed over whether a $15 billion “bridge loan” to American automakers should be approved.
Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.), a staunch ally of the U.S. carmakers, and Shelby, who has emerged as the leading opponent of any aid package for the Big Three, sparred over the whether the American government should rescue U.S. automakers during an appearance on “Fox News Sunday.”
Levin said he was “confident” that Congress would consider a bailout bill for the auto industry, but stopped short of predicting whether it would pass. Democratic leaders in the House and Senate are considering a $15 billion “bridge loan” to help out the automakers.
"I think they're very close to a deal, I think there will be a deal and that will happen in 24 hours," Levin told host Chris Wallace. “Obviously, that's a much more complicated question of whether the votes are there. What I'm confident of is that a bill will be introduced."
(Excerpt) Read more at politico.com ...
First of all, there is no Constitutional authority to give my money and your money to the automakers.
Doing this will only keep them pursuing the same bad policies which got them in this hole — plus a bunch of expensive liberal social nostrums that will make matters worse.
Chapter 11 could be the best thing that could happen to them. It woudl enable them to shed unsustainable obligations, streamline, and reorganize in a way that makes for a more efficient operation.
Contact your Representative and Senators and tell them to oppose the auto bailout.
The US auto industry has not yet pared to the bone. The retirees make more in retirement than many other Americans make in their yearly paycheck. I am a proud Toyota Corolla owner and I support a good company by buying a dependable vehicle at a fair price. Why should I be forced to support the Big 3 bozos with my tax money.
Hey that's not too bad..LOL
You are right. The man apparently thinks in banal soundbites. He has never uttered publicly, to my knowledge a truly informative or insightful statement. It is all PT Barnum stuff.
But I gess that is what false-fronts are made of isn't it.
Exactly! I did my part when I purchased a new Ford Taurus this summer. If the American people were interested in bailing them out, we’d be buying more of their cars.
The government needs to eliminate all of the stupid regulations they put on the auto industry for starters and the unions need to stop paying some of their employees not to work. The industry needs to go through a re-organization.
Contact your Representative and Senators and tell them to oppose the auto bailout.
Oh sure I’ll contact Chuckie cheese Schumer and whoever governor Stevie Wonder appoints as the next bozo senator from NYS -—LOL
I keek seeing the light at the end of the tunnel—and it ain’t anywhere near NYS.
I actually watched the hearings on CSPAN...
You could tell that the politicians, the auto executives, the lawyers, and the union bosses knew the outcome. The whole thing was a show trial, a formality, lots of lip service to the taxpayers, but nobody asked the ultimate question of why I (and YOU) should pay for someone else’s poor business decisions.
It is not a net benefit to the nation to take from people with a median family income of $50.233 and use it to keep people making $74/hr employed, especially when the latter group is “done making concessions”.
What do I say to this?
Go Shelby...Go!
Reps: http://www.house.gov/
"This is a bridge loan to nowhere."
"This is a down payment on many billions to come,"
"This is 30 years in the making."
"These companies basically have failed or are failing. They probably need, according to some people, about 60 percent of the management to go, and about 40 percent downsize of the workers."
Sen. Shelby is correct.
WTF does that dick-head know? All he wants is people to be afraid so he can come "save them." He wants control, and the more bail outs we have, the more control Obama will have over the nations commerce. Obama has'nt enough clues to sit down and STFU. He is showing everyone that he is dumber than dirt, even for a POS born outside of the USA.
Of course its a bridge loan to nowhere. This is strictly fodder for the Unions for an industry that is way over staffed by line workers who earn 75 bucks an hour, and have pension plans envied by the whole nation. This is the Union attempt to extend their hog wallow for one more year or so.
Whats happened is that the Unions have ruined another perfectly good business. You will notice that Toyota is not Unionized, and its workers do quite well.And Toyota thrives.
NO UNION BAILOUT. Let the big 3 file for Bankruptcy and work their way out of it, and EFF the Unions.We can all drive Toyotas if they do not make it.
BTW, he knows where Obama was born. The State of Alabama has the ammunition to save the nation from this POS Obama, if they would only use it.
Bailing out any carmaker to allow them to contimue in a market that is not big enough for all the players is just stupid. No matter how much money gov’t hands out, they can’t increase the market. Somebody needs to shrink or go away.
He's seen his birth certificate?
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