wnyc.org / 93.9fm / am 820

Comments

• [1] David from Queens November 20, 2008 - 10:15AM

  By all means, destroy the remaining industrial and manufacturing jobs for millions of people because a few execs flew to DC in a charter.

  IDIOTS! Make the recession even worse on failed ideological grounds.

  
  
• [2] superf88 November 20, 2008 - 10:17AM

  The Auto chiefs don't care, they already have their $$.

  Consumers don't care, they can buy better cars elsewhere.

  The better or more entrepreneurial existing workers don't care, they'll get jobs at better car companies that replace the bad existing ones.

  The banks don't care, they aren't lending dumb money for the time being.

  So, besides the unions and car dealers -- who cares?

  
  
• [3] Susan from Kingston, New York November 20, 2008 - 10:19AM

  Yesterday there was announcement in my local paper about a SAAB dealer closing, not because people did not want to buy his cars, but because he could not help them get financing for an auto loan. Most often the customer's credit was good, but GMAC, the financing arm of GM had stopped underwriting auto loans because of the credit crisis. SAAB is represented by GM in the US. The SAAB dealership in Kingston is owned by a local businessman who built it from the bottom up and who had been successful until the credit crisis. This is a prime example of how this credit reaches down in the community. Before writing off the domestic auto industry, we need to look at it more closely.

  I saw in the NYTIMES today that GMAC had applied to become a bank holding company....Maybe then it can get in line and make the car loans that the other banks who got the money should be doing.

  Congress needs to do more to make the Treasury Department more accountable. If necessary, it needs to clip Treasury Secretary Henry Paulsen's wings! Remember, while at Goldman Sachs, he helped create the underlying causes of this crisis.

  
  
• [4] hjs from 11211 November 20, 2008 - 10:19AM

  corpoamerica blackmails amerika, amerika must pay

  free market RIP

  
  
• [5] Lee from Manhattan November 20, 2008 - 10:20AM

  I wish someone would ask the banking and Wall St. heads who received bailout funds if they used private jets (not to mention members of Congress!). Will any of the Wall St. moguls give up their salaries to pay back the money they received?

  It seems the government has a different criteria when it comes to blue collar jobs.

  
  
• [6] Robert from NYC November 20, 2008 - 10:21AM

  Mitt Romney is irrelevant until the media let him have his say. The man should move to Fantasy Castle in Disney World. Florida and he deserve each other.

  
  
• [7] hjs from 11211 November 20, 2008 - 10:27AM

  what about turning the big 3 into

  the medium 10?

  
  
• [8] Ed from Oak Ridge, NJ November 20, 2008 - 11:20AM

  If you understand what's really going on with the Big 3, the corporate executive behavior begins to make sense.

  This is much like the airlines after 9/11, when the government set up the ATSB to guarantee loans to the airlines. How many airlines took advantage of the loans? One. How many declared bankruptcy? Many.

  Why? Because the airlines recognized that the only way to become competitive with the low cost carriers was to get rid of their "legacy" costs-- Just like Ford, GM, and Chrysler.

  There's only one way to get rid of the legacy costs: Declare Bankruptcy. But the executives can't just come right out and do that, they have to put on a show that they are trying, lest the employees all see what is coming and all retire en masse, leaving the executives without a work force.

  So, they have to "sneak up" on the employees, pretend to be trying to save the company while quietly getting ready to declare bankruptcy, terminate the pension plans, and renegotiate the health plans.

  Mark my words. Been there, done that.

  
  
• [9] Ed from Oak Ridge, NJ November 20, 2008 - 11:22AM

  Big Three execs don't want the loans. But they have to go through the motions in order to keep employees from retiring leaving them without a workforce while they plan their bankruptcy and termination of the pensions and health care plans. This is their only hope to be able to lower their "legacy" costs and compete with the foreign companies.

  Just like the airlines after 9/11, the employees will bear the brunt of the restructuring.

  
  
• [10] hjs from 11211 November 20, 2008 - 01:20PM

  think about how the profitable railroads became bankrupt ghosts within few years.

  who got their assets

  
  
• [11] Jeffrey Slott from East Elmhurst November 21, 2008 - 09:06AM

  To David,

  These arrogant people want tons of money from the American people while showing their contempt. It isn't a question of ideology; it's a question of respect and trust, qualities these "gentlemen" from the auto industry don't seem even capable of faking.