Bailout Watch 68: Yes But No

Edward Niedermeyer
by Edward Niedermeyer
It’s flip-flop week over at Automotive News. While Editor David Sedgwick pulls a Volt-face, publisher Keith Crain is flopping around the bailout issue with the grace of a freshly-landed steelhead. Just a short week ago, Crain took to his keyboard to pen a paean to the Detroit bailout. “Have the auto companies made bad decisions in the past three decades that have led them to this period of peril? Of course they have, and they continue to make bad decisions. But it is in the best interest of the United States to have a strong and viable domestic automobile industry.” This week, the AN strongman has a new take on bailouts, written under the headline “Somebody Should Just Say No.” In fairness, Crain hasn’t properly flip-flopped, he’s just being hypocritical. He may be the biggest backer of Detroit’s federal teat-nuzzling (“hoon”), but when it comes to Wall Street bailouts, the man is all principle. “Those Wall Street companies bought portfolios of bad home loans to make money,” growls Crain. “The companies are at risk because of their bad judgment, and they should take their losses.” In other words, America needs an auto manufacturing industry, but the financial centers that run the world economy we can give or take. “Let’s not jump into decisions that will increase the indebtedness of the American people,” says Crain, arguing that the auto-industry loans will definitely be paid back. And if “the mess on Wall Street is only a distraction from a thorough study of our manufacturing base,” why does Crain think the Wall Street bailout is getting top billing? Because Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson “made millions” on Wall Street and is “compromised.” As opposed to Keith Crain who never made a dime off America’s auto biz, and is as neutral and incorruptible as Solomon himself? Money-grubbing is never fun to watch, but this is just getting ugly.
Edward Niedermeyer
Edward Niedermeyer

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  • Joeaverage Joeaverage on Sep 26, 2008

    Hey, take that $700B to the private citizen. Using the gov't to carefully dole it out to conquer consumer debt first, mortgages second (unless the person is in danger of losing their house) and only for debt that existed as of June 2008 with $25K per household would go a long way. I mean if we are transferring wealth, why not to the little guy and let that trickle UP to the rich guys instead of the trickle down economics they go on and on about.

  • Hal Hal on Sep 27, 2008

    @no slushbox: even a broken watch is right twice a day... So far as I can tell southern politics = pork barrel politics. I'm not surprised southern republicans are opposed to bailouts for MI or NY based industries. When its subsidies for tobacco plants, cotton plants or german car plants it's a different story.

  • CanadaCraig You can just imagine how quickly the tires are going to wear out on a 5,800 lbs AWD 2024 Dodge Charger.
  • Luke42 I tried FSD for a month in December 2022 on my Model Y and wasn’t impressed.The building-blocks were amazing but sum of the all of those amazing parts was about as useful as Honda Sensing in terms of reducing the driver’s workload.I have a list of fixes I need to see in Autopilot before I blow another $200 renting FSD. But I will try it for free for a month.I would love it if FSD v12 lived up to the hype and my mind were changed. But I have no reason to believe I might be wrong at this point, based on the reviews I’ve read so far. [shrug]. I’m sure I’ll have more to say about it once I get to test it.
  • FormerFF We bought three new and one used car last year, so we won't be visiting any showrooms this year unless a meteor hits one of them. Sorry to hear that Mini has terminated the manual transmission, a Mini could be a fun car to drive with a stick.It appears that 2025 is going to see a significant decrease in the number of models that can be had with a stick. The used car we bought is a Mk 7 GTI with a six speed manual, and my younger daughter and I are enjoying it quite a lot. We'll be hanging on to it for many years.
  • Oberkanone Where is the value here? Magna is assembling the vehicles. The IP is not novel. Just buy the IP at bankruptcy stage for next to nothing.
  • Jalop1991 what, no Turbo trim?
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