Even though the domestics desperately need cash, and will likely use the loans to aid in that area, this was never meant to be bailout money. If (when) Toyota/Honda decide to retool or build their next plant in the US that will make anything that can be argued to be fuel saving technology, they’ll be coming forward with their loan application too.

Neither McCain nor Obama are looking out for taxpayer best interests, regardless of the garbage both spew.

Obama has advocated the same bailouts and he was taken to task for it here. But I think it is a little different with McCain. Obama has never really been thought of as a defender of free market principles; McCain has. So when McCain says that he wants to bailout Wall Street, bad mortgages, auto makers, etc, it adds in the element of disappointment and other emotions. Or more simply; you expected it from Obama, not McCain. I personally know quite a few people who have decided to vote for the Libertarian candidate Bob Barr because of this.

The key word is urban. If you live in a thriving city you really don’t have much need for a car. The car can be for weekend fun and that sort of thing.

In better times we could let GM go bankrupt. The reorganization would ultimately be a good thing for both GM and the country. Right now we are staring into the abyss. The downturn in the economy is only beginning to be felt by Main Street. Consumer spending will continue to shrink, and that will cause companies to RIF a lot of people. There is the potential for a vicious feedback loop where higher unemployment leads to less consumption which leads to even higher unemployment which leads to… That needs to be avoided at all cost or we will end up with the government hiring people for make work jobs like it did during the Great Depression.

What the taxpayers should be asking is why we are not getting anything in return for our money. If we are going to provide low interest rate loans then we should get something in return for those below market rate terms, like a large equity stake that can be sold off later when if GM survives.

wouldnt you consider him one of the nations leaders? at least he wants to be when it suits the situation.

“Affluent urban household with one car for the entire family”
- so you DONT like the fact that he isnt wasteful? would you rather he had 8 or 9 cars like McCain? i mean honestly how often do you think either of them drive themselves anywhere?

John McCain: Owns a 2004 Cadillac CTS now and owned Corvettes in the past. Good GM cars. Cindy McCain and her beer distribution company own a bunch of cars and trucks from foreign and domestic manufacturers. If the Janesville plant makes a vehicle that meets the McCain family or business needs, they would likely buy it. They seem to like cars.

Unlike Bush, a President McCain would likely sign legislation imposing unfunded mandates on auto manufacturers. Expect a flex-fuel mandate and fairly tough CAFE type fuel economy requirements. However, I doubt that he would attempt to regulate the internal combustion engine to death.

Barack Obama: Owns one Ford Escape Hybrid. Used to own a Chrysler 300C. Affluent urban household with one car for the entire family. Seems weird to me. Does not appear likely to buy a SUV made at Janesville.

With a President Obama I would expect at least the same regulations as McCain. In addition, I would expect some type of tax increase that would raise the cost of gasoline. In my opinion, fuel economy regulations passed under a President Obama would be more likely to include “outlaw the SUV” provisions targeting politically incorrect vehicle types. Think 1994 Federal Assault Weapon Ban thinking applied to trucks, outlawing or taxing certain truck features like large engines or high ground clearance in addition to tough fuel economy requirements.

The McCain campaign lacks consistency and a clear message. At this point in time, it also lacks credibility. His website and adds say little as to his ideas and views. He seems to always be two steps behind and he allows the Obama campaign to keep him on the defensive which is where they want him.

He preaches less pork barrel spending yet signs the bail out bill. This would have been an ideal opportunity to stand up and talk against using additional tax payer money to fund useless spending projects while the financial system is in crisis. This would have also given him credibility he needs in the financial arena.

He preaches “Country first”, yet picks a VP candidate with little experience or ideas. No one can tell me Palin was the most qualified on that list of candidates but she probably was the most electable with his base. McCain needed the independents and undecideds. He needs his base also but my guess is most would have voted for him anyway.

It’s been a gag reflex for the past few months, like how he always says “my friends” a gazillion times in every speech, even though I’m not his friend…

I stopped paying attention to your post when I noted your childish “McSame” namecalling. Grow up. This isn’t DailyKos. It’s no better than the idiots who call Obama “Nobama” or “Hussein”. Stick to the issues. You sound like a mindless drone.

Carry on.

But seriously, I am not a young man and I actually used to work for GM. If there ever was a corporation that was totally centred on the pay of executives, this is it. GM doesn’t give a fig about customer satisfaction or quality product. The emphasis was always to make fast profits to the high ups would get fat bonuses. If we in dealers ever saw an obvious problem in a GM product, GM did NOT want to hear about it. Training staff? Nope? Actually teaching mechanics to wrench on anything more complicated than a stovebolt 6? Nein, that would cost too much. Better to fob the customer off until the warranty is up. Even better, when the customer figures out his Silverado is a disposable POS that was designed to fall apart the day the warranty is up, instead of making better product, get him to buy an “extended warranty” or even better con him into payments on a new one.

I have been watching GM “reinvent itself” for thirty years. They last decent products they made were the 1977 Impala and 1978 Malibu. These were designed when the old guard of Knudsen fame were still in house. The paper hangers like Lutz and Wagoner took over and wonderful products like the Citation and Cavalier came along. Know why the Cavalier got a pushrod coffee grinder for a motor? Because it was EIGHTEEN DOLLARS cheaper than the Opel motor Chevrolet wanted. Then when the car was launched it was so awful it didn’t sell without huge discounting. But of course, the execs got their bonuses.

But when Billy-Bob Beerbelly starts driving a Toyota pickup, you know there is something wrong. The only reason GM has made any money in the last 20 years is easy financing and even that has dried up now. An inside GM secret: Their major advertising campaigns are always targeted at the places with the lowest levels of education. This is why the sell so well in the mid west. But as these people get squeezed out of America to enrich the the ilk of Lutz, they cannot afford the payments anymore. You can dress up a GM POS in a Star Spangled Banner only for so long and when Billy Bob can’t make the payments the game is up. Let’s face it; not too many college grads are driving a Chevy.

GM deserves to die but it won’t. It is too much a national icon. We can only hope that Obama will demand that the government welfare come with government supervision that the taxpayers’ money will actually be used to do something other than buy Lutz another jet. But don’t count on it. If I were an American taxpayer, I would be mighty pissed. But oddly, I don’t see that.

And wasn’t McSame against the bailout before he decided that he needs Michigan to win? And didn’t the McSame campaign pull out of Michigan recently, or was that some other state?

Corruption in Washington and “Wall Street greed” (whatever that means), have nothing to do with the meltdown of the Detroit auto industry, and it is a ridiculous insult to the American people for him to say that was the cause. It was not the real cause of the housing bubble and the subsequent credit crunch either, although McCain says it was.

The longer McCain continues to “explain” these crises in the manner that he does, and not offer REAL and accountable explanations the longer he will loose traction in this campaign.

Why should he? Or why should any public official? And in any event, how can they?

I can think of only one way they can help business and foster jobs: cut taxes.

Otherwise, let the industry help itself. That’s why they call it free enterprise. You succeed you get rich. You lose you move on.

Except in America. The auto companies lose, we have to give them free money.

How about this, right from McCain’s website:

http://www.johnmccain.com/Informing/News/PressReleases/read.aspx?guid=0109eb5b-68d1-42c3-a280-f601ac417daf

“John McCain Will Veto Any Bill That Serves Only The Special Interests And Corporate Welfare. On his watch, there will be no more subsidies for special pleaders, no more corporate welfare and no more throwing around billions of the people’s money on pet projects.”

How exactly does that square with his recent reversal of first being against the auto industry loans and now being for them? It was less than a month ago that McCain “declined to support” loans to the industry.

http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/john-mccain-no-federal-loan-guarantees-for-detroit/