Question by Visions_Of_Johanna: Does shutting down Big 3 put our national security at risk?
It’s easy to say “let ’em fail”, but what will happen to our national security (especially since we are still at war) if we lose our manufacturing capabilities? The auto companies played a crucial role during WWII. If we just let them shut down now, this would have serious consequenses for our national defense. I personally don’t think the Big 3 should get any bailout money unless bad management gets the heave-ho and new management and the UAW renegotiate their unsustainable compensation packages. The times, they are a-changin’.
Best answer:
Answer by DA2009
Obviously you don’t know the process……if we let them fail, they won’t just up and leave..
more than likely the debt holders continue operations and keep the company going (with major changes in management of course)
Know better? Leave your own answer in the comments!
gcbtrading
December 5, 2010 at 11:29 pm
The infrastructure will not disintegrate.
In bankruptcy with no bailout “bad management gets the heave-ho and new management and the UAW renegotiate their unsustainable compensation packages”
Scott's Twin Brother
December 5, 2010 at 11:38 pm
I say pay the UAW employees a normal wage like everyone else, say $ 15/hour should be about right for unskilled labor. $ 20/hour for more skilled personell is ok, but this ridiculous $ 35/hour for doing something a 12 year old could easily do is insane. Who can stay in business like that?
Reparations2010
December 5, 2010 at 11:44 pm
Let them all go bankrupt, they haven’t done nothing except screwed people for years.
Bethany J
December 6, 2010 at 12:15 am
Our national security would be at risk only for having all those United Autoworkers union members out on the loose causing trouble.
dlk
December 6, 2010 at 12:48 am
Actually it does. Until this Country gets its manufacturing base back, we cannot pull out of our financial woes. Should the Big 3 go under, you will see this country spiral into a depression folks, it is just that simple. Yes the UAW has their “claws” into these companies. Until these companies can operate on a level playing field, they will not survive……..with or without a bridge loan…………LOAN people, LOAN, not a bail out.
An Inconvenient Thinker
December 6, 2010 at 1:15 am
Not giving 25 billion dollars to the auto companies is not “letting them fail”. They will find a solution by themselves. The majority of the country sees what is being done with the bank bailout money and is against bailing out the auto makers. Don’t believe the scare tactics that are being put out there.
James L
December 6, 2010 at 2:09 am
As an auto worker I am appalled at the ignorance and disinformation being displayed in regard to this situation. FYI: in the last UAW-GM contract, the UAW already gave GM the ability to hire new workers at $ 17 and a number of other concessions. The Japanese companies operating in the US pay wages comparable to our present wages. Their savings is in legacy costs. They are so new in this country that they have no retirees to pay. They also don’t have health insurance costs with their Japanese retirees, we are the only industrial nation without some kind of national health care. So their nation’s health care system pays retiree health care.
As for vehicles, many Americans are still parroting the old 1970’s
refrain that the. Big Three are not building the kind of cars that Americans want. We have rushed dozens of new gas efficient and hybrid vehicles to market. We are almost ready to sell electric cars. And, don’t start thinking we have models people want but lousy quality. Toyota set an industry record last year for recalls. Today, US quality rivals the best in the world. The reason the bailout is necessary is because of the credit crunch and the public’s reluctance to make major purchases in tough economic times, we are not able to sell the cars we have built. The Japanese automakers are suffering the same as we are.
Now, someone had the nerve to suggest that my wages be cut since anyone can do my job. I am a skilled trades worker with a college degree and I have finished a four year apprenticeship. Unlike “Joe the Plumber”, I finished my apprenticeship and have my journeyman’s card. If I worked outside the auto industry, in my trade, I would earn more than any $ 20 an hour.
The American automakers need the bailout to get through these tough economic times that they were in no way responsible for. If the auto industry leaves America, in order to buy a car you will have to give money to someone who may not like us very much.
fff
December 6, 2010 at 3:09 am
With the Big 3 U.S. Automakers circling the drain, here are 10 solutions to the current crisis and none of them involve sticking your head between your legs and kissing your rear goodbye.
http://fastandloud.com/how-to-save-the-us-automotive-industry-in-10-not-so-simple-steps/
toledojeeper
December 6, 2010 at 3:17 am
Yes I would say it does,and if they go bankrupt and try to reorganize who will buy a vehicle from a bankrupt company that may not be able to honor the warranty?
Dmytrovich
December 6, 2010 at 3:57 am
Automobile manufacturing is a vital component of our national defense. Only a few generations ago America was shocked into World War 2 by the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor. American automakers responded by turning their industrial might toward the defense of our nation. During World War 2 General Motors was a major supplier of US military hardware, supplies and equipment. Putting these resources in the hands of Japanese, Koreans, or Germans makes the United States extremely vulnerable; both during wartime and during peacetime.
Wage Peace
December 6, 2010 at 4:37 am
Just like the airline industry, let them figure it out themselves. Survival of the fittest. Bail out the people not the industry.
Light rails removed in L.A. by automakers to sell more cars. How irresponsible. How costly. How unethical. They deserve to fail miserably.
Write your congress and senate. Here is Nancy’s address.
AmericanVoices@mail.house.gov