Let's see what the f*ck our tax givers giveaway this time...automakers seeking $50bn in loans to modernize plants etc.
Gee - U.S. Automaker management sat on their royal asses for the last 30 years continuously cheapening their products while foreign competitors exponentially improved theirs...and after sale declining for years - need the tax payers money to bail them out.

Why don't the FED's - government just set up a website for any business to go to to get tax payer guarenteed loans - the riskier and least chance of payback is the most likely to be approved.



Automakers Seek $50B in Loans From Government - FOXBusiness.com

ugh I think I just threw up a little in my mouth

A perfect example of the shortsightedness of corporations. This is what happens when companies can't see beyond this quarter's profits, and have no long term goals. They figured that they could just keep making big trucks and SUVs forever, and now they're being trounced by foreign automakers.

I don't really view this as any kind of outrage. The government has long been in the business of using tax incentives for environmental purposes (i.e. a tax credit for buying hybrids). This is really just a logical extension of that. The auto-makers want a de facto credit for getting environmentally hip. I'm not a supporter of this overall, but I don't view it as anything worse than the shit the government is already doing.

As it stands, with their production costs, hybrids are still not a good investment for most consumers, even with gas prices at $4 per gallon. But, in an odd form of irrational exuberance, the knee-jerk reaction to gas prices, demands for hybrid cars are through the roof (further driving up costs because of limited manufacturing capabilities thus far). This move would essentially serve to depress the high cost of hybrids and help the US move away from dependence on oil.

The fact of the matter is, the auto-makers can hardly be blamed for this. Demand for hybrids was minimal until the last six months or so, when it's gotten irrationally high. To ask the car makers to completely overhaul their production methodologies in that time frame is a tall order. They would have had no reason to anticipate the spike that's happened, nor the irrational reaction to it. It might be somewhat predictable, but you don't base business decisions on the premise that the public will go collectively nuts.

Edit: If any of you get or have access to Money Magazine, there is a really interesting article in it about hybrids and why you shouldn't buy one unless you're trying to do your part to save the planet - it makes the most economic sense right now to buy a decent gas mileage, non-hybrid SUV, as it turns out.

__________________
"Government big enough to supply everything you need is big enough to take everything you have... The course of history shows that as a government grows, liberty decreases."

-Thomas Jefferson

I say bullshit (not to you - to the "hybrid-economically friendly reasons etc.)
Fact is GM and Ford have made bad decisions for years, given vast amounts of their profits to board members and share holders to the point they have no money for R&D and trying to keep up with competitors who spent their money more wisely.
Another point is I wonder how much the 63% revenue LOSSES from GMAC has something to do with this...sorry I don't by the smoke and mirrors.

So, are you saying that you believe they're using this increase in demand for gas-efficients/hybrids to cover their own internal operating problems? (Not rhetorical - just trying to understand what you mean)

__________________
"Government big enough to supply everything you need is big enough to take everything you have... The course of history shows that as a government grows, liberty decreases."

-Thomas Jefferson

Yes.
Consider:
GMAC has lost 63% revenue YTD
General Motors - Average earnings per share in 2007 was a pitiful $.08...however THIS year their average earnings per share is (-$27.33)...that should say enough about their year.
Cash flow so far 2008 - NEGATIVE $3.6 bn.

Ford
So far this year NEGATIVE $8.7 bn cash flow...I don't think anything else is necessary.

Both are taking it in the chins this year like never before - and consider their financial centers are ALSO taking losses.

They don't have any money doc.

note this doc...