Democratic leaders: No deal reached on auto bailout.
Democratic leaders: No deal reached on auto bailout.
In a press conference this afternoon, Democratic congressional leaders announced that they were not able to reach a deal on a rescue package for the struggling auto industry, reportedly rejecting “compromise legislation worked out by key senators from auto states.” Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) said that they would give the automobile industry a second chance: They must present a plan for viability no later than Dec. 2 and possibly submit to another round of hearings. Congress may then come back and vote during the week of Dec. 8. “Until they show us the plan, we cannot show them the money,” said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA). Watch a portion of today’s press conference:
The Wonk Room’s Pat Garofalo explains the necessary components for any auto rescue package, including strong oversight and requirements for innovation.
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GMAC will be re-designated as a holding company and can give GM the money they need.
November 20th, 2008 at 2:45 pmNo deal until the CEO’s give up the freaking corporate jets and take a cut in pay!
November 20th, 2008 at 2:47 pmI wish the candidate would discuss global poverty more. According to The Borgen Project:
November 20th, 2008 at 2:48 pm$30 billion: Annual shortfall to end world hunger.
$540 billion: Annual U.S. Defense Budget
Too bad Congress wasn’t so demanding of AIG and the banks before they got bailed out… Congress didn’t ask them for a plan in writing, did they?
November 20th, 2008 at 2:59 pmThat’s what you get after flying in on luxury private jets.
November 20th, 2008 at 3:03 pmpardon me, do you have any Gray Poupon?
They must present a plan for viability no later than Dec. 2 and possibly submit to another round of hearings.
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And here’s a tip for the Big Three CEOs — don’t bring your private jets next time.
November 20th, 2008 at 3:04 pmThey least they could do is carpool, they are auto company execs, after all…
November 20th, 2008 at 3:05 pmYou gotta realize, bailing out a bank takes care of the folks you play golf with at fancy resorts.
Bailing out USAuto only helps the folks that are replaceable anyway.
November 20th, 2008 at 3:11 pmThe private jets?
November 20th, 2008 at 3:12 pmYeah, a little showy.
Probably they should have all come in ONE private jet.
Surely, there are jets around with enough capacity for even those egos…
The big 3 have had 105 years of assembly line manufacturing to figure this out.
Yes, shareholders want to make money. But sustainability is far more important in the long run than yearly profit.
We should be driving 100 mpg vehicles today. Why aren’t we? Because greed surpasses good in capitalistic societies. CEO perspectives see the world in terms of 1 year periods because that end of year bonus is something they can’t ‘get past’.
Look at the truck ads. They routinely insinuate sex, size, speed and maleness equate to ‘good’ vehicles. To me, a good truck has excellent mileage, a long lasting and reliable engine and plenty of cargo space.
Meanwhile, Toyota, Honda, Hyundai & others were getting it right by developing high mileage long lasting engines for consumers such as myself.
A bailout may avoid an economic blowout to some degree, but American citizens shouldn’t be held hostage to government bailouts for private manufacturers.
November 20th, 2008 at 3:16 pmThe state of Michigan is on life support.
And the government is about to pull the plug.
Wall street was in the same predicament.
November 20th, 2008 at 3:18 pmBut, a deal was reached for a government bailout.
Why is that?
Could it be because the government perceives white collar workers as more important than blue collar?
I hope not, because if so, the middle class is fubared.
Literally.
Congress funded the war in Iraq since 2003 without a plan for viability.
November 20th, 2008 at 3:20 pmI see the Spammer known as Diana?? has now changed too
November 20th, 2008 at 3:31 pmmarisha30_1984
FLAGGED FOR SPAMMING
Way to go Congress…dumbest thing since letting Lehman Bros. fail…welcome to the next great depression..oh but don’t forget to tell everyone about those corparate jets….
November 20th, 2008 at 3:58 pmThe story about executive jets should be used against all executives who got Federal help and not just auto industry chiefs…
I am not defending such behavior,but the bank executives,Wall Street barons also use jets and should be asked the same question.
Why are bankers and Wall Street chiefs were not asked anything and were given over a trillion of taxpayers dollars aunder TARP (Troubled Asset Relief Program) ?
Bank of America ,for example, is spending 7 billion dollars buying stake in China Construction Bank CCB. Bank of America received lately 15 billion dollars under TARP.
Paulson and Congress seems to be easy on bankers but they are giving automakers hard time.
We have only 3 big automakers and the country needs them..we have thousands of banks that can take over each others…
The difference here is the double standard that the government is doing.
Millions of workers jobs will be lost if these three giant companies go under..that’s bad for everybody including US government and banks themselves..
I can’t see how we give money to countries like Egypt,Israel,Georgia,Ukrane and many others without asking a question…but when it comes to US big 3, our Congress and government are getting stubborn.
Did the Congress ask to change bankers managements?.
No,
Who decides which company receives US dollar relief and who doesn’t?
Paulson seems to back bankers and W.Street Investment firms where he came from.
25 billions is nothing compared to the trillion dollars already went to bankers and Wall Street firms.
We might regret it later big time if we don’t help our auto industry.
November 20th, 2008 at 5:07 pm“Democratic Leaders: No Deal Reached On (X)”
^^^ you can just post that as a banner and it’ll be news every day.
November 20th, 2008 at 5:56 pmIsn’t it strange how the Democratic leadership is being tough on blue-collar Detroit, while they literally rolled over for U.S. Treachery Secretary Henry Paulson when he came to Congress begging for a measly $700 Billion to bail-out Wall Street while-collar investment firms and banks?
And while the Democratic leadership (mainly Blue Dog Democrats) are demanding strict oversight and accountability for any taxpayer money given to blue-collar Detroit, these same Democratic Blue Dog leaders quickly handed over $700 Billion to Paulson with hardly any oversight or accountability included in the white-collar Wall Street bail-out package?
In other words, white-collar conservatives still OWN Congress, with liberal, progressive Democrats still in a minority, facing the combined Blue Dog Democrat and Republican white-collar-applicants-only juggernaut.
November 20th, 2008 at 9:55 pmOne of the arguments for using a private jet is security. But who the hell cares about assassinating the CEO of GM, Ford or Chrysler? What difference would that make? They’d just promote the VP to prez and move on. Are you gonna kidnap them? On a jet? So they could probably easily schlep in a nice big comfortable first-class seat for 1/100th the price.
And here’s a semi-related thought: people are walking away from mortgages because the value of the house they bought is less now than when they signed the papers. But isn’t that the understood deal for EVERY BRAND NEW CAR EVER BOUGHT? We all know the phrase “loses most of it’s value the second you drive it off of the lot.”
November 21st, 2008 at 12:06 amWhat Paulson fails to realize in his “the bailout is to help the taxpayers, not the corporations” statement is that by helping the Big 3 automakers, he IS helping the taxpayers. Because if the Big 3 fail, you’ll have HUGE job losses (in addition to the staggering amount of people that are unemployed now).
Because of management incompetence, the worker is the one that ultimately suffers. By lawmakers giving the middle finger to the auto execs, do you really think it affects the execs at all? Even if the Big 3 closed their doors tomorrow, the execs would be comfortable for quite some time. The workers? Not so much.
As much as it’s wrong to take over corporations, we have no choice. If the Big 3 fail, the job layoffs will snowball the current situation tenfold.
November 21st, 2008 at 10:24 amLet me get this straight. They GIVE money to the rich(Wall Street), the ones who got us into this mess. No strings attached, go get massages, merge with other banks, DO NOT LEND money.
Now, Main Street needs to hang on to jobs and they are told they MIGHT get a LOAN, IF they can write an essay on how they can become the opposite of what they always have been.
To add insult to injury, you have Bozo’s like Romney who say it is the fault of the Union! Exactly how did the Union members get the Big 3 to make incredibly poor and wasteful choices for decades?
November 21st, 2008 at 11:11 amWhy aren’t the big three borrowing from the banks we just gave 700 billion dollars? Seems like that way, the bank will be allowed to attach tough stipulations and the idiots crying “Class warfare!!!” and “Socialism!!!” when the CEOs take a pay cut will have to shut their stupid mouths.
win – win.
November 21st, 2008 at 1:29 pm