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Should We Really Bail Out the Big Three Automakers with $73.20 Per Hour Labor?

Support for the Auto Industry is in America’s Best Interest
Support for the auto industry allows it to continue its transformation and progress that began well before the current economic crisis.
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U.S.‐based auto manufacturers, in conjunction with the UAW, have taken major actions to restructure their business to be fully competitive.
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Latest UAW agreement (Fall 2007) provides solid basis for cost competitiveness…We are restructuring our companies, reducing costs, improving quality, increasing productivity…all the tough, necessary actions that will help us emerge as a stronger, more competitive company.
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We've negotiated new agreements with our UAW partners that have rewritten the rules of competition in our business... our cumulative structural cost reduction from 2006‐10 will be approximately $13‐14 billion and have responded in an innovative way to reduce our so‐called "legacy" costs associated with pensions and retiree healthcare.
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Starting in 2010, we expect our cash spending on U.S. pensions and retiree healthcare to decline to about $1 billion per year. That's a savings of about $6 billion a year... which makes us dramatically more competitive...
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GM has been streamlining its U.S. operations. It has reduced its U.S. salaried workforce from 44,000 in 2000 to 32,000 in mid‐2008, and its hourly workforce from 132,000 to 72,000 during the same period.
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In response to the recent economic crisis, GM is further tightening its belt. The company recently took additional actions to reduce salaried employment costs by 20 percent, eliminate raises and discretionary bonus for executive and management employees, and suspend the 401k match for salaried employees.
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We led the Harbor report for manufacturing productivity with more of our plants leading their respective segments than any other.
Support allows continuing product and technology investment necessary for future competitiveness…we’ve also heard the call for more fuel‐efficient passenger cars.
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Recent product launches (like Chevy Malibu) confirm U.S. industry’s commitment to product excellence.
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Major commitment to cars / crossover (18 of GM’s next 19 launches, 13 of last 15).
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Our new products are winning acclaim: Saturn Aura and Chevrolet Malibu won North America Car of the Year. The Cadillac CTS was Motor Trend Car of the Year. The 2 Mode Hybrid Chevy Tahoe—a full size SUV that seats seven with great towing capability—gets the same highway gas mileage as a Toyota Camry and received Green Car of the Year at the LA Auto Show.
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Quality also now viewed as fully competitive…with lower warranty costs and with the new Chevy Malibu, Cadillac CTS, Saturn Outlook and Chevy Silverado recognized by both J.D. Power and Consumer Reports.
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At GM, we offer 17 models achieving 30 MPG highway or better – twice our nearest competitor.
Support enables growth in U.S. technological capability/leadership in key new propulsion areas and strengthens the nation’s energy security…the U.S. cannot allow its current dependence on foreign petroleum to be replaced with foreign‐sourced and developed technologies.
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The Chevy Volt changes the rules of the game by creating an entirely new propulsion category ‐ Extended Range EV. Range is 40 miles on pure electric and zero emissions…with most commuters never using a drop of gas.
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A healthy domestic auto industry is key to US R&D preeminence ‐ government support will maintain US leadership in overall R&D spending for years to come
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Without the R&D spending of domestic auto companies, the US would fall behind Europe in overall R&D spending according Booz Allen’s recent report on the “Global Innovation 1000”
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Booz Allen has rated GM at the top‐ranked US company in global R&D spending in 2008 at $8.1 billion – ranked second across all companies globally
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The domestic auto industry is driving the investments in advanced biofuels
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Funding for development of cellulosic ethanol and other advanced biofuels rests on the prospect of a large market for high level ethanol blends like E85 in flex fuel vehicles.
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The domestic auto companies have committed to make half of their fleets FFVs or biofuel capable diesels by 2012 – no other automakers have made any similar commitments.
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The domestic auto industry is making the US a center for hybrid technology
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GM has 8 hybrids in the market using technology developed in the U.S. – 20 are planned by 2012.
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Chrysler, Daimler and BMW are partnering with GM to further deploy GM’s domestically developed hybrid technology to the marketplace.
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The domestic auto industry is the only industry capable of standing up a domestic advanced battery industry
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While many recognize the importance energy storage technologies in the 21st century, only the auto industry had the potential purchasing power to drive the location of advanced battery manufacturing – and only the domestic auto industry can drive that investment in the US.
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The domestic auto industry is the only industry sustaining development of a domestic fuel cell industry.
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Leading nations like Japan and Germany are planning to begin early commercialization of fuel cells around 2015.
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The domestic auto industry is progressing on a similar timeline, but without US automakers, all of the critical fuel cell components will come from abroad.
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GM has spend over a billion and a half dollars to develop fuel cell vehicles, AND a largely domestic supply base for this fledgling industry.
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Domestically developed advanced automotive technology is an important path to US export growth
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GM has exported its domestically developed “Belt‐Alternator Hybrid” system to China to power the first Chinese hybrid vehicle
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Collapse of the auto industry would result in a devastating economic and competitive scenario for the nation.
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Risk of “Domino Effect” due to common supply base and overlapping dealer ownership.
Support enables the industry to bridge what is arguably one of the country’s most difficult economic periods and to weather a financial storm not of its own making.
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U.S. credit freeze and essentially closed capital market resulting in a liquidity squeeze, at a time when manufacturers’ cash flow from operations are devastated by plummeting consumer demand.
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However, balance sheets are weakened due to restructuring costs, heavy pension and health care payments, large product and technology investments.
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Failure is not an option for the U.S. auto industry, nor for any of the three domestic automakers.
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Failure of one automaker would trigger a domino effect on the supply chain and the finance subsidiaries and on other domestic automakers.
Auto industry is a national asset and a critical economic component that runs straight through Main Street…
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Almost 4% of U.S. gross domestic product is auto‐related and represents 10% of U.S. industrial production by value. One out of every 10 U.S. jobs is auto‐related, and auto workers receive $335 billion annually in compensation. Specifically, GM, Ford and Chrysler account for roughly 70 percent of U.S. auto production and are estimated to support around five million jobs across all 50 states.
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Over the last two decades, America’s domestic auto industry has invested nearly a quarter of a trillion dollars in the U.S., including $10 billion alone last year. The industry also spends $12 billion annually in R&D in U.S., which is among the top industries such as aerospace, medical equipment and computer/electronic industries.
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Supports maintenance and growth of supply base. The auto industry purchased last year $156 billion in U.S. auto parts supporting jobs in all 50 states and is the largest purchaser of U.S. steel, aluminum, iron, copper, plastics, rubber and electronic and computer chips.
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Enables auto industry to continue to meet extensive obligations…Families depend on a healthy industry that provides healthcare benefits to two million Americans and supports nearly 800,000 retirees and spouses with pension benefits.
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Enables thousands of dealers to survive and prosper…Throughout towns in every state in America, over 20,000 automobile dealers provide high paying jobs for over 1 million employees.
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Autos account for $690 billion, or about 20% of all U.S. retail sales.
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Auto sales generate more than $10 billion dollars of annual tax revenue (sales tax, registration fees, payroll taxes) which for many states is among their top sources for revenue.
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Many U.S. financial firms are staked to a healthy auto industry because many have provided credit to manufacturers, hold their bonds and have financed the purchase of their vehicles. Millions of Americans also hold auto stocks and/or bonds that are held in mutual funds, 401(k) plans and pensions.

Wells Fargo: A Growth Stock During the Great Depression?

Why don't we read about the 25B they got in the bailout money. That does not seem like this company knows what they are doing. They seem to be getting some of the biggest $ amounts.

Should We Really Bail Out the Big Three Automakers with $73.20 Per Hour Labor?

Currently all salary employees for the Big 3 I work with work 50-75 hours a week with no overtime.No one has seen a raise in over 4 years. Every year the salary employees pay more health care, insurance cost. 401K plans have been reduced to 10-25 options all loosing great sums in the market. The staff has shrunk 30% but 100% of the work is still there. We don't get paid as much as you think. If the gov. would spend the money on health care and take that off all industries and households I think the whole ecomony might do better. The auto industry still need loans, any support from the fourm to their state representative, urging them to help the industy would be greatly appreciated from my family.

On Second Thought, It's 61% Worse

Maybe we should have had that question on the ballot during the Presidental Election. We would have an accurate number from the folks who voted.

The Real Unemployment Numbers

Please write your Congress man/woman, Senators, President, and tell them to get off their butts and start addressing theses problems. We can not wait till the end of January to start to fix these problems.

We need an UNITED AMERICA but the congress and senator are still fighting among themselves and leaving the American People out to dry.

These unemployment numbers are nothing if we allow the Auto Industry to die. We need to support the Auto Industry with loans, stock purchase what ever. This will keep the business afloat while they work on the mess the Banking community has put America and the World in.

We need to see more support for AMERICAN PRODUCTS like we saw in the 70's. We need the 700 B to stop going to the banks. Scream to the current administration to start helping Main street. If main street is doing good so will the stock market.

We need to stop shipping all jobs off to other countries we need to create more manufacturing jobs. Remember WWII, if we have no infrastructure for manufacturing what will we do if there is another great war. History repeats itself as we see with this recession. There will be no plant to retool. There will be more wars are we going to ask the Chinese to make us some tanks, airplanes and weapons?

Soon we will have no engineers. We will have no people in this country who know how to build anything, just service jobs. We can not survive if we have no Manufacturing Jobs.

BUY AMERICAN, WE NEED TO HELP OUR AUTO INDUSTRY!

Obama to the Rescue?

This constant conversation of doom and gloom is getting old. Why can't everyone sit still and wait a few months for our NEW President to get some people in place to fix this mess. I was watching a Canadian show on TV that was about the negative, sensational TV influence in America. The example they gave was a Canadian lady who was robbed, but after the robbery she still did not lock her doors. She did not feel scared. They don't show all negative news on TV every night. They show what is really happening the good stuff also. We see so much negative news in this country we have been scared so much we worry about everything, even when they have not happened. This country needs to regroup, the sky is not falling.