Granholm: GOP wants 'creative destruction' for the auto industry

[babsbunny]

http://rawstory.com/news/2008/Granholm_GOP_wants_creative_destruction_for_0222.html

David Edwards and Muriel Kane
Published: Sunday February 22, 2009



Two struggling automobile manufacturers, General Motors and Chrysler, have asked the U.S. government for $21.6 billion in loans to avoid bankruptcy, promising to repay them in full once they restructure. However, skeptics have cast the proposal as a bailout for a dying industry which is unlikely to be repaid.

"They still haven't shown a clear path to solvency," host Chris Wallace charged on Fox News Sunday. "Why should the taxpayers keep them on life support?"

[backscatter712]

1. Either they don't comprehend, or more likely, they want...

the total protonic reversal that will reverberate through the entire economy if GM or Chrysler goes totally bankrupt. It will guarantee that we're in depression for 5-10 years.

Come to think of it, I think the Republicans genuinely want the U.S. economy to completely self-destruct. Remember that this is the fascist party, and they thrive on fear and chaos. Their signature strategy is the Shock Doctrine. They'll swoop in, promise to make the trains run on time, and if we buy what they're selling, our democracy will cease to exist. That's what they want. Totalitarian power.

[FarCenter]

2. If Chrysler goes bankrupt, nothing much will happen

The remaining Chrysler customers would probably go to GM or Ford, and the parts suppliers would shift volume to the two remaining companies.

[backscatter712]

3. Correction:

Some of the parts suppliers might be snapped up by GM and Ford. But not all of them. We'd end up with all the Chrysler employees, how many thousand of them, out of work, along with a bunch of their suppliers, not to mention the dealerships and other businesses dependent on Chrysler's existence.

Some of the car demand would be taken up by Ford and GM, but not all, and the reverberations throughout the economy would be so huge that it would cause disruption for just about everyone.

Just like the banks, the big three auto makers are too big to fail, which means that if they're going to fail, they should be nationalized, to minimize the economic disruption while the carcass is picked apart and made into a new auto company with the same name.

[madrchsod]

5. chrysler failed before

but the taxpayers were repaid and made money. chrysler created a whole new generation of smaller cars and the mini-van.

there`s no reason why the us auto industry should fail. the next generation of automobiles are ready for production but there is`t any credit and people with good paying jobs to afford to buy them.

[FarCenter]

7. Chrysler doesn't have credible pipeline of new product

Jeep is their only brand that is worth much.

[FarCenter]

6. Chrysler is not too big to fail

They are a lot smaller than either GM or Ford, and half their volume has already gone away.

Besides, they are owned by the hedge fund Cerberus. Cerberus has lots of money. Let Cerberus either save them, sell them off or fold them up.

[Idealism]

4. Savage capitalism at its finest. Way to go GOP