It was an accident of Great Lakes anatomy that all three ended up in Detroit, but concentrating such a big industry in one location has always left Michigan in a bind.  Granholm & her predecessors have done little if anything to diversify & lessen their dependence on the big 3, except for a few come-hither commercials.

The sad and hard truth is that we cannot continue to reward failure.  They should be allowed to go Chapter 11 & reorganize just like most of the major airlines did, which are no less crucial to our economy.  Any money 'loaned' to them, if that goes down, should come with some serious strings and a mandatory cleansing of corner offices.  The UAW ain't the bogeyman here, they've stepped up & made significant concessions over the last couple of contracts only to see management eff up.

And your point would be?

yeah and i see the workers taking pay cuts .... rolls eyes. Unless you have the full contract and not the stuff the media printed then Ill go as far as saying "BS" as the unions doing thier part

Have you been in a dealership lately? I think they do well with their $50 oil changes and exuberant repair costs. If the big 3 folded completely today, American cars would still be here for some time. As for auto part stores - they sell foreign car parts too, plus tons of generic parts. Lastly for the hundreds of thousands of assembly line workers (that sounds like it could be part of the problem in these days of automation), if the big 3 file chapter 11, it doesn't mean they will disappear, most of these workers would get their jobs back, albeit possibly not the same money they got paid previously. Some could transition into other industries, and the some would have to learn something new. It happens all the time. When Ford shutdown its doors here in Norfolk, the workers took a generous severance (or retired) and moved on. Sure it would be harder in Detroit, where all eggs were placed in one basket. Maybe that should be the first lesson learned upon reorganization - spread out.

Why continue to funnel tax payer money into a business that is failing?  The big three are failing miserably because they aren't changing.  They keep on asking for more and more money yet little is changing on their end.  The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again but expecting different results, and that is exactly what is happening here.

The big three need to completely restructure their business.  They need to recognize where the auto market is going and follow it rather than stubbornly clinging to their big trucks and suvs.  Ever since gas hit $4 most people are valuing fuel economy over all else, 2-3 years prior to that (and to this day) there was a noticable shift in people wanting to be "eco-friendly" yet the big three were doing little to offer any cars to that market and now they are paying the price.  Any business that doesn't recognize market changes and jump on them is going to fail.

No it's not all the Unions fault, as I just pointed out, but they also play a part with their demands for hefty benefits, which is part of the reason the big three are hemoraging money at the moment.  The real answer here is declaring chapter 11 so that they can get some temporary relief.  During that time they can restructure their business, close down plants if necessary, open others if appropriate.  But the big thing is that they desperately need to change.  Will it be easy, no.  Will people lose their jobs, probably.  But that doesn't mean it isn't necessary.  Feeding more money into a failing business plan is not going to magically fix the big three and make them profitable.

Well, I'm not sure that works out well.  Michigan is pretty self sufficient with metal if it needs to be.  There is still an awful lot of iron ore that travels up and down the great lakes to supply iron works.  That's how the big three took root here, after-all

The Unions have not helped out, that is for sure.  Companies cave to demands when they those hundreds of thousands of dollars each week that the workers are on strike.  The Big 3 aren't nimble at all, and the workers don't want to give anything up.  The Unions also force the companies to lay off in order of seniority.  That's not the best way of doing business, either.

I don't see them being "bailed out".  They could get loans, but they also need to be restructured to become competitive.  They can't keep paying $20 an hour to a line worker that only has a GED.  They can't keep providing such massive benefits.  And, more importantly, they need to get their head out off their ass and start making cars that people want.  If Toyota can do it, so can the Big 3!

As of right now, Michigan is screwed.  We're in a massive recession, businesses are closing left and right, and it's really hard to drive down a street and not see houses that have been foreclosed on. 

It's a real shame, Karma.  And an even bigger shame that BO is looking to people like Granholm for their 'expertise' on the economy.  I have a feeling something is going to be 'spread around' by BO, more likely pain than wealth I'm afraid.

That is really the key.  We already have a bailout program for the big 3.  It is called Chapter 11.  But when a company files Chapter 11, all its contracts become null and void and have to be renogiated.  This is not a bail out of the Big 3, but of the UAW.  They cringe at the thought of losing their contracts.

As bad as it is, there are still millions of cars being sold (and will continue to be sold) and all the aftermarkets will still be there. What will not be there are the fat union contracts.  And that has them - and their democrat mouth pieces - running for cover.  To what amounts to another transfer of wealth.

The issue is that when the union does not get what they want and the company stands its ground thier name is thrown though the mud left and right. Ive been there and done that and you know how much a union can hurt a company? there are people locally that refuse to buy items that this company makes. Now this was just a local issue... imagine the media play time on this and how bad this would be on a national scale ... yeah not pretty. So yeah Companies most times dont have that option to stand up to the unions unless they are ready for the reprocusions of such things and those things are usually not a good name for your company.... even if what is said is not totally factual

you hit it on the head. Why do you think Nancy is up there screaming for this bail out to happen yesturday already

We had that happen not that long ago with the Detroit News and Free Press.  They ended up with all non-Union workers in the end.  To this day, there are still people boycotting the paper.  The company had two options: 1) continue on with the Union contract and then close, or 2) Re-hire people at lower wages and at least keep the company running.  They chose the second option, and it was definitely the talk of the media for months.

Yeah see the other way is true too... for we settled on the contract BUT the strike went on close to a year, so with all the bad media that the company got it still hurt even if the union was not busted out.

I understand your point. The Great Lakes are a convenient method of transport, but this seems to have little effect on the foreign car makers in the US (with many plants in the south. The US steel industry has been on the decline since the 70's and the automakers should have seen it coming. It's ashame a large area is depressed because of the centralized location of the industry. This is great for the union which feed off each chapter (strength in numbers), GM got this so Ford should get that, type of logic. The imports are doing it smart, local government and employees will bend over backward to keep them because there is not much else in town.

Her soufle fell?