Comments on: Bail out the car buyers

By: Fred

Fred — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 15:48:10 +0000

Put a few new boxes on our 1040 tax returns. Check the box if YOU want to add an additional $111.47 to your return to give to the Detroit auto industry. Check the next box if your SPOUSE wants to add an additional $111.47 to your tax return. Put the number of children in your family in the box and multiply by $111.47 for each dependant that wants to contribute an additional amount just for the Detroit Auto Makers and their Unions. How much money would be captured by the IRS? Now, below those boxes put the same thing for another $2459 for each family member in the USA to contribute extra to the Wall Street Industry. (It’s simple math. Divide the bailout money by the USA popluation. Corporations are excluded from the population count since they are mostly owned by tax paying citizens.) Now below those boxes put another few contribution boxes for AIG, and Bears & Stearns, etc. If these contributions were optional how much would the IRS collect? Who in their right mind would continue checking the boxes?

By: Brad

Brad — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 15:12:52 +0000

To ykc,
Hey why don’t the rest of the world treat the US like they treat China, Mexico, and all the other poor nations of the world. Why don’t we turn the tables. Lets peg all our currencies to the Chinese currency or the Euro and make the yanks work for us for $1 per day. Lets all band together and put a tariff on everything that comes out of the US like they do to everybody else. Lets take their car industry with the electric car, get out of oil all together, and only buy non-US resources. This way we can have 200million $1 a day slaves and the rest of us can enjoy our lives without their greed. Beautiful.

By: brad

brad — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 15:02:22 +0000

The US Government is wasting the tax payers money bailing out these car makers. The money would be much better spent developing the next generation of cars instead of flogging a dead horse. Japan, Europe, China and every other country on earth are developing the next generation of plug-in electric vehicles. You yankees may as well go back to the horse and cart, because by the time you wake up to reality that’s all you will be able to afford. For God’s sake you have the infrastructure and technology there in Detroit to do this now. Get on with it and stop paying executives that still believe the SUV is the future. That’s not what the world wants or is America the world?

By: Esther Phillips

Esther Phillips — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 10:44:08 +0000

Not even the Americans are longer foolish enough to think that, even though petrol prices have come down massively, buying a Hummer or any other hugely ENVIRONMENTALLY DESTRUCTIVE car model is still a good idea.
I would like to put the fear of God into Ms Furchtgott who doesn’t even mention the fact that most of those car models are soo passé - small, low energy cars are what is called for now - Small is beautiful, small cars, small credits, smaller houses, smaller egos and everything will be a lot better. Our planet needs car makers with a vision not bailing out the ones who failed pathetically!!

By: Ty

Ty — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 21:59:04 +0000

Diana is absolutely right, how complicated can we make this subject. People are not buying Cars! This is the problem, Allow anyone who has a job and the means to pay a car loan buy a car. Give money to the people so they can afford to buy cars from our automakers, or slash all new car prices by 50% right now and watch how many people flood our dealerships to make a new purchase, quit putting money into the hands of the people that already have to much money to manage as it is

By: Gulchman

Gulchman — Sun, 07 Dec 2008 02:04:48 +0000

Whatever happens, the American automakers need to produce immedieately: a mid-size version of the Chevy Avalanche, a utilitarian car (a la Jeep or model T) that any ham or backyard mechanic can actually maintain, and a small car with at least one large seat that can accomodate our fat asses.

By: holly

holly — Sat, 06 Dec 2008 15:25:47 +0000

once the russians had 5-year plans:remember WELL, here we go in the US with plans for planning! i will only get it if it wasn’t that skorsky lost the parts contract for MARINE ONE—now even this is off shored…tell me, will the car companies off shore the new ecnomical proposed models??? supply chain ecnomics 101. go figure!

By: Anubis

Anubis — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 23:05:34 +0000

I absolutely agree with Ms. Roth. Since were running the printing press on overtime why not print a bunch of extra money to build solar panels, wind farms and natural gas conversion kits for our cars. We can stimulate demand by extending tax credits to everyone who buys a green product. All the inflationary pressures would be mitigated in part by the corrected trade imbalance energy independence would bring. Stopping the war and forcing health care providers to provide health care instead of profits and dividends wouldn’t hurt either.

By: Douglas

Douglas — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 22:02:26 +0000

I have no problem bailing out any company as long as we force one radical idea. I call it the 4X rule. Any company bailed out with taxpayer money will be FORCED into a 4 trier compensation system whereas the top managers CAN NOT make more than 4 times the lowest paid worker. If the guy sweeping the floors is worth $5/hr then the CEO is only worth $20/hr (that is TOTAL compensation, not just salaries). Conversely if the CEO is worth a million a year, then the bottom folks are worth 250K/yr.
The way I see it, this will not stop anyone from creating a billion dollar company where the top people get really rich, it will just force the wealth be be redistributed to those who actually make it happen.

By: max

max — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 17:01:23 +0000

Obama won by approximately 8 million voters in popular vote. 7.5 million registered rust belt unionized voters. They voted for THEIR WALLETS, make no mistake. Southern and Western edge Midwest state reps and senators of BOTH parties will destroy your greed and insolence. You have been blatantly ignoring our “wealth redistribution” needs for decades; via voting in your cronies. I, along with many others out here, say, “Let them eat cake.”