Auto industry asking for $25 billion bail out

[babylonsister]

Big Three execs to meet with Pelosi
By Ian Swanson
Posted: 09/17/08 12:45 PM


The Big Three’s chief executive officers will meet with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) on Wednesday afternoon to press for her support for $25 billion in direct loans for the auto industry.

Congress authorized the loans in last year’s energy bill. They are intended to provide support for the manufacturers to retool plants in order to produce more hybrid cars and other more fuel-efficient vehicles, which the companies will need in order to meet tougher fuel efficiency standards included in the energy bill.

But Ford, General Motors and Chrysler cannot access the loans without an appropriation from Congress. The appropriation would cover any possible defaults on the loans by the Big Three.

One possible vehicle for the funding would be the continuing resolution that would allow the government to keep operating. Pelosi has also mentioned a second economic stimulus bill that Democrats are touting as an option.

The auto companies are fighting perceptions that the funding would represent a bailout by arguing that Congress already authorized the loans. They also argue that the funding serves a national interest by helping to wean the U.S. off foreign sources of oil, since less foreign oil would be needed if more Americans could drive more fuel-efficient vehicles.

more...

http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/big-three-execs-to-meet-with-pelosi-2008-09-17.html

[dysfunctional press]

1. why don't they ask the stockholders to pony up...?

they're the ones who get the profits when they have them- shouldn't they have to foot the bill for the losses...? :shrug:

[wtmusic]

2. No.

Either:

"the funding serves a national interest by helping to wean the U.S. off foreign sources of oil, since less foreign oil would be needed if more Americans could drive more fuel-efficient vehicles".

or:

"Americans would drive American fuel-efficient vehicles if they weren't pieces of crap and ten years behind the times".

[old mark]

3. I have been waiting for this.

I certainly hope Pelosi will tell them to go to hell.

But I fear she will not.

mark

[tpsbmam]

4. Hey, I want an appropriation to cover any possible defaults on loans I may take....

what a nice way to get a "loan." Bullshit...it's a bailout and if they'd been responsible and done their jobs right they'd have stopped making SUV's eons ago, if they hadn't killed the electric cars that were already in production (thus obviating the need for these "loans" in the first place), if they'd used the hybrid technology that's been around for, oh, about 100 years, etc etc, their businesses wouldn't have gone down the tubes. We're just, once again, paying for their stupidity and greed.

[Romulox]

6. "hybrid technology that's been around for, oh, about 100 years"??? Ye old Lithium Ion battery???

:wtf:

[tpsbmam]

7. Read and learn:

I didn't know this until just a little while ago. The idea of hybrids goes way back. There's more at the link - this is a snip.

http://www.whybuyhybrid.com/history-of-hybrid-car.htm

First official milestone of hybrid technology is a patent application filed by American engineer H. Piper for a gasoline engine-electric motor powertrain—a hybrid in November 23, 1905.Unlike today his hybrid design wasn't to increase a vehicle's fuel mileage and lower its emissions. According to the patent application, an electric motor would supplement a gasoline engine, allowing a vehicle to accelerate from zero to 25 miles an hour in a sizzling 10 seconds—three times faster than contemporary cars. Unfortunately by the time the patent was issued three and a half years later, cars had become powerful enough to achieve or exceed the same performance. Although Mr. Piper filled the first hybrid patent application but he wasn't the first person with the idea of Hybrid. There were other important contributors to hybrid technology during this time. During 1897 to 1907 the Compagnie Parisienne des Voitures Electriques (the Paris Electric Car Company), an important early contributor to electric car technology, built a series of electric and hybrid vehicles, including the 1903 Krieger.

(more at link)

[Romulox]

8. Electric motors aren't the issue. The BATTERY TECHNOLOGY involved is.

"Unlike today his hybrid design wasn't to increase a vehicle's fuel mileage and lower its emissions. "

So, it's an apples to bananas comparison you're making...

[Romulox]

5. But we need that money to bail out the sovereign wealth funds and insurance companies!!!!

LOL at the "free market" hypocrites whining about this. This is a fait accompli; Michigan is in play this November! :)