I only care about saving the jobs of the workers, not what happens to the owners or stockholders. If we are going to spend trillions to stimulate the economy, then I'd prefer to spend it on housing, green technology, heath care for the uninsured, education, etc., not on all the big banks and corporations that have just self-destructed.

Normally I'd say "no" government should not be involved. Let these companies be subjected to their own consequences and deal like everyone else has to. However, because of the true economic crisis and fear of unemployment I unfortunately feel we need help from where ever or who ever we can get it from.

How does the average person get a bailout when they fail? Can I go to the government and ask for money because I didn't live within my own means?

No,No, No, I am totally against governments bailing out these negligent companies. Our government in Canada has agreed like the U.S. to bail out these companies which is totally wrong. I am so sick and tired of the tax payers always having to bare the burden, ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!

If we do bail them out, then that means the government should become the primary stockholder and thus be in total control of them. That means we should have the right to restructure them and make sure they're cleaned out. Get all the rats out.

Hopefully we can turn this economy around and actually focus on solving the deeper, systemic issues for why we're in this situation. Obviously bad banking's a good place to start, but there are other issues, like global poverty, that have huge economic and geopolitical ramifications.

The Borgen Project has some interesting insight into addressing the issues of global poverty, something we can remedy easily and sustainably.

Some interesting figures to ponder:
$30 billion USD: The annual shortfall to end global poverty.
$550 billion USD: The annual US defense budget.

Larry, at first I believed these companies were "too big to fail." At first. I no longer do.

I hate giving one dime to the GM machine. Unfortunately, if we don't it's the auto worker who'll pay the heaviest cost.

Should. As the only one investor in entire World to come up with that much cash at the moment Gov. should not just bail out them but as a new shareholder force more CEOs to resign. Especially ones who killed electric cars.
Who ever asks now:" Is it the end of the free enterprise?" should of first asked" Do I, as a Government have to bail them out?"

Larry, most countries other than the United States, tax gasoline much more which has incresed the demand in those countries for more fuel efficient cars. Has the American auto industry failed or was it simply catering to the demand for bigger, less fuel efficient vehicles because for the most part, it has always been affordable. Case in point, gas prices have now decreased and so has the demand for hybrids?

Absolutely. I think the President Obama is doing the right thing. If this company should close down it would affect so many people, (suppliers, vendors,etc.) I was happy to hear that the CEO was asked to step down.

only if it is mine................

I have two American made autos. My Ford was made in Canada and my Chrysler was made in Mexico......... So much for buying American.

Do the auto makers have any plans to close the Canadian or Mexican auto plants and reopen American based plants???????????????????????????????????????????????????

Hey Ed,

When are you going to go vegan?? I mean really vegan; how about laying off the poor salmon?

Your long-time friend,
Zowdu

The U.A.W should look back at Pan AMerican Airlines and Eastern Airlines those unions did not take the consessions offered and they went under The U.A W. must give back or they will be on the unemployment lines

It is the economy stupid. It has been for the last five years. We cannot compete with foreign companies because those countries offer Universal Heatlh Care to their people so the auto industries don't have to add this along with salaries and this is why America cannot compete. It is like comparing apples to oranges. We need to change our Health Carre System for our people. I know I retired from a huge insurance company after 28 years with 10 years in management.

Why cant your panel address the following:

1. Poor quality of cars made by US auto manufacturers.
2. Abnormal and excessive labor costs and benefits.

It was NOT the banking crisis that drove the Big Three to the brink of ruin... it was $4.27/gallon gasoline. Detroit bet on big, gas-sucking pigs because there was far more profit in a Cadillac Escalade and a Ford Excursion than there was in a Chevy Cavalier and a Ford Focus.
Demand shifted from SUVs to small cars at $3.50/gal and demand dropped to zero when gas climbed above $4.00.

GM lost hundreds of millions on the EV-1. That was just another mistake Mr. Wagoner made trying to please others while building huge debt and costing him his job.

GM spent MILLIONS of our tax dollars (Partnership for a new technology vehicle) and $2 Billons of its shareholders dollars to actually create a WONDERFUL new fuel cell electric car ... BUT NEVER BROUGHT IT OUT! WHY? This reflects very poorly on their management leadership.

Jim Smith
Spring house, PA

I think the auto industry must be saved or we risk the problem of never getting off oil and other countires will take the lead for sure – it will be worse than it is now.

When the electric car was out. It was not selling the SUV's where.When you have a business you must sell what people buy. The trucks,SUV's sold huge just a few years ago. The Ford F-150 last year was still the number 1 selling make.

Judge Mathis, is a success story from a government hand out (student assistance). The auto industry can also be a success with a handout. Don't lose faith!!! its easy to finger point and be negative.

You can keep taking money from the workers & giving money to the companies but until some sort of auto pact is in place none of it will matter. There is not a level playing field when foreign auto makers dump their product here but don't allow North American cars to flood their markets.

Things will not improve until people feel assured that their jobs are safe. No one is buying for fear that they will not be able to pay their bills. Stimulus money is going to be used to pay bills.

Why are the auto makers still producing cars that they can not sell?

Buy American!!!

Yes President Obama is doing the right thing . I work for Chrysler and have endured all that is happening. I have uprooted and moved to Illinois to stay with Chrysler and stay afloat. Right now in the job market we can't afford to have anymore people out of work on unemployment. Besides the workers in the auto industry didn't cause these problems the goverment did so they should fix it, By the way i pay taxes to so its not just the non autoworkers who are affected its everyone.

May be no CEO from the financial industry was forced out because they produce the greenest of products – derivatives, CDS that has brought this shame on America

I clean floors for a living, and if I don't preform in my duties I can be demoted which wold mean a drop in my salary or terminated . So what's the difference with the fat cats in this country, who make the kind of money I may never see. I praise President Obama on many of the decisions he has made up to this date.

Craig, Philadelphia,Pa

What should the consumer price of gasoline be to encourage purchase of hybrid/electric cars?

I think it should be even and it should be fair. If you're going to bail out the banks, then why not the auto industry? If you're going to ask one CEO to step down why not the other?

I do believe in asking Waggoner to step aside and to get new, fresher ideas. But I think Obama made a mistake on this one.

Please ask Gavin Newsom if he has time to go to Larry King show to talk about economy and car makers, and he has no time to respond to multiple cries for help from the AIDS disabled officially declared homeless living in San Francisco and continues to ignore and ignore and now I am on the streets.Thank you 415-730-3314

To continue to throw money at an industry that is 20 years behind is just a waste of taxpayer’s dollars. Their Union is too powerful and the corporations were poorly organized. In T.V. interviews with the auto line assembly workers, they disclosed most are receiving $30 – $40 an hour. I work in an industry that everyone has a master’s degree and very few of us make $30 an hour, most are under that amount living in an area that is more expensive than Detroit.

Unless the auto industry can make a vehicle that runs on something other than a petroleum product, I will not be purchasing my next car through them. I would like to see our tax dollars at work for some future benefit. I do not like to see masses of people without employment, therefore, retrain these individuals in related, needed fields at our expense and keep their income & benefits in line with the rest of the country.

My biggest concern with all this spending is the wave of depression to this country brought on by terrible inflation in the next 4 – 8 years.

NO. Let capitalism work. If GM can't maintain their company let them sin off to those who can. If the government wants to stimulate the economy have a 3 month tax break for every Citizen. You would see savings go up. You would see cars being purchased. You would see the economy straighten out.

Wagoner sacrificed???
I'd like to share his $14.8 million "sacrifice bonus" for 2008, worst ever year for GM in ages!!

Make the financial institutions that we bailed out with billions and who drove our country into this mess start giving people loans to buy the cars! No wonder the Big 3 are in trouble when we're in such a crisis. If they go under so will millions more...

Forcing Wagoner out was just plain stupid. It is almost like they are setting up GM to fail.

Sorry to GM and the UAW for letting you down.

Donald D
Boston, MA

The Auto makers and the home producers are still producing product that they can not sell why?

And yet they are begging for money to keep them on that track!

why should we make concessions do you know what it is like to work in the auto industry

the UAW has run the Detroit Auto industry for years than add Minority content and the cost are unbearable.. the contract ford has cut with the UAW is going to tie them up with labor cost.
CEO do have to take consessions but getting paid without working is terrible

As fair as it seems to let these companies fail - bank crisis or not, they were still badly mismanaged - it seems neither fair nor wise to not consider the thousands of workers and smaller businesses that would be impacted. The resulting economic turmoil would only extend or worsen the current economic situation. What plans are currently being laid to handle this problem, and do they go far enough?

I am a Obama supporter but I do not agree with the Gov. telling CEO to step down, that is the boards decision. If we are going to allow the government to do things like this I am starting to wonder about my vote. Please get it right Mr. Obama

I really am having a very hard time trying to understand WHY Obama and Congress think they have the right to fire the CEO of GM???

Who do they think they are? They Have NO right to do that, only the stockholders have that right and last time I checked Obama was not the main stockholder of GM!!!

This is really a break in our Constitutional rights people you need to step back and see the REAL picture!!! If OBama can do this then why didn't he insist on AIG being broken up into small companies????

Hi Larry,
As a mother of 4 children, I am tired of hearing how BAD GMC cars are...I have a 2001 Yukon XL running strong with 100,000 miles! There is no other car in the market that can fulfill my families need for room and durability. I support eco-friendly cars, however, let's stop badgering GMC and look at how many of their cars are still on the road.
Thank you,
Mary Gallivan

It is amazing to me that GM owns factories in Europe and technology
that makes solid quality, low cost and high milage and yet, they were not selling it here. I do think that gas should be taxed heavily and used to reinvest into exisitng high tech in auto filed such as natural gas, hybrids,etc. And who says they need to make cars?

I disagree with Judge. Mathis when he said Auto Industry went down due to Bank Failures.
How long will these Auto Industries depend on credit when they have to compete for profit?
These are not not for profit organizations.
All the guys at the top in the auto industries did care least for these companies, they took enormous bonus, use private jets to fly and did not care even when the company was going under.

Tim Samuel.

A little "customer service" by the US auto dealers would help a lot. I have bought US manufactured cars in the past, knowing full well it would be in for service. I didn't mind except I was treated like an illerate idiot when I tried to explain the problem to the service manager. Then the car wasn't fixed properly. All I can say is hello Toyota.

Judge Mathis...that tie doesnt match anything you have on doc! Come on – lets do better! LOL

I owned 4 Toyota trucks, and then came the Ford F-350. Within 3 months I heard from various Ford owners that my new truck was going to have issues with transmission within the first 100,000. I verified it with Ford transmission mechanics. Within 8 months I traded for a Tundra.

Larry,

I don't want to buy any of the cars currently available from the US auto makers. This is like asking me, the taxpayer, pay to keep VCR's in the market. This is a silly waste of my tax money!

Please have Gavin Newsom talk a little more about the alternative cars available.

Thanks! Dallas Nichols

To continue to throw money at an industry that is 20 years behind is just a waste of taxpayer’s dollars.

Unless the American auto industry can make a vehicle that runs on something other than a petroleum product, I will not be purchasing my next car through them

It is ironic that the American Government is trying so hard to right somones elses sinking ship instead of getting their own house in order.

When will the President call for cuts in pay for the entire Congress?

They have not performed and received raises and other perks...

I think President Obama is doing the right thing. And Mayor Newman is right on as well. Also, I think the union needs to alter it's pay structure to keep as many workers as possible. A worker should like to have a job at a lower hourly rate than no job at all.

NO. Let capitalism work. If GM can’t maintain their company let them spin off to those who can. If the government wants to stimulate the economy have a 3 month tax break for every Citizen. You would see savings go up. You would see cars being purchased. You would see the economy straighten out.

Should the government be able to DICTATE what is done in the business sector? If he, Obama and the government has no interest in running GM then why should he be able to blackmail the industry? And thats just what is was BLACKMAIL! He gave Rick Wagoner no choice but to resign or he and his congress would not give them any more money. Loan Sharks Dictate terms of loans – so what is going on in Washington?

why do u say people wont buy a car from a bankrupt company..
they got on a bankrupt airline (united among others) for over 5 YEARS.
if they thought it meant a lack of quality going into bankrupcy...why would u ever get on an AIRPLANE.

I have a 2000 Malibu with 119,000 miles on it that has only needed new tires, brakes, and hoses. GM does make a good product! Stop bashing them until you've driven one of their cars.

Why do pundits continue to say that GM (and all of Detroit) does not build the cars that people want? They just experienced years of prosperty building what people do WANT to drive- SUVs, pickups, and large sedans. What changed was OPEC's $4 gas tarriff and the crumbling financial system that loaned Americans money to buy trucks. We are a large nation with wide open spaces, like large comfortable vehicles, and do not want tin can econoboxes. Just look at declining Prius sales to back it up!

My name is Rick Neuhoff and I am starting a company whose R&D will enable the manufacture and marketing of a full line of fully electric vehicles. On lead-acid batteries we have a range of 180 miles, onlithium-ion we have a range of 450+ miles on a single charge. The technology is fully scalable and contrary to what T. Boone Pickens believes at the moment, our Tractor Trailer Cab will have a range of 3,200 miles, pulling one full container load, on a single charge. Of course a larger load would decrease the single charge range.

Our five year plan includes electric airplanes.

Please keep in mind the impact this will have, vehicles that use no fossil fuels will help America break free of gasoline... zero emission vehicles will help America to fight global warming... "green" manufacturing of these vehicles in America could bring new jobs to Florida where I currently enjoy living, could reopen plants abandoned by GM in Michigan and could also bring a variety of new jobs and manufacturing to other parts of the United States and the world.

Fully functional prototypes exist right now, officially monitored testing will begin soon and I can arrange for a "test drive" if you'd like.

The important question to ask is why are'nt the criminal bankers being charged for their crimes. The money for the auto companies, pales in comparison.

Larry,

When the GM collapse began, the first product line they decided to discontinue was the Saturn. This was the very line they had created to compete with the Japanese Auto makers. Insanity! They clearly did not get it and the CEO deserves what he got. It's about time. Who needs a hybrid Escalade that gets 15 miles per gallon instead of 10? I hope they can get someone in charge to really turn GM around and build what consumers buy.

For too long GM only cared about building and selling the Silverado Truck line and should have put more of its profits from the sale of this truck into an electric car line and other alturnative powered autos. Long before now its sad but to late.
Mike

Hi larry, the president and his team needs to start concentrating there effort on manufacturing job that cannot be shiped abroad. And the auto industry will be a good place to start not A. I .G and the financial industry.

SINCE THE GOVERMENT IS BAILING OUT THE AUTO COMPANY WHY THE AUTO CO. REFUSE TO LOWER THE COMSUMERS INTEREST RATE WE ALL NEED A BAIL OUT I HAVE A 13% interest CAN I GET SOME HELP ON A LOWER RATE THEY REFUSE.

No one has mentioned products liability insurance which is a huge part of US cost. In fact, I believe Fiat left the US market 15 years ago for this reason. Fiat Allis/Alfa Romeo, Fiat not in the US until now. Why are they trying to re-entering now? No idea. Cheap entry fee?

I support the President's policy in helping the auto industry. However, I think we are letting another primary culprit off the hook; Big Oil. Larry, I have to tell you straight up I don't think this recession would be nearly as deep as it is today if gasoline prices had not soared through the roof in recent years. Americans were paying more than double at the pump for two years and our incomes were not growing to offset that increase. Where are the consequences for these big oil companies; are they off the hook because gas prices have fallen now? While they are not asking for a bail out, perhaps the President should demand their CEO's step down . . . they received their bail out directly from the people when high gas prices started this recession in the beginning.

i think Obama did the right thing but if GM goes through a major overhaul but will the GM of tomorrow become less competitive with current iconic products like the Corvette and Camaro that have made this company what it is today? GM may be in trouble but they may be in even more trouble if they sacrifice too much like like competitiveness for all markets like performance, fuel economy, quality, etc if they dont plane this restructuring right

I WANT to buy American cars, but time again, when I have purchased an American vehicle it lasts no longer than six years before I have major mechanical problems. I have had to buy Hondas or Hyundais to get any kind of reliability at all. In addition to the reliability factor, I have watched with dismay as American car makers continue to be short sighted as far as the environment and new technology goes. When did America decide to settle for less innovation? We are capable of producing an alternatively fueled cars, WHY DON"T WE DO IT??

The US auto industry have not been able to create reliable vehicles. That is the root of their problem.

No one is going to buy from the auto industry unless they come out with something new. The government should build the infrastructure for alternative energy cars, such as the hydrogen full cell, in return for a the auto industries promise that they will actively pursue these technologies instead of just throwing money at them and telling them to "restructure". The reason why no one buys these types of cars is because there is no where to fuel them. If a hydrogen fueling system is built, this would obviously make buying these cars more attractive to the public, helping the environment and stimulating the industry.

We retired in 2007 after 30 years from Ford with the promise of a hard earned pension and health care benefits. We feel that at all costs the retirees benefits need to be preserved and honored or many of us may be forced into bankruptcy or home foreclosure too. The CEO's of the auto companies and all the banks that are getting millions and billions of dollars given to them have never been called to task for their part in this meltdown. We are retired and have no say at all as to what is going to happen to our livlihood and if our pensions go away we don't have unemployment or entitlements to fall back on.

GM's management appears to have purposely driven down its future product viability by not bringing out its developed fuel cell electric car, which SHOULD have been brought out with the development going on now by California of its new hydrogen highway.

Jim Smith
Spring House PA

We need to recognize that the very entity that created the real problem which was the collapse of the Banking industry was Congress in its repeal of key regulatory structure in 1999. Now we are relying on that same environment to solve the problems. May President Obama have better success than all those who precede him. The bigger concern really is who will have the ability to bail out the largest financial entity in the world, the US Government. For all the good trying to be done, that bill is coming due.

How much does General Motors expect to earn from manufactoring vechicles in countries like China and India?

I have two of the older (1967) GM and GMC, they have been good to me, I grew up with Chevy and GMC, I do not care about an electric car at this time, as long as they still make the good old small block, to say the GM stands for goverment managment is a shame,

Who cares what the mayor of San FranSisco thinks>

NO! The big 3 have all been riding the waves of consumers with credit purchasing gas guzzlers. We are the greatest country in the world and we can't learn from ourselves? Not so long ago, Lee Iococca took over an ailing company for a salary of $1.00. He borrowed from the Government and paid back the loan early. He also fuel efficient cars...Hmmm. Something simple made so much sense.

GM and all American car companies have allowed the UNION to run them into the ground, they pay outragious wages to their FACTORY workers and they have extreme benefit packages!!! NO other company in America does this and we all do just fine!!! This is the reason the cars are so expensive because it is definitely NOT the quality GM makes the worst built cars of anyone!

My comment is that any ceo of a company that wants a bailout should definitely be put on notice that if it is not beneficial to the american taxpayer we should not be giving funding to send our business elsewhere to where we send junk to the other countries and they end up selling back to us for triple of what we gave for free.

GM retiree. Obama is offering a chance for internal restructing which is much needed. But, again, if the consumer doesn't have the job to pay for the car, the problem still exist. Rock and a hard spot. I will buy a GM car until I can't drive. It's hard to stop a domino affect but I believe in this new administration and have confidence it will success. Do I want to give up some of my pension since I live on pension and social security? Yes, I will give to see the future of GM become better. Which means at 65 I will be finding a part time job to make up the difference.

~*~ My biggest concern with all this spending is the wave of depression to this country brought on by terrible inflation in the next 4 – 8 years.

Gavin Newsom and Ed Begley Jr. get it. These companies knew
oil was a losing game over 40 years ago. GM crushed the electric car in the 90's. This oil-dependence problem has devasted the US over my 40 year lifetime. Let these companies with years of excuses die. Green tech. companies that get it should be rewarded!

Larry, anyone who believes that GM doesn't make good fuel efficient cars are ignorant fools. GM makes more models that get 30 miles per gallon or better than any other automaker in the world, including Honda and Toyota. You'd also be ignorant to think GM makes unreliable cars. Stop living in the past, and wake up. GM's quality can match Toyota and Honda. The award-winning Cadillac CTS and Chevy Malibu are great examples of being #1.

Please ask Gavin Newsom if he has time to go to Larry King show to talk about economy and car makers, and he has no time to respond to multiple cries for help from the AIDS disabled on SSDI forced on the streets due to favoratism and lack of action to protect TAX payor for 18 years that became officially declared disabled on 01/01/2008 officially declared homeless living in San Francisco and continues to ignore and ignore and now I am on the streets.Thank you 415-796-2270 this is working landline # for the next 4 days

Why did the Repbublicans put out that fake budget with out any numbers in it, but the one that gave the rich a far bigger tax cut from 35% down to 25%, that larger of a tax cut would give the rich our entire budget all other programs for the rest of America would have to be scraped!!!

As a retail automotive salesperson (for Ford) I believe that the American automotive industry has a tough road to hoe, however I also believe that the quality of American manufactuers are at a all time high. If I had banks that would loan money and customers that would buy cars, I could continue to support my family and my community.

.The political factor is also figured into the problem with the auto industry. The President eight years ago should have made sure the auto industry made cars/trucks with better millage efficiency. If they declare bankruptcy it could be worse than if we bail them out.

The comment by the mayor that the american auto makers built the large SUV,s I want to remind him that the auto makers were building what the consumer wanted to buy. We all must take responsibility for the large vehicles being built . Also Honda and Toyota have been building large SUV,s and large pickups the last several years as well but nobody ever mentions that.
Bob.
Waterloo, Ontario, Canada

Our Government will back the warranty's if the car companies go bankrupt. Who will the car owner call for service; the IRS?

When one buys an automobile he expects a local dealer with factory trained technicians along with the manufacturer to rely on for technical support.

If the government wipes Crysler off the map and GM shutters dealerships by the thousands in going bankrupt ; Will the government really be able to fix the consumers car ? That is what the warrantys all about up to now.

Everyone has thought about, but are just too afraid to say it on air. Just let the auto industry file bankruptcy like everyone else who has made wrong financial decisions. The auto companies need to get a fresh start without UAW mandating unrealistic wages for the common worker. Things are gonna get worse before they get better I would rather not have to pay for anyone else's mismanagement.

Yes, I don't see how we can let our automotive industry fail and still remain an economic and manufacturing power. Plus all the workers that have sacrificed so much while the fat cat executives get out with their golden parachutes. I am glad the GM CEO was asked to leave, that should have been done a long time ago. I don't believe giving the company money while the same CEO that ran the company in the ground is still in charge that doesn't make much sense to me. This should have been done with the CEOs in the financial sector before they were given money. However, the government was sold a bill of goods saying they had to stay because they knew how to correct the problem, however they were the ones that helped create the problem.

How can the U.S. government realistically warranty a new car if GM goes out of business? Will spare parts be available? Will the proper test equipment be available? will people be avaiable to the work?

Sam Davis
Woodland Hills, California

GM

You want to know why GM is where it is today ?

Read the incredible book – The Toyota Way – it tells the whole story.

Owen Howell

larry why dosent the government give every househlod 50,000 to 75,000 of there owne tax money back and that would start the come back instantly. they would pay off all bills and lower thier morage and they would start to buy again. when they pay thier bill the banks would have an influxs of money to give out new loans. it is so simple i dont know why they dont see it plus pepole would spend like crazy knowing the governmet was there to bail them out not big business.

Electric cars are not necessarily clean. It takes a ton of fossil fuels to make a hybrid car. So, hybrids plugged in to McMansions is NOT a solution. We need to change the way we live (i.e.public transportation, carpool, etc.). If the economy were to take off tomorrow, most Americans won't be able to pay for the fuel. High fuel prices forced many of us to load up on credit. If paying for gas was never an issue for you, then you don't understand the problem. American's lack of education in Science/Math compounds today's problems.

The problem with the Big Three isn't that they can't build a good car. There are just 10 other cars to consider which are much better!

My entire life I have known that American Vehicles are less reliable vehicles. That's their true pitfall.

Obama is trying to be a dictator to our Country and I for one am not going to let this happen he has broken many many constitutional rights, maybe ALL the people who are elected need to take a test and pass knowing and having read our CONSTITUTION before ANY of them can be accepted into office!

This whole country is out of wack. People's employment has been devalued due to free trade. The wages are lagging bigtime. This is also due to illegal immigration too.Housing has been priced right out of reach of alot of people hence the risky mortages. The stock market is nothing but a high society gambling house. Medical care is sky rocketing out of site for everyone. We need more oversite in all this. Our citizens are becoming the "Working Poor" . So as for these corporations getting bail outs does leave a bad taste in alot pf people's mouths. They made their profits off the backs of workers. Now the workers are too cash poor to buy any of the goods. CEO's walk out with fat bonuses and investors collect what's left. the workers are basically now left holding the bag. What a disgrace!

@ Sharon S

I completely agree with you. On a TV interview with a factory line worker he said that he made close to $40 an hour. For a high school diploma individual making that kind of money plus all these medical benefits is outrageous!!

I work with a group of people who have a masters degree or higher and few make $40 an hour plus I live in a more expensive area than Detroit.

The reason GM, Ford, and Chryster have not brought out technology that exists today is that they live in the past and are afraid of transforming their product mix to clean, efficient, fuel cell electric vehicles. Their top management are not technology people, but risk avoiders.

Jim Smith
Spring House, PA

Larry
We are trying to save a sinking Titanic Ship. This is too late in the game. Given the environmental awareness any commonsense guy will not buy a gas guzzler for any benefit. I think Gov should dissolve these companies in an orderely fashinon and invest in small car companies that makes electric and hydrid cars right in US!

Why aren't the US oil companies helping US auto makers? Years of building and promoting bigger and less efficient SUV's are a part of the problem. Oil companies profited the most, did they not?

Sharon

I do NOT think Obama is trying to be a dictator...

Larry,
I have purchased 10 used vehicles (most American) from Ebay and got turned off with the big 3 over the last 5 years when they flooded the market with rental returns which affected the resale value of American cars. I don't lease, I purchase and look closely at resale value which has affected my decision to purchase new...... It started with resale value

IS IT FAIR THAT WAGGONER IS FORC ED TO RESIGN WHEN THE WALL ST BIG BANKERS ARE NOT?

Banks are the oldest enemy to the American people. Where's the call to overhaul the banking industry? Banks have more power than ever and hold the American economy hostage. Their man inside, Obama, happily pays the ransom.

This auto industry overhaul is nothing but a tactic to make people feel better about the crimes that were committed in regards to the Wall Street bailouts.

Where was this so called restructuring when the Obama administration put together their bailout?

The only American car company doing it right is Tesla Motors, and thay are an all electric auto maker!

The union workers have already given concessions to help keep the car companies afloat. Looks as if Obama isn't the friend of unions that he professed to be during the election. Why is it always fashionable to stick it to the lowest wage earner in the situation. I know many people think the UAW workers are earning millions while we struggle. Nothing could be farther from the truth. Look at what the upper level salaried employees of the auto companies earn and you'll see where the waste is.

Haven't we learned anything from Hyundai (as a prime example)? Let's face it, poor resale value, bad financing and lack of incentives have been the main problem. How confident are you about your own product when in the first year of buying it you lose 50% of its value. On the other hand GM, or Chrysler did not do enough to focus on the repeat costumer and stimulate more sale. Let's face it, it's not just about the new customer, it's mainly about keeping the one you already have, you make sure they buy again from you by creating programs, rebates, financing. Makes like hyundai knew the key is to keep your customers and offer products attractive to all age groups. GM and Chrysler just got lost in the pile, not focusing on their customers and their true needs, not listening, and not having a specific idea as far as which age group they needed to target.

Anyone who's been to Europe and driven any European car lately have realized how far behind Detroit is in technology...
I was able to get 48 MPG driving at speed in excess of 85 MPH in a confortable fully loaded FIAT turbodiesel...sweet drive.
FIAT, go figure!!

GM has been building inferior cars for years. Let them go under just like any business that doesn't succeed. If I had a widget company and it's not successful, I fail, period. That's what makes this country great, competition. If you can't compete do something else.
Cochise

if the auto industry would make a car that did not cost as much as the house you live in you may be able to buy a new car. car just semply cost too much for working people. they try to make too mang models of cars. gm has about 30 different model ot cars. they could cut that back a lot and still have enough phil

Larry, Let me first tell you I worked for ford for eight years. I'm not a bit surprised about what has happened. I know it is more than the banks, and all the other things involved. I would love to come on your show to tell the world of all the bad things that go on in these factory's. You would be amazed at all the " bad things " that go on in these companies. To wit : putting in bad parts and to " FIX " ( NOT ) them later. I could give you and the whole country many, many reasons why these problems exist. I promise you I would have an " X " on my back after i did. My bet is I would be a target for a beating or worse. But, I really don't care because the truth must be told. Thank You, Curtis R. Lesniak.

"Rick Neuhoff" above just PROVED my point. Larry, the President needs to let the free enterprise system WORK. he needs to step out of the way and let GM fail so they can be broken up and bought by comopanies that WILL succeed. The Unions ruined them. But many states don't let unions run amock. Let the system work. It will be tough but it will be much better than the hyper-depression we will get from all these "buy-outs" with your grand-children's taxes!

To use the funding restriction policies that protect our tax dollars as an excuse for the failure of the American Manufacturers is absurd. The failure comes due to their inability to build reliable vehicles.

So now we want to make the workers pay for the bad decisions made in the board room. Its the same old thing, start cutting from the bottom not the top.

Larry,

Great show. Why did President Obama make Rick Wagoner step down but not any of the CEO's of the failed financial institutions or banks?

Or why were there stipulation put in place for the auto industry – to borrow money, no less – and not the financial industry – that basically got bought out?

I didn't see any auto exes buying $10,000 trash cans or having plush weeklong getaways at secluded resorts.

Why is there this apparent double standard?

The recent bailout of the Automakers will not work. It is not viable use of capitol to the manufacturing of automobiles, but simply a transfer of Funds into their respective lending institutions, (Chrysler Credit, FoMoCo, GMAC). The Model they are using is more of the same misunderstood profit is everything mind set, that for at least 30 years, it has been the center of where profits are invested in lending, and not manufacturing or updating plants. They are not lenders or are they under F.D.I.C. rules. A complete revamping of the ideology of who and what they are and want to be, is what is needed, if they are to ever rebuild themselves into the respected com pamies they once were and can be again.

Please explain to the Mayor that his heralded Japanese automakers followed the same strategy as Detroit Big Three. Toyota completed a BRAND NEW plant in San Antonio one year ago to build Tundra's (large pick up) and Sequoia's(large SUV). One month after launch, they had to shut the plant for 3 months!! Great planning by Toyota!!
The American public has demanded big trucks and SUV's and ALL of the global OEM's have responded. This is not a Big 3 issue!

Larry, please remind the panel that the Uaw, DOES NOT make product decisions. That is completely up to the companies to chose. The comment that the membership should sacrifice even more because of the companies lack of forethought in their product line is nuts ! Hold the right people responsible.

All of you are missing a very important point, most Americans do not want small fuel effecient vehicles. Most Americans want SUVs. CAFE does not work, rather the goverment needs to create market forces that make people want to buy small cars.

Donald Baskin, PhD
former Chrysler employee

Yeah I suppose the car factory employees are leaving with some really cushy benefits due to their wonderful Union! So frankly the factory workser from Detroit I am not worried about they get a lot more benefits then any one else in this country being laid off!

Larry,
The reason we have economic issues is because of our and the worlds social issues.

Larry,
Thank you for hosting a thoughtful and intelligent discussion about the auto workers/GM issues of the day. Your personal concern and caring effort to understand the issues is palpable and is an invaluable media service to our country. Keep on keeping on being Larry King Live. ADH

ITS AMAZING FROM THE VERY FIRST TIME APPROACHED BY THE BIG 3 THE GOVERNMENT (WHICH INCLUDES OBAMA) WANTED TO KNOW THE PARTICULARS BUT WHEN IT CAME TO BANK BAIL OUTS (NOT LOANS) NO QUESTIONS ASKED. IT JUST GOES TO SHOW THAT WALL STREET IS WHATS BEING TAKEN CARE OF NOT MAIN STREET.

I live in Southfield MI and I am very disappointed that our leaders in Washington don't get . GM CEO has nothing to do with current auto crisis. This is a nationwide problem and they are putting all of the blame on one person. How can cars be sold when you can not even get approved to get a loan to purcase it.

We need help in Michigan and it seems as if no one cares. If Chrysler go down what will all of these people do about their homes, children education, health care and etc.?

Wake up American before it is to late.

All Major auto makers have SUVs. We had station wageons, mini vans, and SUVs. That is a lifestyle we enjoy. The people on the show tonight is telling America to change its lifestyle. Do they have that right?

Bobby

@ Donald

you said...........Why is it always fashionable to stick it to the lowest wage earner in the situation.

I work in an area that no one gets $40 an hour and few over $30 an hour and everyone has had 6 years of college, works hard and I live in a very expensive area.

I think the Auto workers are way over paid!!!

The President and Congress should not get involved in taking over the oversight of GM and Chrysler. This is the personal sector. The President quoted the government had no interest in taking over the auto industry, then why did he ask Rick Warren to step down and give Chrysler the ultimatum of merging with Fiat, a non-quality company!

Rick Neuhoff, contact me at Patrick@OnlyJesusSaves.com! I WANT to see your electric cars and planes!!!

the automotive industry is the most unpatriotic of all industries in America. They created the desire & the market for large gas guzzling beheamoths thru constant bombardment of advertisements of suv's and giant trucks etc. Then filled the market demand by building the monsters ,to see to the brainwashed public all the While with the full knowlege that our cunsumption of Arab oil was pushing us further in debt!!! they went even further & destroyed the electric car to build the hummer!!!! When they did that I stopped buying their cars, and wrote them and told them why I would not buy one of their cars untill they made something that would reduce the drain on America- I am a former GM employee of 17 years– thank you

I am a farmer. I need a heavy duty truck. Where do I buy one if GM or Chrysler or Ford goes under? An an electric car or gas efficient can't get the job done? I say, help GM and Chrysler. America needs them. Where would America be if it wasn't for men like Henry Ford turning his plant into a war machine factory. How quick we forget where and how we became the Big Three.
James Skees
Kentucky

Do you have any idea how annoying and intrusive is that "Larry King Live" title that keeps blipping on and off on the lower right corner of your screen? It is both distracting and unnecesssary. Please get rid of it. Thank you.

What financial culpability does the UAW play in the dues paid by the members? Isn't the union responsible and accountable to invest their members dues and, in some part protect the retirement fund?

SOMETIMES IT LOOKS AS THOUGH THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION IS TRYING TO BUY A MIDDLE CLASS. IF THEY BUY A HEALTH CARE SYSTEM, IF THEY BUY AN AUTOMOBILE SYSTEM, IF THEY BUY A BANKING SYSTEM AND SO ON, THEY CAN KEEP MIDDLE CLASS – WORKING CLASS VALUES ALIVE LIKE THEY WERE 30 OR 40 YEARS AGO. IN THOSE DAYS MY PARENTS TOOK MOST OF THOSE THINGS FOR GRANTED BUT NOW THEY ARE FALLING APART. THIS MAY JUST BE A NATURAL DETERIERATION OF THE MIDDLE CLASS AND NO MATTER HOW MUCH MONEY WE THROW AT IT, IT WILL NEVER BE WHAT IT USE TO BE AND PEOPLE WILL HAVE TO LEARN TO ADJUST.

When I worked for a GM dealer in the auto industry 30 years ago, the common saying at that time was...."GM less for more"
Their attitude is what got them where they are today!

Instead of giving the CEO a seperation package of $20M, give him the same seperation package that a long time line employee will get...He certainly didn't earn a large package and the line guy probably could have done the job with the same or better results.

Im a auto tech from texas i have a fix for our economy is for americans to buy american products if we do this we save ourselfs
from 1912 we became wnb industrial country by inventing and buying
american broducts we do this now .
we save ourselfs .

I'm sorry but GM DID NOT make the cars people wanted!!! WE did not want more SUVs and Gas gusling Vans!
Instead of making cars good for the economy and good for the customer they made cars they wanted to that were cheap to make!

The person on tv now that has stated the american auto goofed by building suv's seem to forget that before the economic failure there were record sales. My wifes jeep plant added a shift to both plants sales were so good. People without jobs don't buy any cars big or small. I would also like to comment of health costs. The people in the house and senate that complain about uaw benefits have the best healthcare they could vote themselves. They don't have the sovial security health care they expect all other Americans to live under. The big 3 losing theitr legacy costs term that is used so freely is the retirement people work 30 years to get. I have always thought if government had to live with everyone elses healthcare and not their lifetime benifets for only 1 term not 30 years they might fix it

Larry,
Even if any American made vehicle was the best of the best, and the banking system wasn't in the shape it is in; if we don't have a job the banks still wouldn't loan us the money so we still couldn't buy an American made vehicle.
I was a member of a Union until I lost my job last summer. I am fed up with the whole UNION thing. They have simply priced us right out of JOBS. If anything in this Country needs to be reorganized it would be the UNIONS!!!!!!

What exactly do the Presidents opponents want? They have falsley accused him of being a socialist and wanting to take over companies. Today, he has given the auto industry an additional opportunity to "let free enterprise work", yet he is being bashed for not doing more and putting the burden on the Big 3 to work out their problem. How many second chances are they supposed to get before America wakes up and recognize that it is the auto industry's responsibility to fix their problems. President Obama is watching out for the best interest of capitalism and the American people

Does the U.S. Government seriously plan to 'guarantee' G.M. and Chrysler vehicles? Do you know how many millions of dollars we (as shareholders of GM alone) will lose to keep these cars running? There's a reason 2 of the big 3 are losing market share that people aren't talking about nearly enough – The Quality of their products.

I think that with the bailouts and getting personally involved with the business he has now launched a bigger problem for our government. The Automakers do occasionally make faulty parts that cost lives such as those rear end collisions that caused the gas tanks to erupt, and those tires that gave out and caused numerous accidents that also cost lives. Now that he has personally guaranteed our government will back the auto industry, does that mean we are now able to sue the government for shoddy workmanship if it costs a love one their life?

No, no bailout. Let them go into chapter 13, The industry is overloaded with insurance costs, medical, health & retirement benefits, products liability. (more than they spend on steel). Then, re-nego the unions realisitic competative wages. And, offer to the public the best technology available, not trickle it out. Better mileage car are available in Europe. Why not here?

Larry:
Cost cutting should be the goal.

On the other side of the globe, a brand new car is rolled out for a price of $ 2000 (Yes. TWO THOUSAND DOLLARS – NOT KIDDING. In India by Tata and company) provides a car to the ultimate consumers.
We may need a tie up with them for making cars.
We are unable to level the labor cost of GM with that of Toyota !!

Cost of Health care is also way high. We need 'Cost control' in all the fields.

Just my thoughts.
SS24

Toyota and Honda now have a Fuel Efficient car war and the United States does not have a comparable entry. The new Toyota Prius has a SOLAR PANEL ROOF! Let me repeat this! The new Toyota Prius has a SOLAR PANEL ROOF! What are American Car manufacturers introducing to compete? President Obama is doing the right thing by not giving any money to the American Car manufacturers until they show improvement. When the banks fail they are taken over by the Feds, restructured, and reopened to the public. American Car companies may go this route. As we speak, The Ford Motor Company seems to get it. They took no bailout money as they were in a better financial position. Look...i saw this coming...When you can buy a Japanese car and it is worth more than an American Car used and last three times as long is the same day I stopped buying American!

The union workers and the airline workers alway are the ones who have to give up what took 60 years to attain, and yet they still gave back to the companies, and here the companies are trying to take the last dimes of the peoples even when they know these companies do not have what it takes to survive! Because they refuse to change!

What do two factory workers know of what America wants in a CAR?

Larry, GM, Chrysler, and Ford have lost the edge on quality. American car manufracturers have failed to produce cars that will get more than
100,000.00 Miles. They continue to add techology that increases the
price of the automobile that does not last. Its called DESIGN
OBSOLESCENCE . By doing so, it causes us to repeat the purchase
process over and over again.

once again mr begley made a great point build a good working product and people will buy american ,this will do three thing simulate the auto industry, help the planet and create new jobs, i know i try to buy american products as often as possible when i can

GM makes the best cars!!!

Your panel needs to get their facts straight on the quality of American cars and trucks. Check out the latest Consumer Reports...Ford products are actually on par and in some cases exceed the best Japanese vehicles on quality.

Also, the US auto companies were not the only manufacturers to jump on the SUV and pick-up bandwagon. Toyota and Honda both produce a number of low mileage, large SUV's and pick-ups. Why does your panel ignore this fact?

@ Will Conidi

You said..... So now we want to make the workers pay for the bad decisions made in the board room. Its the same old thing, start cutting from the bottom not the top.

Your wages are very HIGH! Your union is too powerful...

Ford Motor Company, because Mr. Mulally' who is down to earth, came in and realized that Ford was on a dead end path, and came in and changed it. I am proud to be a Ford Dealer. Their quality is best in class, and Ford should be getting more positive press because they have done the right thing, without any ballout!! I"d buy some Ford stock. They should have dumped the Board of Directors of G.M.

I am a Canadian. I think that G.M. should smarten up and stop making the trash they call cars and trucks. If you do not believe me pick up the latest copy of Consumer Reports. On the whole the Toyota's,Honda's are better built than any G.M. I will go so far to say that G.M. should be ashamed for building that junk. I will say that this is not the worker's fault. This was management that did this

GM produced what the consumer wanted? NO, the Big 3 produced what the government made easy, big SUV's and Trucks that guzzled gas. Where were all the EPA fuel economy standards. This is just anonther history repeating itself, gas guzzlers sitting on car lots.

can the auto industry add a wind turbine into a cars for wind energy your always driving against the wind

After 9/11 the airline I was employed by filed for bankrupcy after being denied a loan by the US Government. I retired, in retirement my pension has been reduced, my benefits have changed the airline is still flying. I spent 36 years there. Plus the employee owned stock plan went south, way south.
Ask your guests what is the difference?

Jim

What would the Mayor of San Francisco know about the automobile industry? GM built SUV's because people bought them and they killed the electric car because people did not buy them!! It is called free enterprise – the American way or at least to now – we thought so.

Biil Atkinson

I see on here we all feel the same and we are not stupid people we are AMERICANS and we happen to be very intelligent!

Let the car companies fail, get rid of the unions and rebuild and maybe they will understand how we truly feel about them making these outdated old dinasaur cars that drink way too much gas and ruin our invironment!

Larry, My husband worked for GM for 24 years. All the hard working GM saleried workers have already lost our health care and why should we lose our retirement while all the suits in Washington and the big business in our country get big bonuses and us working people lose all we have worked for. To late for us to get a new career. We are in our 60s. I haven"t heard much about the retirees. Where do we fit in?

I don't think that the US government should be bailing out the auto industry. Like all other companies, automakers should be responsible for themselves. SUV production was a bad choice on the part of US automakers, and now they have to pay the price - just like ANY company that makes poor production and marketing decisions.

Gosh all I hear from these guys is excuses!! When those guys were building those bemoths the rest of the manufactuers were building smaller more efficient cars. The answer to me is build cars that don't look like last year's models and also a line of cars similar to the ones India just released which are smaller , and don't cost a fortune to buy or build!

@ Patrick Burwell

China already has an excellent working electric car.

NOT TO BAIL

Yes...the government intervention into the car industry . It will work as it is our only hope. And remember bankrupcy is a tool for re-orgainization that has righted many sinking companies and resulted in not only their future viability but demonstrated future profits.

The UAW men had no idea how many hours it took to make a car. I am in the steel fab business and i can tell you how many hours it takes to manufacture the daily steel products my plant produces

NO the Government can't take care of the crooks they have in their own house! So who gave them the right to step in and try to run a car company!

It seems that these efforts are counter-productive. Specific to Chrysler, they need to stabilize/increase sales to pull themselves up. How does today's "or else" announcement help? It just amplifies the fears of potential buyers and keeps them away from dealerships!
My husband works for a Chrysler, Jeep, Dodge dealer and the sufferring is wide spread with crippling implications. Beyond direct staff, the service companies (window washers, waste haulers, detailers, etc.) are at the edge of their existence.
Is this micro-level involvement in the auto companies an effort to remedy the missteps of the massive financial industry bail out?

Lou Gerstner is the answer to GM. He turned around the elephant i.e. IBM

Broadcasting doesn't get better than Larry King! Where did things go wrong in this country? Too many people... skyrocketing prices on everything from bandaids to homes. If prices stayed the way they were... and the average family car was between 10 – 15K, business would be up and car companies wouldn't be in this situation.

America should help the car companies, BUT it's the public that will be the ultimate judge and jury, as they are the buyers of vehicles that keep car companies in business.

I vote NOT to Bailout!
I vote NOT to Bailout!

The government can't run the USPS what makes them think they know the auto industry

Ford, Toyota, Honda & Fiat are all doing well, GM has to stand on it's on or ? by-by Chrysler should have been gone years ago

Hi Larry,

We should help the auto industry. What people don't see is the bigger picture. The story of the auto industry is the story of America. I don't work for the auto industry. I've been in high tech for 20 years...but I no longer work for an American company. All our good companies are either being purchased by or disapearing overseas.

Why are the auto makesr trying to blame the government for not tell them wich car to make, gas, natral gas, electric, or hybrid, for years that have been forcing those tank gas guzzlers on the American people. None of us produced cars so they need to stop blaming the people and the government, we did not design any cars!

The Big Three are trapped in a myth believing that they are in the center of the automobile universe and that others follow their lead. What needs to happen is they need to leave Detroit to make a better car.

@ Dodie in Irvine. Sorry but unfortunately you chose the wrong profession. I had to change jobs a number of times before I retired to assure my retirement would be sufficient. My son teaches high school math in California and makes more than you profess to make.

Larry;
Why don't any of the news programs interview salaried employees or salaried retirees? We haveopinions too!!! No one talks about our loses they are more than any other group in the company (excutives and UAW)..............

The governemnt should bailout companies that should have forward thinking . GM has repeatdly shown us that it's a company that should
be out of buisness..

Obama is no different than any other politician – He used the working class to get elected, and now that he's elected, he's making people who supported him, those who were hoping for help and change, pay a price, unlike the banks and wall street people who were responsible for the mess in the first place – what a sell out.

SHOULDNT OR COULDNT A CO.LIKE GM START TO MANUFACTOR THINGS LIKE SOLAR PANELS WIND TURBINES,SINCE THEY HAVE TO RETOOL TO MAKE A NEW MODEL OF AUTOMOBILE,THIS WOULD KEEP THEIR EMPLOYEES AT WOTK AND BUILD SOMETHING AMERICA CAN USE

The country needs the airline industry as well but where was our
bail out? we lost health care, wages, and our pensions. they let the
airlines cut the workers off at the knees. I think its time for the workers
to take some concessions.

Hey if I worked for GM and made the fact wages they make and have the incredible benefits I would take up for GM too!

Someone at CNN needs to address this comment. I don't see any other place at CNN to send it. Thanks for reviewing.

I think GM and Chrysler should die. Keep them surviving mean people with buy their products. Let them invent themselves how to survive and learn techniques how to sell vehicle to consumers.

Quit blaming the auto manufacturers for this economic mess! It was brought on by speculators on Wall Street who inflated oil and housing prices!!!

come on Larry,
you want us to believe that GM makes quality automobiles when the video of the production line that you show tonight has an assembly worker talking on her cell phone – is that quality? Would Toyota or Honda allow this as part of their manufacturing process?!

Larry, I grew up in the Detroit area and have since moved out. My basic question is if the AIG executives were paid bonus to keep employees on and were looked down upon for it, I would be very curious how much of the bailout was paid out for people to retire in the form of Buyouts? It can't be cheap to pay an employee of 30+ years to retire. At least with AIG we didn't contribute to the jobless rate.

Thanks,

Yes, if and only if, they build a car like Ed Begley has talked about. If they're just going to build another big SUV...NO.

The workers laid off can be re-trained at our expense to similar jobs....

Larry,

GM workers are amoung the laziest and most over paid in the world. I am a dealer in Oklahoma and when our plant shut down these workers were assigned to our store. they showed up at 9am stayed till 4pm and joked the whole time about how GM paid them for doing NOTHING!!
Rick Wagner lost money as the leader. Thats a fact. Why is everyone so upset and confussed. This guy did not get the job done. Thats just how it go's.

To be qualified to lead one must be willing to make sacrifices. When was the last time any official in Washington ,either elected or appointed, volunteered to sacrifice anything?

Rick Wagner volunteered to work for $1a year. Name me one CEO in the banking industry who has volunteered to work for $1a year.

to answer your question of the UAW Representive . it takes 18 to 24 hours to produce a car in the manufacturing / assembly plants. subassemblies not included

Be creative! Big Auto should be bailed out by the companies that are 1) awash in obscene profits and 2) need Big Auto more than anyone: Answer: Force Big Oil to Buy and Support Big Auto! That's synergy and the companies can be bought for less than a quarters worth of big oil profits.

Combine that with a $5000 tax free check to any GM or Chrysler car buyer in the next 6 months and $2500 for any car buy in the next six months. This will move product off the lots and put stimulus money into the hands of people and local governments through sales tax, rather than into the hands of incompetent executives.

I should remind everyone that GM makes the most fuel efficient trucks and SUVs in the world...better than Honda or Toyotas attempts...

Tell Mr. Bagley that his TV show sucks.......

NO.... please stop. Let bankruptcy do its job. Stop the fear mongering. Secondary parts are alive and kicking (and often less costly). Warranty and post warranty support will not be an issue.

BTW.. the reason GM made big cars is because due to overhead, they can't make small cars profitably. We can't import profitable GM cars either.. why? Unions i imagine..

Ford presently sells turbo charged diesels in the UK that get 60 mpg. Add some door bars, tell the EPA to cool their jets and turn Ford loose to sell the cars in the US, geez. The auto industry in the US has stood sill on mpg for almost 30 years. I owned a Toyota in 1979 that gave 40 mpg. It is a joke to hear the current claims of 33 or 35 mpg and think that is something special.

The issue with an Auto bailout is misguided. The auto industry is in the business of selling cars. Giving money to GM and Chrysler does not address the problem. It only addresses a short term fix. Cars still need to be sold. The current bailout does nothing to move cars. I think a more viable bailout would be to give an incentive to the buyers of US autos. I do not know the amount is but a starting point might be an additional $5000 rebate in their annual individual tax return. This is over and above any factory/dealer discounts. This would put the taxpayers money back in their pocket/product and help move the cars.

This guy retiring from GM looks middle aged. Since when do you qualify for retirement in your peak years. No wonder they're in trouble!

The Model S, which carries its charger onboard, can be recharged from any 120V, 240V or 480V outlet, with the latter taking only 45 minutes. By recharging their car while they stop for a meal, drivers can go from LA to New York in approximately the same time as a gasoline car. Moreover, the floor-mounted battery pack is designed to be changed out in less time than it takes to fill a gas tank, allowing for the possibility of battery-pack swap stations.

The floor-mounted powertrain also results in unparalleled cargo room and versatility, as the volume under the front hood becomes a second trunk. Combining that with a four-bar linkage hatchback rear trunk and flat folding rear seats, the Model S can accommodate a 50-inch television, mountain bike *and* surfboard simultaneously. This packaging efficiency gives the Model S more trunk space than any other sedan on the market and more than most SUVs.

"Model S doesn't compromise on performance, efficiency or utility - it's truly the only car you need," said Tesla CEO, Chairman and Product Architect Elon Musk. "Tesla is relentlessly driving down the cost of electric vehicle technology, and this is just the first of many mainstream cars we're developing."

Tesla expects to start Model S production in late 2011. The company believes it is close to receiving $350 million in federal loans to build the Model S assembly plant in California from the Dept of Energy's Advanced Technology Vehicle Manufacturing Program.

Building on Proven Technology

Tesla is the only production automaker already selling highway-capable EVs in North America or Europe. With 0-60 mph in 3.9 seconds, the Roadster outperforms almost all sports cars in its class yet is six times as energy efficient as gas guzzlers and delivers 244 miles per charge. Tesla has delivered nearly 300 Roadsters, and nearly 1,000 more customers are on the waitlist.

Teslas do not require routine oil changes, and they have far fewer moving (and breakable) parts than internal combustion engine vehicles. They qualify for federal and state tax credits, rebates, sales tax exemptions, free parking, commuter-lane passes and other perks. Model S costs roughly $5 to drive 230 miles – a bargain even if gasoline were $1 per gallon.

The anticipated base price of the Model S is $49,900 after a federal tax credit of $7,500. The company has not released options pricing. Three battery pack choices will offer a range of 160, 230 or 300 miles per charge.

But the anticipated sticker price doesn't tell the full story. Model S costs half as much as a Roadster, and it's a better value than much cheaper cars. The ownership cost of Model S, if you were to lease and then account for the much lower cost of electricity vs. gasoline at a likely future cost of $4 per gallon, is similar to a gasoline car with a sticker price of about $35,000. That's why we're positive this car will be the preferred choice of savvy consumers.

The standard Model S does 0-60 mph in under six seconds and will have an electronically limited top speed of 130 mph, with sport versions expected to achieve 0-60 mph acceleration well below five seconds. A single-speed gearbox delivers effortless acceleration and responsive handling. A 17-inch touchscreen with in-car 3G connectivity allows passengers to listen to Pandora Radio or consult Google Maps, or check their state of charge remotely from their iPhone or laptop.

Tesla is taking reservations online and at showrooms in California. Tesla will open a store in Chicago this spring and plans to open stores in London, New York, Miami, Seattle, Washington DC and Munich later this year.

We're certain you'll be hearing a lot more about Tesla in the weeks and months ahead, and we look forward to seeing you at the stores we're opening soon!

Tesla is getting it done!

My father was a autoworker and was able to give our family what we needed to have a piece of the American dream. Now the people that helped bring down the Big Three want to use the Union as a scapegoat.

Why not just revive the EV1 electric vehicle, since they have all the plans and know how to build them, and people eager to have them now, they will sell like hot pancakes. This is the easiest thing to do to for GM to start selling cars fast.

I think GM and Chrysler should die. Keep them surviving does not mean, people will buy their products. Let them invent themselves how to survive and learn techniques how to sell vehicle to consumers.

When are they going to bailout some of the Constuction companies/

Although I feel somewhat for sorry the autoworkers who are being asked to give up some of their hard earned status, I also know that they have been the highest paid workers over the last 40 years. They have no idea what it has been like in other low paying industries, some of them earing less than one third the wages of the autoworkers.

@ Chris M. In Check your facts, Toyota just got a fat bail out from the Japaneese gov. last week.

No more money. For decades these dinosaurs refused to make difficult cuts and now they want us to bail them out. Autoworkers? Why should uneducated, unskilled labor believe they are entitled to high paying jobs?

Experts and analysts estimate that there are six jobs created or supported by every one auto job – compared to the financials which support 2.5 jobs to every one. I find it hard to understand why anyone questions the need to keep these companies around.

I'm also having a hard time understanding the blatant double standard that exists between the auto execs and Wall Street execs. No one required any bank CEO to step down as a prerequisite to receving federal dollars.

Richard Wagoner was indeed a sacrificial POLITICAL lamb.

I'm interested to know why the attitude on the car lot has not changed. By this I mean that dealers are not acting as if their company is in financial trouble. There are no more incentives than there have ever been, dealers still aren't moving on their pricing, and inventory is not moving. I have tried several times lately to buy a car, an american car, and have been expected to pay almost full retail. I've gotten better deals on a vehicle when there was allegedly no financial problem nor the incentive to sell a car. I don't know that a 'fire sale' will help the problem, but full retail in this economy from a company we can't believe in right now is NOT the answer....

Noman S. Huron Township, Michigan
Since these auto company getting tax payer money why don’t we give each tax payer $1000 to $1500 tax credit if they buy American cars only from GM and Chrysler.
Benefits from it, GM and Chrysler sell more car, tax payer will be happy getting tax brakes and American economy will move forward

This is a bad time to let the GM go bankrupt. It could cause the ressession to spin out of control with accelerated loss of jobs and closing of small businesses near the auto plants, not to mention possible bankruptcies in the auto parts sector. We have bailed out banks with their highly paid employees. What about the autoworkers who are not nearly so well off? In terms of quality, there are several award winning American car models on the market right now. And something for you reporters to sink you teeth into...Are the differences in car quality that Comsumer Reports makes money on really statistically significant? I doubt it. It's easy to rank things from 1 to 10, but are the differences really material? In most cases, no. But there is no money in reporting ties.

RETIREMENT BENEFITS ? What decade are these union workers living in ? I grew up right next to a huge GM plant called Hydromatic in Ypsilanti, Michigan, and watched as the unions arrogance surrounding their 'entitlement' attitude essentially caused that plants closure. While I certainly put a large amount of blame on auto management focus on the big SUV type autos, the auto crisis , just like the banking crisis has enough blame to go around and multiple culpable parties. I think that benefits the union expect and the overall costs they generate are from a different generation. Who growing up now, and goes to college and foregoes 4 years of salary would EVER consider that it's a companies responsability to support thier retirement? Let em go bankrupt, blow out the crazy retirement entitlement, and let the car companies restructure without that albatrose around their neck.

When will the United States realize we need to stop outsourcing? We are now seeing what happens when small parts are outsourced to other countries. I do not understand why we cannot see this. IF Obama really wants to help.....bring the jobs back to AMERICA! It is simple......

If we are really making the best cars in the world then why we are buying japanese and german? and what kind of car does the panel drive? Mercedes?

I disagree that GM made the cars that the consumer wanted. I believe that they built the cars that they wanted to build and then through marketing and advertising convinced the consumer that they were the cars that the consumer wanted.

Hi Larry, you know at first i thought it was a good idea but... I think too many people are looking at the quick fix solution. Lets look at how it started. ie. if you give a child $5 and let him/her go into the candy store and they spend $10 dollars, if you pay for the remainder what has the child learned... I know the problem did not start overnight lets stab the beast at the head not in the foot.

Your guests seem like good people, but $85.00 per hour for a factory worker wage is OUTRAGEOUS! No wonder our auto makers have been unable to compete. In addition, the quality of American made autos has deteriorated to the point that I have not purchased one since 1989. We now have only Toyotas and Hondas and have no plans to consider purchasing any American cars in the future.

I am sick of the auto workers whining. I have a 2007 Saturn Vue base model SUV. There are 2 small plastic plates that cover a 4"x6" hole where the optional fog lights would go. That small piece of plastic costs $65 each!

The UAW destroyed the auto industry. Why shoul someone with a high school diploma at best, be making $30-$40 an hour to put a door handle on all day.

They don't have degrees, they aren't exposed to the elements and work in a clean climate controlled environment with machines doing all the lifting.

The average american cannot get a job with the Big 3 even in a good market because you have to have a relative working there to get hired into the union.

I say destroy the union or nothing will change.

Mark B

Houston, TX.

How is it Toyota, Honda, Nissan and Mazda can make really great cars that are loaded and they are great on gas and the invironment yet our American car companies can't seem to make anything but outdated cars bad on gas, bad on invironment and too high priced due to paying employees WAY too much!!!

So how do Honda and Toyota make better cars and not pay their employees as much as GM who makes horrible, cheap cars?

From Oshawa. We have lost a lot of G.M. JOBS here. How are you going to save G.M. if you don't control. health care cost.

A retiree that feels left out of all the bailouts, worked all my life for retirement, saved my money, with no retirement only my savings, now that's down all most 50%. When is it my turn. In January I even bought a new Chevy Mailbu to help them get thier billions.

Jim Grant

Let them fail. No one bailed out the clothing industries years ago. As for the Unions, what major industry have they helped save in the U.S.? They have killed their golden goose.

Larry, If, the same happen in Chaina or Russa, we will be all over it for the government intervention and protection. what happen when it is close to home. I think we should leave them fail and go to bankruption court. that is the right thing to do.

Question: 1) does Mr Green Jr apply for a job each week to get unemployment? 2) does Mr Green Jr only gets 60% of his pay check?

No. I don't only blame the management I blame the auto worker. If you recall in the 70's the government imposed a special tax on car being imported into the US. The union has done more to hurt this economy than anyone else. I think they are to blame.

This is still America and Americans will endure. But we can't keep getting knocked down by our own stupidity and getting back up to continue failed business models. I know that there are millions of jobs at stake and hard working people who are doing it. It is my hope that we as American get a better understanding that we have got to reinvent ourselves and make a product we need as well as want.

If anyone thinks auto workers are over paid try their jobs and see if you can hack it. I doubt it. The $40 p/hr figure people like to throw around don't know the facts that that figure includes pension costs for the people who are already retired. Chrysler makes $28p/hr, Honda $26, Toyota $30. Import companies also offer stock options and paid transportation to work and meals while at work for many. Import manufacturers don't have the retirees cost as they have only been in this country since the 70's not 1900 and are just starting to have retirees to support

Chrysler made a turbine engine car in 1963. That car would run on anything that had 10% allchol , where is that car today Eugene Coard Durham N.C.

I live in Canada, and I am watching your show tonite about GM, Chrysler and Ford. My question is this: Why is Ford not in as much trouble as the two other car manufacturers? What did Ford do that they didn't and can the other two do the same thing?

Also, I heard some of the comments about the other Automakers being given "special trade deals", can not the US reduce some of the exceptions they are giving to these companies? Would that not help GM, Chrysler and Ford?

Thank you for your answers.

make a product that holds up 6 GM cars in our drive way 4 which have issues GM has not stood behind there product 98 Malibu bad head gaskets anti freeze in oil ( all manufactuer suggest maintence) today found on any used car lot 3500 think we would abandon GM No we got another Malibu electrical issue's , 2004 Sierra 1500 Dash cluster is gone can't see how fast I am going the RPM's , how much gas i have , oil pressure or temp GM sends a letter in 2008 stating that there is no issue but if you had this problem and your vehicle is under 8years old or less than 80k miles they will fix it , or if you have already fixed it they'll refund the dealer stonewalled me when i went to them about the same dealer i paid 28k for this truck , Chey Impala 2003 manifold gasket GM wanted 1000k dollars good thing we have a family member that knows the automakers service policies my heart goes out to those that don't .. I disagree that American automakers needing a bailout FIX MY DASH GM YOU GOT MY 28K for the TRUCK I want to buy the MALIBU LTZ Help me make the right choice GM

Where is the accountability on Wall Street that is demanded of the auto industry?

The auto bail out is 10's of billions as opposed to HUNDREDS of billions to the bankers!

Does anyone realize how devastating the loss of an auto supplier is to a small community? There has to be thousands of small employers throughout the country that supply these "bad bad" American auto companies. Lose 1 supplier in a small community, that town turns into a dust bowl!

Wake up people!

I would like to know if the administration has considered making the interest on car loans deductible on income tax like it used to. It seems to me that when this ended home equity lines were used to buy cars and this added to the housing crisis. With deductible car loans the auto industry could have a shot at restoring themselves to solvency.

It looks to me like the "abnormal and excessive labor costs" start at the very top. It would be interesting to know how much the executive branch of GM took home in the last 10 years compared to the line workers....

It seems to me that President Obama is sending a message to the Auto Industry that they have to get into the 21st Century regarding business practices. They will have to retool and reorganize to stay in business. They will have to manufacture a product that necessary for North Americans to sustain a viable future for our planet. Mr. Ed. Begley Jr. has his ducks in a row. North American Industry will have to bite the bullet and biodiversify....think outside of the box. I am a union member and I totally understand where the Auto Industry is coming from...but in todays world you have to be innovative and forward thinking to remain viable

“To bail or not to bail” sounds as if the government is eager to spend the money on these companies to rescue, but in reality the government doesn’t want to squander the money. In reality, it is forced to rescue these failing companies because the consequences for not lending a hand is simply too large to fathom.

WHAT HAPPEN TO THE GOOD USA? ARE WE IN A SOCIALISM COUNTRY NOW? I'M JUST WAITING FOR SOCIALSM MEDICNE TOO SCARY FOR ME.....

WHEN THE AUTO MAKERS SAY THEY WERE MAKING WHAT THE PUBLIC WANTED, THEY FORGET THAT WE WENT TO FOREIGN BUILT CARS BECAUSE OF THEIR SAFETY RATING. NORTH AMERICAN CAR BUILDERS WERE TOO BUSY LOOKING "PRETTY", THAN MAKING THEM SAFE.
WE HAVE BOUGHT EUROPEAN BUILT CARS SINCE 1996, AND JUST WENT BACK TO BUYING A FORD BECAUSE OF IT'S HIGH SAFETY RATING. GM AND CHRYSLER STILL DON'T GET SAFETY.

@ Donald

If he teaches special ed math class then he will make good money. I am surprised that you say he makes more than I said because teachers are always complaining of the money they make.

Yes, I am definitely in the Wrong field!

Ever since the Japanese cars came to American, the gap with quality increased over the years. whenever you see a car broken down on an expressway, the majority were American cars. Despite all warnings, increases in foregin car sales, rising gas prices, the Big 3 kept producing gas guzzlers with poor repair records. Now, so many people that are employed by these companies are going to suffer. So, the executives who missed the boat need to go, minus any bonus. The government needs to monitor the bankruptcy. The American car industry needs to lead in economy and quality, period!

The biggest problem, is the root problem. The United Auto Workers (UAW) Union. Those people, from the janitor, the painter, to the one that put in screws in the chasity, to the heavy enginer repair; all those hourly workers make $30 / hour. If they do not all make it, then they go on strike and shut the company down. They all make the same amount from the new UAW hourly worker to the one that has been there for 30 years.
The UAW can shut down not only GM, but they can shut Ford, and Chrysler also down. Shut them down to nothing, and keep them down. The UAW is a plague, and is deeply rooted into the American Car Manufacturer like a "tic to a dog".

Fire the head of the UAW. This is a start and is only fair.

Thanks,
Nicholas S.

I think many are missing the point here. The UAW killed GM with unrealistic demands that sent profit margins into the ground. Combine that with incompetent management and here we are. Even if GM built the Prius, it couldn't be competitive since it would have to cost $10k more just to turn a profit!

Why is no one blaming the workers? I don't actually pin this directly on them, but they're responsible for their union leadership, and they have killed the golden goose by driving long-term costs through the roof. I think the workers (through their union) are about three-quarters responsible for this.

In 1999 I bought a 2000 GMC/Yukon. I did all the scheduled maintenance at the dealership where I bought the vehicle. I used this vehicle only for weekend driving. In 2006 this vehicle had 46K miles and the transmission started going out. The Warranty was expired, I was over the mileage warranty. The dealership wanted $3,600.00 to repair the transmission. I traded that vehicle at the dealership next door. I bought this GMC vehicle because I was certain I would keep it until my retirement, not so. I bought a Japanese import. I will never buy American again. If GM can't build a vehicle worthy of lasting 100K miles, they deserve the turmoil they're going through now, just like I did with their vehicle.

There is a misnomer among the Americans that we are not building good cars. This is not true. As Mike Green said on the broadcast GM has 30 vehicleds that get more than 30MPG. We need to get Americans to buy American. GM will survive if we support their product.

As far as the electric car, I'm not sold on it..

what about ILA (ny and nj)union workers....have some people working from 100hours per week to 190 hours per week and 30% of longshormens are collecting partial unemployment....and they call this unions!!!!lol

Banks and Financial Institutions received hundreds of billionsof dollars in bailouts. No one was fired or asked to take reductions in pay. In fact some took bonuses, Why can't the government afford to invest 50 billion in main street America?

The demand for cars is a fraction of what it was years ago because people keep their cars longer and more people are living without cars when they can. What is the point of propping up a bloated industry that should be smaller? Maybe we should just destroy some buses, trains and subways so we can force people back into buying more cars. That way the all the poor autoworkers can keep their full benefits packages and 90% pay rate for downtime.

RETIREED 9 YEARS..I AM WORRIED ABOUT MY AND MY WIFE.S MED. INSURANCE. WHO WOULD INSURE 2 DIABETICS? WE WOULD BE LOST

No, but in this case, Yes. What about supply and demand? Why should they keep on making so many cars if people aren't buying? Why don't they lower the price, and get on track again after they sell what they have now?

How is it that the average, and I understand it's the average, UAW makes $73/hr and they are unable to make concessions? If the new employee's pay is half of what it was, what is it now? Is it $10/hr from $20/hr or $20/hr from $40/hr. If these people want to know what low wages are, look to the retail market. Most retail employees make less than $15/hr with little to no healthcare. UAW members receive many more benefits that most live without and seem to do just fine.

Auto industry executives and auto workers have been overpaid for the work they do for years. The manufacturing industry has been moving to countries where labor costs are lower for decades, all at the same time that auto workers are paid higher than average earnings. There is no forward thinking in the auto industry, not in their products nor in their employees. How can anyone expect this industry to survive without major changes in their thinking as well as their business.

As a second generation auto worker and a G.M. employee of over thirty two years; I resent the implication that we, as the union represented rank and file, are the fall guys for the failure of the economy in general and the auto industry in specific. We are as much the victim in all this as anyone else. I also do not appreciate that what seems to be lost in translation is the fact that the "bailout" for G.M. and Chrysler is a LOAN of the taxpayer's monies. NOT the gift that the government has given to the bankers of Wall Street. The American auto industry must make repayment. I seriously doubt that Wall Street will utter a single "thank you" as they take there money and pay out there ridiculous bonuses to their executives.

Yes, let's all feel sorry for the poor auto workers who earn up to $70 an hour for screwing on rearview mirrors and installing windshields. How can I, a blue collar worker who makes nowhere close to that, feel sorry for them? They and their greedy unions are as much a problem as corporate mismanagement.

The excessive wages and benefits that the UAW demands is un-sustainable. The taxpayers should not be expected to support them. Bankruptcy is the only way to get the Cuts needed from the UAW.

I do appreciate the work the GM employees do and i am a supporter of GM and its workers but if Toyota and Honda have non unionized workers that work for less money why cant GM. It works for the foreign companies why not take a page from their book.

GM has shipped auto industry jobs overseas and,they have kept
their overpriced jobs up north. here in the south I have a friend that has topped out at 30$/hr after 20 years at nissan . hes happy what is the top out in detroit?

I don't think the Gov't should NOT bail out struggling businesses! Who saved the Textile Workers. NO ONE! I think we should let the Auto Industries get what the Textile Workers. Send the jobs over seas.

The bankruptcy of one of the Big 3 affects everyone in subsidiary industries – auto parts, service centers, Delco and automotive aftermarket industries, magazine & newspaper advertising, automotive stereo parts and service, automotive insurance, and God knows how many others. The tentacles reach throughout society. It's not just GM going down but everyone associated with them.

I am a GM Dealer–Chevrolet and Cadillac. My family has had our store for 42 years. In those 42 years I have seen lots of CEO's and some terrible decisions. But that does not apply to Mr. Wagoner. Product made a huge improvement under his tenure. He was a breath of fresh air in dealer relations. Also,m everyone keeps talking about GM's poor quality and vehicles with low gas mileage. Perception is not reality in this case. Check the facts. Mr. King, you like the looks of the CTS/Cadillac but you have not driven one. When was the last time you took a serious look at a GM product. By the way–I have an Escalade/Cadillac customer who has about 300,000 miles on his vehicle–because he maintains it!!

We need to help the automakers somehow. If they fail, it will affect alot of other businesses such as suppliers etc. Cut down on the number of models they make and make all cars more fuel efficient. The car manufacturers have known for a long time that they needed to keep up with new technology but they failed to do this.
As far as the public is concerned, when gas prices went up, no one wanted an SUV but when the prices went down people started buying them again. We need to all change our way of thinking about the future of the automotive industry and get it right this time.

Noman S. Huron Township, Michigan
Since these auto company getting tax payer money why don’t we give each tax payer $1000 to $1500 tax credit if they buy American cars only from GM and Chrysler.
Benefits from it, GM and Chrysler sell more car, tax payer will happy getting tax brake and American economy will move forward

Larry I am retired from ford motor company I would like to know how the white house is going towarranty cars when they cannot run ss or the rail road an post office

I agree with the one of the bloggers. I don't like bailing out the auto industry, but we must to save the auto workers from losing their jobs. Buy American.

Americans wanted the cars GM produced because GM convinced America that Americans need large cars. As for the union workers, you have to be realistic, there aren't many companines willing to pay for your healthcare after you leave. As engineer I have never found a job that would offer the benefits UAW workers recieved.

Americans wanted the cars GM produced because GM convinced America that Americans need large cars. As for the union workers, you have to be realistic, there aren't many companines willing to pay for your healthcare after you leave. As engineer I have never found a job that would offer the benefits UAW workers recieved.

GM CEO had it coming. As a man who faught against new technology
and not changing thinking in Detriot, he had to go to make room for new actiojn.
Stop defeneding old school. You think people like him would have inveted computers?Internet? I don't think so.

I owe 3000 dollars in Taxes. Should I write a check to Mr. Wagoner???!!!

I think all the executives should give back their ridiculous bonuses, the workers themselves should take a pay cut (a lot of people I know had their pay cut), and both GM and Chysler need to build better cars. I have had only 2 American cars that I have purchased/leased new and I won't do it again. I have owned foreign cars since 1985 and I don't plan to buy US for quite some time. So far the only thing that I have seen in the past few years are the US companies build big and bigger but the Japanese and other foreign companies seem to want to build great cars with good gas mileage, not cheap looking in the interior, and little maintenance. I had more problems with both my American cars than I have had with any of the foreign cars that I have owned.

I will NEVER buy another AMerican made car until they change their ways so there is NO need to bail them out of anything! They need to basically start over!

I think GM requested government input when they asked for a bailout. The GM car is too expensive and not dependable. The automobile is expensive and very expensive to maintain. They just don't get it. Decrease the outrageous salaries and unnecessary spending and save their own jobs and stop coming to the tax payers for a bailout and they can sale an affordable product and make it dependable. I am an American (born and raised). I lived in Detroit most of my life. My family has owned Cadillacs, Yukons, and I currently own a Toyota because of it's affordability and dependability. I can afford to buy a GM, Ford, or Chrysler because of the price tag and the upkeep.

yes lend any major corporation money keyword lend watch their spending and profits get returned.....bonus s paid when profits returned.....if the employees at the bottom have to take a hit it should be a percentage all across the board.....

Larry;

Wouldn't it make more sense to give the auto bailout money to the US consumer from the bottom up, rather than from the top (administration) down. In other words, cut the best deal you can with the new car dealer, then the federal government would pay $5000 to $10,000 of the new car price. The total dollar from the federal government to the car manufacturers would remain the same, but it would keep the assembly lines workers working and would be a huge boost to the auto mfg industry. It would be a win/win situation.
Joe Brenny

It's hard to say for me, my husband worked for an auto supplier for 3 years and he was laid off around christmas time–and he's a skilled trade person and it's been so hard to even get someone to call from all the jobs I submit for him. Part of me feels they need to learn how to compete on their own against the foreign industry. Why is it the bottom just all of a sudden fell out in the fall? My husband's company is not union, but it all trickles down to the rest of us–something has to be done or else things are going to be dire for everyone–hopefully these companies will get a plan of action.

Yep as a die hard Chevy and GMC MAN I can see the democrats come out in alot of people, they appear to make my mind up in that they think I need a UGGO or something like it, my old 1967 Camaro gets 25 mpg runs like a CHEVY should and gets me to work,
I love my CHEVY and GMC do NOT stop the good work,
get back to basics, build them as people want, not what you think the people need>>

We built SUVs for GM and for years we worked OT on the fastest line speed because we couldn't build them fast enough because that is what the American people wanted and bought. It goes to that point that Americans have no personal responibility any more every problem is because of someone else it couldn't possibly be me with my Two SUV family.

"NO…. please stop. Let bankruptcy do its job. Stop the fear mongering. Secondary parts are alive and kicking (and often less costly). Warranty and post warranty support will not be an issue.

BTW.. the reason GM made big cars is because due to overhead, they can’t make small cars profitably. We can’t import profitable GM cars either.. why? Unions i imagine.."
Agreed

We're spending $12,000,000,000 a month.. year after year on our half-witted "War on Terrorism".
.
With our national spending priorities so screwed-up, what difference does our opinion make?

I don't think the government should force any C E O to step down. if you are going to do this why didn't the ceo of AIG and any of the ofher lending instutions step down ? We have let the steel industries and most of the other industrial base of this country fail. why the big deal with the auto industry ??? we can import everything and live like the third world countries????? Sorry I guess I am a little bitter since i lost my hospital coverage when Weirton Steel went bankrupt and no one was concerned about that and all the rest of the steel industry. thanks Bill

If the Auto workers would make the average where I work which is around $25 an hour, and pay a part of their HMO coverage along with administration laying off 1/2 of their people and cut their wages, the big 3 would be fine

NO, I dont think that the government should have anything to do with it. I feel that if the money was gave to the u.s. citizens then,the companies would get help when we spend it. giving companies the money just helps them out for a little while and then they will need more in a couple months. if they give the people money then they will pay the companies the money that they owe them its a win for everyone that way.

The Auto workers have always been at the mercy of management's marketing objectives and product design. The CEOs of the big three have consistently ignored the needs of the environment, the economy and the consumer. The failure to develop products that use significantly less fuel and alternative fuels will destroy the industry and the workers in Michigan and elsewhere will pay the price. CEOs will still walk away with millions.

Why the big deal over Madonna adopting a kid? I just don't get it!
Why doesn't Madonna adopt any children in America, why always Africa?

We are doing the right thing by extending the loan to GM and
requiring new leadership.
The public speaks. If we were building what people want, they
would be buying our cars. The fact is that we do not market our
quality which came too late, rather we market space and economy.
We have been buying quality from Japan for years while our auto makers have tried to catch up.

Opps, I was kind of late but everyone talks about the condition of the US automaker inside USA but they have been scrutinized the us auto company around the world. GM, Ford and chrysler got a record sale in South America and Chinese & India market die for a Buick. I think that this is a show becuase they want to get our mony

David Pelayo Grand Rapid MI

I am the wife of a retired Chrysler worker. My husband worked 32 years and never missed a day. He said that everyday he drove into the plant he said Thank you God. We just returned from South Carolina and I was appalled to see far more new foreign cars than American. Do people realize that for every foreign car you purchase you give 1 American a job if they have a plant in America. For every American car you gave 5 people a job. Also, even if it's built in America – profits go back to that country. When America was facing devastation such as Hurricane Katrina – GM and American automakers gave Millions in donations – the foreign automakers *not one penny! We have 2 Chrysler/Jeep cars. Our 1998 Jeep Cherokee with 290,000 miles on it and have done nothing but routine repairs such as tires, etc. Our 1994 Jeep Commanche truck has 190,000 miles on it. So, I don't believe when I hear people say American cars aren't quality. Buy American – keep America working!

Are you kidding me? when do the bailouts stop? I do not want to bailout another failed company no matter what!!!! It has to stop now!!! This is the USA a capitalist nation... Great companies survive, the others do not...

Rasie the tax credit from 7,500 to 35,000 to 55,000! When Bush was in office they gave out a tax credit of 100,000 to 150,000!

I'd rather bail out GM than put another dime into AIG. I have a '97GM pickup truck and am not working right now. It doesn't take a genious to figure out that I'm keeping that truck based on my current work status. I think a lot of other people are too, Autozone's stock jumped16% last month.

CARLOS DIAZ.... (((( right on ))))

If more people bought American products we wouldn't be in this predicament. And from the sounds of it Larry, You must own foreign owned automobiles. You didn't even know which GM brand makes the CTS, it been out for over 6 years now. But Larry if you do drive an America' vehicle I apologize.

absolutely not. Would they bail me out of my home mortgage if I fall behind? Why don't they cut the prices of the vehicles to sell more volume Cut the wages of the high paid union members. it doesn't make sense to pay some one 50.00 to 80.00 an hour to put on a door handle. If they want to save there jobs and the business stop the greed. they have for years charged folks too much for cars and were arrogant about it. No simpathy here. Let them go bankrupt..

I would think It's more about the CEO's running GM then it is the UAW, Ford is UAW and doing well. NO MORE BAIL OUTS.........

I am not sure what people are talking about. How can you bail out companies who cannot find buyers for their products or who are lossing consumers' confidence because of their inferior and problematic products. They need to device a technique that will convince the buyers that their products have improved and they need to find international market for their products to increase sales just like the Japanese, Chinese and Germans.

Not only that we do not trust the reliability and durability of GM's cars the world is even more weary. Americans alone cannot free these companies from their down turn. They need to compete in the global market are a competitive prices (not greedy prices).

Ford is penetrating the world market and I can hear my friends in other countries including third world saying that Ford has come a long way and is now gaining consumers' confidence and soon it will start to give the japanese a run for their money.

Thanks.

All we have heard about this is that GM and Chrysler are failing. By the way Chrysler's own parent company will not lend any more money. There is no news about the other part of the "big three." Ford. I think that Ford will sore through this time and make the difference. I think that Ford took on the process of "if you can't beat them, join them." Ford looked at the imports making quality cars in America, with American workers and no unions, mind you. Hyundai, Toyota, Nissan, Honda, I know they are not American cars sort-of-speek, but they are more American made cars then the Big three. I'm telling you that Ford will come out of this with flying colors. I will only buy Ford now.

Give them the money; its cars that have real value. Money is just numbers on a computer chip.

If we would have put the 5 billion into a health care plan it would have helped the country and did a lot toward bailing out the auto health care delima we are facing. I enjoyed going to work everyday for 30 yrs, gave an honest days work too, gm retired 10 years

Obama finally started listening to the people and took a Leadership position. He realizes that the Cuts needed were not there and is not willing to throw good money after bad. I believe that he had lost a lot of support because of his refusal to step up to the plate and deal with this subject. Well he finally did and he is so right in his decision.

Point of clarification not struggling businesses, but failed businesses.

Coporate America has failed.

Large coporations are not run to put profit in the stockholders pockets, but rather to put the profits in the pockets of the upper management.

I didn't think it would happen in my lifetime but it appears it is about to happen, Marxism.

The basics of Marx's creed as outline in Das Capitol was that the normal progression of a countries economic organization would be from capitialism, to socialism and eventually it would end up as communism.

Marx also said that no country could skip this natural progression, go directly to communism or socialism with out first establishing an industrial base through capitialism.

I think the recent events of both Russia and China are proving Marx correct.

I never though of myself as a Marxist, but it sure appears his theories of capitial and economics are being validated.

Larry, I think GM should go back and get Jack Welch out of retirement and have him transition GM as he did GE, These American company are using inferior part, pay twice are much as other companies to build cars that does last long. Ultimately, if parts are inferior and labor and health care cost have escalated the way they have, it is natural that the company’s future is the way it is.

We have a large Hybrid GM vehicle for our business. It is fantastic! From the technology to the gas mileage. I can't believe this company has any problems, the product is just phenomenal. If someone could run the business end of GM as well as the product is produced, they would rule with their business.

Bankruptsy would resolve many issues. First and foremost the rediculous salaries and cradle to grave benefits no other american workers get. How do you think GM got in this mess. UNIONS

You know, it's strange that the government wants wants to bail out these huge capitalist corporations rather than the hundreds of thousands of small businesses that have failed over the past few years. If this country is based on the concept of capitalism, then why shouldn't we let these companies fail? We the people shouldn't be forced to bail out failing corporations that refuse to take global warming and public safety seriously. These are the same companies that had to be FORCED to comply with safety regulations and emmisions caps. I would rather my tax money be spent on my children's school, or keeping our library open thank you very much!

IF WE CONTINUE TO BAIL OUT EVERYONE, WE WILL EXPERIENCE ANOTHER POTENTIAL DEPRESSION DUE TO THE TERRIBLE INFLATION WE WILL HAVE IN 4 – 8 YEARS FROM NOW!!!

We don't have to worry that the hard working people at our major companies make a decent living and have decent benefits. Quite shortly they will be taxed to pay the debt, and their benefits will be restructured. Our government will take care of each and every one of us. We let it happen, we will have to take the responsibility and bear the consequences.

I don't want the auo industry to fold up but i recently sold my Chevy Tahoe and purchased a Chevy Traverse because I wanted to down size for environmental reasons - the selling point on the Traverse that was most important to me was the gas mileage - guess what Chevy misreprsents the mileage - it's the same as the Tahoe - I think Chevy should hang it's head in shame for asking me to bail them out while they lie to and rob me with false claims.

I would hate to seeourfuture hi tech transportation developed with standards set in Japan or Germany. We would be held hostage by foreign powers.

The people in California do not understand a toyota prus can not handle Michigan Roads in the center of the state of Michigan in the winter let alone the conditions in the upper penisula. That is why every cart can not get 50 miles to a gallon. All areas of the country need different cars-maybe not 50 but lets cut down on the imports. We in Michigan will survive if we could get our money out of AIG.

Raise the tax credit from $7,500 up to $35,000 to $55,000! When Bush was in office they gave out a tax credit of $100,000 to $150,000!!!

Please tell mr. Diaz that Madonna's hometown of Flint, Michigan is one of the poorest cities in the world. There are scores of abandoned children who need to be adopted.

I am disappointed that you featured T. McCotter as a representative for Michigan on the auto industry. He gave the impression that he supports the auto worker. I live in his district–for many years. He is definitely for big business and not for the auto worker. His presentation was certainly a political one–he said nothing that we did not already know. He supports big business not the worker. I am sure many workers resented him being a spokeman for them. He was in the Bush Camp at least 90% of the time. He shares the responsibility for where we are now. He is not a spokesman for
the worker in any sense. I am sorry you showcased him.

GM is getting what they deserve and that should be nothing . The employees were helping by buying only gm cars and having their family and friends buy gm cars. They've done the employees so wrong, now we tell people not to buy gm vehicles,and what really goes on behind the company walls. Why should the government help them when they cant even give their employees at home a job? I could see if they were trying to create more jobs for the people but they are for themselves

This is the second time around. Henry Ford in the late 20's shut down the Ford plant and revamped the entire plant, ending the Model T . The Model T became non-competitive. The plant was shut down for several years and the workers were laid off, just what GM is facing today. If you think the SUV is competitive, you must like $4 gasoline.

I believe that the facts of the union's pay and pension and the "sub" pay should be on the front page of the newspaper. By the way, Sub pay is 90 percent of payroll while being laid off. Then the world will see that it's no mystery why this company is bankrupt. If I had known that all I needed to do is graduation high school and work overtime at GM and make 70k plus, I would have done things a little differently. The reality is these people are over paid for a job that requires very little skill and training. Its essentially a overpriced fast food chain.

NO more bailout under this current union agreement. It needs MAJOR restructuring if they want to try to compete. Its no mystery many UAW workers are overweight.

I have owned approximately 20 GM cars since 1963. I have put upwards of 100,000 miles on many of them. I owned one rice rocket and it blew up after 3000 miles. As I have always heard; anytime man has a hand in building something, it can be bad. When robots build all our cars maybe then there will be perfect cars.

I think we do need to bail out the auto industry. If the U.S. auto industry and the Japanese auto industry played by the same rules we may have had a better chance meaning that the japanese pay little to no import duties but we pay heavy duties and import fees world wide.
I think that the union has taken certain thinks too far though. Meaning that a person that is not skilled trades, doing a job that a fifth grader could do, should not be making $20.00 plus dollars per hour.

I do think that the government is doing the right thing with the auto
industry. Alot of people do not realize how much this country relys on the autos, such as suppliers. My husband works for a lime company, they make lime to purify the steel, well the steel company is down now it has trickled down to where his company is being shut down. the government is trying to make the auto more independent so that we will not go through this again ..

The Mayor from San Francisco is just another politician. The Tesla car appears exceptional. But, it costs six figures.

Ed Begley made a comment about GM not making cars that people want. Well, I for one do not want to drive an ugly Prius or Honda Fit.

If Americans have to sacrifice all enjoyment of the car, then let's all ride bicycles the way the Chinese used to.

I believe that if the automakers are allowed to go into bankrupcy the first thing the courts will go after are the retirees benefits. I, as an auto work, cannot believe anyone in this country can say that they would expect someone to work 30+ years at any company with a retirement plan and lose it. Years ago this happened to TWA and now I know a few TWA workers and retirees that have to work to make ends meet. I have family that are medically retired that struggle to pay their bills and still pay their copayments for doctors visits and medication. If you think this will end the problems you are wrong. The towns these auto workers live and work in will suffer with the economic downturn in the future.

Mr. ED Begly just lied on Larry King Live saying that he gets 58 miles to the gallon from his Toyota prius. When this vehecle is rated by EPA as less than 52. Actually it nly goes 47mPG. THis kind lies shapes public opinion. Media should not let this people come into TV and LIE and bash American automotive. By the Toyota i slaso trying sell gas gazzlers as many as they can. They started a new plant in San Antonio that mr. Begly should know about. May be he knows but does not want to admit.

I absolutely stand behind the Gov't giving loans to the automakers. After all the employees that work for the manufacturers, suppliers, dealers, are taxpayers. And it seems that this is being forgotten and that the money is just being thrown at a faceless monster. Having Rick Wagoner step down is not going to fix the problem, because he wasn't the problem. Faith in our economy is what is causing this problem for the automakers. The Gov't and the media have everyone scared to spend their money on something like a car.

I've spent 12 years in the auto industry at the dealership level and it bugs me that the gov't and the media completely shun folks like myself out. We're the ones that immediately suffer when car sales go bad. The gov't thinks that if GM or Ford or Chrysler were to close up shop that a dealer could just start selling another brand the next day. It's quite a bit more involved than that. The Gov't REALLY needs to have an understanding of the workings of the auto industry before they go around demanding changes.

I have a father that worked with Ford out of the Atlanta until he moved to Lockheed and they make GREAT money. I think the American people need to see EXACTLY

Yes, Although it is their own mistakes that has caused the problem the government should bail them out but also get more involved in the money management of that industry. they have obviously proved they simply dont have the skills to handle it properly and wisely. So yes they should get bailed out. Any and every American who was offered to get "bailed out" would take it because everyone makes unwise choices at times and simple mistakes that lead to big problems, but in this case its honestly a to large of a risk to just hand them the money with no supervision. I feel they should be treated as a child and be watched over so the crisis could be prevented or at least better handled.

You talk about the gm execs, You talk about the workers, You talk about the type of vehicles they make. What about the unions that make it impossible to compete with forigen made vehicles. Remember the $78/hr vs $45/hr

Why do we not insist on government employees including Congress to buy American cars? Sales are now a big problem and this would help. Buy American. John

Yes, they should help with a bailout. All GM wants is a loan. The banks don't even have to pay any money back. You keep talking about 50 mile per gallon autos however you can't pull a camper with a little car. Trailer companies need a vechicle to pull their product.

One thing we all have to remember is that no one was complaining when GM was overpaying its employees with long term retirement/healthcare/salarys which filters into the economy through spending(from employees) When GM wishers get there way I hope the are prepared for two things 1) high unemployment trickled down to all the companies whom have done buisness as will as the next level of dependers. 2) spending all there hard earned money on car companies that keep most of the profit overseas. We cannot afford this tragic loss.

Let the free Economy decide. If UAW at GM can beat Toyota regardeless of their high cost, fine. But if they can not beat the competition for whatever reason let the Toyota people win. Why would the government push towards inefficiency and ineffectiveness?

Larry, it's quite straightforward really: if the foundation of your house becomes shakey and unsound, your first impulse is to strengthen it .The auto industry is an essential part of America's economic foundation and therefore should be bailed out,strengthened and repositioned for future success and continued enablement of the American Dream.

GM like all of the American manufacturers appears to have stuck
themselves in the past...no vision and the one concept that could help them is still not on the market. It is a vehicle that uses a small gas engine to recharge the batteries and has plug-in capability. Pricing
and development time seems to be a huge problem...I just finished paying for a new GM SUV...it took 7 years...this is ridiculous and I cant
justify sticking myself like that again. They have alot of internals to correct
and I dont believe that the former CEO stepping down is saying he is
at fault....just that they need a totally new concept..this is done in many industries. They need to be nimble enough to react quickly to market
changes...we should help them..yes I have owned many GM products,
but they need some forced change and a whole new concept as to
what transportation is needed...inexpensive.....NO GAS......something
that we all can buy without giving up huge chunks of family income.

Why is no one discussing the financial arms of GM and Chrysler? GMAC and Chrysler Financial made a number of poor decisions for the past eight years that attributed to the current crisis both companies are in now.
Restricting fleet deals has turned away customers that traditionally took possession of hundreds of thousands of new car deliveries a year.
Next time you rent a car, look at what is on the lot.
There was a time you looked forward to test driving the new models of both GM and Chrysler. Today you will find a much higher percentage of forgein cars.

It was a pleasure to see Judge Mathis on your Show Larry... I had to take a second look, as he was referred to as The Judge.. I was like wow Judge Mathis... was really great seeing The Judge on a show other than his own..

I have a very difficult time processing the amount of money the CEO's are taking home and living high on the hog at our expense. Many of us are one income families and our spouses have taken Deep Cuts including the Administration where my husband works as he had to take a mandatory 15% cut in may per month, this hit us very hard. Basically the pay my husband lost was our rent money per month, we are really struggling and now relying on Food Boxes and doing without the necessary foods we should have to feed our 11 year old properly, thankfully My Mom has helped with food at times.

I cannot beleive my ears and eyes.. I must say that people have been living too high on the hog such as right before the Great Depression and here we are doomed to repeat the same mistakes, has America not learned anything from the Great Depression? This nation is full of Greed which has in fact spiraled out of control.

One good thing I can still afford cable so I can watch your show.... but I sure had to cut back on many things which I am sure the CEO's would never dream of doing without.

Love Ya Larry and Judge Mathis

I agree in supporting the Auto Workers because they will bear the brunt of all this corporate mis-management.

But where is the support for ALL workers in America that have become as disposable as the trash taken out at night...through the constant downcycle of using them to cover quarterly results for Wall St in the form of a revolving door of layoffs; out sourcing, insourcing to foreigners; only hiring contract employees who have no benefits; etc.

The American Worker has been the road kill for bad coporate managment for over a decade now and some one needs to do an in depth story about the dehumanizing of the American Worker.

Even last week President Obama wrote us off in his town hall saying the hundreds of thousands of jobs we've lost overseas were basically nothing jobs that didn't pay much and didn't really matter. Yes they did! and Thousands and thousands of them were good paying white collar jobs. Then he turned around the next day and told Inidan Outsourcing companies that they didnt; have to worry he had no intention of stopping the outsourcing of jobs and would NOT cut the 65-100 thousand H1B visas they give to India that take away our jobs!!

So we need to support ALL AMERICAN WORKERS who are suffering from Corporate and Wall St. greed and mis-management as well as bad trade agreements and deficit.

All of us are in the same boat as the Auto Worker!

All of us fail at things throughout our whole lives why can't these companies fail now, they are ran badly, no matter how good they have gotten recently in producing a better product the companies are still ran badly!

Sure Madonna wants to adopt all of these kids, but who is really raising them? You are not a good parent if you leave it up to the nannies to raise your children.

She is nothing more than a "collector."

What happened to the experimental carborater in my friend's car that he drove from Philadelphia Pa to WashDC in 1953 and only used two (2) gallons of gas. Get got out of lab by mistake. What would it be like if Turker was allowed to build his car and sell it?

Invite T. Boone Pickens to speak. In a recent town meeting in Columbus, Ohio, Mr. Pickens discussed auto fuel efficiency. He said that consumers in France have 40 or 50 different fuel efficient cars from which to choose. We in America have 2–Toyota Prius and a Honda product. (Mr. Pickens drives a Honda Civic prototype that runs on natural gas. He gets 100mpg!) Why are we in the USA denied technology that Europeans enjoy? Could Washington lobbyists be part of the problem?

No, the government should NOT bail out struggling businesses. That is not the job of the government. In addition, it is not our president's job to hire and/or fire CEO's of private companies. What next? I think it's clearly evident why the markets tumbled after the president spoke. Don't you?

Krishna, please educate yourself. Quality of American cars is equal to or better than foreign....unfortunately the media rarely talks about this. Just Last week Jaugar and GM's Buick division overtook Lexus for quality. Wages: Union has made concessions so that their pay is equal to foreign workers. What more do you want? Making auto workers work for pennies is not going to help our economy.

GM produces competitive cars. However, if the entire company cut wages by 30% (executives should be cut between 40 and 70%), GM would be on top of the World Auto Industry again

This will have to be done or GM will shut down.

my only concern about this situation is the workers... why haven't we seen this government money taking the normal paths in the form of tax incentives to retool these plants to start an energy revolution.(wind mills, solar panels, etc.)
the automakers could really use the capital from the sale of these assets to restructure after bankruptcy, and will be able to streamline a new and improved company, while the workers continue to advance their skills.
once our new grids are being completed, the market will no doubt have a demand for autos again..... and these new technologies will require the electricity provided from the new grids. the employees will have a choice in what they want to build, and be a little more diversified for future market cycles!

Approxinetly 40 million people over 50 yrs. old in work force . Pay them $1 million severance pay with stipulations-–1. Leave their job-–40 millionjobs open–unemployment solved. 2.They buy a new American car –40 million cars ordered-Auto Ind. solved. 3.They either buy a house or pay off the one they have-40 million houses payed –housing crises fixed. No tax on the $1 million. This for Citizens of the United States of America (Better it be 80 mil.people)

NO!!!!
The government should bail out struggling americans, not big business.

I do not want to drive a small car. The quality of the American Cars has risen greatly since the 80's and I for one would never buy a small car.
According to the U.S. Geological Survey we have more oil in this country than the Middle East. Yet a small % of people in this country will not let us drill. We are losing our freedom and our rights.

By the way,

Recognize that the Automakers made the automobiles that Americans wanted to buy. Until the fuel price crisis, you could not sell a subcompact hybrid. So again, the real enemy is us, we did it to ourselves and we continue to make the same mistakes.

Lets be honest....GM and Chrysler have not stepped up to the plate. The quality is not there! People only buy GMJ and Chrysler because they COST Less than the qaulity Japanese cars. This is no secret, just a fact. When an american car has 100 thousand miles on it its ready for the junk yard.

sorry didn't finish what I had to say but the American people need to see EXACTLY how much the auto workers make. I had a 35% pay cust at my job last June but am still working on the same job no union no health insurance and no bail out for my company. Look at the recent layoffs at Fed Ex they had pay cuts as well. If the auto workers want to strike or don't give concessions, I'm sure Detroit has many people on the unemployment line that will surely take their job. Also, as long as they can make their mortgage payment they should make concessions like millions Americans like me who have no face or voice who have take substantial pay cuts.

Toyota Prius is not the only hybrid vehicle. GM has both cars and trucks that are hybrids. Back in the 90's GM had the GEO Metro. We had 2 of them. They got 50 mpg city and 60 mpg highway. Nobody was buying them. GM stopped making them. High mileage vehicles are available. People need to know that the UAW workers can only make what their leaders decide to make.

Hi
I'm 56 and I wish Madonna would adopt me.

I drive school bus and when a fellow employee was complaining about "those auto workers" being over paid I said, "you know we as public school employees earn more than other school bus drivers around the area. Plus our benefits are better. Maybe we should give concessions to the school district". Needless-to-say that brought the conversation to an abrupt halt.

LA & California are not the rest of the country. We should not be forced to drive what just a relative few want us to.. Insofar as having smaller electro-car fine. Where do we get the power??? 60% of our electricity from coal-fired powerplant still!! What about all the greens that throw up their NIMBY protests about new powerlines that will be needed for all the new batteries that will need to be charged?

My husband and I are both GM retirees. What amazes me is that the word "NAFTA" is never mentioned in washington. We watched as jobs were leaving our plants starting as early as the 70's. This is the bottom line- jobs leaving and now with so many people out of jobs who can afford to buy our cars? If we lose our pension and healthcare as so many predict, you think things are bad now, wait and see what this will bring? We are the generation that spent and could afford, not anymore,

I like many other Americans don't believe that the auto industry in this country has produced vehicles that the public wants. I would never purchase an SUV and feel that many like myself are waiting for an affordable, clean and efficient vehicle to be produced in this country. I've even looked into EV conversion kits. 30 mpg is laughable but the industry touts this as an accomplishment. Fossil fuel vehicles, not to mention power sources are ancient technology and people are not willing to purchase such relics now because it is understood that new, more responsible vehicles will inevitably replace them. It seems simple. It's not just the credit crisis, people no longer want irresponsible vehicles. Hopefully Detroit will understand this before GM fails. If they don't, they deserve to fail.

@maggie

I agree... its why I by japanese cars... I got tired of American cars guzzling gas and breaking down...

Why are we still taking more people into our country for jobs when Americans can not get a job and are getting fired? Then we have over a million each year coming here illegally to take the rest of the jobs, how is this fair to Americans!

hey the SBA is the same fiasco as always they are NOT going to help small business less than 250k. I love it we all suffered i had my work truck repo'd yesterday and if nobody ever had its depressing and embarassing with your neighbors watching laughing whata loser. now our credit as a business is ruined and to get a business loan through the SBA you have to take about 9hrs of courses on management then get a certificate and STILL take it to a bank for a loan approval well if your credit is s*$t the banks don't care how many courses you take forget it. O needs to put REAL yes REAL help for small business forget the banks they are NOT loaning so my 2k for my contractor license and losing my work truck are GONE and at 54 my time for a business start are over guess all the republicans that filled their pockets from the last 8 years are happy though.

what idiot vote no for MADONA? I WISH HE ADOPT ME

auto industries (GMC or any other )should have to reorganize so they can start building efficient and effective products. Just to say we build what people want is nice but someone in charge has to look also to what people need which is not to depend on other countries for anything. We need to be part of the global economy but we still need to realize what's going on in our own country. We can use the same people that are now building large cars on autos the are fuel efficient. (really i'm still waiting on those flying, hoovering cars seen in the science fiction movies)!!

I am all for helping keep jobs here in the US, but lets tell the truth which seems to be sugarcoated on the show tonight. Yes the executives help lead to the problems in the auto industry, yes the auto industry built the products Americans wanted, yes it will badly affect the auto workers, but lets not say the auto workers are blameless in this. They "bargained" these companies into salaries that were higher than they should have been. The salaries being pulled in by auto workers are much higher than many other professional level salaries in other parts of the country. Salaries are part of the cost of building these cars. Because the costs are higher, the prices have to be higher to earn profits to allow the companies to grow.

As for the Americans wanting these cars, it certainly helped that the auto industry pushed those higher priced vehicles. Thus they helped to influence what the American consumer wanted.

still hot

I would rather give the child an opportunity than to watch it starve to death!.

this simply makes no sence ,the hole problem is that the banks are not lending money to anyone!, not any of the the money that our gov just gave them without any stips. which is completly wrong any way you cut it .our country has been built on credit! all these people in charge should see that ,lend the money that we the tax payers have given the banks back to the tax payer.they have received much much more than the auto company is asking, and lets face it 50 % of labor work is fueled by thisauto industrie.

Dodie from Irvine CA

That reminds me of the PC computer they break down like crazy too! That is why my next one will be a Apple!

GM out sourced car production over-seas for cheap labor at $.50 to $1.00 an hour then shipped them back to the states to be brought for $30,000 and higher. A lot of people were layed off as the results of the out sourcing. Who did they think was going to purchase them when people don't have jobs. When everyone was working we brought cars to keep the car industry in business.

The guest who commented that the Model T got 25 MPG doesn't get it, and it's startling that people lacking basic technical knowledge are given a spotlight on a show as esteemed as Larry King Live.

Vehicle speed and fuel consumption relate exponentially. The Model T barely went 25 mph. Had it achieved 55 mph, let alone been safe doing it, it'd be lucky to get 10 mpg. Said another way, today's cars, if limited to 25 mph, would get that 100 mpg.

We simply cannot allow one of our largest industries to fail. Yes! It's too bad we bailed out the banks, who wouldn't make loans available to buy cars, and now we don't want to help the auto industry. Sure, GM needs to be restructured, get serious about making a product people can buy. I find it interesting that all the talk about he auto industry and no cudos to Ford who didn't take any money and has one of the strongest lineups of hybrid vehicles on the road. Why not do a show about Ford that is apparently doing it right. You need to make sure the public knows that there is at least one US automaker that is on top of its game. If you don't they get indicted with GM and Chrysler. I hate to see government intervention in any business and when you start calling for the ouster of a public corporation's management, you're in too deep.

the best way to heip gm is to get our jobs back from china so people have jobs so they can buy cars

Loyd, I hear your concerns about the retired UAW workers and who would take away 30 years of work. By the time I hit 70 I will have worked for 54 years and paying into Social security. I will get nothing. Nothing. There are many things that can be done to help the middle workers to help the economy. Believe it or not we need the billionaries to spend money so we can make money. Some of us lost nearly 20 to 40% OF OUR 401K. In two motnhs. It took me 7 years to get good money in my 401k. Now im fronting other millionaries to run a good company into the ground. No thanks

It seems that Larry King lives in a life of enchant and fantasy.
Why does he waste his time with programs which makes the
people feel pity for him?
Who cares if Madonna adopt or not? who cares if she lives or not?
Who cares if she is a former street walker or not?
Only Larry King cares about the insubstantial

Are we still asking this question to ourselves? I thought we already had an answer to this cliched question, 'NO'.

LOL!! Well Larry seems NO ONE cares what Madonna does we have more pressing issues in America, bailouts and crooks!

Anyone against helping a child is a fool, no matter what! Madonna can help the child to a better life, period!

YES,
No one wants to talk about the fact that our military and first responders all used vehicles from one and/or several of these auto makers.
The federal, state and local governments will all feel the impact of these companies going through their stress-points and would definitely have a huge problem if they go out of business.

I think that propping up the big three is the exact opposite of what the government should do. People clearly do not want to buy these cars! The GM dealers have tonnes of cars in there lots that they have not sold. So why is the government paying for GM to make cars that will just rot in their dealers lots?

They only way Americans will save their auto industries is by starting building reliable cars that do not rely on the buyers be married with the service department.

Let Madonna adopt whom ever she wants. Its certainly much better than have it malnourished and unloved….

Its no one’s business except hers!!!

I have had PC's since the early 90's and yet had one to break down. Wish my body had the same resilience.

None was an Apple, but for those that want them, they are a great product.

re: madonna

Who %^^&^% cares?????????

brian
seattle

In building the new world economy, we need to take this opportunity to understand the realities that caused the GM situation, 1. Retirement Pensions- these pensions are contracts which should carry the same sensitivity to abrogation as AIG contracts that paid bonuses. 2. We're all at a crossroads with new demands for "Environmentally suited cars" – GM made what Americans wanted. That's Marketing 101. Game over-New Game. Remember: These guys didn't make Credit Default Swaps, Derivatives, or trunches of bad mortgage debts to sell to unsuspecting investors; THEY MAKE CARS. Capitalize GM and navigate the motor company toward the better future we're all gearing up for. Pimp our rides and retool our auto industry!

Mike- Paoli, PA

Larry, I am amazed at how gracious the GM workers were on your show this evening. They seemed to hold no grudge in the face of losing their CEO. They appear to understand President Obama's position unlike like the Republican party who just moan and gripe about everything Obama is doing.

I am so sick of the Republican fat cats. They are just peeved that America has rejected the status quo and have started asking the hard questions – where were they during the last eight years?

One never heard protests when Bush was pursuing his assinign policies but now they come out in droves complaining about the Obama advinistration and complaining at the same time that Obama's promise of pursuing bi-partisanship was not true. They are only good for criticizing but they don't have any good policies to put forward. The American people are sick of them. Their protestations seem so disengenuous. Tell them to get lost.

The American Auto industry built the middle class of America.
Without The Auto and Manufacturing industry in this country, we will not be able to defend ourselves against evil powers in times of war.
Do you trust Honda to build our next Tank?

Now that the Auto industry is failing how many of you are getting increases in your salary? Remember Auto industry built the middle class with out them there will be no middle class.

Madonna,
You certainly don't need my, or anyone else's, approval to adopt a child. I just don't get what all the fuss is about.
America is still a Puritanical country when all is said and done–hence all the judgment regarding adoption (versus being pragmatic and kind when it comes to adoption). I sense that what motivates Madonna is a deep and abiding love for children. That's an amazing place to start when raising kids. Give Madonna a break, folks.

The American auto industry will only be viable when they streamline there models….they need to come to reality that people have choices.

I used to purchase American cars until I purchased my first Japanese car. It worked for over 300,000 miles and I never had any engine work. other than an oil change every 3,000 miles. I finally gave it to a friend as I purchased a new one.

I never went back to American cars after that experience...

Larry.
I worked as an engineer for GM for over 30 years. No one talks about GM being an international company which now has 60% of all auto sales in China and this year sold more vehicles in China than the US with many Buick plants in China producing cars. They are the largest auto maker in China. This started in 1986 when GM started to get into the Chinnese market. My questions is why doesn't China support GM with a bail out since a lot of there profits come from their or Germany (Opel), etc. Why doesnt the press talk about this and how GM builds small fuel efficeint vehicles in Europe because of high gas prices.

GM's problem was caused by the lack of a government energy policy and allowing cheap gas. Opel (GM)is the number one small car maker in Germany and probably Europe in gereral not Toyota or Honda. They make many small cars because gas is $8.00 to $10.00 a gallon. As you know everywhere in Europe small cars are present because of the governments controls of the gas prices.

Wow I"m really mad now that I see GM out sourched jobs and still had the audasity to charge the outragious prices!!! Greed!

I tell you GREED is going to be the Downfall of this country!

I'll have to watch this show more often. I definitely want to see the one that deals with why fuel prices remain so high.

Crude has dropped to 1/8 of it's highs, the retail price of gas only to 1/2. When crude was last at $50/bbl pump prices were 1.39/gallon....

And we talk about madona, I must agree there are real issues that effect every single american....

Celebrities get the attention because we pay to read, see, and hear it. Again, we do it to ourselves.

May the child grow up in peace.

Who or where Madonna chooses to adopt should be nobody's business but since it seems to be, why are people not asking the obvious question: If the Grandmother is so concerned about this kid, why is it liviing in an orphanage instead of with her. Madonna is being made out to be some horrible person. How can the Grandmother deny the child a doorway to a good life as opposed to that of an orphanage? Who is really the horrible person? As usual, the wrong questions are being asked in favor of sensationalism and American's penchant for tearing down its heroes and stars. Disgraceful.

Hi Larry,
Madonna should be aloud to adopt her child from anywhere in the world. All it is, she is giving that child a chance and a very good one that every few people in the world can offer. I come from Africa a lot of children do not have the opportunity . The kid has her or his guardian angles watching over.
Maria from Arizona.

It is hard for me to understand all of the negativity towards the American Auto Industry. Just last week GM's Buick division overtook Lexus for quality and yet there are still so many comments about the poor quality of American cars. Yes, the Big 3 produces gas guzzlers...but they also produce many fuel efficient cars. I have always driven American cars and love them. Personally, I am tired of all the anti Amercan comments out there. Maybe some of you should take a look at your own industry.......we could go on and on and rip each other apart or realize the importance of supporting each other...especially now.

Sharon S -- I tell you GREED is going to be the Downfall of this country!

I completely agree. Its the dark side of Capitalism

I feel that America is too judgemental of our NEW PRESIDENT. He is trying to bail out ALL the systems that President Bush put into money problems-NOT OBAMA- BUSH! Americans needs to start pointing fingers at the true culprit- Bush for the FINANCIAL CRISIS. OBAMA is only trying to pick up the mess Bush left. AIG knowingly and deceiveingly robbed money from the governement. I think they new that they owed/ were getting the BIG Bonuses and didn't have the money to cover it. So, as soon as they got the money, the bonuses were given/taken. The AUTO companies have upped their prices to the point that most americans can not afford to buy vehicles. Then the quality of these vehicles are very low and cost a lot to fix which again most americans can't afford it. Here's something to think about- super stars, and athletes get paid millions of dollars and only a few give back. The teachers and other professions who ACTUALLY make a difference don't even get paid a portion of this. During the summer, teachers don't get salary pay- nothing. But such a "GREAT ROLE MODEL" like Rihanna and Chris Brown making millions showing our already teenagers it's OKAY to get beat. If anything, BUSH should be held responsible along with superstars living high off the hog to reinstate our society. WHy? Movies play a big role in children and mentally unstable people and crimes besides our SOCIAL WORKERS, Child Welfare, and POLICE system failing them. OBAMA needs to take away the big salaries from government employees who do not serve a whole lot of purpose but take paid vacations and basically paid for not doing a darn thing- Indian Health Service and Bureau of Indian Affairs -which is based on politics- who you know system not what you know

Big business is destroying America!

why are we not demanding that the all banks that received bailout funds start lending money in 60-90 days or give the money back with intrest now not later this is crazy to smiply put it. unfrezze the credit lines maybe some people can continue to employ people or even buy a car.

Toyota vehicles are designed with the imperative from management that they should use as many common components from other models as possible. 

On the flip side, Toyota carefully designs component and subsystems for efficiency, quality, and durability, to support a long component or sub-assembly life span. 

The industry practice of redesign every few years and lack of emphasis on interchangeability ensures

Product obsolescence, to the chagrin of the consumer, but delight of the new car sales person. 

Expensive accident repairs, which in turn result in high insurance costs. 

A corollary is that the consumer expects to be purchasing a new vehicle periodically.  Otherwise, as the thinking goes, he or she risks incurring unacceptable repair
costs.  Hence, he or she treats the vehicle as a disposable, something with which to eventually clutter junk yards and landfills.  

The auto industry should look at the computer industry for some ideas on efficient product delivery.

A majority of computer equipment interchangeably runs either of two proprietary, but open source, operating systems, or a non-proprietary one supported by its community of
users. 

Most add-ons can plug into one or more of three connectivity interfaces built into almost every machine: i.e. the motherboard bus, PCI card slots, or USB [universal serial bus]
ports. 

And they can almost universally be daisy chained.  Using either a LAN or a high speed internet port, they can interconnect with printers and other facilities on a local
network.  Or they can function as part of a larger computer, even a super computer, to handle heavy duty data processing tasks.
Although earlier thinking habits and practices will be hard to break, Congress has a great opportunity at this time to move the auto industry in similar interoperability
directions. 

One of the bailout companies should be tasked with designing the standard national car. 

That design would consist of a series of frames, and sets of specifications for subassemblies that would have to match that frame, such as axles, bumpers, engine mounts, transmissions,
and passenger compartments. 

Each design should last for a period of ten years. 

Each frame should be, as much as possible, as scalar extension of the previous.  

Whether starting with the one ton frame and moving downward, or the two passenger car, and moving upward, the frames should be lighter and shorter, or longer and heavier, versions
of the previous. 

A separate series of frames might be necessary for electric and hybrid vehicles employing a separate motor at each wheel, perhaps a design task for a couple years down this approach
track.

The same scalar standardization should be true of the axle and bumper mounts, the engine and drive train supports, et cetera.  Small variations of the frame, bolt on extensions
actually, should take a frame up from a sporty, low-slung style to the utilitarian one for a sedan or van within that length and under-carriage support class. 

The frame must allow easily interchangeable skins of different types and styles, with simple, easy interfaces between sections. 

Thus the surface of the car should be capable of easy change without modifying the frame, drive train, passenger compartment, et cetera. 

Such provisions decrease accident repair and insurance costs, as well as satisfy the vanity of owners. 

The inverse should also be possible, allowing quick and economical exchange of drive train components.

@ Richard Kidd

China has a $20,000 tax on any car with an American size engine. So either these companies make small cars for China, or the statistics are not accurate. I fly to China all the time and I have not seen that many American cars... or at least ones I recognize. I see more Japanese cars.. Toyota is a big one there

Larry,

I learned in 10th grade economic class the basic law "supply and demand"....not realizing how true that was.

I worked in the supplier industry to Automotive for 20 years. I was downsized in 2003. I worked for a fortune 500 company that makes american made, industrial products, that were sold to the supplier base of GM, Chrysler and Ford......along with Toyota, Honda, Mitsuibishi etc., foundries, feeder facilties..etc.

In that 20 year period I saw the automotive industry go from purchasing my American made products ...to products made in other countries. AGAIN...the basic law of supply and demand....

My "American Made" industrial tool company didn't make the products that the "American Made" GM Chrysler and Ford wanted to buy. They moved on to the better product....foreign made....

If my company couldn't manufacture the products they wanted to buy.....and they bought foreign...... how is that different than the American consumer moving on to other products.....

AGAIN.....life works on supply and demand.

The calvary is not coming over the hill for any of us....

No one owes anyone anything.... live is a gamble...things don't work out like you planned.....

I was downsized after 20 years....I left the industry and reinvented myself....I am not in a different industry......

If GM and Chrysler are not part of the DEMAND....they cannot be part of the SUPPLY.

I learned it the hard way....and unfortunately ....they will learn it the hardway!

Toolie

Kukos to our President! Wagoner miss the boat,, along with the Board of Directors. GM produces to many cookies cutters.
The quality of the vehicles has improved over the years, however they should have been ahead of the competition. Sorry Ricky Boy enjoy your millions while the poor people will be left looking for a job and a home.

@ Rich, Kankakee, IL.

The DEREGULATION of big business is destroying the US.

Example... Hedge funds managers mostly make more than 1 BILLION DOLLARS A YEAR!!!

That money should go to teaching the workers how to make hybrids, otherwise the money is wasted, He should help the workers transition to a new way. People first, then money, it works like that, not money first, then people.

I am hoping to be leasing a beautiful small bar built in 1940, for my future and I'm sixty, forget retire, get a business that you like, and let your family run it.

A Food handlers license is free to get. You can do it online. Open a bakery. Sell organic food on the side of the road. Make special jelly, bread, cookies.

Banks need to Give loans to people wanting to open a business, a small store, lets bring back the old days when we owned local stores, and bought from each other even though it may cost a little more.

Forget the big companies, if we help each other God will help us.

People need to get their facts straight before they spout off on subjects of which they are so apparently ignorant. When I hired in at Ford Motor Co. 22 years ago, my wage was $9.33/hour. Today, I make $28.61/hour. Yes, it is good money but it is no where NEAR the $70-$80/hour that some misguided folks still believe we are making. Don't I wish that I was making that kind of money!

Every news network has debunked the flawed mathematics that led people to believe autoworkers make that kind of money per hour. Some of you obviously missed that. Go to YouTube and in the search box, type: Keith Olbermann autoworkers
He explains it better than anyone I've heard so far.

Why is keeping the Fords and Chryslers in business more important than keeping the Easterns, Pan Ams in business 20 years ago. Thousands of Americans lost there jobs and pentions then, CEO recieved large buy out packages then. What makes the auto industry different from the airline industry?

Three quarters of you do not even know that the SB 350 has a 4 inch bore and a 3.48 inch stroke, but you have the gumshin to critize CHEVY, get real, if it were not for chevy there would not be the big three, there would not be the CAMARO there would not be the C or K 1500 that gets me to Pismo to have fun, you probley would not even know what a BOW TIE is, and in case you do not know it is a CHEVY.

I just heard the pres, maybe FEMA will warrentee my Camaro (1967) I DO NOT THINK so, kinda like New Orleans

I wish I and more people had the fortitude and means to do adopt like Madonna is doing, whether in Africa or anywhere else.

Isn't what she does for kids better than what the genius octo-mom did?

How many people realized what Bankruptcy really is. It means suppliers, employees, and all related entities loose money borrowed to GM, Chrysler or whoever.

That lost money means other's bills, salaries, dividends (your pension depends on dividends) don't get paid.

It is a little word, big impact..... Bankruptcy of GM is like the concept of a trillion dollars, far larger than the letters that are used to write it down.

For the record, a Trillion dollars stacked would reach 1/3rd the way to the moon. Bigger than we can imagine. So to bankruptcy of GM will reach much farther than we can now know.

I keep on hearing that GM , Ford and Chrysler doesn't build what people want. What kind of vehicles are you all talking about? That question never get answered!

Are any of you watching ANDERSON 360./..

They just showed people fighting over being laid off...

Yes. Bail them out, as long as there is trusted over-site of how the money is being used and if there's a chance the bailout will contribute to economic recovery. The debate proves again that most people are uncomfortable with change. I voted for it, expect it and applaud it. Unless someone has a better plan...which I do not...let the bailout play out.

Larry,
I am a GM engineer and have been proud of Obama till today. But I have been disappointed since his address about rescuing the auto industry he is mis informed and has miscalculated GM's problem. If he wants to resolve the problem HEAD ON, let's get down to the business to the action plan:
1. GM has 4 times more retire than the working class – the govt. should take responsibility to pay their health ins. premium AND the working employees until there is govt. health care plan for all. This will lower the cost of each automobile by $1500.
2. NO AMOUNT of tax or other rebates will bring the buyer to auto showroom as they are in a terrible shock an are worried about losing their job. So, the ONLY incentive that will work is for the govt. to force & back up the auto companies to give assurance to the buyer that they can skip the payments till the unemployment is back to 6% or they have a job paying at least 75% of the original income.
3. Mandate that at least 75% of the content that goes in the auto's sold in US will be buit in US. This will bring truth out of the lying foreign car makers that their cars are 100% us made, in reality it is merely assembled in US.
4. Ask ourselves, why do Japnese drive US brands when they work in Us? -because they can not afford them in Japan as import taxes are levied on them there.
All of this tells that General Motors has been Generous Motors to those who created problems. As the president said, GM makes good cars, one thing he did not mentioned is that GM makes over a dozen car models which give over 30 miles to a gallon.

@ Ray Nelson

I agree and understand... however spending over a trillion dollars that is NOT backed with anything will but us in such a horrible inflation, especially since in the G 20, the world is looking at another currency besides the American dollar....

We will end up in another potential depression due to INFLATION!!! Then we will be unable to purchase any cars....

It is obvious to me from many comments here that people believe everything they read or hear even when it is not factual. I am an electrician at a GM plant, I had 7680 hours of training on an apprenticeship and 3 years of college level classes before getting a journeyman's card. I do not and have never made $40.00 per hour except on overtime. Many of you people who make disparaging comments about the autoworkers have obviously never worked in a factory. It's no day at the beach. Just a reminder, the union and the factory workers do not design the vehicles. What I cannot understand is why working class people should feel so much animosity towards other working class people who just want to make a decent living. I truly do not begrudge anyone a decent wage or way of life.

Companies must be allowed to fail. Government bailouts of these private companies rewards failure and is counter to a free market economy. Innovation and sound business practices in competing, but smaller, companies should be rewarded with a market that purges itself of "bad" and "stagnant" companies and allows successful businesses move to the forefront. The government is preventing the best companies to succeed by subsidizing the worst.

Sash, I agree with comment #2. I'm ready to buy american, however nobody knows about their job.

Brian. I would like a Camaro with a 427 CID engine, 6 speed transmission no ac, AMFM CD in Sebring Silver with the rs/ss package, hide away head lights, OOOO hound tooth upolisrery
The EFI will do but I would prefer the carderator.
In other words make it so I can work on it.

Like it was, I order what I want, and I will wait for it, not see if they can find what I want

An adoption of astronomical and historic proportions would be to finance the construction, maintenance, and long-term care of an orphanage - overseas or at home. Imagine the impact upon future generations via the rescuing of the lives of so many today. Money can only have a soul when it is spent in compassion.

Mike, The problem you and one other person might want that car.

Let start with a new measure to help aid our economy and environment at the same time ><Put and end to all similar bail outs?

Does the Federal Government have the right to force a CEO to step down from his position. When the American Taxpayers put 10's of billions of dollars into a company, you're damn straight we have a right to ask them to step down.

On the issue of what the average autoworker's income is, I don't have the facts. I have heard anywhere from $30 to $70 per hour but do not know for fact any of these figures are accurate. Even if $30 an hour is accurate, that is almost an unheard of figure down here. I realize that the cost of living is higher in Michigan and so the pay scale must also be higher but if pay is $60 to $70, the autoworkers need to bite the bullet and give a little more.

As for the quality of American Make Cars; they are now nearly equivelent in quality if not equivelent. I have driven GM, Ford, and Chrysler products which all took me well in excess of 100,000 miles. I worked as an Auto Claims Representative for eleven years and handled thousands of total losses. I can tell you that 100,000 miles is nothing for any make car these days. I can especially vouch for Jordan Ford here in San Antonio for the quality of service and their product. When ever I went in for service, the quality could not be surpassed in any auto dealer. I have driven Fiat, BMW, Mercedes, Toyota, and Honda products and found that while they are good vehicles, they are no better than our American Makes. I remember as a child the term "Made in Japan" used to be a term for poor quality. We always said to turn an item over that was poorly made and you would inevitibly find "Made in Japan" on the bottom. As we all know, the Japanese Manufacturers sure changed our concept of their products to be just the opposite of what we used to believe to be true. The Moral of this little story is now it is time for you try to buy American. If you are unhappy about how the economy is going, then do something productive and try an American Auto. I think you will be pleasantly surprised.

Otis from Virginia

Thanks for the head up on the solar foor on the new Prius!

Toyota and Tesla are getting it done Why can't the Big three?

China has a good electric car... why don't we???

I just heard Rick Wagoner left with 23 MILLION ! which makes me sick w/all the homeless & unemployed in Detroit,,,he's not an engineer..is he worth that kind of money ? Lee Iacocca would agree w/me...thank you !

Car and Driver list two of the top ten cars as American.

They also what 1 billion people.

Don't be ready to jump on the electric car bandwagon yet. Where will you plug them in? If there are electric stations built to plug in your car who will pay for it? How much will you be charged to plug in? How about the voltage and amprege being produced, what if you get in an accident? Will the firefighters be able to cut you out? Do the research

Sorry.....this had to be done Mr. Wagoner. It is to bad GM couldn't adapt to the market and lower production of gas-guzzlers like the Hummer and Cadillac Escalade!!

Maybe Mr. Romney can put his money where his mouth is and "buy out" GM with his former company....Bain Capital.......that is called "capitalism".......not getting federal bailouts!!!

Isn't amazing how quiet it is in the Romney camp tonight.

Always the classic response
The auto industry makes what the public wanted...
Hogwash
The auto industry makes what the auto industry said to make
Yes, the banking/credit crisis & the sour economy impacted peoples decision to purchase the gas guzzling cars, but had the American auto industry made effecient & reliable alternative energy/fuel sourced autos, they (auto industry) would have weathered this ecomony storm much better than the situation they are in.
They deserved to fail.
Unfortunately, the workers/emplyees are the biggest losers of the rotten, misguided managed and directed big three auto makers.

@ Jeanne

They can go 200 klm on one charge (around 150 miles). Granted the electric bill would be huge, but at least its a change from petroleum products...

It is so simple to solve our car industry problem and help our economy. Pass the IMMIGRATION BILL let emigrants get driving license with over 12.000.000 of us ! we all need cars and we all have cash (That s how we get pay!!) we are not criminals and most of us came in legally .Do a background check get reed of the bad ones . DID you know that the only way to get a visa is to get married. people pay over $10.000 for a fake marriage . I have my morels and i will not go that way!! So all we did is let REAL criminals become legal us citizens and good people like me become E legal!!!

cars –12.000.000 X $20.000 =====$ 240.000.000.000
pay taxes –12.000.000 X monthly taxes==$3.600.000.000
pay penalty –12.000.000 X $5.000 = =====$60.000.000.0

Should we all drive electric cars, how boring.

And just where is all the electricity going to come from..... Right now and many years to come, we'd have to burn Coal, Oil, or Natural Gas. Build more electric plants, put in more power lines.

This is complicated, not easy.

Tesla can has battery pack ranges of 160, 230 or 300 miles, you choose what you want, and drive gas free!

Tell me what car I should be driving that would fit me. I'm 6'3" 270 lbs. A Prius?

Dear Mr. King,
As a 31 yr. G.M. retire i find this appaling that we are being singles out as the bad boys of the industry.
The union was adamet when they argued with company policy that no matter what was wrong with the car at the end of the line ship it and the dealer will take care of it. There thinking that they could no wrong.
One thing the foreign industry did is wake us up and then we took up the challenge and made a car as good as thiers but it was too late.
Altho the people and manely the seniors who buy the foreign cars do not realize that the money does not stay in this country and they do not pay into the social security system.
To sum al of this up we will all suffer in the end and go back to the days of rich and poor when we had company stores ,company houses, and were paid in scripe and that is what created the unionsbvecause if you were in the hospital and a family member was in a family way and you misses worked you had no job .
Mr. King please let this be known if you have the compassion that i think you have.

Thank you ,
Jim zamarelli

Ray Nelson

It is definitely not perfect, but at least its a change from petroleum products. I am so tired of the OIL companies running this country... well now I guess its wall street and the AIG!

Ray Nelson

Yes we get most of our electricty from coal right now, but we are transiting over to electric, ot will take 25 year to produce a majority of our electric through geo-thermo, solar, wind, wave, space based mirrors for 24/ solar production, But as long as we move in that direction and make more efficent products then we can whine ourselves off of coal, and the pollution that they produce!

Not perfect is understatement, will take 10 years to switch even a small percentage of the energy used by petroleum based vehicles to electric. The infrastructure required is huge.

And don't forget, right now the only viable proven large scale alternative to coal, oil and natural gas for production of electricty is either HydroElectric, or Nuclear. Hydro will not happen. Nuclear is super regulated......

Some day, wind and solar cells will make a dent, but right now their contribution overall is minuscule......

this goes way beyond the obvious....

If we wait for the best producer of oue next fuel source we will continue to be a slave to the whimes of countries that do not like us.

Remeber that television was not perfect when it came out, and neither are the new sources that we want to switch over to right now, but over time they have gotten better!

I just wanted to post about the mickey rourke and chris jericho conflict. Im sorry but mickey was a boxer, and chris is younger and in shape, but a boxer is a boxer and chris woulndt last 5 mins in mickeys world! We love your mickey!!!!

@ Ray Nelson

I do not see China having a big problem and right now... they probably have more cars on the road than we do...

Nuclear is too dangerous, one spill will affect thousands, and that watse last for 50,000 years!

Dodie from Irvine CA

They do not, but they are catching up very fast! chine is pullting it's self to death, we complain about smog, China's is almost perament!

Dodie from Irvine CA

They do not, but they are catching up very fast! chine is pullotioning it’s self to death, we complain about smog, China’s is almost perament!

Rich, Kankakee, IL

I know... I have a home there and live there a couple of months out of the year. Their traffic is terrible. I will be purchasing an electric car there later this year.

i say let china have the oil....all of it....choke on it. Won't be long before we're slipping the menus under their doors kids!! lol

Yes, their pollution is terrible. It took me 5 years to find a place that was not polluted over there. I knew we would tank as a country so I moved everything there...

Ray Nelson

That is why T-Bone Picken wanted to use CNG for a period of 20 years, becasue most business and homes have natural gas in them, people could fuel up at home and anywhere in our country and abroad!

Joe in Hartford, CT (((( GOOD EVENING ))) Nice to see your wit and humor as usual... always enlightening...

not long b4 mother earth cracks open and swallows the whole lot of us anyhow....live it up kids

If we learn to master the use of theremo-couples we might be able to raise the efficenty of all our products that use ectricty we lose so much heat we caould at least try to convert back some of it into electrity!

anyhow...how is everyone...what did i miss?

Joe in Hartford, CT LOL

They have Starbucks on every corner. I actually believe China has more Starbucks than the US.

McDonalds, KFC is big over there... Oh yes, and of course... Wal-Mart!!

Their children are now having a weight problem due to our fast food, sitting on the internet..and riding in mommy's or daddy's car and not walking.... LOL

Joe... you missed Nothing... just the usually whining....

who among us can afford to pay middle east counties 700 billiuons a year for oil, not us our country is broke!

ok, 4 dead cops, open warfare on the us/mexican border fought by drug cartels with american guns, deaths in a NURSING HOME now by gunfire. where are the 2nd amendment republicans now? why are they not on CNN asking who knew what, when, how and why??
i set get rid of them all. NOT just assault weapons....ALL of them. make it a felony to own a gun. legalize drugs and outlaw guns....out with the old and in with the new.

Rick:

That is why I will NOT purchase my next car using a petroleum product. I might have to wait a loooooooooooong time. I guess I had better take good care of my current car.

But if we are going to be in debt, let be for our own freedom from oil fromother countries, I as an American want to be able to decide my own future, and to stoip sending my fellow sodliers to protect other countries fuel sources!

Think we shoudl all get togather to create a think tank, at least we are for our own country'e future and freedom on our terms!!!!

LOL Joe!!!

giddyup dodie....giddyup!!

Dodie from Irvine CA

That is what i am doing too! Have you seen the new Tesla Model S, it is awesome!

"from my cold dead hands"....well if you insist!!

LOL Joe... bring back the horse...

When they get up to full production they will be able to drop the price by anther $15k, right now it is $49,900!

madonna's adopting again!!! omg....STOP THE PRESSES.....next on CNN "HARD COPY"

Rick! It would be nice... I am sick of petroleum for the same reasons... control from foreign countries and pollution...

China is also working on a wheat grain that is undegistible, grown in poor soil as another alternative for petroleum...

Dodie from Irvine CA

lol, yeah they eat grass and hay nothing to pay unless they get hurt, or throw a shoe!

waiting on wolf to break the news that obama has a GREAT tan

Hey Joe! Are you saying its cold in CT>??? Throwing Joe an electric blanket and mittens

Rick... NO I will have to check it out.. Tesla Model S

careful...we don't wanna spread rumors dodie...the CNN papparazzi will be ALL over us!!

ROFL... they keep the grass short while fertilizing it too. A 2 in 1

whatever happened to Suzanne Somers and her hormones?? CNN went nuts over that and now nothing....sigh.....such teases!!

maybe the papparazzi will finally leave octumom...

Hey,

lets a get a pateent for theat process, before someonme else does!

I think Larry was just drooling...

Dodie from Irvine CA

she is good!

Hey,

lets a get a patent for that process, before someone else does!

Octomom has baby with wolf HOLOGRAM!! next from the greatest news source since lucy and ethel!! CNN

sometimes I think they bring on guests for very personal reasons......
Wouldn't you?

All the thing that need fixing in our country, and we still have them ghosting people for petty things!

ROFL Joe... you are really getting creative...

you must be bored tonight

not when the question of the day is "your head is underwater, the python has you by the neck, you just broke the lace in your shoes and your boss wants another cup of your butt....how are you feeling america?"

I am often amazed at who CNN brings on to interview.

asking... why is this in the news??? It seems so unimportant to what is going on with our economy and the world.

I wonder what will come of the G 20? I hear they want to move away from the US dollar.

Did any of you see that budget from the rebups? What a joke they were pushing for a 10% tax cut for the rich again, will they never learn!

I want to take a crash course in Hedge funds management 101

Rick:

Oh they know... they want to keep their millions...

I always wonder how much Bush, Cheney and Rove have in off shore accounts???

Get real, it's not Gm"s fault for failing. How many people bought Hummers, and SUVs until the economy bombed and gas prices soared? GM gave us what we craved. I just bought a new GMC extended cab pick-up and drove it to Texas and back 70 and 80 miles an hour and got over 20 miles a gallon. I owned a 2004 Corvette and got 25 miles a gallon. The new Camero gets over 30 miles per gallon . Not all of us live in a city and drive tiny metal boxes like Gavin Newsome or Ed Bagely. In this economy who can afford a Prius? I wouldn't drive one if you gave it to me. Funny, I didn't see any electric plugs the whole trip. Try driving across Texas in an electric car. Seen any electric or hybrid tractors lately? Climb out of your box and look around. Auto workers actually produce not push pencils like AIG.

i want to be adopted by a hedgefund manager

one cup of butt coming up!

i don't care how much they have there...i just wanna send them offshore with them

The dollar should have never been the currecny for the business world in the first place. Any country could have troulbes and could drive down the value of the busiuness world currency when it is tied to a sigle country, they end up having far to much control of the rest of the world!

The dollar is an American curreny

OK Joe... lets look for a nice Hedge fund manager in need of OLDER children...

I want to get highered and fired from AIG in one week so i can get a bonus too!

That serves them right for trusting us!

Mike Matheny and they could have produced very efficient cars along with the SUVs

lol

I love GM. Love the cars, wouldn't drive any other. However, it is hard to find a well built economical GM. Therein lies the future.....Honda saw it....Toyota....Gm and Ford gave American what it wanted. Now there behind the curve. They'll survive.....Chrysler shoulda died with Iacoca. And for the record...the worker's have made enough concessions....fix health care costs....solves GM/Fords economic woes....not to mention medicare/medicaid....and dare i say social security??

Rick... Hedge fund managers usually make close to 1 billion dollars a year and some make in upwards to 4 billion a year.

yep yep!

Mr King, did Rick Wagoner really walk away w/23 MILLION ? makes me ill....he has enough money, I would give it away to the poor & unemployed in Detroit ...any comments ?

love em bonuses!

Ooops i forgot they changed their name now it is AIU!

kenny. You must NOT be a millionaire!

OMG....get over the bonuses!!! they had a contract!!! nobody's going after any NFL athletes or MLB stars last time i checked. The market determines the price of success.
It's disgusting yes, but we all wanna be AROD!! Keep buying your lottery tickets!!

an AIG bonus right now would be nice

get over it...u're SOOOOO not worth a mil dodie!!

If only they were so noble, but we have to live in the real world, they are not noble at all. So we as Americans will help our own, those business are no longer American in my books, they knew what they were doing to our people and still they went forward with thier plans of endless greed!!

Its ok... I am used to being poor. I guess I would not have it any other way.

Hey will we getting Christmas bonuses this year or what?

Rick... yes that happens with deregulation of large corporations...

Hopefully the silver lining will be we learned from this and move on...

Rich, planning ahead I see!

OMG....THERE IS NOTHING WRONG WITH BEING RICH!!! They're not all bad u know guys. They worked hard, did their time....went to school, paid the dues. We've been exposed to the underbelly of capitalism. That does NOT make anyone with money bad!!
They pay the taxes that the tax code tells them to!! They sign the contract that the market allows!!
It's all good. It's the American dream!! There is NOTHING wrong with that. I'm gonna keep on plugging....keep on trying....and hopefully some day it'll happen....nuff said

No one said they are bad... Like you said, its the under belly of capitalism or what I usually say, the flip side of the same coin.

Keep plugging Joe and if you make it... would you adopt me?

btw....broke is the new black!!

Healthcare and Education will be hard because we spent so much money trying to get our banks back on track, and they are still trying to travel down the wrong path of massive greed!

Doomed to repaet the past, if we do not restore the regulations that use tp protect our makets, and that put Wall Street in it's palce!

hmm....sometimes i think i already have dodie!! and vice versa!!

new job description

e bay auction asking to be adopted by a billionaire...

Healthcare and Education will be hard because we spent so much money trying to get our banks back on track, and they are still trying to travel down the wrong path of massive greed!

Doomed to repaet the past, if we do not restore the regulations that use tp protect our makets, and that put Wall Street in it’s place!

Not here Joe. blacks are wealthy

I am afraid that we are bailing out Paul to save Peter...

when I make my first billion... Joe, I will come a lookin for ya!

Rich that is the problem with being creative and greedy!

We did have regulation on wall street until greenspan

rich, it would be so easy for us to let the banks fail....wouldn't hurt me any....in the near term.
picture your life without the big banks.....try to get a loaf of bread....a gallon of gas....an alnalgesic to ease your child's pain. Not so much wtthout the banks. At least for a year or so.....somebody would step in....open a new bank....could you go a year? could i? not so sure....
IT SUCKS that we have to bail them out....but WE HAVE TO...
The fix is to break them up and NEVER let them get TOO BIG TO FAIL again.

Joe... why not federalize the banks we bail out?

Why is no one mentioning the role the unions and there unchecked out of control growth has in the collapse of the american auto industry?

I just wanted to know why didn't President Barrack oust all the bankers top management?

Dear Mr King,
All of this is fine and dandy and although I appreciate what the President is trying to do by backing the integrity of the union worker, you can through $800 trillion into the industry and it will all be for not if the American people don't buy American cars.
As Americans we are losing our language, civil liberties, constitutionally guaranteed rights, American assets to foreign entities, and almost the integrity of the American worker. Mr King, I ask you, what do we have left?
Genuinely concerned,
Sean O, New Jersey

Larry -the American auto industry has been selling cars that get 70+mpg in other countries for years and actually last for more than 4 years. If Detroit would actually make something that was durable and got way more than 35+mpg, affordable to buy and actually lasted longer than the 4 year warranty people would buy them again and they would corner the market. The economic crisis has shown people that American made cars don't last and get horrible mileage, that's why foreign companies are doing better like Nissan and Toyota.
Just wait and see when the Aptera and the air car make a debut finally, what do they really think people are looking forward to, it doesn't take a brain surgeon...

It's Washington Legislators that created the structural environment for our Businesses to Fail.

'Free Trade Policies' – that favor Investment Class Special Interests – forcing American Workers to compete against Subsidized Importation – against subsidized Labor Costs – against subsidized Materials that when Imported in by a construction firm – that firm receives a PERCENTAGE kick back determined by the size of the order.

Legislators are Heavily Invested in these Firms.

American Jobs for Americans First .

Consumerism on the Street supports Capitalism.

It takes American Jobs to Support Consumerism.

Do the Math.

I'm really getting sick and tired of hearing about those poor folks in detroit...when we lost 35,000 logging jobs in oregon nobody gave a hoot!! and I'm still driving my 77 ford pickup...no problems.

There is No way that top management can justify the salaries they draw.
They are indirect labor and have nothing what so ever to do with the building vehicles.
You can't take the hundreds of millions of dollars off the top and charge the public.
Plant managers making six and seven fiqures along with these or larger bonuses when the companies are loosing money.
Repeated over and over throughout the entire US based Auto Industry, is nothing short of Obsecene

The reason Americans aren't buying GM cars is they are not efficient nor durable. The Japanese have far surpassed our ability to produce cost effective cars that require little maintenance.

I'm a Detroiter and the Big Three made cars people asked for, and that was the SUV. Then the price of gas went up and everyone wanted to ditch the SUV. Don't blame the auto company and workers for making what we wanted. Especially here in Detroit. We didn't drive electric or pirus cars here, we dorve SUVS.

I don't like the term "bailout". I would prefer they help them with restructuring what they make. It costs a lot of money to retool and even if they do, with money so tight who can afford a car? I am a widow of an auto worker. I don't get a lot but I do have insurance. I invested part of my husband's death benefits into GM bonds. So now, I've lost almost all of that, am worried about both my small pension and insurance. I'm 62 years old and have never even used my insurance beyond the normal. We have to find a way to help them through these very hard financial times. We need an auto industry in this country.

I think that it is time for this government to invest in the american people.
The hard working people of this country is going to need some kind of bailout the way we are going.
Why not give some of this bailout money to the people.
Have them buy a car or truck what ever they decide best fits their needs.
This will help the auto industry and also help bring the people's confidense in the gov. back.
It is time for this country to help the people out.
We have been trying to long tohelp big business, with no results.
Give the people a chance they will come through.

One of the biggest issues that the US auto industry suffers from is a myopic view of building cars.
The successful auto companies in Asia and Europe build 'world' cars, meaning as an example that a 3 series BMW is the same in every country BMW markets its car in, whereas US cars are only made for North America. GM, Ford, Chrysler have totally different cars in different markets and different marketing as well – none of the economies that the competitive manufacturers benefit from.
If North American auto companies are going to win, they have to learn that the world is the market.

you mean there is no way we could federalize a bank we are bailing out in order to restructure/organize the bank to lend money. We are now buying up bad assets, so what is the difference.

What do you call the company if Fiat and Chrysler merge?

Fiaysler orFiarysler???

Come on a mayor of SF and an actor! The judge was the only one out that bunch that sounds like he knows what he is talking about. I do not want to drive a tin can and I will not drive a battery car. Please save me from my self......lol

2 points;
1.) I can buy a motor scooter for $ 1700.00 that goes 75 MPH and gets 90 MPG. Why don't we have an American car that people can afford around $ 12,000, ie and American "Smart Car"

2.) I did a 3 week service job at a GM plant in Newark Delware where you had to walk through 3 feet of beer bottles, cans and whiskey bottles to get out of the parking lot, There was a robot operator making $30.00 an hour sleeping off his hang over. When I asked about this I was told he was in the UAW. No tears here if they go bankrupt and have to start over.

Wild Bill

Yes, I agree with you, there are many industries in serious trouble right now...

Keith–how about another foreign "Fiasco"

Just one question from a 31 year GM employee, Why did Obama make our C.E.O step down but not any of the A.I.G. C.E.O.s

I do think we need to help them. If they go bankrupt their gone. No one will buy one. It is ashamed that the auto industry which will bring us closer to depression if we loose them,and Is being blamed for a product ironically created by a man with also a name of Wagner created and is one of the founder of the cdo which has bundled up real estate mortgages with no documentation has been part of what brought down another wagoner who was as positive and hard working as anyone towards gm's future. I wish more Americans would step up and buy an american car. I am positive that Bin Laden and all the terrorists are laughing that so many americans are so unwilling tokeep america moving. buying a Toyota is not keeping america moving I had 5 gm cars and they all had 200000 each and they were great buy american and keep america moving?

IT IS A LOAN!! I thought this is a democracy...Government Forcing Resignations? What are we becoming Communist? Buy American!!

These businesses have been giving us what we want...if you want these companies to change, the American people have to change too.

Its simple, gm should follow the only american car company that gets it
tesla, the new tesla s could be created by gm much cheaper and tesla does not mind, tesla's owner cares more about our countrys future then his personal profits, he would welcome gm to create tesla type cars that run 300 miles on 4 dollars worth of electricity, talk about fixing our countries woes overnight, its the only answer, not pumping a bunch of money into a loser company with loser ideas

McCotter is all wrong. Quality has not surpassed Toyota or Honda. Show me the data!

GM crushed the EV1 with no rhythm or reason ... I say Government should crush the GM Company and allow new innovation to occur within the open market with the government's bailout money. Give the money to the innovators, not those that sweep technology under the rug.

Instead of bailing out banks and companies the GOP should give the money to the people to pay their mortgages, the money would end at the banks and people would have money to buy cars. Give money to the bottom and then the money would end at the top, not the other way around.

We probably are headed in the right direction, but Americans expect `

Obama, you promise to drill for more oil, help the autoworkers with health care , what happen obama?

My husband is a SALARIED retiree and we lost all our health benefits including our long term care that we have been paying for 50 years. Why shouldn't hourly retirees lose theirs?

I do not understand why no one seems to be mentioning the fact it is our governments fault the UAW is in the situation it is in. Engineers have had designs for cars to run at least fifty mpg since the seventies. Our gov't and the oil companies bought all those plans. It would have been too much a cost for them to lose billions of dollars in oil sales. I would love to see someone do the math if our cars did run 50 mpg for the past 40 years how much money, oil and outsourcing it would have saved

I wonder how many of the guys on tonight own an American made car?

I have worked for Delphi, now GM, in Flint for 3 years now. During my time here I have seen several of our products go to Mexico or another country. Something needs to be done about this. Why are our jobs being allowed to go to other countryies when there are willing workers here in our own country? We are encouraged to "buy American" but now how many cars are actually totally made here in America? I cannot afford a new car if I do not have the job to pay for it. We need something to happen. Bring back the American jobs!

Come on now, lets keep it real, the CEO's have made out like bandits , they do not care if the company goes under, because they have made their money. They will be just fine if the auto industry goes under. I CARE ABOUT THE WORKERS, they are the ones being shafted in all this.

I am in Purchasing. More parts on Toyota and Honda products are made in the US by American workers then Ford or Chrysler. This is a fact!

why should we bail out gm 7 dodge when ford did not need it

Forget the bailout on the banks and automakers. Look at this scenario. Give all people 50 years and older 1 Million Dollars with certain stipulations. First, they quit their job. The will resolve the job crisis and open up millions of jobs. Second, they purchase a new American made car. That will resolve the car crisis as there will be millions of orders for new cars. Third, the either purchase a new home or pay off their current mortgage. That will resolve the bank and housing market. Problem solved with less deficit then they are creating now.

Save GM. But get people who can run an industry like it was done in the 4 years of war production during WW II. Not like being 8 years in command of GM and facing catastrophy!

With some Major Stipulations! CEOs Make WAY too much and if the Top CEO makes Over 200 million how many make 100 million, 50 million?? When you consider the Auto industry, it's not the line worker causing the problem! The other issue is that not only have we not designed some of the cars we should have, and had too many Trucks/SUVs but we have WAY TOO MANY Car badges in GM ! They will have to resturcture to have a Max of 5 Cars/Trucks in a line! See Honda etc. In addition too many of our "Domestic" Car makers have Farmed out the parts of our Domestic cars to China etc. Put our American Workers Back to work,and Make a Domestic Car!

The auto industry has spent millions convincing the American Public what type of automobile it wants.

I completely support the bailout. GM means much more to this country than just UAW jobs. It is the hub of the manufacturing.

Our country is making a mistake in the bailout. We have not yet recognized the fundamental problem with GM products. GM did a good job of anticipating the truck and SUV craze. Fortuantely, for them, it fit nicely into GMs existing product expertise. GM is hurt now because they went 'all in' on the truck/SUV and did not plan for ineveitable changes in the marketplace. They are now playing catch up with hybrids and small cars. Unfortuantley, they are now goin 'all in' on the fuel effeciency craze. It is just like going 'all in' at the roulette table. GM needs to realize that customer tastes and the factors that drive automotive purchase decisison change much faster than GM can develop products. GM needs an operating strategy that understands that their product development plans are going to be obsolete as soon as they come off the drawing table. Flexibility is the key and developing a fewer models by in a wider range will give them the ability to react to any market condition.

In Michigan 10.5 jobs are lost per every Union job loss. These include local small business supplying, parts, both electrical and technical. Our Churchs have lost young people for the last three years. Our town here in Fairview is beginning to look ghostly. Just this week three more families moved for jobs eleswhere. Our seasonal jobs and incomes have suffered. As an older person ,we've seen Sunshine buscuit, Steering Gear, Nodulated Iron, Saginaw Transmission, Fruitchy bean, Saginaw products, Saginaw Furniture, Lufkin Rule, Wickes Lumber, A. T. Ferrel, Multiple Lumber companies, Wood mills, and now local business like Knealand industries, and Coopertire. We can save 1.5 million jobs, ( only 144,000 Union ) by keeping GM in Michigan.

The Credit Industry :

[ By Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.)]

- state usury laws were obliterated by a 1978 U.S. Supreme Court decision. Justices allowed national banks to charge whatever interest rate they wanted if they moved to a state without an interest rate cap like South Dakota or Delaware.

Let’s be clear: At a time when many Americans in the collapsing middle class use credit cards for groceries, gas and college expenses, what Wall Street and credit card companies are doing is not much different from what gangsters and loan sharks do when they make predatory loans.

[end]

The Credit Industry tells Washington Legislators to deregulate or else they will dry up Credit.

The Banks & Credit Industry are teaching Washington a hard lesson of their powers to create Economic Recession by drying up Credit – the main reason our Auto Industry is Failing.

Until the Credit dried up – American Auto Sales held GM stock @ $40.00 .

CNN reporting should point out the Real Reasons our Industries are Failing.

And how can American Workers – American Industry compete when being forced to adopt the Economic Models used by Subsidized Industry – Subsidized Material – Subsidized Labor producing Capitalist Nations ?

Economies function and grow in Controlled Environments.

Special Interests controlled Washington for successive Administrations – they were not interested in a functioning Economic Consumerism.

No, the government has no place in bailing out businesses. They should restrict their aid packages to help individuals with unemployment insurance and retraining programs.

The people that are going to hurt behind the auto industry going under or filing bankrupcy , is the workers, they have done nothing but what they were told to do.. I am so sick of people trying to blame the Union, sorry Unions do not make company decisions, it was the CEO's that made lousy decisions and a lousey products.

Why does the media keep beating around the bush when it comes to talking about THE REAL PROBLEM with the automotive industry? I worked as a union carpenter for years, but the UAW is totally out of control with the financial demands they put on the automotive industry.
Job Shop? Give me a break!!!!
I am against ANY of the companies going bankrupt, but if that's what it will take to break the union's grip then as much as I hate to see it, maybe they should go down. Many don't realize that 1 in 10 jobs are directly affected by the auto industry.
SHAME ON YOU UAW!!!

just heard this from Larry King:" they (UACW) built cars that public wanted"
Untruth!!!! They built cars that will break down, that will depend on aftermarket services (parts, labour, maintenance... to build same car from parts you may buy 4 new cars for same money, this tells all.)
Sample that they lie: Electric car. Very little, cheap maintenance.
But, besides parts and services, as I mentioned earlier, oil companies wanted them to build gas cars as well.

FACT- My Chevy was 80% made in Mexico...

FACT-My new Nissan was 80% made in the USA by AMERICAN workers, and will last way longer, and get much better mileage than a GM, FORD or Chrysler.

Tesla hasn't even been able to make it to full production. They're burning through cash faster than GM.

We may be headed in the right direction, but Americans expect INSTANT GRATIFICATION, but with patience, the probablity is that it will suceed! Give it a chance!
George Meyer

I would not own a Ford or GM product is you gave it to me. I would sell it. The Quality/Vehicle Cost ratio is out of whack.

I do not want to hear about the Ford truck owner who has 2 billion miles on his F-150. "Fix or Repair Daily" (FORD) has more Quality issues than any major auto manufacturer. 2nd is Chrysler, 3rd is GM.

and just as I was typing this mayor gavin newsome said the same words I was typing, where was gavin newsome when the country was looking for a leader, where was he when obama was looking for a running mate, this guy just like obama knows how to speak and knows the direction gm must go on, we can cut the ties to the middle east and bring our soldiers home to jobs available making electric cars that are bad ass and will totally turn our economy around, again to give a losing company tons more money so they lose it again would be foolish to the tenth degree
but to give them money on the condition that they with teslas knowledge
reinvent the wheels that we use to get down the road and save our country and get us out of this rut

I think that GM should be helped. The Union member was right they were building the product that Americans wanted. GM has became a reliable company. Has any one thought when you get on the road with the BIG TRUCKS comming at you and your driving an electric car I could see my self on I-285 GOING AROUND ATLANTA trying tostay out of their way. I thnk OBAMA should stay out of the American peoples lives he has to have hes face on TV everday I think he wants to become a movie star. In my opion hes not Presidental material going to basketball games heckling with fans and drinking beer with two young children setting beside him. He like a dectator next he will he taking your life savings for the green of the money America wake up stop think and listen to this man hes trying to brain wash the people. He and Gitner need to take a hike a long hike.We should have let the ecomony alone let the pieces fall where they may. Pick up our selves and go on not let someone tell us how to live or run our private industries.

The fact that this nation 'had' 100% electric cars by the end of the Clinton administration, begs the question... "Who ordered the recall of the electric automobile, that would've won us the won against terrorists by economic overthrow?"

The auto worker is no different than the clerical worker, the mortgage broker, the real estate salesman, the Arthur Andersen accountant, the oilfield service employees or even wall street bankers who are being, or in the past have been displaced from businesses for which their services were no longer required due to market changes. The only difference is these workers are unionized, have wages and benefits that are not in line with employees of foriegn car makers manufacturing in the US and more importantly, the oversees manufacturers. These displaced workers deserve no more than other displaced workers when their employers are insolvent. You should be embarrassed that no one on your panel has ever met a payroll, run a business or had to adjust to changes in market conditions in any capacity other than as a consumer. Your guests are obviously individuals who favor government directing policu choices for consumers rather than the market. Let the mayor of san fransisco ride the cable cars and not deprive consumers of their choice for an SUV or pickup if that is what the consumers want.

The massive problems ahead....Automotive suppliers....Manufacturers of
Brake products, Alternators, Headlights and tail-lights, Spark plugs,
Bumpers, Upholstery, Radios and Electronic systems, Window manufacturers, Steering columns, Radiators, and on and on. When and if GM and Chrysler EXIT there are over 200,000 other employees of suppliers that will be out of work and those companies may possibly be in bankruptcy. DOMINOS>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

I bought and owned American made cars for 45 years, I always found that by the time I'd made payments for three or four years, I was "up-side -down" and the cars were almost worthless. Then I bought a used Toyota, have had it for four years and I dont thik I'll go American again until something changes, really changes

Deano,

You came up with the right name to call a merger of Fiat and Chrysler..."Fiasco!" (with a heavy accent.)

Where were the executives when us domestic car drivers were stuck on the side of the road???

Probably trying to figure out whether to invest in Space Exploration or something frivilous like an escape pod to the moon.

Chrysler knew for a long time about Head Gasket Leaks and problems of Overheating with their 2.2L Dodge Omni or Plymouth Horizon and other cars that they put that 4 cylinder engine in for years.
A $600 or more costly repair, one which could occur again, and did.
Then what does the poor guy do? Get an engine from a Junked Car?

I just heard the best line of all "WE built what American's want". There is a serious lack of foresight in this statement.

We need to build what American's NEED. They will soon figure out that is what they REALLY want.

Obama might be taking control over the auto-makers to replace the conventional automobile, with the newer technology we've been expecting for so long. We can't allow ourselves to be addicted to oil any longer.

...One more fact

-I do not buy other countries products, and it is becoming more and more harder to find "American made" products. I would gladly spend more for our products, it keeps our people working, it is reliable, and it will outlast most other products.

I am so sick of being "forced" to buy cheap crap from other countries instead of our own. I may have to drive further and spend more but it is so worth it in the long run to buy the American made items the first time...and by the way if you enjoy your weekends, thank a union.

The auto industry has for more than 30 years done everything possible to discourage the manufacture of electric vehicles . Why can't they see that this would be a way to solve two problems at once; eliminate our dependence on foreign oil, and reduce the pollution created by the use of gas guzzeling vehicles . Electric vehicles were in existence that long ago, a fact that the Mayor of San Francisco should have known, but who admitted that he was not aware of .

...Addition to the last post-

Levi's are NOT made in the USA. They are made by 13 year olds trying to support their families, like my neice in the Philippines. She sews the "made in USA" label on the waist band.

the presdent sold us out regan did it airlines this is just bthe startthe union got smoke by the president how about aig oohh nooo they gave him money they are shutting detroit down.

HaHa. The unions gave us weekends off? What decade are you living in? This has not happened since the '60's. Unions are in place to protect the weak employee. People are used as bargaining chips in negotiations. Anytime you have a fork truck driver at Ford making $36/hour and a Teacher making $16/hour, you need look no further than a union. Anytime you complain about tickets to a MLB game, blamce the players union for salaries of $16 million per year. Anytime you want to look at the lousy hourly pay of a cop versus the hourly pay of a welder, a union is usually involved.

Did anybody really care when the steelworkers needed bailed out?
I am a former steelworker who had 28 years of service lost a pension, and medical, and now unemployed,I don't remember when we went through all our concessions and our cuts, that any MOVIE STARS, were in our area, acutally I don't even remember being on National T.V. dicussed as much as this. A steelworker in the area even committed sucide because this is all he knew and was scared to try a new adventure at 55, but was that reported NO!!!!! So I say get used to taking a cut in pay, lick your wounds and take a real HARD LOOK to see how the steelworkers had to survive without any help!!!!

that's funny you must be in the wrong town for cops. Ours here start at 60,000 in the academy.

Unions are in place to assist workers also, I don't really know where you got your education from about them...

There are still many companies who tell their employees to not take breaks and or lunches (when it is mandated by law) and to work through it everyday. It is not right, but it pays the bills until a Union steps in and handles it shortly. If you speak up you are fired, if a union organizes it, they may actually have a fair chance of sticking around and making a career out of something instead of getting worked in to the ground.

Absolutely NOT! The government needs to step away, re-focus priorities and allow the market to run it's natural course – it will correct. This administration is turning the US into a socialistic society. Where is MY bail out?

The problem with Detroit is not the workers. After all, Toyota builds cars in the U.S. with American workers – and they are much better than detroit.

As a nephew of a former Comptroller of Pontiac and a graduate of a large engineering school (Purdue), I have some perspective on the problem.

GM does not let the engineers take charge. Instead, since WWII, all top brass of GM have finance and business degrees – not engineering. In the 1950's GM was still using leaf springs whereas a much better suspension system (torsion bars) had been used in Germany since the mid 1930's. When I pestered my uncle why, he finally sat me down and pointed out that the businessmen, such as himself, had made deals with manufacturers of leaf springs in which they got a lower cost by agreeing to buy leaf springs for several years. The engineers are handed parts which they have to use. Similarly, the main three engineers who developed the Pontiac Fiero in 1988 told me the horror stories of how they were forced to use left over parts from other production runs rather than use the parts they had designed for the Fiero. For example, the clutch was from a passenger car line and would not fit well enough in the Fiero to completely engage. The engineers pointed out that this would lead to slipping and a short life-span. Their MBA boses said that they had to go ahead and use these and other parts that the engineers knew would not hold up. Moreover, in the 1980's these engineers had been hounding their boses for permission to build a high gas mileage sedan. Finally to shut them up, the engineers were given a short period to build a prototype. They produced a protype that got about 70 mpg, but couldn't get their boses to let them develop it to a production car.

In the late 1980's, GM formed a new division called Saturn. Initially the Saturn division was, unlike the rest of GM, run by engineers. The SL series were "engineers cars" that featured 38 to 40 mpg and very good crash protection (in the year 2000, the emergency center for southern Arizona told me they had never had a permanent injury in a Saturn involved in a crash. Instead of changing the model, Saturn (like the Toyota Prius) just keep refining the car.

Then around 2002, GM took control away from the engineers and gave it to the finance and MBA people. The result was discontinuance of the SL series and replacing it by a series that gets only about 30 mpg – geniuses! Moreover, mechanics tell me that the reliability has gone down.

As a former professor, I can tell you that there are totally different mind-sets between engineering and business school students. As Neil Armstrong, engineers want to bring into reality "what can be." They are focussed in a quality product. Business school students are focused on getting money and as graduates are inclined to seek short term profits – not long term qualityl. Moreover, business school graduates do not have the education to imagine what could be comming down the pike in terms of new technology. For example, almost 15 years ago GM engineers told their boses that they should start developing hybrids. Their MBA boses couldn't see the value of doing that and said "no."

Unless engineers are put in charge of Detroit, giving the big three more money will just be pouring it down the drain. The auto industry is important to this country. Regardless of bailouts, the auto needs to, like Toyota and other foreign car manufacturers, have leaders who have engineering degrees.

they want auto workers to nmake more safc. get in line japan ok the president on down should in line like japan he lied to the workers kiss wall stree and aig butts and want to shut detroit down

I'd love a Tesla, but the only one I've seen really advertised so far is over a 100,000. Not able to put that in my financial future, unfortunately...

Listening to tonight's Larry King the question should have been, "Should the media care about Madonna's wish to adopt a child?". While the car bail-out question has already been discussed 100000 times, my question has not. Here is my opinion:

The media (all not only CNN), who dared making a fuss about this should give that much money it costs to report about this adoption to help those children wherever they are – are you serious in differentiating African from American children – to find parents.

I was lucky to have parents

Joachim

I'd love a Tesla, but the only one I've seen really advertised so far is over a 100,000. Not able to put that in my financial future, unfortunately...I would still like to know what GE did with Tesla's harmonic box that ran his car for free, or the free electricity he figured out how to obtain.

Brilliant scientist, too bad many don't realize how many of his discoveries were buried in history while others took credit for it.

not to mention the 49 thousand dollar price of the tesla s could be reduced to half that if gm was putting them through there line, remember
that the more you make of something the cheaper it is to be made

For me I currently drive a prius at 200 miles a day doing my job, with the tesla s my cost of travel will go down 66% and the look of my ride will go up 1000%

I wonder where the folks who say "I will not buy an American car or truck ",think their "import vehicle" is built. It is more than likely built right here in the good ole USA, by Americans,some who are UAW members and using parts from plants that supply parts to GM, Ford, Honda, Toyota and others.These people should get the FACTS. GM builds more fuel efficiant and better quality cars and trucks than most of the manufacters that build vehicles. Do your math and some reading.You fools banging the UAW and other UNIONS should be thanking them, because if not for them, you and hundreds of thousands of other workers would not be enjoying the pay,health insurance,vacations and other perks that you now receive, The large Companys did not give these things away,They had to be fought for by the Brave men and women who worked long and hard on those assembly lines with No benefits and very little pay, The American auto worker are the most productive in the industry and are very proud of the products that they build. To get out of this mess, we have to sell a lot of cars&trucks. GM builds beautiful,dependable,fuel efficent products. As far as the babble about the Big SUVs&Trucks, thats what the public wanted to buy, if they could afford it. We have and have always had a choice of what size car to buy. The Big 3 have always had some small cars to buy, most people didn't want them. This thing about the money UAW workers are making – are at least what THEY say we are making is just WRONG. I retired 4 years ago the most I ever made was less than $25.00/hr. with all the current workers having to give up pay I don't think they are making 30 t0 40 /hr. Here is an idea, make the import plants pay their workers the same as UAW workers, or maybe this- We all cut our pay to what the Mexican plants pay their workers that should get the economy going!

the tesla s is a five seat american made eletric car that will cost you 49
grand and cost you 4 dollars to go 300 miles and is extremely fast and killer looking, just as cool as it gets, the owner of the company welcomes gm to build this car so it becomes affordable to everyone, hes as patriotic as it gets, he would license his inventions for free to the big three just to see our country become stable again

fair trade is what we need for american anyone would benfit the president on down will nnot let it happen think about it,

Tillman-

FACT-Chevy 80% made in MEXICO
FACT-Nissan 80% made in the USA

Thank god for my durable, reliable, American made, Union made "foreign car." I'll never by another GM (junk machine) FORD (fix or repair daily) or Chrysler (crap heap..)

I would like to see anyone in Govenment stand on an assembly line for 10 or 12 hours or pull a week of doubles, or do the same job day in and day out. And the people complaining about American cars well if you don't like this country I'm sure you can find a foreign plane to take you somewhere else. Detroit is and always will be union and to all my union brothers&sisters who bust there butts everyday for all the whiners out there Solidarity Forever!!!!

I listened to that pompous A**hole Ed Begley tonight on Larry King Live and heard him trashing the US auto industry. I've never bought any car other than a USA UAW made car and never will buy anything else. Good cars and trucks are made in the USA and the vehicles that Americans want are made here. I have purchased five SUV's since my first one in 1984 and they have all been made by Ford. I don't want anything other than a SUV. I certainly do not want one of those little electric cars. Small cars are not safe on our streets and highways.
I seethed the entire time I heard Begley talking. I am proud to live in the Detroit area and to be a UAW retiree.

I am not suprised at the state of the Auto makers, they do not listen to the public as to what is needed. Example I am a contractor and I need small cargo vans like the GMC Astro or the Safari these are the most common vans used by trades and contractors aswell as Power and Telephone companies. But sure enought the US Automakers stop making them and push us into oversized vans that do not serve the purpose I know all the companies Electriacal / Plumblers / Tel / Cable / Painters all want these vans so bad that a used one is next to none for sale they got to smarten up and see what is needed and provide it or people will buy from someone else

Yes – I believe that a) if it is in the best interests of the tax payer and b) if it is in the best interests of the country. However I don't believe that the Government should run the business. There is nothing wrong with having ongoing government oversite including a position on the Board.

The government shouldn't bail out businesses that have no chance to survive, i.e., GM, Chrysler and Ford, haven't done enough to remain in the car manufacturung business. Detroit's big three, have failed to build a vehicle competitive with Toyota, Hyundai and Honda. Allowing these companies to go bankrupt, will in the long run, be the best thing for the American economy and for the American worker. We don't need the UAW, we need hard working people who will get the job done.

Look, we got ourselves to this place. The car industry, and the rest of America has to fall down, and yes it may not sound nice, and yes it hurts, and will continue to hurt, but hitting bottom is an impotant part of our self cleansing process. One thing for sure, we will get up again, and we will be stronger, and learn from our mistakes. All this bailout process is not the path to health.

America needs to do what Japan did, and China is doing now, building smart, attracting world currencies INTO the country, and keep it in the country. We need to get our egos and desire for material wealth out of the way, focus on provison of TRUE value, not perceived value. Conserve the cash, invest wisely.

First it is bull that the gov. is taking this much countrol firing somebody they don't have the right. Second let them go bankrupt I would still buy a GM vehicle I want GM to make it just like everybody else does ( people still flew when the air plane company's went bankrupt ) so anybody that says people wouldn't need to get there head out. If they would just let them go bankrupt the gov. wouldn't have there hands in it and GM would have to restructure which is what is needed and the tax payer doesn't put out any money.

I am an American who has been living overseas for many years and GM and Ford make very efficient cars that are being marketed all over the world and are very competetive with the Japanese. Why aren't these models being sold in the US?

Did they not get the hint when honda and toyota started to have a higher resale value???