Patterico's Pontifications

12/19/2008

Yay: Bush Will Loan $17.4 Billion to Automakers

Filed under: General — Patterico @ 8:19 am

A temporary Band-aid until we can give them the really big money.

Comments (32)

32 Responses to “Yay: Bush Will Loan $17.4 Billion to Automakers”

I’m surprised, I thought there was a growing consensus for a structured bankruptcy approach, which made the most sense to me. Any idea that bloggers from Mother Jones to The Corner can get behind is probably worth looking at.
Aplomb (b6fba6) — 12/19/2008 @ 8:27 am
Well, we elected George Herbert Walker Bush in 1988;
and we elected George Walker Bush in 2000;
but, when did we elect George Herbert Hoover Bush?

Thank Heavens he’s a graduate of the Harvard Business School,
I would hate to think what would have happened if he had just gone to Odessa Junior College.
Another Drew (efe318) — 12/19/2008 @ 8:42 am
Just a second to remind folks that Ford declined this and shouldn’t be lumped in quite as much (though they advocated this bailout).

It’s sick that these unviable companies can continue to pay their wealthy and lazy workers at the expense of the common man. It’s also too bad they won’t go bankrupt as soon, because a lot of better car companies (many of them green and interesting) would be able to buy cheap factories and IP.

I will try to buy domestic Hondas in the future. It’s too bad, but I really feel like GM and Chrysler are deeply unAmerican.
Juan (4cdfb7) — 12/19/2008 @ 8:47 am
Juan,
How well do the domestic Japanese cars hold up? I’d heard that Toyotas had gone down a bit in reliability. All four of the Japanese cars I’ve owned were made in Japan. My Honda CRX is 20 years and going strong.
Locally in moonbat Bobby Wexler’s district, people go for the upscale Japanese lines, German luxury, Escalade/Navigator type SUVs or white Ford pickups driven mostly by yahoos.
Tough for union workers to bite the bullet, but thems the breaks. I’m a Pa. state retiree and haven’t had a COLA since 2002. Doubtful that Fast Eddie will come up with one, but the legislators will take care of themselves. I knew a state cop who actually only did dispatcher duties and ended up with 3/4 of average salary last three years for retirement purposes. At that time it meant three g’s a month and paid health insurance.
madmax333 (0c6cfc) — 12/19/2008 @ 8:59 am
As Brad S would say, you people should just submit to the wishes of Pres. Bush. That is what a real conservative would do.
JD (7f8e8c) — 12/19/2008 @ 9:04 am
I am with Aplomb in comment 1; I thought that the consensus was getting behind managed bankruptcy.

The silver lining is that this is only a temporary fix. The new administration and congress will have to revisit his issue shortly after they are sworn in. What will be the mood of the taxpayer if the UAW has not made major concessions by then to bring labor costs in line with the Big Three competitors? Does Dear Leader really think he has the political capital to force through a massive bailout that leaves the UAW relatively untouched?
JVW (bff0a4) — 12/19/2008 @ 9:07 am
I would like to donate my house to the car companies. I feel so sorry for them!

NOT!
Patricia (ee5c9d) — 12/19/2008 @ 9:10 am
I wonder how much pressure GWB got from those impacted by GM’s announcement yesterday (?) that they were stopping construction on a new engine plant to husband their cash?
I see nothing else that has changed this week that would demand any action like this, which is just going to flush a bunch of cash down the UAW shit-hole.
Another Drew (efe318) — 12/19/2008 @ 9:19 am
Well, AD, with GWB out of the way perhaps the 48% of us who did not vote for Dear Leader can unite against any further bailout this spring.
JVW (bff0a4) — 12/19/2008 @ 9:30 am
madmax, I have also heard people complain about Toyota (and there was a story a couple years ago where Toyota noted some quality control problems), but I think it’s a bit of a bum-rap. Nothing like the insane quality problems that plagued the US automakers for a while and still do to some extent. It’s tough to know exactly which automaker is the best, but even in the year Toyota’s quality slipped, they were at the top spot in 11 out of 16 segments in JD Power. My opinion is that we know that Honda and Toyota are at or near the top every single year. They aren’t perfect, but they are much more consistent. Ford has been excellent the past two years as well, but they don’t have the record Honda and Toy have.

Aesthetically, I don’t like any current model Toyota today. Honda Accords got ugly last year, but those V-6s are the most reliable engines you can get. The cars are assembled well and everything fits and works intelligently. The smart move is to avoid Chrysler or GM, since they can still go bankrupt and they build garbage… Test out a Ford, Toyota, and Honda and pick the model you prefer and you’ll probably be ok.

Or just buy a newishly used Honda.
Juan (4cdfb7) — 12/19/2008 @ 9:32 am
This all boils down to Bush’s increasingly irrational fear of going down in history as another Hoover – but Hoover wasn’t directly responsible for the Great Depression, the protectionist Congress passing the Smoot – Hawley tariff did the trick.
Dmac (e30284) — 12/19/2008 @ 10:08 am
Revisionism- look it up Dmac.
truthnjustice (d99227) — 12/19/2008 @ 10:12 am
Projection, TMJ. Look it up.
SPQR (72771e) — 12/19/2008 @ 10:18 am
Do you think, SPQR, that it isn’t even aware of it? I still think it is a poorly executed computer program.
Eric Blair (e906af) — 12/19/2008 @ 10:21 am
Eric, Lew Rockwell … its a pretty incompetent AI programmer if its not aware of how silly that makes TMJ look.
SPQR (72771e) — 12/19/2008 @ 10:26 am
And again, a Bush abandons the Republican base in the vain hope that it will cause the Dems to like him. It happened with Bush 41 when he approved a tax increase (on the promise that Dems would cut spending, which they never did), and it has happened several times with Bush 43 (SCHIP, Immigration Reform, etc.).

Pres. Bush: “Do they like me yet?”
Scott Jacobs (a1c284) — 12/19/2008 @ 10:28 am
There I go again, drinking coffee while I read comments. Dangerous to keyboards!

Good one, SPQR!
Eric Blair (e906af) — 12/19/2008 @ 10:28 am
I’m with you on this one, Scott. Compromise and bipartisanship goes both ways.

I think it was Lyndon Johnson who said, if you want a friend in Washington, get a dog.
Eric Blair (e906af) — 12/19/2008 @ 10:29 am
Some of the pols in DC couldn’t even get a dog to like them.
Another Drew (efe318) — 12/19/2008 @ 10:42 am
Some of the pols in DC couldn’t even get a dog to like them.

Honestly, do try to show the Speaker of the House some respect, would you?
Scott Jacobs (a1c284) — 12/19/2008 @ 10:44 am
I thought she proved my point.
Another Drew (efe318) — 12/19/2008 @ 10:51 am
Public Service Announcement: please don’t feed the Troll.
Dmac (e30284) — 12/19/2008 @ 10:58 am
Actually, Eric, I think it was Truman who said it. This is all political. Bush doesn’t want the body on his front lawn. He’ll let the Obama folks administer the last rites and do the CPR. Of course, they will drag it out for years if someone doesn’t put GM out of its misery.

I have a new Tahoe and it’s been fine. My wife never takes it to the dealer for service anyway. I had serious warranty issues with a BMW and a Mercedes so I have stuck with Toyota and Nissan lately. One daughter has a Honda, another has a VW. The women like those big SUVs.

At least I have avoided a Hummer (the car, that is) although every other car at my daughter’s private school was a Hummer with a mother in tennis clothes at the wheel and a cell phone stuck to her ear. A friend of mine once said that, if reincarnation was true, he wanted to come back as a Laguna Niguel doctor’s wife.

Maybe the husband once said he’d like a hummer and the wife went out and bought one. Surprised him when he got home.
Mike K (531ff4) — 12/19/2008 @ 11:15 am
Congress kicked the football out of the building, closed the doors and went home (and gave themselves a $4700.00 pay raise in the process). GWB picked up the football and threw it through a window where the idiot democrats in congress will find it on their return.
Anyone who can read and count past seven can figure out the democrats killed the auto bailout bill and then tried to blame in on the ‘minority party’. Only a brain dead liberal will buy that story with the facts so easy to obtain.
Scrapiron (ce69ff) — 12/19/2008 @ 12:28 pm
brain dead liberal

That’s what we seem to be good at manufacturing;
cars, not so much.
Another Drew (efe318) — 12/19/2008 @ 12:41 pm
The republican party offered us this clown. The same party that thinks bipartisanship is a noble idea and looked upon Juan McCain as a viable White House occupant. Georges father had already proven the intellectual capacity of the family by putting Souter on the Supreme Court and breaking his no new taxes pledge. So the real question is, should we be mad at Bush, or ourselves?
Doug Book (dda662) — 12/19/2008 @ 1:08 pm
Bush – tarnishing the Republican brand to the end.
Perfect Sense (9d1b08) — 12/19/2008 @ 1:33 pm
At least I have avoided a Hummer

Although of course there are exceptions to the rule, drivers of Hummers are most likely to be douchebags of the lowest order. I used to call on that ad division at GM, and even the marketing guys admitted that their drivers were most likely to be incredibly narcissistic jerks, not caring a whit about performance, only about screaming to the world that they just dropped 100 large on a military assault vehicle.
Dmac (e30284) — 12/19/2008 @ 2:35 pm
“Some of the pols in DC couldn’t even get a dog to like them.” All democrats carry a pork chop in their pocket to get the family dog to let them in the house.
Scrapiron (ce69ff) — 12/19/2008 @ 2:53 pm
AD #8 …which is just going to flush a bunch of cash down the UAW shit-hole.

Such is the real problem with giving them so much as a return phone call!

Instead of filing a 1040 next year, just send em a copy of your GM, Dodge car title!
TC (0b9ca4) — 12/19/2008 @ 3:24 pm
The NYT says that maybe, just maybe, this whole economic collapse was caused by Bill Clinton?
H/T BigLizards
Another Drew (efe318) — 12/19/2008 @ 7:51 pm
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12/19/2008

Yay: Bush Will Loan $17.4 Billion to Automakers

32 Responses to “Yay: Bush Will Loan $17.4 Billion to Automakers”

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