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Poll: Americans oppose auto bailout

November 26, 2008 by  

Most Americans do not support a lifeline to Detroit carmakersThe majority of Americans believe that automakers do not deserve to receive government funds, according to the results of a new survey.

Los Angeles Business’ most recent Business Pulse survey reveals that nearly three-quarters (72 percent) of respondents are not in favor of a rescue package to help the auto industry.

Meanwhile, 22 percent said they would support such a measure and 6 percent were undecided.

Comments left by readers of the website further reveal that many people feel fed up with Washington’s approach to solving the country’s economic woes.

One reader claimed that the government refuses to take a complex view of the economy, instead opting for simple solutions.

Someone else expressed frustration with the number of groups who seem to be stepping forward to request federal money.

And another respondent suggested that "the only serious cure for what’s wrong with the U.S. auto industry includes restructuring the legacy of debt, pensions and overpriced (by world market standards) labor agreements."

Carmakers’ request for $25 billion has also been met with skepticism by Congressional lawmakers, who said that industry leaders would need to submit a viable plan for the future before they receive a lifeline.
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Filed Under: Liberty News, Wealth
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  • http://WVI Joe Spenner

    strong text

    Get real! Check how many of the companys and corporations in economic trouble ALSO CONTRIBUTE TO HOMOSEXUALI TY! THEIR DIRTY LIVES ARE CATCHING UP TO THEM!
    Read what George Washington says in his “First Inaugural Address.”
    Joe Spenner

  • Wendell Skinner

    It is a fact that politicians are spending our money and they don't
    care. I would like to see all of Congress included in
    our S.S. system and pay what we pay.. They get a free retirement
    after only one term in office equal to the pay when leaving office for
    a lifetime. Plus they have a no deductible health insurance, free meals,
    and a multiple number of other benefits.

  • Allen

    What horendous horse sh!t. They pay people $65+ per hour to build cars. Rent a brain please. Factory line workers are overpaid at least 100% and they get benefits better than the rest of the country. Screw them and the govt that backs the unions that funnel the theiving politicians hoardes of money. Yeah boys, everybody is watching. All you congressfinks and senatoriass’ looked oh soooo concerned. But everyone knows what you thieving lying politicians are thinking. You better not do it. Oh yeah you bunch of elitist elected buffoons, take your 20,000 combat troops out of my state. THAT TOO IS UNCONSTITUTIONAL. We all know what you’re thinking. You’re worried looks are fooling no one. Hey there Barney F. How’s cruising Penn. Ave been lately, you f^g.

  • Paul

    As a retired autoworker after 36.5 years. In 1967 I hired in and asked people around me how does this company make money with such waste. Shortly after a new contract offered workers a 30 years and out pension. Management was stupid for agreeing to 30 years without seeing if 40 or 45 years would work. Management was at fault then and NOW. How can anyone trust corporations, unions or government with bad management ?? Now I am supposed to help bail them out with what appears to be a soon non-existent pension!!!! Social Security!!!! I have no sympathy for those who never read about the “Peter Principle”. It is real.

  • Jeff

    I heard a great idea from my nephew at the dinner table over Thanksgiving.

    Here it goes…

    I think the federal govt, in order to help the Big 3, should by a new car for every family
    in America.

    It would give the Big3 financial help and it would help out all the people of this
    country… Esp the middle and working classes!

    • Wendell Skinner

      I could use a new car or preferably a pick up!

      My car is a 1993 Chevrolet with over 209,000 miles, still gets
      20 - 22 mpg. Only work on the engine was a valve cover gasket.

      Would like to have a new one like it .

      Wendell Skinner

  • Vern

    This is simply throwing good money after bad. The amount of greed in this nation is so high that if we stacked it on end we could reach the far end of the galaxy. Bailouts are only a bandaid on a gaping wound that will bleed out soon enough. Le them go bankrupt, get rid of the unions, and then learn how to make a economical, well-built car that will last at least five + year without any major work being done. Most of what they coming out with is just pure crap. They are trying to satisfy the stylish wants of the new generation instead of thinking about reliability, economy and anything else that is important. There are some cars that are now just coming out that get 30+ miles to the gallon, I have a 15 year old nissan, in which I cannot use 5th gear, and I still get 32 miles per gallon on the freeway at 70 MPH, and it has over 200,000 miles on it. Just what have the automakers been working for that amount of time? It sure wasn’t mileage figures, or they would have been better long before this. Theya re more concerned with do-dads and gadgets, that most people are not smart enough to operate anyway, so why have them? They don’t make the car any more economical, or safer, or longer lasting. The thinnking of these folks has gotten so far into the clouds that they will never again be in touch with the real America. Let them fail, it’s the nature of business.

  • Tony

    Don’t think this will be the end of it. Throwing money into a failing enterprise is just the start. Once the government has a stake in the company, they will be forced to make up the short commings every year.

    • Bruce

      What ever happened to the free enterprise system? It requires businesses to manage their business so it will run at a praofit and mot edpend on the taxpayer to bail them out abecause to their falure todo proper manaagement.

  • Counterpole

    Much of the financial load on automakers is pension and retirement benefits. I worked 31 years for a major electronics company. This company had a 401k plan and a pension plan. In the pension plan the employee could put in up to 5% of his pay and the company would match up to $500/year. The company portion was fully vested after 5 years. The best thing about it was, the company didn’t keep the money, it was paid out to a trust company and invested as it accrued. This way the company could go out of business, sell out or crash and burn with no effect to the pension plan. The 401k plan was similar.

    Pension and retirement funds are worth what you pay for them, if you pay nothing, that’s probably what they are worth.

    Counterpole

  • Peter

    There should be no-bail out for US automakers. Have we heard one word from automakers about cutting the wages of workers one cent? Sure, for new employees, big deal.
    And do you know that lots of this Federal money is for Pensioners/Retirees?

  • Bob

    For years and years the auto industry has has received wages and benefits that are far out of proportion to the rest of us. We actually paid for those wages and benefits when we bought their cars. Now they supposedly cannot pay those benefits anymore so they are asking the taxpayer to take up the slack. Nothing doing. Let them bite the dust, reorganize, and become competitive.

    • Bruce

      AMEN to that! They may do retraining the same way that they did for 100,000 timberworkers and re train them for other jobs.

      They alos need to reorganize the management to one that actually manages the companies.

    • dorian

      I once worked in a union house. Hated it! They only took my money for dues…the workers pay for them why should americans also pay union dues!!??

    • DJ

      Yeah, and so have the politicians, bankers, and other criminals who now run our government….so where’s the problem?

  • Bob Livingston

    A bailout for auto-makers will not solve one thing. It will only prolong the agony and the inevitable. The best thing that could happen to the car companies is to file bankruptcy, clean up their books and reorganize. This is the only viable solution. Bob.

    • Wendell Skinner

      Realizing that the bankrupt car makers would cause a lot of
      unemployment does not justify the huge bailout of these
      manufacturers. The problem is that every other conceivable
      American company will be standing in line for their hand out !
      After they declare bankrupty and get rid of all the union contracts, and
      If the car makers are really serious about survival they need to
      1) Reduce the number of automobiles produced 2) Build a better
      automobile that will last longer 3) Build a automobile that will
      be simpler to repair, fewer bells and whistles 4) Really make
      the automobile engine more efficient 5) Redesign a new car
      about every 5 yrs. instead of retooling every year. 6) Cut the
      price of a new car, make it a convenience and not a luxury.
      7) Stop the competition between the car companies, government
      regulation, and fuel producers to control all the aspects of
      the use of the automobile.

      Then the government should control the tariffs and/or the equal
      exchange of the sales of foreign automobiles here and American
      automobiles in foreign countries.

      These occurrences are mostly due to money !!

      Wendell Skinner

      • dorian mcbride

        Honda 2009 Civic GX NGV (natural gas vehicle) $25,090! Check it out!

      • Wendell Skinner

        Yes, but is it American made ?

        Wendell Skinner

      • dorian

        excatly my point! The big 3 need to be ahead of the pack. We are converting our car to be a NGV!

      • larry smith

        This is not a bailout! Stop acting like fish on the end of a hook. If we lose this last bastion of American mfg you can kiss goodbye our status as the 2nd most powerful military and industrial nation (behind China) in the world. You blame Unions without knowing the facts. I had to dig deep and research the UAW for actual facts because they are hard to find because people in powerful places want to keep us all at servile living standards. The individuals who make up unions are our next door neighbors, friends, sitting next to us in the church pew, etc., and I haven’t met a one of them that makes that salaries advertised. Who really wants to demean and destroy the Unions? Look to the mahogony paneled offices of big money whose sole desire is to make every one of us financial slaves.

    • Earl Eichhirn

      Instead of all this bullshit system of giving money to the auto industry, we should simply raise the import tariff on foreign trucks, autos, motorcycles, and all their imported parts.
      Then the government, or whoever collects the tariffs should give part of that to the auto industry.
      That should help the US auto manufacturers, and slow down the imports.

      • Wendell Skinner

        Attention: Larry Smith .... If you reread my comment you will not

        find one reference to destroying the unions, I did say get rid of the union
        contracts. That means renegotiate them to an acceptable level in relation
        to other union contracts; ie: oil industry. In the current contract, the company
        has to pay union members even if they are laid off work, that is really
        far-fetched….

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