Batavia Daily News for Friday: Area auto sales "strong despite downturn"

"We believe the auto industry is the most important single manufacturing industry in the country, and for the government not to take seriously the livelihood of millions who derive income from that industry is shameful." The American automobile industry has consistently shown its disdain for the U. S. government, the U. S. worker and the planet. The auto-makers have ignored the EPA mandates on emmisions for decades. They have closed domestic plants and forced workers out of employment. They market their best vehicles, exclusively, overseas. They produce more than the market demands. They leverage their dealerships and other industries such as steel and after-market parts outfitters. They exemplify the worst traits in U. S. industry. Try this Ford and GM: the federal government buys your current inventory at fleet price, selects random SS numbers and awards the vehicles to taxpayers. Now that's a bailout!

I have a strong opinion on this bailout. We do not need to help the rich auto companies out. Let them go bankrupt. I'm willing to bet that most of that money ends up in the hands of the guys at the top, not helping the worker.

What would happen if Toyota and other car companies pulled out of the US and went home? How many Americans would lose their jobs?

John, that won't happen, in Japan they have universal health care which keeps their costs low, neither the unions or companies pay those costs there so they can afford to reach into other markets without many problems. They won't either. Mark, again I'll point out why companies in Japan and South Korea aren't suffering, they don't have a burden of providing health care to their employees, they pay a slightly higher tax rate so their profit margins can go through the roof. Secondly, those pensions are earned and need to be guaranteed, unless you want potential consumers with no income having to live off government benefits. I think that if we tie some necessary regulation to the bailout of the big three some good can come of it.

Dan, Toyota and other companies that opened auto plants here, in the US, are doing well. Our auto companies have no plan to go head to head with them, sale numbers do not lie. Remember, they are here, in this country. How many Americans would lose their jobs if they went back to Japan, or Germany. They came here and Americans have jobs.

Dan, Sorry, I missed that Honda just opened a new auto plant here in the US. Should they go home and lay off the workers?

The UAW is a part of the problem, but not the major one. You can not blame the UAW for doing what its members wanted, that's why its a union. The blame is with the companies. They did not and still do not manage well. Giving them more money will just delay the end. If we give them 25 or 50 billion tax dollars, that we have to borrow from China, and they still go under, then what? We owe China and get nothing? What is the plan the auto companies have? If they want my money, I have a right to know the plan. Sad part is, based on how Congress screwed up the bank bail out, they'll screw this up also.

All three have lots of loans already and stock outstanding. Where will we be in the line of people asking for their money if they fail? We know the answer with the banks, we get screwed.

Is there a single target for blame? The list of failed choices is staggering. A change in business as usual is long overdue. The mega-industries that were icons of American success: Railroads and big steel were the first to flop. ...Now the investment houses and auto industry. These giants had all dug in. They dropped-anchor, presuming eternal reign. Companies set themselves up god-like, commanding loyalty, prepping for immortality. Status quo is deadly... remember the dinoaurs- too lumbering to adapt. It's the product- not the logo. Heard anything from RCA, lately? Our currency bears a notation- This note is legal tender for all debts, public and private. Not since 1964, our bills bore a different notation. "This certifies that there is on deposit in the Treasury of the United States of America X dollar(s) in silver payable to the bearer on demand." Take a one-dollar "silver certificate" into a bank before 1968 and claim a silver dollar. In 1960, it was clear that the one-dollar silver coin had a value greater than one dollar. People were melting down the coins and cashing them in. The United States has valued its currency based on gold and silver. Stable prices allowed both metals to serve as currency throughout the 1800s. In 1900, passage of the Gold Standard Act singled out gold. In 1933 President Franklin D. Roosevelt outlawed private gold ownership, effectively negating the Gold Standard Act. From 1946 - 1971 a system of fixed exchange rates allowed governments to sell gold at $35/ounce. By 1971 there was no longer enough gold to cover paper money the Federal Reserve had printed. Richard Nixon ended fixed gold prices and forever severed real commodity-based links between the major world currencies. So what is our currency based upon? Nothing. We exist in the Fiat system. Speculation determines the value. Our currency has real value in the sense that it is accepted by the IRS in payment for taxes. We pay our bills with Monopoly money. Silly geeks play with our worthless money on Wall Street. We throw our empty money at cars, TVs, football clowns, tasteless beer, deep-fried food. Prices go up. More empty money is printed. The boss gives me a 4% of nothing raise. Health insurance premiums go up 300%. The IRS stimulates me with 600 useless dollars. Since our "valuables" have no intrinsic value, we can afford to throw them out and replace them. (Note: You can still buy a functioning 1927 GE refrigerator on EBay. Don't search for the 1977 unit.) So where does the blame go? War debts- beginning after WW I. Remember the Soviet Union? Reagan did not fell the USSR. War debts killed the USSR. They made missiles instead of washing machines. You can't wash clothes with a missile.

My point on health care was that Japan and South Korea had UHC when the big three were signing onto the current deals, Toyota has never had to shoulder any of the current legacy costs for that reason. If the governments in Japan had to bail their auto industry out, then you had better believe that they would be mandating the closure of factories in foreign nations, it was just an idea that I found to be very interesting.

Bankruptcy doesn't necessarily mean closure. It means restructuring, elimination of debt, canceling contracts (such as union contracts), and developing a plan to survive, if possible. There's a bigger economic cost to be considered over the long-term to propping up a failing business. You only prolong or delay the pain. Toyota workers in the U.S. are subject to the same health system as GM workers in Detroit, so, again, any comparison to conditions in Japan doesn't fly.

Should we bail out any business? That's the question. Most people here on this blog did not think we should bail out the banks, but now the Auto companies are ok? Should we bail out Insureance companies? Where do you draw the line? We have bailed out companies and banks before since the 1970's, and each time we end up doing it again. And again, since we don't have the money, do you think we should keep borrowing from China and Abrabia?

Mark, I agree with you on free trade, in retrospect not having tough environmental and worker protection clauses has done much harm to the American economy. Howard, the health care costs are higher for union members because the plans are generally more expensive, Toyota isn't locked into the same rates that the UAW and Ford is, I don't think that the UAW should make any concessions in this go around though, if we had good and quality universal health care (not socialized medicine) then costs would me much lower. John, sometimes it's necessary to prevent the fallout of the overall economy.