We need your help!

[dwilcox]

The auto industry needs help in Congress right away -- and if we don’t get it, the jobs and benefits of hundreds of thousands of our active and retired members and millions of other Americans are at risk.
Please respond right away to this urgent request by calling your Senators or Representative through this toll-free number: (877) 331-1223. Or send an e-mail.

[outtahere]

I have a question. My income depends totally on GM - so this bankruptcy is probably going to change my life - as well as the lives of everyone in the Flint area - regardless of where they work.

But - is this bailout going to change anything at GM? Are they going to start designing cars that the public wants? are they going to get rid of the waste in the plant? during a 35 year stint in the shops - you see waste every single day. are they going to have some decent engineering? i can remember days on the line when the word was quanitity - quanitity - quanitity - don't shut down the line - just push it out the door. the dealer will fix it.

why do the important people at the top make so much more than those who actually work the line?

It was the fall of 1973 when the first oil embargo took place - and work at GM changed forever. Why didn't management and engineering start building fuel efficient vehicles then? why does my 06 Chevy pickup get worse mileage than the 00 pickup? essentially the same 4 x 4 pickup. WHY WHY WHY

will this bailout really change anything at GM?

i really wonder -

[dwilcox]

Again,

This is a loan, not a bailout!!! Low interest Government backed loan. Goto http://gmfactsandfiction.com/

[outtahere]

My apologies for using the word bailout - that is the buzzword in the news. Loan is more appropriate - and i think loan is correct.

But i still wonder if they will change their ways. I mean how many versions of the Avalanche does the market need - and why did GM do away with the minvan. Why do they design such awful looking cars and so many cars for a very small specific market.

I am in favor of the loan - so many other jobs in other parts of the country depend on GM employment - heck what will this do to the economy of Arizona - if all the GM retirees stay in Michigan for the winter and don't head south.

But GM has to get more efficient and has to start building a product that the public wants to buy.

and universal health insurance to get the cost of medical off the cost of the vehicle - is a must. The foreign companies don't have to pay so much in medical. People can whoop and hollar over the terrible medical care in Canada - but not one of my Canadian cousins would trade their medical for my GM Blue Cross!!

things have got to change - and i sure hope there are some guarantees that they will in the contract for that loan.

it is necessary - for the future of the employees, the retirees, the US taxpayer.

[coolio]

Why doesn't President Bush have a problem taking care of the banking industry, after they have ripped off the american people, but he can't help the working class. He sure has taken care of all his rich buddies.

[outtahere]

His rich buddies vote for him.

by and large - blue collar and union do not.

he isn't for the good of the country - never has. for the good of dubya and company. how many companies did he run into the ground? too bad the auto companies don't have a rich papa to bail them out! ever read of his shenanigans with the baseball team and how he ended up getting the public to put up his share of the money.

the reports on the auto meetings in washington today are most disheartening.

i called a southern senator today - one who is against the help - and one whose state we like to spend part of the winter. they just brushed me off.

doesn't the rest of this country realize how far those auto dollars go?

we not off to Alabama this winter! no sirree!

[Bones]

hmmm interesting,
wonder what would happen if toyota's, or lexus development or honda of America was asking for a loan.


http://www.opensecrets.org/industries/co...&ind=T2100

[outtahere]

From Spencer Bachus - representative from the state of Alabama

http://bachus.house.gov/HoR/AL06/Press+R...DUSTRY.htm

My initial problem justifying these loans to the Big Three automakers when I speak to my constituents is the fairness issue. The vast majority of my constituents are not making anywhere near what General Motors and Ford pay their employees. Even with recent changes, the average hourly wage at General Motors is still $75 an hour. That’s 50%, 100% more, and in some cases three or four times what my constituents are making. My constituents do no understand why their tax dollars should go to support companies that pay their employees far more than they make.

maybe the dude needs some letters?

Birmingham Office
1900 International Park Dr., Suite 107
Birmingham, AL 35243
205 969-2296 phone
205 969-3958 fax


i found this little tidbit at http://www.monthlyreview.org/mrzine/vogel200808.html

I know nothing about this site but found this info there: TMMTX is the Toyota Plant near San Antonio.

Table 1: Incentives and Subsidies to TMMTX
(Modified: March 22,2008)
Date Agency Action Costs Final Payers
Feb. 2003 Texas Transportation Commission Initial grant to Bexar County to upgrade roads serving the TMMTX site $17.6M TX taxpayers
Apr. 2003 TX Department of Economic Development, Smart Jobs Fund Grant to Bexar County Rural Rail Transportation District to construct a second rail line to serve TMMTX $15M TX taxpayers
May 2003 Incentive package for TMMTX (Project Starbright) agreement ratified. It included:
City of San Antonio City incentive package to TMMTX (Includes $16.9 M to purchase 2,600 acre site, Toyota to contribute $2M. City to pay up to $10M site preparation, $3M for training center) $37 M City taxpayers
City of San Antonio Fee waivers and extension of water and sewer services to TMMTX $13M City taxpayers, utility customers
CPS Energy (City Public Service) Fee waivers and extension of natural gas and electric service to TMMTX site. Toyota to pay 2.4 cents per kilowatt hour for electricity compared to 7.2 cents charged to residential customers $1OM + un- determined amount from discount rate Utility customers
Bexar County 10-year county tax abatement $22M County residents
Southwest School District (SWISD) School tax abatement. TMMTX agrees to pay up to $34M to offset losses from abatement $45M Public school students and employees
Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) State funding for highway and road expansion projects $26M TX taxpayers
Oct. 2003 TxDOT Development of Texas Highway 130 to avoid I-35 gridlock between San Antonio and Austin as inducement to TMMTX. First toll section of the I-35 NAFTA corridor. Un- determined portion of $1.5B TX taxpayers through bonds, road users through tolls
Dec. 2003 US Department of Commerce. Economic Development Administration Grant to Bexar County and San Antonio to fund infrastructure improvements for TMMTX $3M US taxpayers
Feb. 2004 Texas Workforce Commission, Skills Development Fund Grant to TMC and Alamo Community College District (ACCD) to train workers for TMMTX $2.15M TX taxpayers
Feb. 2005 Alamo WorkSource (Funded by state Skills Development Fund and US Department of Labor through Workforce Development Act) Training Fund to reimburse TMMTX for training new workers. Renewable in 2008 if Toyota expands the plant. $27.25M TX and US taxpayers
Feb. 2005 US Department of Commerce, Economic Development Administration Grant to Palo Alto Community College (ACCD) to train TMMTX workers $1.5M US Taxpayers
June 2005 Bexar County 10-year county tax abatements granted to 15 TMMTX suppliers $6.5M County residents
Sept. 2005 Project Quest Inc (non-profit) Seeks funding to train TMMTX workers Un- determined portion of $5M (2005) $7M (2006) Local taxpayers, foundations, and businesses
Oct. 2005 US Department of Labor, Community-Based Jobs Training Initiative Grant to ACCD to train TMMTX employees $1.3M US taxpayers
July 2006 TxDOT Grant to Alamo WorkSource to provide public transportation from economically distressed areas of San Antonio to TMMTX $200,000 TX taxpayers
Total of publically acknowledged incentives and subsidies to TMMTX through 2007. This total was compiled from reports published in the San Antonio Business Journal and the San Antonio Express-News. $227.5M

The total immediate cost of this single globalization deal to taxpayers is difficult to calculate because of hidden subsidies, but TMC public records offer a credible estimate. In 2006, the Toyota website reported a company investment of $780.2 million in the TMMTX plant which was valued at $1.23 billion on their books -- this corporate disclosure indicates that public funds and assets transferred to TMC account for close to 40 percent of the total capital investment in the Texas auto plant!

I apologize for the length of this post - but people need to read and see what is happening out there. Bachus doesn't want the money to the auto industry because the workers make too much - did he question AIG about how much their people make?

and did the people of Michigan question how much citizens of Alabama make when they contributed to Katrina Relief? I think not.

[JOHNNYG]

ALL I CAN SAY IS GET READY FOR BANKRUPTCY! DID YOU WATCH THOSE HEARINGS (TUES) RICK WAGONER IS A BUMBLING IDIOT! ALL OF THE CEO'S AND RONNY SHOULD OF SAID SOMETHING THAT THE SENATORS HAVEN'T ALREADY HEARD! AT LEAST DEBBIE STABENOW SPOKE MORE FROM THE HEART!!

[coolio]

If your in the job bank, bye bye, layoff here you come.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Ok all you retiree's, you can see it coming now. The first thing next year if your on medicare I see GM taking your healthcare just like they did with the salary folks.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Somebody has to pay for managements poor handling of the business. You sure can tell Rick Wagner is surrounded by yes men. As soon as you start asking him questions he starts to mumble and fumble.