11.21
Howdy Webriders! Dr. VW here for a quick Auto Adventure to Congress. I’m going to say my bit about the bailout and then forevermore hold my peace. The whole thing is starting to wear on my nerves. Hit the jump for my three reasons we should stop raising hell about the Auto Industry Bailout.
1. It’s too early.
They haven’t even DRAFTED a plan to bailout the Auto Industry, yet everyone is screaming bloody murder about why it shouldn’t be done. Wherever you stand on the issue, don’t you think it would be prudent to hear the arguments before entrenching yourself in a blinded opinion? Think about what is at stake: 1.6 MILLION jobs according to some estimates. Think about this website alone: the “big three” make up nearly half the cars in the world, maybe a little more. What would happen if suddenly we just stopped talking or caring about them? Half our content would pretty much evaporate… auto shows like SEMA and the LA Auto Show would downsize considerably.
2. There are numerous options besides the bailout
The bailout is just one of many different avenues that the auto industry can take. More drastic but perhaps better in the long term is chapter 11 bankruptcy. Another avenue would be to *gasp* get a loan from the banks that we’re already bailing out! Isn’t that the POINT of the original bailout? To shore up banks so they can start lending again? Lets hold the banks to that agreement. Have them lend the money to the big three so we don’t have to.
3. I’m sick of hearing the same people whine.
The news cycle over the last few days has been utterly dominated by the same arguments going round and round with neither side providing any tangible evidence for either of their positions. Meanwhile the economy sinks lower and lower and putting a stop to any irreversivble damage gets harder and harder. Stop talking and DO something. As a wise man on SNL once said… FIX IT!
Dr. VW– out.
About #2: they can’t just get loans, they are already too far in the red with their creditors/suppliers. Thats the reason why people think it will be such a massive impact if they go down.
Either way, the bailout was given to an investment bank, which deals with diff types of investment vehicles.. so I don’t think you can just march up to them and apply for a loan.
Some passing thoughts…
Two uninformed things that were said in the above article, one you don’t have to be an economics major and what if GM wasn’t bailed out it won’t affect your ability to get parts for you Camaro or GTO…
Well Dr.VW maybe we should have been an Economics major or at the very least a Political Science major.
The trouble with blanket quotes like those that Dr. VW just made is that they leave WAY too much room for ignorance to breed.
One is a fool if he or she believes that buying parts for your Camaro or GTO are/can not be severely affected. You may be able to buy parts for a while concerning stock replacement and or remanufactured parts (again for a little while). The trouble is that many political entities are actively seeking to end the ‘privilege’ of working and modifying you Camaro or GTO (all older cars). You ability to work on or modify your vehicle is under fire as we speak (and has been for years).
The one thing I remind all Hot-rodder’s that I hear openly protesting against ‘Ricers’ is that ‘Ricers’ pull the own weight in both economics and political arena. What I mean is this, the rice market through shear numbers and millions of marketing dollars spent helps keep your privilege of working and modifying your vehicles intact. I use the word ‘privilege’ and not ‘right’ because in today’s green movement world, your (our) days are numbered.
Now, if you believe that not allowing the big three to borrow this bailout money is going allow you to continue to buy aftermarket parts… well you need to pull your head out…
The political arena is a twisted bed of snakes; (more importantly) don’t let blanket statements like ‘you’re still going to be able to buy parts for you old ride if we don’t let the bailout occur’ fool you.
chase200mph… where the hell did you get those quotes from? Cause I certainly didn’t write either of those things…
secondly… your post is so all over the place that it doesn’t even make any sense. if you’re going to write a rebuttal, or make an argument, follow Jack’s lead and write a cohesive post.