Cold day for American autos ...
I feel some better, and JoJo was able to get into and sleep in his bed last night.
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I have to put my two cents worth in on this auto industry bailout. First, I am a union man! Always have been and always will be. The only non-American made car I've ever owned was a Dodge mini-van that was assembled in Canada, and I personally consider Canada as not being very foreign, per se. Every thing else has been Detroit iron, so to speak. Yes, I know modern American made cars have foreign parts installed and the 1987 Dodge van had a Mitsubishi engine/transmission. The Ford Escape that I now drive has a Mazda engine. The unions say they will not give more concessions to the people whom employ them. I say we all must give concessions to get this mess straightened out. Congressional Republicans would have us believe it is all the auto industry's fault that they have become needy. I agree that they are partially to blame; but the biggest problem has been the Clinton/Bush free trade policies, and the Bush unwillingness to say "no" to big business, whether it be domestic or foreign.
Don't get me wrong, I think free trade is the best way to go; if it is also fair trade. NAFTA has worked fairly well with Canada and the US, because neither one can afford to screw the other. Our economies are too closely linked for us to try to beat them or them to beat us. Mostly! Mexico is a different proposition. They being a "poor" country has caused the US to forgive any big trade discrepancies.
Free world trade has never worked, and it cannot work as long as major foreign industries are partially owned and/or funded by the governments of their respective nations. Take France's Airbus for example. It has huge government money involved, and it is liable to put American civilian air industries such as Boeing out of business. Yet the French accuse Americans of being unfair because of our farm subsidies, which they also have but somewhat disguise them. I don't even want to start on Communist China at this point.
As for our "Big Three", they should get government loans, even if the interest rate starts at zero but adjusted for inflation. Whatever the inflation rate for the year is what the interest rate will be. That will give them incentive to keep auto prices and economic inflation as low as possible on all makes and models, and not make us buy a package of stuff we don't want just to get a feature we desire. In these East Tennessee hills, we don't particularly need cruise controls for commute driving because it is aggravating to use on the hills. It is constantly dropping in and out of overdrive and converter lock-up, or hitting a passing gear to go up a hill. I can understand where they would be handy in places like Florida or Iowa that have straight and mostly flat roads. I don't want to buy it just to get power windows and door locks. Power windows for an arthritic hippie are the handiest thing ever put on a car.
Chrysler was once before loaned bailout money and New York City was loaned bailout money. I know times have changed, but I want to know that some day America will again be great, and to do that, it must become self-sufficient. Vital manufacturing is a good place to begin our road to recovery.
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