| Submit your comments on this article |
| Home Front Economy |
| New poll says majority of Americans support bailout for Detroit's automakers |
| 2008-11-15 |
| A new poll released today says a majority of Americans back giving automakers a $25 billion federal bailout -- that's in contrast two earlier polls that said Americans were skeptical or opposed the action. A poll from Rasmussen Reports released Thursday said 46 percent of Americans are opposed to the Big Three bailout, while 30 percent support and 25 percent are undecided. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #15 At some point we are going to have to have a bailout to bailout the bailout. Maybe we are already there. Let's see: We pushed globalization so that poorer countries could be brought up to a our standard of living but what happened was that we got dragged down to a lower standard of living. We got rid of a lot of our manufacturing and jobs via various trade agreements. Consequently, we built an economy based on credit. Compound this by having crooked politicians who bought the votes of people who couldn't afford mortgages by making it very easy for them to obtain loans with no possibility of repayment. The jobs have been going away and so people don't have the earning power to pay their credit debts. Moreover, we created a lot of worthless mortgage derivatives with fancy names that were sold and resold and used to back other worthless mortgages. These ended up in pension funds, in community and state portfolios; others were sold investors. We have lots of housing foreclosures. I read where we have 35,000 foreclosures per day in Florida. If this is the foreclosure rate in Florida, what must it be in other places? Can we string up the geniuses that created this financial mess? We have thrown out all common financial sense on a global scale. This disaster has been 50-60 years in the making. |
| Posted by: Bill Angains8020 2008-11-15 19:19 |
| #14 Agreed, SW - my truck's in too fine condition to think about replacing, but I'd buy another F-150 in a second if this one was, say, totalled |
| Posted by: Frank G 2008-11-15 17:14 |
| #13 Thanks to P2k for the salient figures. How does Detroit produce competitive product when their labor costs are 52% higher? Why take costs out of the product materials. Result cars w/52% less quality. |
| Posted by: regular joe 2008-11-15 16:58 |
| #12 For all the whacks against GM, I bought a Buick Enclave last year, and it's easily the best car I've ever owned. Great fit and finish, no defects, great ride. Of course, the Rendezvous I owned before that sucked. And the Saturn SL before that had its problems. But I'd like to think GM has been at least trying to get their act together. |
| Posted by: Steve White 2008-11-15 14:47 |
| #11 I think they just polled the people that work in the automaker industry. |
| Posted by: DarthVader 2008-11-15 14:25 |
| #10 New poll says majority of There, fixed it for 'ya. |
| Posted by: Uncle Phester 2008-11-15 14:15 |
| #9 "Would you prefer that your students be taught human physiology, biology, and demonstrations of self-confidence and self-satisfaction (at a job well done) by: a) robots, or b) human teachers with sensitivity |
| Posted by: Frank G 2008-11-15 13:30 |
| #8 I think if you worded it cleverly enough, you could get a majority of Americans to appear to support male teachers whacking their pud in front of their students. |
| Posted by: bigjim-ky 2008-11-15 12:41 |
| #7 Not sure following what the majority of Americans thinks is a great idea anymore. Nobamam anyone? |
| Posted by: Hellfish 2008-11-15 12:19 |
| #6 Total compensation per hour for the big-three carmakers is $73.20. That's a 52 percent differential from Toyota's (Detroit South) $48 compensation (wages + health and retirement benefits). In fact, the oversized UAW-driven pay package for Detroit is 132 percent higher than that of the entire manufacturing sector of the U.S., which comes in at $31.59. source They want you to subsidize that. People voting themselves other people's money. Just because you use the government to be your accessory to the act doesn't make it theft. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2008-11-15 08:35 |
| #5 In other news: A new poll released today confirms that Majority of Americans are now uninformed rubes. I agree this *is* a poll designed to produce that headline - its a push poll from the Unions. |
| Posted by: OldSpook 2008-11-15 07:52 |
| #4 Dear Detroit: Your cars suck like a bilge pump, and you refuse to honor your warranties. It is my sincerest hope none of you sons of bitches get a fucking dime of Not so sincerely, Raj |
| Posted by: Raj 2008-11-15 07:00 |
| #3 Not supported by majority of Americans? Buying American cars. |
| Posted by: Excalibur 2008-11-15 05:34 |
| #2 Separate that union from that company. |
| Posted by: newc 2008-11-15 02:24 |
| #1 Push Poll. "Americans said the U.S. government should provide LOANS to American automakers" Bailout vs. Loans Words Matter. |
| Posted by: tipover 2008-11-15 00:54 |