Built Tough, Built Detroit Tough

Built Tough, Built Detroit Tough

But not built strong enough to balance a check book. A couple of weeks ago the big three auto companies went to Washington and asked for a hand out and left hoping for a 25 billion dollar bailout much like the mortgage companies before them. Needless to say, they got schooled in a terrible fashion.

Plans to vote on a $25 billion bailout for the "big three" automakers were scrapped by congress yesterday after discussions focused, not on how the industry will fix the problem with taxpayer money, but on how they each used corporate jets to travel to Washington DC to beg for money.

They go back to Washington to not only plead their case again, but to add to the amount they were originally asking for. Their major change was that the showed up in their companies own hybrid cars. Those same cars that they really didn't care about when they were building the large SUVs.


Think of all the jobs that will be lost.....
Oh wait, they're already gone.

There is no business that is too good to fail. These car companies saw the writing on the wall. Oil prices were set to go up for months as the value of the dollar was dropping. Continuing to build gas guzzling SUVs and pushing those cars was the last thing they should have done. These are the same companies that killed the electric car. Who never offered it for sale and limited all the release to simply being leased out.

The threat of not passing this bail out means that massive lay offs will occur in the auto industry. I call bullshit on that. Yeah, people will be out of a job. but they'll be out of a job if they get the money anyway. Do you think a bail out will allow business to run as normal? For about how long anyway? The Pontiac Solstice is made in canada and Buick is made down in Mexico. Toyota, on the other hand, is still building their cars in in Kentucky and Georgia. So it's not a matter of it being too expensive to manufacture a car in America. It just shows that it's difficult to maintain a business when all you make is crap.

Those jobs were lost long ago anyway. Hey, let's take a look at Motor City..



I wonder what Michael Moore would say?


Look at that open road




Letting them go broke is the best thing to do. Then they'll learn from their mistakes and make better business choices. Will this make them go under? Not all of them. No. I imagine that they will be crippled for a while but they'll pick themselves up by their bootstraps eventually releasing quality products.

It may very well be a tragic situation for the American economy. Just because something is tragic doesn't mean it shouldn't happen. Do you know how many beer companies have gone out of business? How about the ice man or the milk man. Those careers were lost with the fridge and while it may have been tragic, it was progress.


Is there still a speed limit if there's no residents in the residential area?

If Zenneth couldn't make a tv for under the price that the competitors should we have bailed them out? If people are making products no one wants, why should we continue funding that? We didn't bail out the pony express when the post office came to be. And we certainly didn't bail out the post office when online bill pay came in and took a huge chunk of the customers from them.

As much as I enjoy unions, I understand that the Unions in the auto industry have essentially priced their services out of the range of the U.S. consumers. They are hiding legacy prices to pay off old employees. If any sort of bail out should occur, it should be for the employees. Take whatever billion dollar bail out they would give to the car companies and just divide it up to all the employees.

I can't understand how the same company that is getting the bail out but those who bought cars from them and can't make their payments are getting those cars repossessed. Just like the mortgage companies who are still foreclosing on homes on those who made loans they couldn't pay back.

So what's the answer to all these problems with people not buying enough cars to keep these companies afloat? Clearly not a Buy 1 Get 1 free sale!


That's right. A Chicago car dealer has you ultimate buy 1 and get 1 free deal.

An Oak Lawn car dealership has started a new and unusual promotion: Buy one 2008 Chrysler Pacifica and get a second car, a 2008 PT Cruiser, for $1.
Frank Mancari started the deal on Saturday as a way to get people calling, booking appointments and visiting his Oak Lawn car lot at a time when many car dealerships are struggling to draw in customers.
"It's a once in a lifetime opportunity," Mancari said today, with an enthusiasm only a car salesman can muster. "There's no secret: the industry is slow right now. We're trying to generate activity with a great deal."
It works like this: Mancari said he wants to move the 2008 Pacificas off his lot. Those in stock are priced at $37,000 to $40,000, he said. The vehicles are larger, SUV-style, family luxury cars, he said. The PT Cruiser is also new but has low-mileage, and would give the buyer a more economical vehicle too.
"It's a great deal," Mancari said. "These are two great cars."
Mancari had five 2008 Pacificas on his lot, 4630 95th St. in the southwest suburb, Monday afternoon. Once they are all sold, the offer ends.

Just look at the bright side. This means the dealership is just trying really hard to clear space for the new stuff!. Is there even a medium sized car anywhere on that ad? They really shouldn't put the mpg on the ad, they should just say something vague like "improved fuel economy WOW!!" I can already see the ad that runs during late night tv for these car dealerships.

WHAT THE FUCK DO WE HAVE TO DO TO GET YOU TO BUY OUR WORTHLESS OVERPRICED, HORRIBLE GAS MILEAGE PILES OF JUNK THAT WILL FALL APART IN 2 YEARS?!

WHAT DO WE HAVE TO DO?!?! DO YOU PEOPLE NOT UNDERSTAND THAT AMERICAN JOBS ARE AT STAKE HERE?!?!

AMERICAN JOBS. PLEASE FOR THE LOVE OF GOD BUY AN AMERICAN CAR

throw in two pairs of truck nuts and I'm sold! All of those shitboxes are named to appeal to red-state America, invoking a false sense of patriotism or some make-believe rustic values:
PATRIOT
LIBERTY SPORT
TOWN & COUNTRY
GRAND CHEROKEE
WRANGLER

Get rid of it all. All of it. Grand cherokee is such a tasteless name for an american car, it's like if volkswagen made a car called the majestic jew.

It's tragic when people care more about if that thing got a hemi instead of how practical it may be. Don't get me wrong, I like me a muscle car as much as the next guy, but those rides are better left for the weekend drive.


It gets both 0mph on city and highway roads

I don't even know how to drive an automatic. From what I hear it's like driving a stick, except instead of changing gears you talk on your cell phone. You just treat the gas like a "go" button don't try to modulate the throttle. If you need to go less fast mash on the brakes

As I write this a scaled down bail out is happening. Something along the lines of 15 million. I'm sure that'll last a couple of months before they come back to the well looking to squeeze blood from a stone. In the long run that's what this is. Our country is deep in the red and yet we're still lending out money. Oh how ironic.

I guess it was a given that this bail out would occur in some shape or form. Unions are big backers to the democrats, which have control of the senate right now. Not because of the jobs potentially lost but because of the money and support potentially lost in their re-election campaign.

I'm just wondering if we're going to get Roger and Me 2 out of this bailout deal?