Tech & Biz

U.S. House approves $15B auto industry bailout

by Edmund Jenks | December 10, 2008 at 06:51 pm

225 views | 24 Recommendations | 7 comments

That's right, the taxpayer "investment binge" continues as the House of Representatives moves the issue on to the Senate for discussion and a vote. When will this insanity end?

In 2007, GM and Toyota sold about the same number of automobiles - 9.36 million units ... Toyota posted a 17 Billion dollar profit and GM lost nearly twice what Toyota made ... over 37 Billion dollars.

The biggest difference comes down to the agreements Big Auto made with Big Labor ... but no one wants to address this root cause to the problem with the business model.

The House passed a $15 billion auto bailout bill Wednesday, but a key supporter saw trouble ahead in the Senate.

"I don't think the votes are there," said Sen. George Voinovich, R-Ohio, a backer of the measure. Earlier in the day, several GOP critics lambasted the bill as not going far enough in requiring changes, even though the White House supports it.
"This is only delaying their funeral," Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., said of the carmakers.

The bill passed the House by a vote of 237-170. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada said the Senate would debate the legislation through the weekend if necessary.

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Amy Judd

at 18:53 on December 10th, 2008

Oh it's $15 billion? I thought it was $14 billion.. weird

Amitjha

at 22:07 on December 10th, 2008

How a goverment can bailout auto giants, neither it is an essental commodity nor they are doing charity.Let them cope with the market dynamics, where all the best models of management gone.

Rhonda J Mangus

at 02:05 on December 11th, 2008

It is $14 billion, Amy. The bill initially called for $15 billion, the House of Representatives approved $14 billion.

Amitjha

at 02:11 on December 11th, 2008

That is known to all of us, but page must be managed,editors should take care of that

Rhonda J Mangus

at 02:29 on December 11th, 2008

Thank you, Amitjha. If there is a problem, I am certain it will be addressed.

Edmund Jenks

at 06:42 on December 11th, 2008

USAToday supplied the headline with the $15 billion referenced ... I suppose the editors didn't read the final bill Congress passed just as they didn't read the fine print of the Congress/Paulson Bailout of the sub-prime mortgage industry!

The last bailout has worked out so well (stock market down about 40%) that federal involvement in the auto industry seems like a great idea!

Lord, please help us all.