So these major corporations want bailouts, but they are the ones in control and screwing themselves and the consumer, via financail or auto industry.
Check this video out on how CEOs are wasting money and what not and how much they are getting paid.

http://cosmos.bcst.yahoo.com/up/player/popup/?rn=3906861&cl=10744206&ch=4226720&src=news

dude thats a joke! Why do they need OUR money when GM has 8 PRIVATE jets?! "We only use them for EMERGENCY situations" Thats a bunch of BS and everyone knows it.

It would be very bad if GM goes under....

But they need to change how they are wasting their money...

Wait...... you mean you do not have a private jet for an emergency? Wake up man, it is damn near 2009!

the entire "bail-out" is a big joke. nobody is getting bailed out, its more like paid off. Funny how the people who are most responsible for the economy, are the ones with the fattest wallets...

This is one of the major reasons that I am so stauchly anti-republican. Their concept of "trickle down" economics is an absolute joke. Lowering taxes on people like this will never create more middle class jobs...more corporate jobs and bonuses maybe but nothing lower than that. They have long had the opportunity to inject much of this wealth back into their businesses to make both company and economy bigger and stronger but they always make sure they get their cut off the top.

Automakers have long lobbied that government needed to "get off their backs"...so they restricted CAFE standards and exempted trucks and look what they did. As little as 5-6years ago they were building cars like ours. nicely powered V6 sedans that still got good fuel economy. Now they are top heavy with trucks and SUVs and have spent little on new development while the foreign automakers have advanced right past them. Now that their butts are against the wall they want government help. Now where is all that attitude of "get off our back and let us do business"? All they have proven is how greedy and irresponsible they really are.

Bob Lutz is saying that GM has banked its entire future on the Volt. Geewhiz Bob, Toyota has only been building the Prius for nearly a decade now...what happened to the keen business sense to compete?
I have heard them fall on the limp excuse so many times about "we just gave the public what it wants"...horse-crap. No insult intended but lets be honest, the majority of the auto buying public is like lemmings...they will buy what the automakers promo the heck out of.(until gas prices go up) I dont believe for one second that anyone in the auto industry was stupid enough to think that the price of gas was never going to spike again...maybe it did sooner than they expected but I believe their attitude was "lets make out big as long as it lasts"...well it has come back to bite them bigtime...what really sucks is that the fat wallet decision makers are never the ones to suffer. The autoworkers and the companies that supply them always take the punch in the gut.

its rediculous what gm has been doing
i saw go back to american muscle and big trucks screw the Volt its dumb

I say let them file for chapter 11 bankruptcy and get reorganized.
I also feel what is killing the big 3 are these cushy union contracts.
With all the benefits in their contracts, an unskilled labor position at the big 3 pays about $70/hr.
Toyota which is not union pays their unskilled labor employees about $40/hr, benefits included.

If that isn't the worst idea I've ever heard... I don't know what is.

only people that want a volt are the enviromentalists that are wanted to get rid of cars anyway

While I would like a big V8 engine, I'm not sure everyone should do the same, man.

wtf are you talking about? volts are pretty darn quick, and you wouldn't need to fill up very often. it's the gas hogs that are killing the american auto in the first place.

Drill in Alaska!!!

Stuffing V8's in everything is why the big 3 are going to be screwed. there are plenty of people who are "performance" oriented, but why does every car have to be a gas guzzler straight from the factory?

a friend of mine used to own a 98 honda HX , he could get 38mpg around town, and lower 40's highway. NOT a hybrid either.

now 10 years later 30mpg is great?

remember the ads from dodge? "buy this big gas guzzling truck now, and pay only $2.99 a gallon for gas for the next 3 years".

that tactic is very sad.

for now, sure a truck will need a v8 for towing, a v6 could tow as long as its not too heavy of a load.

but why do our cars need v8's? to go faster than someone else??? Keep v8's in sports cars (for now) but shouldn't the rest of the cars be aiming for high MPG, or natural gas or some other alternative?

and even if a high MPG car gets built by one of the big 3, do we see it? NOPE. (the new ford festiva, great example!)

as long as "we" keep wanting speed, they will keep making it. and maybe its partially the marketing.

I like to go fast, its fun. but is it "necessary"? of course not.

especially if you do most of your driving in the city. Sure your car can go 0-60 in 5 seconds, but you only need to go 25 or 30 in town. what are you going to do, stop light racing?

I know on a car forum this type of stuff can fall upon deaf ears, but its just something to think about.

I agree with Bobby that in these situations the unions could make concessions as well. Chrysler employees did years ago when Iacocca was rebuilding and it worked out well for them in the long run (not long enough)...but concessions need to come from the top down. If your trying to save a company then everyone has to pitch in.

I dont know if the Volt is the answer but it surely has to be part of the mix. Musclecars and trucks are what are littering the dealer lots now that people arent buying because they cant afford to buy them or feed them, much less both. We have been paying far less for fuel than the rest of the world for long time and I think it has finally caught up with us. No amount of drilling in Alaska or anywhere else on US soil will offset the huge amount of oil we import. Our consumption rate needs to go down drastically (4% of the worlds people using 25% of its energy resources is more than a little tilted)...and it isnt just cars, but the US auto market needs to get at least as efficent at it as the rest of the world is doing. Gas has never gotten cheaper and stayed that way for my entire life and I dont see that changing.

What are you talking about? That makes absolutely no sense. I would take a volt in a heartbeat, that makes me an environmentalist? It's time to start finding alternatives, and the Volt is a way to get us there, until we find something else.

Yeah, we should all drive big V8's that get 10mpg until we run out of oil, then we can completely collapse as a world.