Auto bailout bill up to $34 billion; White House “not ruling” it out
Cha-ching. Cha-ching. Cha-ching. The bill for the auto bailout expanded from $25 billion to $34 billion today. Groveling is hard work!
Here you go:
The heads of struggling auto giants General Motors, Ford, and Chrysler reappeared on the Hill yesterday to make their case anew. This time, they came more prepared. The most ambitious business plan proposed was by General Motors, the world’s largest auto company, currently teetering on the verge of collapse. It set out a plan to recapture revenue through deep cuts—including slashing 20 percent of its jobs, shutting nine factories, and trying to reduce pay through talks with the United Automobile Workers union.
Along with a more structured plan, however, the Big 3 also had an even bigger request: $34 billion in loans, compared with the $25 billion they’d asked for two weeks ago.
If you weren’t already feeling Scrooge-y, here’s the White House refusing to rule any bailout in or out:
The White House said Wednesday it had not ruled out that aid to troubled US automakers might total more than 25 billion dollars in an existing loan program it had insisted was the best rescue plan.
“I’m not ruling anything in or out,” spokeswoman Dana Perino said when asked about General Motors, Chrysler, and Ford’s plea for aid totalling as much as 24 billion dollars to stave off bankruptcy.
Leave your predictions for the final price tag when this lemon hits Obama’s desk.
I’m going with $70 billion.
See what others have said
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Trackbacks
- Nancy Pelosi–”Bankruptcy is Not An Option”–Socialist Stickup of American Taxpayers! « Pronk Palisades
- History on Bush — The Opposite of Jim Bunning
- A Few Radical, Free-Marketish Thoughts on the Bailout Mess at Haemet
- Big 3 CEOs Ride The Short Bus | America Needs Me
- Big 3 CEOs Ride The Short Bus | America Needs Me
- Detroit Automakers: Bargaining 101 « Jane Q. Republican
- Hot Air » Blog Archive » CNN poll: 61% now “dead set” against auto bailout
- Tonight On Bailout Theatre: GM, Ford, Chrysler and UAW Star in 'Bend Over America' | Neolibertarian at large
- There's My Two Cents
- Michelle Malkin » GM stands for GimMe!
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Lets just call it a nice round 50 billion and send the change to sonofdy. All this fuss over 50 billion when they say almost nothing about 1500 billion elsewhere plus the 500 billion to come.
Obviously.
Wouldn’t a trillion do a better job than a billion? They should be able to sell a lot of pickups so people can haul their worthless dollar bills to the store twice a day to buy bread.
The ship of state is adrift…. Again, where are our leaders? Anyone? Are there any sane people in this nut house?
BTW where are the plans being demanded from the banks that got bailed out? Oh nevermind.
34 Billion to bail out
AWUGM and fordHyper-inflation, because a sexillion inflation rate is SEXY, yeah baby!!!
“A billion here, a billion there and pretty soon you’re talking real money!” - Senator Everett Durkson, Illinois
I think after all I have seen and read the last two much, we have finally arrived at the point where we need an official “Bail Me Out Bro” theme song.
Here is my nomination.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08wOPt-2PeE
oops much = months.
Snowing here. Need coffee.
So “viability” and “sticking to our guns” has now morphed into “I’m not ruling anything in or out.”
Way to go you hardliners.
It is a poisonous lemon at any cost; Congress and Bush need to just say no; Either restructure under Chapter 11 or just go under, like Packard, Studebaker, American Motors, Oldsmobile, Nash, Tucker, Marathon, and oh so many more!; The intent is only to salvage the UAW, which is the main reason manufacturing jobs are leaving in the first place; Time to stop the job bloodletting now.
This is scary, folks.
Be afraid. Be very afraid.
Next year’s GM lineup:
Chevy Lifeline
Pontiac Cashfire
GMC Gimme
Buick fRaudmaster
Absolutely correct!!!
I predict that the price of this idiot bailout will be about $60 Billion in freshly printed toilet paper, and that the consumer backlash against these bozos will be such that they’ll wish they’d filed for bankruptcy. And as for the UAW, they can’t support they’re own weight, and they know that they’re dying. What they don’t know is that they’re doomed (at least in their current form) with or without this fleecing of taxpayers — all this bailout will do is delay the inevitable.
To hell with the lot of them.
I am waiting for Biden to tell me it is the patriotic thing to do.
You’re what I refer to as “an optimist.”
I’m going with $100 billion myself. And unions won’t make a dimes worth of concession.
were i in charge of this mess, i would give them 1 dollar for every dollar the uaw/company put into the pile. no investors will buy this company, so why not make the workers buy this company dollar for dollar with the taxpayer. but no, the uaw will continue to buy las vegas hotels while hoping the taxpayer will subsidize their failure to perform. mexicans can do your job, and that’s what needs to happen. unless you will invest in you, why should i?
Hello all. I tried to trackback to this column, but for some reason it is not working. I am technologically incompetent, so who knows.
Anyway, the message to Detroit should be summed up in 4 words. We can call it the 4D plan.
Dear Detroit: Drop Dead.
Respectfully,
eric aka the Tygrrrr Express
http://www.tygrrrrexpress.com
Before they are done, it will be a trillion. This is no exaggeration.
And in four words.
And now a Chicken Little from Chrysler is saying the sky will fall if they don’t get a bailout. Another gun to our heads.
I’d like to tell them we’ll take our chances. Look what the last trillions did for us.
Hi Tygrrr – thanks for that link to you site: okay, let me guess – you have a comb-over mullet, you are missing 5 teeth, have no education and are collecting money on your site for an engagement ring for someone or something you lovingly refer to as “cannonball”?
So how close was that – about 90%?
On December 3rd, 2008 at 2:14 pm, Ilovemycountry said:
Elitist Alert! Smelly Bitter Clingers Unite!!!
Wow how, ahemmm, classy.
A game! I’m guessing 69!
Oooo, the troll is back!! Must be a slow day at HuffPuke…
Oh, and you forgot one, Dex. Smelly Bitter Clinger Assimilists Unite!!!
Dang it! I did it again! Thanks, CCS.
Rather than cutting back on the number of lines, I propose expanding them.
Introducing the Ford Palin. An economy class eight passenger minivan. Despite its humble price tag, the interior is decked in the finest Italian leather.
Or the GMC Murtha. Great for those who hate the cost and hassle of having to purchase a new car every decade, because it will keep running long after it should have been relegated to the scrap heap.
Chap, you’re slipping. Should have been obvious.
I was trying to go with the expensive clothes shopping spree angle. Not sure how much moose hide would cost.
Oh, and the Ford Palin runs on gasoline, natural gas, clean coal, wind, solar and ANWR oil!
Where do I get on the waiting list?!
I believe you are thinking of the Plymouth SaraCouda. Sleek chassis, nice body, designer headlights and 600 horses under the hood. Critics hate her because she makes them look like the limp-anxled Nash Ramblers they really are.
Ford??? I hate Ford. why would anyone associate Ford with Palin????
btw, Oldsmobile didn’t go under, GM brought off Oldsmobile in a merger and eventually killed it off in 2000.
its not that they need to go under or file bankrupt, the Big 3 need to broken up like they should been 40 years ago. Their anti-competive practices are part of their problem.
Wow. I am astonished at what liberals classify as an intellectual argument.
My book comes out in March. Those desperate to see my face can simply observe the back cover.
Perhaps some of the bailout money can be spent on giving that liberal fellow sensitivity training.
He does seem a tad mean.
Respectfully,
eric aka the Tygrrrr Express
I think the auto makers need to go to the oil companies for their help. How many bil in windfall profits did the oils make? Cars and oil go together.
I will show my age but I miss the days when all you saw were fords, mercurys, chevs, pontiacs, lincolns, buicks, olds cads, dodges, plymouths, desotos, chryslers and imperials. I even longed for the days that Ford would revive Edsel and I wish it would have given it couple more years to regroup. Now we are facing an auto industry that is about to fold and there are many reasons for it such as poor quality, unions, laziness etc. I wish they could revive themselves on their own.
Sorry. I think you’re gonna have to wait till Palin gets there. I predict she’s going to GUT just about everything (and every employee) in DC and let the oil companies go wild with drilling — and that will probably just get us a few trillion out of debt…