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Politics : President Barack Obama -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Lizzie Tudor who wrote (44950)	11/18/2008 3:53:46 AM
From: stockman_scott	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 149317

6 myths about the Detroit 3 freep.com BY MARK PHELAN DETROIT FREE PRESS COLUMNIST November 17, 2008 The debate over aid to the Detroit-based automakers is awash with half-truths and misrepresentations that are endlessly repeated by everyone from members of Congress to journalists. Here are six myths about the companies and their vehicles, and the reality in each case. Myth No. 1 Nobody buys their vehicles. Reality General Motors Corp., Ford Motor Co. and Chrysler LLC sold 8.5 million vehicles in the United States last year and millions more around the world. GM outsold Toyota by about 1.2 million vehicles in the United States last year and holds a U.S. lead over Toyota of about 560,000 so far this year. Globally, GM in 2007 remained the world's largest automaker, selling 9,369,524 vehicles worldwide -- about 3,000 more than Toyota. Ford outsold Honda by about 850,000 and Nissan by more than 1.3 million vehicles in the United States last year. Chrysler sold more vehicles here than Nissan and Hyundai combined in 2007 and so far this year. Myth No. 2 They build unreliable junk. Reality The creaky, leaky vehicles of the 1980s and '90s are long gone. Consumer Reports recently found that "Ford's reliability is now on par with good Japanese automakers." The independent J.D. Power Initial Quality Study scored Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, Ford, GMC, Mercury, Pontiac and Lincoln brands' overall quality as high or higher than that of Acura, Audi, BMW, Honda, Nissan, Scion, Volkswagen and Volvo. Power rated the Chevrolet Malibu the highest-quality midsize sedan. Both the Malibu and Ford Fusion scored better than the Honda Accord and Toyota Camry. Myth No. 3 They build gas-guzzlers. Reality All of the Detroit Three build midsize sedans the Environmental Protection Agency rates at 29-33 miles per gallon on the highway. The most fuel-efficient Chevrolet Malibu gets 33 m.p.g. on the highway, 2 m.p.g. better than the best Honda Accord. The most fuel-efficient Ford Focus has the same highway fuel economy ratings as the most efficient Toyota Corolla. The most fuel-efficient Chevrolet Cobalt has the same city fuel economy and better highway fuel economy than the most efficient non-hybrid Honda Civic. A recent study by Edmunds.com found that the Chevrolet Aveo subcompact is the least expensive car to buy and operate. Myth No. 4 They already got a $25-billion bailout. Reality None of that money has been lent out and may not be for more than a year. In addition, it can, by law, be used only to invest in future vehicles and technology, so it has no effect on the shortage of operating cash the companies face because of the economic slowdown that's killing them now. Myth No. 5 GM, Ford and Chrysler are idiots for investing in pickups and SUVs. Reality The domestic companies' lineup has been truck-heavy, but Toyota, Nissan, Mercedes-Benz and BMW have all spent billions of dollars on pickups and SUVs because trucks are a large and historically profitable part of the auto industry. The most fuel-efficient full-size pickups from GM, Ford and Chrysler all have higher EPA fuel economy ratings than Toyota and Nissan's full-size pickups. Myth No. 6 They don't build hybrids. Reality The Detroit Three got into the hybrid business late, but Ford and GM each now offers more hybrid models than Honda or Nissan, with several more due to hit the road in early 2009. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------

To: Lizzie Tudor who wrote (44950)	11/18/2008 4:23:15 AM
From: stockman_scott	1 Recommendation Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 149317

Seize this moment to end oil addiction freep.com Rescue should set clear plan in motion BY RANDY ESSEX THE DETROIT FREE PRESS November 18, 2008 Amid all the finger-pointing at executives, labor and Wall Street accompanying the Detroit automakers' request for a government rescue, let's not lose sight of an important question: What's the plan? As we consider putting billions in taxpayer money on the line to avoid economic calamity, I'd really like to know, from both the car companies and our national leaders, how we avoid being in the same spot in March or June or five years from now. Can we use this moment of crisis to finally do what our leaders have been talking about since gas went over 40 cents a gallon the day I got my driver's license in 1974, and forge a policy that seriously moves us toward energy independence? We are told repeatedly that this is a national security issue. Can we act like it? One of the auto industry's greatest contributions to America was retooling for World War II. Acting in the national interest, the car companies helped win the war, revive the economy and fuel postwar growth. Today, if General Motors Corp., Ford Motor Co. and Chrysler LLC indeed get government money, let's put them in partnership with government to really, once and for all, declare war on our oil dependence and launch the equivalent of a Manhattan Project, a moon shot. This is a proper role for government involvement, and the automakers won't get there on their own. Lots of smart and sincere people work at these companies, and the country needs that brainpower. New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman's Detroit-bashing piety aside, these folks want their companies and their country to thrive, and they are making progress. But we need faster progress and a national strategy. If we've learned anything this year, it's that the constant restructuring of recent years has been too incremental in moving away from the truck-heavy model that worked in the '90s. It is hardly the automakers' fault entirely that we are where we are. Political leaders must do more than call for hydrogen cars during the State of the Union address, as President George W. Bush did. It's easy to say Detroit should build plug-in hybrids, as President-elect Barack Obama has. It's hard to have the political will to approve money for critical battery research and to rebuild the nation's electrical infrastructure to meet the new demand. I want to see Obama, congressional leaders of both parties and the auto CEOs stand together and declare war on oil dependence -- and actually follow through. Something like that might really save Detroit. It may be too late otherwise, even if our companies avoid bankruptcy. I fear that outside of Michigan, the American consumer is thinking, "These companies are in trouble again. They can't be making good cars. I can't take a chance on them." And the downward spiral will continue, even with an infusion of cash, unless it is tied to a huge national public-private effort to move America -- and not just the auto industry -- ahead in a real way. -RANDY ESSEX is assistant managing editor for business and politics. He can be reached at ressex@freepress.com or 313-222-8767.

To: Lizzie Tudor who wrote (44950)	11/18/2008 5:10:09 AM
From: nigel bates	Respond to of 149317

>>whats the difference if they go chapter 11?<< Except that without government support, there isn't even going to be Chapter 11. In the current financial environment, the market will not provide funding for Chapter 11. Unless the government acts, we will be looking at the manufacturing equivalent of the Lehman bankruptcy - and that one really turned out well for all of us. Granted, there is an argument for a wholesale restructuring with government support, through the Chapter 11 mechanism, but leaving it to the market is inviting disaster - as some of GM's competitors (Toyota, for instance) have publicly recognised.

To: Lizzie Tudor who wrote (44950)	11/19/2008 8:10:26 PM
From: tejek	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 149317

totally AGREE. This is ALL on GMs stupid and in some ways corrupt management. The unions are just doing their job, negotiating for their workers. The fact remains though that there are about 2x more workers than there should be, and 3x more car models. How do you correct this, now? Not buy feeding more money to the carcass. And if half the workers are going to get cut, which they need to be in order for GM to be viable, whats the difference if they go chapter 11? I think if it were any other time I would have no problem pulling the plug and letting them go into Chapt. 11 but these are not ordinary times. Six months ago, my friends in Europe were detached whenever I brought up the economic problems here. Now they are the ones telling me about bad stuff happening there. And I think of Lehman and how letting that one go bankrupt really messed things up. And I listen to Sen. Shelby of ALA and I have to be opposite almost anything that guy wants because I think he's an idiot savant primitive [sorry chooseafter]. I don't know......this is a complicated mess that could cause us more pain than I like to think about if we do it wrong. So I am still on the fence.