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To: Broken_Clock who wrote (188429)	3/5/2009 3:00:01 AM
From: ig	Respond to of 306849

... to pour public money into these companies, neither knowing nor caring whether they can be made to survive, is not what elected officials were elected to do! Sez who? Politicians are elected because they promise to "do stuff" for the people who vote for them. Republican candidates generally promise to "do stuff" for the Haves, and Dems promise to make life wonderful for the Have Nots. Every voter's first question is the same: What is this candidate going to do for ME? Free health care? Right on. Free education? Groovy. Fix my mortgage? Outta sight. Where are they going to get the money? Hey, man, they've GOT the money, no problem... those rich bastids have got ALL the money, haven't you heard? Just get it. Tax it, take it, whatever, it doesn't matter. Just FIX IT! youtube.com Politicians get elected by making these promises. Doesn't matter if their plans will actually work -- they get elected for promises, not results. When's the last time a holder of high office won an election by promising to get out of the way and do nothing? Politicians simply want the power and will promise whatever they must to get elected, even if it kills the system. That's the system. The system is screwed and there's no fix.

To: Broken_Clock who wrote (188429)	3/5/2009 7:13:28 AM
From: stockman_scott	Respond to of 306849

U.S. Auto Suppliers Said to Discuss Priorities for Federal Aid By Jeff Green, Rebecca Christie and Alex Ortolani March 5 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. auto suppliers met in Michigan to help President Barack Obama’s car task force prioritize which partsmakers should be saved in an industry rescue, people familiar with the matter said. The Original Equipment Suppliers Association and the Motor & Equipment Manufacturers Association trade groups are helping advise the panel in determining which companies need to be propped up to prevent disruptions to U.S. auto output, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the session was private. Yesterday’s forum at the headquarters of BorgWarner Inc. in Auburn Hills, Michigan, was a follow-up to the industry’s Feb. 13 request for as much as $18.5 billion in U.S. aid, the people said. Obama’s task force also is considering as much as $21.5 billion more in loans for General Motors Corp. and Chrysler LLC. Among the supplier-aid ideas under study by the U.S. Treasury is support for insurance that guarantees payment of receivables from automakers’ parts purchases, said the people, adding that details aren’t set. Such policies are becoming more difficult to obtain as carmakers’ weaknesses scare off insurers. Investment bank Rothschild Inc. is helping Treasury assess partsmakers as part of its broader advisory role, the people said. A Rothschild spokesman didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment left after regular business hours. As many as one-third of the more than 4,000 U.S. suppliers face “imminent financial distress,” according to OESA, which represents some of the industry’s biggest companies, including Johnson Controls Inc., Delphi Corp. and TRW Automotive Holdings Corp. Trade Groups, Companies The meeting at BorgWarner, the world’s largest maker of automatic-transmission parts, involved trade-group representatives and a small number of supplier executives, said the people, who wouldn’t identify any companies by name. Messages left for the trade groups weren’t returned. Spokesmen for the Treasury Department and BorgWarner had no immediate comment on the gathering. Finding a mechanism to offer assistance is pivotal because with so many partsmakers it would be difficult for the Treasury to administer loans directly, a person familiar with the matter said last week. The autos task force recognizes “the urgency of the supplier-base fix,” said Michigan House Speaker Andy Dillon, a Democrat, who met with the panel on March 3 in Washington. “It’s clearly a critical time, and they understand that.” Suppliers are being squeezed by a drop in revenue after automakers curbed production in late 2008 and into January, increasing the risk of bankruptcies and liquidations, said Craig Fitzgerald, a consultant at Plante & Moran in Southfield, Michigan. Payments Fall Estimated March payments to suppliers from GM, Chrysler and Ford Motor Co. will fall to $2.4 billion, compared with the $8.4 billion monthly average in the fourth quarter, according to MEMA. “Lack of money flows downhill from the automakers,” Fitzgerald said. “We do not need a four-month solution. We need a four-week solution.” Payments to suppliers often arrive 45 to 60 days after parts are shipped, and Chrysler told the U.S. Treasury in a Feb. 17 report that partsmakers would face the largest gap between incoming cash and operating costs this month. The Treasury announced guidelines on Dec. 31 for aid to the auto industry that would let officials provide funds to any company they deem important to making or financing cars. That broadened access to the Troubled Asset Relief Program beyond loans previously approved for GM, Chrysler and lender GMAC LLC. Some supplier failures are imminent regardless of production rates because of industry overcapacity, Fitzgerald said. Should bankruptcies happen too rapidly and affect some of the stronger suppliers, the result could be “chaos” for automakers and partsmakers, he said. To contact the reporters on this story: Jeff Green in Southfield, Michigan at jgreen16@bloomberg.net; Rebecca Christie in Washington at Rchristie4@bloomberg.net; Alex Ortolani in Southfield, Michigan, at aortolani1@bloomberg.net. Last Updated: March 5, 2009 00:12 EST