Big 3 Bail Out...

Welcome Back avid blog readers,

In this entry I'd like to share my thoughts, concerns and ideas pertaining to what's going on with GM, Ford, and Chrysler... also known as the Big 3.

For those of you who are not aware of the situation... Seems the Big 3 are all very close to filing for Chapter 11 if they don't get financial assistance from Congress.
Of course by filing for Chapter 11, that would put millions of employees out of work. Not just those employees that are directly working for the Big3, but thousands of others that supply parts and materials from all over the world!
Being an employee of Chrysler, I am very concerned about what will be decided on December 2,2008.

You see the Big 3 went before Congress yesterday to plee their case as to why they all feel that Congress should give each company Billions of dollars to help "bail" them out of the rut they put themselves in.
But that was after they all flew in on a private jet and was ridiculed Not just 1 private jet, no no each top dog took his own jet. Yeah, that's a good way to get sympathy and show just how much of a sacrifice you're willing to make to keep your company alive.

So Congress told them that they will NOT bail them out at this time; however, everyone will meet up again on December 2,2008 and the Big 3 better have a plan of action and be able to prove to Congress that they are serious about making the necessary changes in order to receive any type of financial aide.

It's unfortunate that there are so many greedy people in this world, those types of people that only think of themselves. Millions of people are already out of a job due to down sizing and companies closing their doors. Thousands more are having a difficult time paying their mortgage and car payments.

Why? Because of the greedy bastards that shoved them into a payment they couldn't afford. Banks and lending companies giving the "OK" when they should have said "NO". People out for themselves and not caring about anyone else and not thinking about the consequences it may have in the future.

You see, A couple buying their first house gets approved for a mortgage that will cost them $1000.00/month for 30 years....the realitor gets a cut from that deal, the agent who financed that deal get his/her cut, the manager of the finance company gets a cut also. So over a year or two, the mortgage and property taxes go up along with the APR that is not at a fixed rate fluctuates and that $1000.00/month mortgage goes up to $1350.00/month...
Well the same thing goes for the car business. You go in to buy a new car, the salesman and the finance manager fiddle around with the numbers and after a few attempts with a few different lending companies they are able to get you approved! Sounds great doesn't it, especially since your old clunker died in the parking lot before you traded it in.
Well, the salesman get his commission for selling the new car, the finance manager gets his/her cut for selling you the extended warranty, the Sales manager gets a cut for making his quota for the month, the agent at the lending company gets his/her cut along with their manager, and so on.

So you can see where the greedy bastards want to throw you into something you can't afford. They don't care that you will have a hard time making your monthly payments in 18 months. It's not their credit score that will be affected. You were just a bonus check for them, you were never seen as a human, just a paycheck.
So multiply these 2 scenerios by the thousands of mortgages and new cars that were sold over the last 8 years! That's mainly why this ecomony is the way it is today!

It hardly seems fair that many CEO's and top Exec's are being paid Millions of dollars as a BONUS while their company is down sizing, hundreds of their employees are laid off, or they have closed their doors completely, taking their money and running. Why are they getting paid to drive their company into the ground? I wish I had an answer for that...

Anyway, back to the Big 3....As I said Congress wants a plan of action. I personally don't think Congress has any intention of helping GM, Ford or Chrysler. After all it's not Congress's fault that they are in the mess they're in... Congress sure won't help me pay off my debts if I asked them.

However, I have a plan that just might work. it's unlikely that Congress will give out 20 Billion to each company, especially since that kind of money could be put toward a better use(in my opinion). but if they can agree to work together, Merge the 3 companies... Congress may consider helping them while they restructure.

So the only way the Big 3 can stay alive is to Merge and work together! They cut off the fat (over paid CEO's) that drove their company into the ground, Hire business men/women that give a damn and all work together.
After all, Ford, GM and Chrysler/Dodge/Jeep were the innovators behind the "Muscle Cars"! Without them, what will Nascar do? Same goes for the heavy duty Trucks...

So here's my plan.. we all know that each company has there pros and cons... So they take the best features and work together to build the best trucks, performance cars, luxury cars and of course the eco friendly cars to be able to compete with Toyota and Honda.

For example... they could use the Dodge Ram body (because imo it looks better) combine that with the GM engine and Ford suspension.

Same goes for the Muscle car enthusiasts... Why not take the best of the Mustang, Corvette, and the Charger and build the best performance car Nascar has seen!

Sure the engineers better get a move on the Eco friendly cars, but you see where I'm going with this, right?

By doing do, there will be less jobs lost... Especially if we can keep more business here in the US and out source less... I'm not against helping other countries and providing them with jobs, but when I'm selling 12 stabilizer links and 12 sway bar bushings a week, that's due to poor quality!

Sure they're spending less by having another country make them, but why not make a quality product from top to bottom and keep your customers coming back because they love how reliable their cars/trucks have been... Not every 30,000 miles pissed off because they've already replaced their sway bar links and bushings twice since they've owned their new Caravan.

My whole point being... We are the United States! It's about damn time we live up to our name! We've had far too many walls built up for too long.... We have our Die hard Ford fans... Die hard GM fans... Die hard 4X4 Jeep fans... Not just in this matter, but in other areas as well... There is no need for all this separation, can't you see that we can get more accomplished by coming together. It's time to put our differences aside, It's a new era folks! You can either part of the problem or you can be part of the solution!
I think you know where I stand.

Well, I can see that I've rambled on for far too long... Thank you all for listening/reading. I'd love to hear your comments.