Do you think the government should bail out the United States auto makers (namely General Motors and Chrysler)? Explain your reasoning. Also, do you think President Obama’s decision to force out/fire the CEO of General Motors? Why or why not?
Click on the video links below to help you respond to the prompt:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3032619/#29963441
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3032619/#29963441
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3032619/#29963478
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Although our car industry is failing right now, I do not believe the government should have the power to bail them out. If a company fails, they fail. It will cause problems but eventually, if we rely on the free market, things will recover. If we bail out all these different industries then we're just adding to our 10+ trillion dollar debt and we're going to have to pay that all off at some point, and that will cause problems later on. Our government doesn't need anymore debt. I don't think the government should be involved in the economy like they are. Government started this mess and people don't realize that. We need to get government out and it's not good to have the government controlling so much of the economy. I think it's terrible for Obama to force out the GM CEO. He should never have the power to do that and he doesn't work for the company and he doesn't know whats good and bad for it. I think its a big mistake for Obama to do that. He shouldn't be able to do that.
ReplyDeleteWith the current dilemma, specifically with General Motors and Chrysler, there are many factors that a critic must take into consideration when evaluating these corporations. I do not believe that the government should bail these automakers for many reasons. First of all, this would cause an enormous ripple effect not only on the factory workers, but the entire American population. As hard as it may be to not bail these companies out, one must also consider the consequences of that choice, and evaluate if it is even worth it in the long run. I think that the whole United States needs to think about this situation and put some general thought into it. The economy and recession will most likely continue to worsen throughout the next year, but if we do not do anything about the U.S. automakers, it will NEVER get better. Additionally, I think that Obama's decision to fire the GM CEO was one that he made to help benefit America. GM is trying to make some much needed changes to help the institution, and perhaps the only way this can get better is by a fresh start. Obama has his best interest in the country, and he did what he could. I think we should support him, and trust this leader, while all also doing our part to help.
ReplyDeleteYes and no. Yes because it would save thousands of jobs. No because I think that there’s already enough cars and with this economy, we shouldn’t be spending more money on bail outs. They keep on making more cars, cars that don’t seem to be needed. However, you feel bad for the people who just assemble the cars and have nothing to do with the rise or downfall of the company. I don’t think they deserve to lose their job. I think it was a good idea for Obama to fire the CEO because he obviously wasn’t doing a good job. Hence the downfall, I hope that the president can find someone who can run the company better than he did.
ReplyDeleteAs Nicole said there are many things to take into consideration when deciding whether or not these companies should be bailed out. If you look strictly at the companies themselves, no they do not deserve a bail out. They know exactly what they are doing. They know that America basically has to bail them out or fear the consequences and rippling affect that it will cause. So it’s as if these companies know that they have to be bailed out. That just doesn’t seem fair. They made their stupid decisions and don’t have to pay for it. It’s not right. However, if you look at the jobs that would be lost if there was no bail out then… it sways your opinion slightly in the other direction. I don’t want to see anyone lose any jobs, especially people who have been working for many, many years there. It ruins the whole basic principal of the American Dream. It proves that no matter how hard you work, how long you work, you will not be given a stable job. It just doesn’t seem fair. This whole ordeal doesn’t seem fair. Therefore, I can’t honestly say Yes or No. I can see the faults on the Yes side and the faults on the No side. It is simply a no win situation.
ReplyDeleteAlthough American cars aren't held at the same level as Japanese cars we need the jobs that GM and Chrysler provide. Without these company’s millions of people besides just the employees that name tags say GM, you also have to consider the steel company’s that get the raw metal all of the people who refine it and the distributors. The rubber industry would also take a fall for the same reasons, you could even go as far to say is cow farmers would lose money from the leather that wouldn’t be used. As far as the firing of the General Motors CEO this won’t pull the company out of bankruptcy, in my opinion they need to divide up the 10 or more companies that make up GM and divide them into smaller more manageable companies.
ReplyDeleteThis is hard because a company should keep their company running and we already gave them money that they used the wrong way. If we don't help them it’s like a ripple effect because there are so many people connected to the auto industry. A whole bunch of people would lose jobs which are a lot because it’s anything connected to making a car. The unemployment rate would drop greatly because the auto industry is highly employed. I think that Obama’s decision to force out/fire the CEO of general motors’ is a good decision. We have given them money and they didn’t use it right and we can’t just keep giving him money every time.
ReplyDeleteI don’t think that the government should be bailing out anyone, but many banks and companies have been bailed out, so I don’t think that it’s really fair to not bail out everyone else. Then again, if these companies aren’t bailed out, everyone will suffer. I think that Obama’s decision to fire GM’s CEO was a harsh decision and maybe it was too harsh. I don’t think that he should fire this CEO when other companies and other CEO’s are more to blame for our predicament as a country. I think that if you are going to fire someone, fire the person most at fault and I don’t think that the GM CEO is at the top of the list.
ReplyDeletei don't know much about the auto industry or bail outs but i think that it is a good idea to bail out the industry because the jobs are needed and so is the goods it provides. New technology is also needed, such as cars with greater gas mileage. Obama probably had a good reason to fire the CEO, even if we are unsure if the outcome will be positive or negative at this point. All i know is that there is need for a change and we need to work our hardest to encourage that change.
ReplyDeleteI think it depends in which way you look at it. Because even though the economy is going through a hard time, I don't think it means bailing them out. Like the man in the first video said his family depends on the industry, and bailing them out means even more people unemployed and people would start to go broke. And although we don't sale as many cars like we used to, doesn't mean we won't again. As soon as the economy gets better and find better cars for the enviroment cars will be need to be made. And if industries are closed we will need more money to open new ones. I don't think we need to close them down. Its hard times for the economy and we just have to keep trying and hope for the best, because things will get better.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure how to feel about the bailout. On the one hand I feel for the families that are depending on those jobs for their livelihood. On the other hand, the auto companies have acted like our current President, they have turned a deaf ear to what's happening around them and kept on building those gas hogging SUV's. People were telling/asking them to build more fuel efficient cars but they didn't listen and wanted to keep building high profit SUV's. Everyone here in America has added to the fire by acting as if they need one of these gas hogs. 20 years ago, families were just as large and yet no one ever had an SUV, now everyone thinks they can't survive without one.
ReplyDeleteAlso I think CEO needs to file Chapter 11. Look what happened when some airlines filed chapter 11 and have come back. That is what this law is for. Even when TWA filed and went out, we now have Southwest Airlines which is the most profitable airline out there. We cannot continue to write checks that we simply cannot cash.
I don't really think that it is a big deal that Obama fired Rick because he is responible for putting that company down the drain, so he should take the consequnces for letting this happen. Honestly I think Obama should take things into his own hands. I'm sure it was stressful for Rick to try to bailout this company.
No, I don’t think they should be bailed out. They have wasted billons of dollars to in excessive salaries for their executives and have not watched their expenses in relationship to their income. It seems like they keep giving bonuses when they should have kept they funds in the business. They should be forced to file chapter 11, reorganization like any other company would be forces to do.
ReplyDeleteYes, I agree with Obama because somebody had to force the CEO out for the sake of the company.
I do not agree with the bailout for the companies. Although I know that many jobs will be lost if the companies fail I think that new jobs could be created. The company should be left to fend for itself. I think that companies that do well should be the ones to benefit and the ones that do not make any money should be left in the dust. This bailout is just telling other companies that if they fail they will be bailed out and its just putting us into more and more debt. I think the government should be putting all this money towards creating new jobs rather than bailing out companies that are bound to fail. The past has been great but we need to make the future prosper.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I do not agree with Obama firing the CEO. GM is a private company not one run by the government so they should deal with their private affairs. Obama has no right to deal with this and people within the company or shareholders should have removed the CEO if he was doing such a bad job. It's scary to me that the government has this much power. What happens if they don't like how someone else is running their business and firing it? They should not have that much power. America is supposedly a free country, private businesses should not be run and managed by the government
I am a bit on both sides of the argument when it comes to whether or not we should bail out the auto industry; I feel that we should in order for the people’s jobs who work there, but I also feel that our economy has to go through very hard times in order for it to stabilize itself. I think that if we do bail out the auto industry it would be very beneficial to those who work in the auto industry as well as their families. However, I think that it would hurt the taxpayers who pay for the bail out, and if we don’t good people will lose their jobs that support their families. I think that President Obama’s decision to fire the CEO of the General Motors was somewhat rash and not well thought out. I am not quite sure why he had him resign, but I don’t think it was the President’s place to fire him.
ReplyDeleteI do not know about this issue in a lot of detail, but I agree with the statement that if they fail they fail. There has been other industries in the past that have been in the same position with really bad management, but they were left out to dry and in many cases, all of the employees are left with no retirement funds at all. What makes these car companies so special that they deserve a bailout? I do agree that it is going to be very tough on the employees, but better management obviously needs to be a priority, because, as we have seen with other companies, poor management cannot keep driving major companies into the ground and expect to be rescued every time. The way our economy is now, we almost need to reset ourselves to become stabilized again. By handing out all these bailouts, we are just continuously adding to our ever growing debt.
ReplyDeleteI am a bit on both sides of this situation. I believe that our government needs to bail them out, just because of out economy and everything that is going on right now. I don't think we need to be losing more companies. These companies have always been here for us and have always done so good and it would be hard to see more companies go down the drain. I believe that if this happened it would make the people give up more hope and make them start thinking that we are getting closer to the depression each day. I don't believe they should bail out these comapanies, because we have a lot of other car companies. Not really any car company is doing well, but it would be good to lose two of them to make the other ones better. It is very debatable and will take a lot of time to think about. I believe that President Obama's decision to fire the CEO is a mistake. The CEO has done good all this time and just because we are in recession and many companies aren't doing good doesnt mean they should get fired. I think Obama should have thought about it a little more and gave it time to see what could happen. At least Obama is trying to make things better right now and thats all we really can think about.
ReplyDeleteBrianna Bukes
Should we bail out the auto company or not? It is a huge question and the answer will have a bigger rippling effect that we can even conceive. If we do bail out the companies we will keep a lot of jobs, and keep a lot of our money that Americans spend, in America. To stimulate the economy we need to keep our money in our country. On the other hand I do not think that any of the large companies will learn anything if we keep bailing them out so we do need to let one big one like the automobile companies to fall. I think that we should find a medium in between them. As much as I HATE big companies, especially ones with greedy, clueless people at the head of them, I think we may need to let these companies float. If we are going to do this though, we need to have regulations. Right now I have no problem with Obama asking greedy corporate heads to stand down. There needs to be regulations if this is going to work, such as no bonuses for big greedy people and no pay rises. If we are going to let something like this happen we can’t make the same mistakes like letting a few greedy people be in charge of the money. If there is a bailout, the money needs to be controlled by the government. No more free will of greedy corporate heads.
ReplyDeletePersonally I think we should have just let Social Darwinism go on uninterrupted. These corporations dug themselves into these holes and I think it is unfair to those companies that have already died to bail out the last corporations left standing. I believe this in the case with the banks on Wall Street and I believe it for the auto industry. I’m fine with tax breaks and such so that they don’t have to pay out as much, but pretty much handing them a blank check is not the best way to go. And to go along with that I don’t think it should be in the government’s ability to force the resignation of a CEO of a corporation. If they can do that to someone with that much power and influence what can they do to the average American?
ReplyDeleteBut I can see where the government is coming from. These bailouts have been used to support companies that are huge employers and have large impacts on America. If these giants go down the ripple effect will be huge. But the way I see it is that if one of these giants goes down it will teach the others how to be stronger. As well in its absence, it leaves room for small businesses to grow and flourish. The initial shock to our country might be large but, as hardy as America is, I think we could bounce back.
With the “firing” of General Motors’s CEO. I think that if we are firing the CEO of the company that is doing better we should definitely fire the CEO of the company that is doing bad. And I definitely think that we should fire all the CEO’s and executives from the banks and insurance companies that ran their companies into the ground and then received huge bonuses.
Of course the auto industries should be bailed out. Without them, our economy would become even worse. We would lose hundreds of thousands of jobs, and one of the things that helps bring a lot of money into our economy in the first place.
ReplyDeletei think that we should absolutly bail out the auto industries because if they fail things will only get worse, we will lose a ton of jobs and forign countries will control all of our car industries. It will also effect our econnomy pretty bad if they fail because Americans spend a ton of money on cars and with that industy gone all that money will go to forign counrties and drive our economy further down. The effect of all those jobs being lost will also drive our economy down, Americans would be losong hundrads of thousands of jobs that we can't afford to lose right now. I think that if we let the Auto industries fail we will not recove for a very long time as a country.
ReplyDeleteI do think that we should bail out the car industry because it will create a huge domino effect of job loss. Our cars would then be made by foreign countries and we would lose the money which our economy desperetly needs. Going back to job loss, if we don't bail out the car industry we will be losing far more jobs than just the car salesmen and factory workers, we lose the steel industry, the plastics industry and others. President Obama did a good thing by asking the head of GM to reseign because he is the one who got GM in the position they are in now. So I totally agree with Obama. Overall I would say. DO BAIL OUT THE AUTO INDUSTRY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteAlthough the U.S auto industry is failing, it isn’t the government’s job to bail them out. U.S auto was inevitably going to suffer during to suffer during recession due to the number of people saving or paying off their bills rather than purchase a new car or other luxury products. The way for U.S auto to get out of this dilemma is to make cheaper cars that work as good as or better than ones being made. This way it makes it more likely for some one to get a new car, but this will not save them entirely. Overall, it would be in their best interest to try and endure rather than actually succeed. As far as Obama firing a head, he is doing what is needed to be done due to the money wasted on him and he is doing it properly by negotiating with them, and not just ordering he is fired with no muscle behind him.
ReplyDeletePersonally I’m still in between about rather or not the government should bail them out. But my initial reaction would be the effect it’s going to have on the thousands of people who became dependent on these jobs. It’s quite obvious that the company was not efficient enough to avoid the crisis. So if the government very well does bail these car companies out I think they should consider a new CEO to dig them out of the hole. But like Scott b. said it’s unfair to bail out just these companies who are still holding on when already so many others were denied it. But basically what it comes down to is that America is going through a very hard struggle. And with the struggle comes sacrifice so it wouldn’t be surprising if the bail out just wont happen for some of these companies.
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