A 'prepackaged' plan likely would include government financing, take less time
Bloomberg 9 hours, 35 minutes ago
(Newser)
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Barack Obama’s transition team is looking at a streamlined, “prepackaged” bankruptcy for the Big Three automakers, Bloomberg reports. In a “prepack,” the companies already would have financing lined up when they go to court, and would have to reach agreements with banks, workers, and suppliers. The government likely would provide financing, but it “limits government financial commitment,” one lawyer said.
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OPINION
Flip-flop on Detroit shows McCain was right not to pick Romney as running mate
Boston Globe Nov 20, 08 3:43 PM CST
(Newser)
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Mitt Romney is speaking sideways when he talks about Detroit these days, Joan Vennochi writes in the Boston Globe . The man who promised he would “not rest until Michigan is back” in the Republican primary is now urging bankruptcy for Detroit automakers. “If the auto industry could reinvent itself as quickly as Mitt Romney,” Vennochi writes, “it wouldn't need a bailout.”
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Detroit News Nov 20, 08 3:05 PM CST
(Newser)
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After failing to strike a deal today on a possible bailout for the Big Three automakers, Congressional leaders offered the firms one more chance to push for the $25 billion lifeline they've requested, the Detroit News reports. Lawmakers will wait until December and require concrete plans for the money before proceeding. “The best way to proceed is to give them another opportunity to make their case,” Harry Reid said.
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OPINION
Extortion done right in Detroit
Bloomberg Nov 20, 08 1:37 PM CST
(Newser)
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Detroit’s pleas for a bailout sound an awful lot like blackmail to Bloomberg’s Mark Gilbert. Let GM fail, CEO Rick Wagoner told Congress, and the “level of economic devastation would far exceed” what Detroit is asking for. In other words, give us what we want, or the economy gets it. “Even Somali oil-tanker pirates have so far stopped short of trying to pilfer $25 billion from their victims,” Gilbert writes.
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OPINION
Legislators put screws to extra-shiny tin cups
Washington Post Nov 20, 08 7:49 CST
(Newser)
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Take three auto execs, add the private jets each took to a Capitol Hill hearing to beg for a federal bailout, and you get a recipe for the heaping helping of humble pie legislators served up, writes Dana Milbank in the Washington Post. "There's a delicious irony in seeing private luxury jets flying into Washington, DC, and people coming off them with tin cups in their hands," said one New York congressman at the disastrous hearing.
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Bloomberg Nov 19, 08 7:07 PM CST
(Newser)
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The CEOs of Detroit's Big Three automakers left Capitol Hill today with bleak prospects of getting $25 billion in emergency loans, Bloomberg reports. Negotiations continue, especially among lawmakers of automotive states, but Republicans and Democrats are deadlocked over where any such aid should come from. Senate leader Harry Reid canceled a vote on the issue scheduled for tomorrow.
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Plan would repurpose $25B fuel-efficiency carrot already passed
Detroit News Nov 19, 08 1:47 PM CST
(Newser)
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Senate Republicans are crafting legislation that would repurpose an already-approved $25 billion Energy Department initiative to bail out struggling automakers, the Detroit News reports. The plan is at odds with Democratic efforts, which would use money from the $700 billion Wall Street bailout to help Detroit. The Energy money was originally intended to spur an increase in fuel efficiency.
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OPINION
Bankruptcy, not bailout, will save the American motor industry
New York Times Nov 19, 08 7:26 CST
(Newser)
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If you want to maintain an automotive industry in the US, writes Mitt Romney, giving the Big Three a bailout is the last thing you should do. In an op-ed for the New York Times , the former Massachusetts governor (and Michigan native) says that GM, Chrysler, and Ford need a managed bankruptcy followed by radical restructuring. A bailout will only encourage the industry's worst excesses, and in a few years "you can kiss the American automotive industry goodbye."
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New York Times Nov 18, 08 5:17 PM CST
(Newser)
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The CEOs of the Big Three automakers told the Senate today that a $25 billion bailout of the industry is necessary to prevent "catastrophic" effects on the economy, the New York Times reports. “If the domestic industry were allowed to fail,” said GM's Rick Wagoner, it would mean “three million jobs lost within the first year.” Meanwhile, Chrysler's Robert Nardelli disclosed that his company, like GM, is on the verge of bankruptcy.
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ANALYSIS
Clamor over bailout obscures some truths about Big Three
Detroit Free Press Nov 18, 08 2:45 PM CST
(Newser)
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Misconceptions and half-truths abound in the discussion over giving Detroit’s big three carmakers a chunk of federal bailout cash. Mark Phelan, in the Free Press , clears up six myths: Nobody buys GM, Ford or Chrysler anymore. Fact: The three combined sold 8.5 million vehicles domestically last year—GM alone beat Toyota’s sales by 1.2 million. Their cars are unreliable. Fact: Consumer-advocacy groups now rate cars from the Big Three as equally dependable as those from Japanese or European brands.
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House version calls for tough steps to make US industry more viable
Detroit Free Press Nov 18, 08 2:35 CST
(Newser)
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Competing versions of a rescue package for US automakers have hit the floors of the House and Senate, the Detroit Free Press reports. The bills, both of which face fierce opposition from Republicans, draw on the $700 billion bailout allotted to the finance sector and call for similar limits on executive pay, though the House version sets out much stricter conditions for automakers.
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