pocketfullofshells
Well-Known Member
Do you mean let them restructure in bankruptcy? Something they had to do anyway.
The Republican position (while certainly split) was to use mechanisms already in place to let these companies restructure. That is what needed to occur -- and what occurred anyway after the bailouts.
They would not have been able to just "restructure" without backing. The Mechanism you talk about that was in place...would in the end...have not done anything to save them...
""The immediate bankruptcy of (Chrysler and GM) could cost more than a million jobs, decrease tax revenues by $150 billion and set back America’s Gross Domestic Product by hundreds of billions of dollars."
I didn’t want there to be 21% unemployment
"forecasts at the time that the loss of GM, Ford and the automotive lenders also covered by the bailout could lead to the loss of 1 million jobs"
That was of course the COmmunist G W Bush. ( who started the auto bail out)
http://autos.yahoo.com/news/bush-would-do-it-again-on-auto-bailouts.html
Both GM and Chrysler were ready to enter bankruptcy under Chapter 11 proceedings, which protect firms from creditors while they reorganize their finances.
But they needed billions of dollars in bridging financing to do that, and it was not available, said Gary Burtless of Brookings Institution.
"There was no creditor in the private sector that could step up with the amount of money that Chrysler and General Motors needed if they were to keep on functioning," Burtless told AFP.
"The only outcome if the government didn't step in was that those companies were going to be liquidated."
http://news.yahoo.com/us-auto-bailout-necessary-analysts-225204153.html
Both companies' bankruptcies required money on a scale not seen in legal history. Unlike airlines, which can keep running with much smaller short-term loans while they restructure, automakers need massive amounts of up-front capital to pay suppliers and workers while they build cars; their finance companies need even more to keep making car loans that can bring in revenues. The potential damage wasn't just layoffs; Chrysler executives testified on the first day of bankruptcy that without immediate cash the company risked destroying hundreds of millions of dollars' worth of equipment.
Even after Obama took office, GM and Chrysler searched frantically for paths to avoid bankruptcy, including a possible merger. Chrysler held a one-week garage sale of its assets in February 2009, inviting anyone with enough money to bid for parts of the company. No one bit.
http://autos.yahoo.com/blogs/motora...ng-detroit-automakers-bailouts-154006392.html