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It's enough to keep The Big Three solvent into next March while the next Congress debates what to do (http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-sat-auto-bailout-1206-dec06,0,5185536.story)

http://www.cleanmpg.com/photos/data/501/Congress.jpgJim Puzzanghera - LA Times - Dec. 06, 2008

Just avoiding the prospect of GM declaring bankruptcy on Dec 24 -- Ed

Congressional Democratic leaders agreed Friday night to a stopgap compromise to keep the Big Three U.S. automakers afloat into early next year by diverting about $14 billion from an existing fund designated to retool their factories to make more fuel-efficient cars, according to senior aides.

The deal would provide General Motors (http://www.chicagotribune.com/topic/economy-business-finance/manufacturing-engineering/automotive-equipment/general-motors-corp.-ORCRP006407.topic), Ford and Chrysler with only a portion of the $34 billion they say they need for a turnaround, but it would give them enough to keep operating while a broader agreement is negotiated.

The move still needs support from some Republicans to get through the Senate and the approval of the White House (http://www.chicagotribune.com/topic/politics/government/executive-branch/the-white-house-PLCUL000110.topic). But President George W. Bush (http://www.chicagotribune.com/topic/politics/government/presidents-of-the-united-states/george-bush-PEPLT000857.topic) has been calling for help for the automakers to come from the Energy Department advanced technology fund...http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-sat-auto-bailout-1206-dec06,0,5185536.story

Naturally.
Now all they need to do is hurry up and print out some more fake money and everything is OK :flag:

umm...let's leave this up for the next administration to decide, we have no idea what to do!

Silly congress, decisions are for the decider!

Wouldnt it be nice to force them to ONLY build cars that get 30mpg or more or no MONEY? I work with some people that have GM products and they are proud of their 15mpg...

THey should just give them all of it, this is just a waste imo

Bad idea. Instead of attempting to fix the problem, they are just throwing money at the problem to avoid having to fix it.

The owners of Chrysler would sell their business if they don't get any money. What's wrong with them doing that?

"Let someone else deal with it." - Congress

This stopgap measure is not such a bad idea - remember we are in a transition between administrations and it's been likenen to the five months between FDR's election and the start of his term (shortened with the 20th Amendment (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/20th_Amendment))

Now is like then with the economy in bad shape. Bush may not do much more - Obama can't do much more until he's President. Not only does it give Detroit life support long enough for the next administration to act on this, hopefully all the players in Detroit (mgmt, UAW, etc) become more conducive to the reforms necessary to salvage what can be out of them.

What's 14 Billion among friends? That's only about (lessee ...) $1000 after tax dollars for every working American. (Figure $70, but then add pork-barrelling, misused, mis-spent, diverted funds, corporate jets to Washington, couple of Halo project cars, etc etc).

And it's so much fun, they'll be back in a couple of months, so we can do it all over again.

Yeah, yeah. So with more Federal money from us taxpayers, Mullaly and Lutz get to buy a couple extra mansions and jets for themselves before their companies go under. Yipee!

I think the Detroit-3 should be allowed to go under because the have a business model that can't possibly succeed: overpaid execs, overpaid union workers, shoddy gas-guzzling hulks that fall apart a month after the warranty expires.

Aside from bad management and high labor costs, the Detroit-3 have adamantly refused to innovate in any way, shape, or form. The middle class just can't afford $50k hulks that only last four years.

Ford made an electric pickup truck and GM made an electric coupe in the 1990s and junked them. Toyota made an electric RAV4 and adapted the technology to create modern-day hybrid vehicles.

The Detroit-3 made their beds, so it's high time they laid down in them. They don't deserve a penny on my tax dollars. I'm genuinely offended that they've been given this "stopgap" bailout.

If we were talking about sports, it I'd say something like this....let's pretend it's the New York Yankee's (pretend it's the Red Sox if you hate the Yankees).

DON"T SELL THE TEAM
DON'T DISBAND THE TEAM
Get new owners
Get a new General Manager
"Explode" the team - i.e. replace most of the playersMy concern is a lot of you think ideas #1 and #2 are going to help - I favor #3, #4, #5.

Actually, there are still some electric Rangers out there.

Toyota also didn't base their hybrid architecture off of an electric powertrain -- they studied the PNGV concepts and developed something similar, IIRC. This is why Ford's hybrid system is so similar to Toyota's -- they were building on the same starting point.

I'm not happy to see more good money thrown after (apparently) bad money, but it isn't in my hands. I'd much rather see American companies succeed by doing what they have throughout the history of our country -- innovate and produce quality products -- without having to be propped up.

We've already been forced into a wholesale mortgaging of our future, now we just have to hope for the best.