New GM Poll: Most Americans Support an Auto Industry Bailout
Poll results released by General Motors today clearly indicate that the majority of Americans think the government should provide bailout loans to the auto industry and that without those loans the “Big 3″ (GM, Ford, and Chrysler) will go bankrupt.
In a random survey of 804 American adults conducted by Peter D. Hart Research Associates and commissioned by General Motors (PDF), there is broad support for bailing out the the American auto industry — and even broader support of President-elect Obama’s plans to make sure “the American automobile industry continues to be able to operate.”
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Some key findings:
- 55% of people surveyed said that the government should intervene and help the Auto Industry with loans. Only 30% said the government shouldn’t intervene, and 15% were unsure.
- Interestingly enough, when the question was “Do you agree with Obama’s plans to provide economic assistance to the auto industry?”, the number agreeing rose to 64%.
- 60% of Americans believe that without help, the auto industry will go bankrupt.
- 55% of Americans think that providing bailout money to the auto industry is “just as important” as providing it to the banks.
- Most people agree that the manufacturing base provided by the US auto industry is key to the US’s national security.
The survey also finds that the majority of Americans think that if the Big 3 were to go bankrupt, the US economy would likely fall into a depression.
Well, this is an amazingly sore topic with many of our readers, but I’m wondering what your reactions to this are? Are you one of the silent minority that feels we should just take our lumps and pony up to rescue the industry? If we do, do you think we should attach conditions on to that money? Should we force the auto industry to start making more plug-in, clean diesel or CNG vehicles?
Or do you think we should let them go bankrupt so that a new era of auto manufacturers can take over? Come on folks, if you’re an American it’s your money. So you’re vested in this decision whether you want to be or not.
Source: GMfactsandfiction.com
Image Credit: Photo Mojo’s Flickr Photostream under a Creative Commons License
Gee, a poll by GM that supports their position…
I’m against a bailout. The best thing for GM in my opinion is for them to reorganize under Chapter 11, getting rid of the bloat (management and union both) and creating a new business model focusing on the future.
Many airlines have gone through bankruptcy and survived. GM can too. If it can’t, then it doesn’t deserve to continue as a business.
There’s more than just economy facing GM as well as not only Ford and Crysler, but most of the auto industry. foremost, GM’s coachwsork has progressively gotten worse and less solid eversince the demise of Body by Fischer. Most of their transmissions suck and are not made by GM in total. Also, GM as well as the others have continues to manufacture exterior styling (so-0called) that is designed so as to decapitate the drive upon collision with another vehicle and or truck, in thaT The car would go under the front vehicle’s rear end, allowing it to continue up the hood to the windshield and eventually the driver’s head and neck.
Entrance and egress to and from he vehicle has also suffered. Many vehicles are designed so a passenger or driver must bend backward from the waist in order to enter or exit the car and also to keep from having the car door, which slants toward the car’s interior surfaces, put the persons’ eyes out. Front seats are also too low to the floor of the vehicle, making making it hard for older people or oersons with back trouble have trouble getting in and out. By the seats being so low to the floor, long trips cause one’s back to hurt from not allowing one to have at least some bend in their knees.
Trunks are now designed so one has to be Charles Atlas in order to lift heavy parcels over the back wall of it, rather than the floor of the trunk being level to allow in and out access.
What heppened to beautiful color-keyed interiors that go with the exterior colors of the vehicles? Doesn’t matter whazt color the car is at present, the only option you have for interior is ugly beige or grey leather interiors. Gimmicks which raise vehicle cost rater than comfort and attractiveness seems to be all you offer. Leather interiors are expensive to replace, have a short lifespan , soil easily and at a point can no longer be cleaned, which means one MUST trade the car off before the leather starts showing. Thus if you cannot afford to trade every two years, you end up with a problem interior that is soiled, cracked, smells, is cold in winter and hot in summer. Hey, Detroit, get with it and really listen to the public ./.. get someone other than a teenage hotrodder to listen to for your vehicles!
Would this survey happened to be conducted in Detroit?
Do you want to spend your money propping up a failed financial model and thuggish UAW indefinitely? They make a hell of a lot more money than most of us do & have a retirement benefits that blow away anything anyone else of us were going to get. My retirement just went down the crapper, and I’m supposed to prop-up their extravagant retirement with my taxes? I don’t think so, I couldn’t afford to do so, even if I wanted to. I watched the unions strangle the textile industry in the northeast, until the industry was forced to pack up and move to greener (off-shore) pastures. Bailing out the UAW and greedy executives will bleed us to death (again), while merely delaying the inevitable. Can America live better without unions and over-paid management, can you say: Toyota?
We are in a time of transition. If the big three were to collapse, all of the talent (engineers, marketing execs, machinists, etc) would likely get involved in smaller auto ventures. With the focus on ‘greening’ the industry, I imagine that many of these start-ups spawned from the fall of the big three would be focused on new fuels and high mpg.
Sometimes we have to let go of the big old conventions in order to bring new life and ideas to reality.
Without any doubt, when you look at the technology needed for designing and building electric cars and alternative energy, the USA are worlds finest.
You’ve got the edge, but you don’t use this powerful asset.
I say bail the big three out but under very strict conditions. They failed miserably, they have lost any right to negociate. Kick the mismanagers out, stripping them of excessive pay.
Temporary replace them by managers appointed by your government, until the big three have paid back their bail out loan in full. And mass produce real electric cars, not those impractical unattractive shopping carts… If you do it well, it could be a life saver for your economy.
Well, they didn’t take the poll in my part of the country. I haven’t spoken to a single proponent of the bailout. I feel horribly for the economic effects that would be possible if the Big Three shut down, but I HATE the fact that we’re letting overpaid corporate types make bad choices then sit around while WE clean it up for them.
jpm,
I am not for the weakening of unions. I am for the complete and systematic destruction of all things union. They ceased to serve a productive purpose over 20 years ago and now just make it more difficult for US companies to compete. My point about your previous argument is that simply looking at wage is not feasible. Yes people in 2nd and 3rd world countries get paid less than Americans as a whole, but when you add in distribution and transportation, it levels that field out some.
There are a great deal of misconceptions and uninformed statments made in this post. Here is a list that every anti-bailout poster should keep in mind. Before I get to it, the union absolutely needs to agree to competitive wages and benefits or hit the road.
1. U.S. annual auto sales were stable at 16M units per year. Then, within a small window of time, they dropped to 12M. This has nothing to do with the Big 3, just the economy in general. Very few markets can support all players in the industry after a sudden 25% reduction in their potential market.
2. There are many auto companies globally currently seeking bailouts (i.e. Europe). Forget the notion that the Big 3 are the only ones struggling.
3. The Japanese are “bailed out” on a daily basis. Their government intervenes in foreign money markets regularly to ensure the Yen remains attractive relative to the dollar, which is the only reason they can turn a profit in the US. I also believe that medical benefits are subsidized by the govt. in Japan.
4. GM makes more 30+MPG cars than any other auto maker, and their quality ratings are every bit that of Toyota and Honda on their newer vehicles. Forget the past, the same way you have forgotten the time when the Japanese cars were a joke, and realize the Big 3 are putting out quality products once more.
5. Many of your beloved Toyotas have a GM equivalent. By this I mean that there is actually a factory shared by GM and Toyota in the US that pumps out identical cars with either a GM or Toyota badge. (i.e. Matrix and Vibe).
6. Non-plugin hybrid technology is a joke that many of the posters on this site have been duped in to. The batteries in these vehicles will become the scurge of the earth, when they are not properly disposed of, and the factories they are produced in make Chernoble look cozy. To top it all off, there are plenty of gasoline only powertrains out there that blow hybrids away in terms of MPG. WAKE UP AND RESEARCH!!!!
7. Finally, be honest with yourselves. Yes, there are many flaws with the Big 3, as there are with any big company. Think about a 25% loss in the overall market over almost no time and think about if the industry each of you work in could sustain such a loss.
DUH a poll by GM Like you should trust that one.
I got one of there email, No I’m not a loyal customer.
No i will not buy a big 3 product now. Not because
they are going under but because there products arent
that good and all the UAW demands and over paid labor.