Humanity would survive 80% unemployment. It’d implode and result in tons of violence, starvation, and possibly general post apocalyptic horror… but the metric of “Humanity will survive” is a pretty worthless one.
I have to agree with the sentiment of this take. I don’t understand the hostility toward the American car companies. Every other auto producing country in the world is supporting its auto companies with trade policy and direct money payments and here more than half the country is bizarrely rooting for a major industry to tank. It’s incomprehensible to me, though I suppose seeing the metropolitan area I live in go straight to hell is something I have a personal interest in avoiding. This is really nice payback to the car companies for their response to 9/11, when they came through with 0% financing and incentives to help out the economy after that tragedy. And God forbid we ever need to mobilize any sort of manufacturing capacity ever again if the American auto companies go out of business. Mismanagement by the auto companies didn’t make this mess, they’re just paying for it in the biggest way. NO amount of restructuring is going to put money in people’s pockets to buy cars with. Letting the American auto industry die would be foolish and massively short sighted.
Have you not read their market share numbers? The American auto industry has been mismanaged. They didn’t create the financial crisis, but they created many of their own financial problems. Again, my point wasn’t a general hostility toward the American auto companies, but rather explaining why the administration had more leverage with auto companies than wall street which has much less to do with slithering tendrils than the people in this thread seem to realize.
Are you really dumb enough to think that adding 1-3 million to that list of job losses, all in a single month, won’t be catastrophic? What could possibly be the upside of a major company like GM or Chrysler folding? I don’t understand the glee some people are taking in this. It’s like every obnoxious cock who’s ever bought a Toyota is jumping up and down saying “I told you so!”
And again, who’s going to pick the carcasses? What company’s board of directors would be interested in, say, Chrysler’s Brampton plant that manufactures cars nobody wants? What bank would fund such a spending spree right now? What happens to the huge networks of parts suppliers making parts for GM and Chrysler cars?
You act like Honda’s just going to waltz in, buy everything for 10 cents on the dollar, and someone will sing “Happy Days are Here Again” in a few months once the system self-corrects. Uh, sorry. Not gonna happen. I’m not big on government intervention, but on this scale, it’s crazy to sit back and just watch the catastrophe unfold.
You can chalk it up to whatever you want, but you have to remember that things look very different at Ground Zero (i.e. Michigan) than they do on the periphery. (i.e. the coasts) A Depression in the fly over country doesn’t necessarily translate into a full-blown Depression on the coasts, although we’ll feel plenty of pain too.
Oh fuck you. Ryan’s claim was that the only reason wall street was getting a better deal was because they had more moles in the administration. I’m not claiming that losing the american auto companies wouldn’t be a blow to the economy. But we have a bankruptcy system in place for winding down large companies to soften the impact so it’s not just 3 million people unemployed the next day. Get a fucking grip. The real reason is because monetary policy is more vital to our survival as a nation (and as a world) than Michigan. Jesus.
Edit: And guess what, if no one wants what’s left of their carcass, it’s not fucking profitable. Are we going to turn the car companies into a permanent national industry that just builds car no one wants to buy just because we can’t think of a better fucking way to do it? Puh-lease. Wake the fuck up.
That’s a really good point. Not to shock all the lefties here who think the Obamessiah is going to get everyone together to love one another right now, but if you decimate American manufacturing, what happens if we ever need to quickly ramp up military production a la WW II again?
Just out of curiosity: who is taking glee in the prospect, exactly? I doubt that anyone thinks that Chrysler or GM failing is a good thing. Certainly nobody here has said that, AFAIK. The question is merely whether or not you think the alternatives are worse.
Dear lord, stop posting now. You’re only making it harder on yourself.
That ship has sailed a long time ago and GM was hardly in it for the patriotism. They were building cars for Germany with their German subsidiary during WWII. They made money from both sides and then we paid them for bombing their factories after it was over. TRIPLE WORD SCORE!
Great argument! Is there any better way to debate than telling the other side to fuck off? Good to see the debating skills at Qt3 haven’t improved any over the years.
You really think Michigan is the only place that will feel the pain? Some of you act like this won’t be a problem outside of Detroit, ignoring the hit that will be taken all over North America in parts plants, shipping depots, etc. Losing the automakers will be the initial quake, but there will be big aftershocks felt all over the continent. Ontario, for instance, is going to be hammered by the closure of GM and Chrysler plants, if it happens.
There is no good way out of this. In fact, the more things like this happen, the less confidence the public will have in GM and Chrysler. With finance, people still need credit. They may distrust the system, but they have to use it. With these companies, talk of “non-viable” plans and CEOs stepping down and potential bankrupcy means that I wouldn’t touch an American made car right now. I’m betting a lot of people are thinking the same. That doesn’t mean I would never do it again (I drive a Saturn, btw, just so that’s clear, and I love my car). But I won’t do it until this passes over. By then, the loss of such business could end the company regardless.
Am I really this stupid?
(did I do that last part right?)
How many damn times have I said that losing them would be a problem? Your problem is you lack perspective and an inability to read. Dipshit.
Yes, I’m quite worried about taking on the deep thinkers here. I’ll run and hide under the bed right now!
Well maybe you should take your floaties and go play in the shallow end then. Either that or go piss in someone else’s pool.
Oh, go fuck yourself, you halfwit twat.
You lack perspective and compassion for the people who will be out on the dole if the automakers are allowed to fail. I realize the sky won’t fall if Chrysler dies. But you know something? It will still devastate thousands and thousands of families across North America, and turn an already bad situation much, much worse. You might want to think about that, instead of just adopting this “let the chips fall where they may” assholishness.
Ah. The old “You are all so stupid!” card.
There are other places to post, you know. It’s not like we crave your wisdom.
lurn 2 reed.
LOL Priceless. Keep 'em coming, genius.
“Our pool.” Yeah, there’s a lot to be proud of. You’re taking ownership over a politics board where game geeks throw around their intellectual, uh, muscle. Hey, mommy would probably be very proud of her little man. Go on upstairs now and ask her!
BRACE FOR EPIC THREAD!