Damien, I'm going to assume (dangerous I know) that you know nothing about the Fair Tax. See www.fairtax.org for detailed information.
Basically it is like this..
Everyone that is qualified will get a check in the mail to offset the tax for basic necessities (Family of 4 is about $537 for 2008).
http://www.fairtax.org/PDF/FairTaxPr...lained2007.pdf
Everything that you earn, you keep.
You only pay tax on new goods and services.
The revenue neutral tax rate is 23%.

I will never consider illegal immigration a problem if the fairtax is ever passed. The illegals will be here and paying the tax, but will not be recieving the prebate. The prebate covers tax on basic food. If you want a new car, you pay the tax. If you want a used car you dont pay the tax. Same with houses. Consumers can be selective about their purchases.

Originally Posted by Damien435

I can't believe we're talking bailouts for Detroit 20 years after economists had declared manufacturing jobs in America to be a dying breed.

We're trying to save an endagered species from becoming extinct.

Originally Posted by The Other Guy

We're trying to save an endagered species from becoming extinct.

The endangerd species you are talking about has had it too good for too long and now the government is expected to prop them up. Sorry that just doesn;t wash. When Gettlefinger says he won;t even consider concessions until 2011. WTF is that about?

CNN is reporting that GM will tell the government tomorrow that GM only has 2 options for continuing as a business: give GM more money or restructure under bankruptcy.

I TOLD YOU SO!!!!!

Originally Posted by Duty Honor Country

I am just not convinced that more government spending when I believe the government is already spending way too much will help in the end. It will offer a short term easing of pain while adding to the massive government debt. The republicans made the debt big and the democrats are full steam ahead with spending. The death of fiscal responsibility is complete.

The Other Guy, I agree we just cannot let our auto industry implode, but it is how we are doing it. The UAW, which is your avatar, has gotten way too much and needs to rid it self of a lot of entitlements it currently has. The fact that a laid off worker gets paid 96% of pay for 2 years is completely unsound in business practice. Other industries have modernized while the auto industry has lagged. I agree that the big three put all its cards in trucks and SUVs in the last decade and now they are paying the price. Ford actually made efforts with the focus and other models and it is no surprise that Ford is the best off out of the three. The auto industry was a badly run business that is getting crushed by the recession.

I would support a bailout under the following conditions.

1. The big 3 must go into bankruptcy so radical and drastic change can take place. The prearranged bankruptcy idea sounds ok but I need more info as to the details.

2. The CEOs and board members are gone. They drove their companies into this mess and they can now drive themselves home...with NO severance packages.

3. Sorry UAW, making a business profitable means cutting costs. Nissan and Toyota pay their employees less with less benefits. It is time to wake up and smell the coffee. I have always wondered why labor unions donate so much to political organizations and pay thier leaders a good anual sum. It is wasteful and needs to be cut. The alternative is to lose your job. Take it or leave it.

4. I think government bentchmarks are bad. I am very much against government and business. Government is great at spending money. When did the government ever make money on large scale. Taxes is not making money.

There is no one thing that can be changed without changing everything. Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result. Giving businesses money, like the current bailout, just supports those who got us here in the first place.

If you need to know, I own a 98 nissan altima with 186,000 miles and just bought a Toyota Corolla. My reasons for both cars was quality and fuel economy. I know for a fact that Toyota and Nissan make better cars. Get the Consumer reports used car guide and see who has made the best and worst cars in the last 5 years. Make a quality product and I will buy it.

Throwing billions at the auto industry did nothing for them but allow a failing business to continue. CNN also reported that the UAW walked out on GM over talks of new contracts. GM is about to fail and UAW wants too much.

Let GM go into bankruptcy. This will allow GM to restructure and break UAW contracts.

No more money to businesses who do bad business...please

Thumbs down to destroying the union. This means more workers at minimum wage and NO healthcare, which is supplied by GM. So either we need to do what gives the Japanese companies their advantage-- NATIONALIZED HEALTHCARE-- or bail these companies out, as we did to Chrysler back in the 1980s, a bailout that they repaid by the end of the decade.

The UAW does not want too much. All they want is their fair share. If you'll notice, the weath gap is spreading. More workers earning less and less while CEOs and other executives take home fat bonuses. President Obama's move to curb salaries is a start. The UAW is trying to finish the job.

Perhaps what is needed is a bailout-bankruptcy. Money to save the company while limiting salaries of executives and orders to re-structure. Or make the CEOs fix the company out of pocket, something that will can't be done by refusing to provide a bailout. The executives have enough money that even if the company fails they're still okay financially, as in the Enron fiasco.

Well apparetnly the talks are also going to promote cutting out the healthcare coverage given to GM retirees. And where do you suppose a person who has relied on this service for healthcare for the last quarter century is going to find new healthcare? Especially if he's 77 years old, half deaf, and has been diagnosed with leukemia? If it goes, that''s the boat my grandfather's going to be in. Spent 30 years with GM, has bought Chevys since 1963 (save for one Saturn) and look at this.

The company shouldn't have to pay healthcare, I agree. But health insurance is necessary and should not have to be purchased from the "must qualify" insurance compainies. There needs to at least be a nationalized option. Taiwan's healthcare system, when it was reorganized several years ago into the best in the world, sent experts out to several countries to observe their healthcare systems. They didn't even bother to look at the US sytem, it is so inefficient and expensive. The reason it's expensive? These lousy insurance companies.