bailout

Specter of Bankruptcy Rears Its Head

A GM bankruptcy would be unprecedented, and probably controversial, because the company owns physical assets worth about $160 billion, directly employs 90,000 Americans and is an integral part of the U.S. economy. While the White House has signaled that it may come to the rescue in the short term, the pain of downsizing the auto giant would have a ripple effect across the economy.

Michigan and Ohio: Swing States No More?

Another good point made by TWI’s Daphne Eviatar and Josh Marshall, who sums it up well. From TPM:
Senate Republicans are following this course for three key reasons — first is payback against a major industrial union; second is payback against states like Michigan and Ohio who have been moving away from the GOP; third is [...]

Bring Boring Back

In the wake of the Senate’s failure to pass the bailout for the “Big Three” automakers due to a threatened Republican filibuster, I’d like to expand on an excellent point made by Josh Marshall over at TPM.
What I do think makes sense is for the majority to actually require the minority to filibuster — as [...]

Obama Urges Administration and Congress to Keep Working on Auto Deal

President-elect Barack Obama released the following statement this morning on Congress’ failure to reach an agreement on a federal bailout for the “Big Three” auto manufacturers:

Will the White House Step In?

The Wall Street Journal is reporting that amid news that a bid to extend a lifeline to the Big Three automakers failed in the Senate last night, the White House is considering allowing some of the $700 billion allocated for the Wall Street bailout to save the industry. A spokesman for the White House called [...]

Lawmakers Seek to Attach a String to Detroit Bailout

Frustrated by decades of automaker resistance to adopting more strict fuel-efficiency standards for their vehicles, Markey and others what to make the rules part of the rescue package.

Bailout Fatigue Sets In

If President-elect Barack Obama wants to win support for a package to help out struggling homeowners, he will have to help the public understand that we’re all affected by the mortgage crisis.

Auto Workers Make Case for Bailout

Nearly a month after the executives of the Big Three automakers arrived in Washington on corporate jets to ask Congress for a bailout, a group of auto workers made the same trip by carpool. Their mission was the same, but the blue-collar image they projected was strikingly different.

‘And Just in Case You’re Wondering, We Did Not Fly In on Private Jets’

Last night, sixteen auto workers from Detroit packed into four cars (American-made, of course) and drove to Washington, where they met up with colleagues from four other states this morning to urge Congress to pass a bill to bailout the auto industry.
Speaking on Capitol Hill, active and retired union leaders voiced frustration that they were [...]

Senate Tougher on Auto Industry Than Wall Street

Lawmakers granted Wall Street enormous leeway in dolling out a $700 billion lifeline free from Congressional oversight. Thursday’s Senate hearing appears to foreshadow a tougher line with the Big Three.