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Bush 'rebuffed Obama on car industry bailout' (Bush rebuffed union thugs that Obama panders to)
times online ^ | 11/11/2008 | times

Posted on 11/11/2008 5:16:23 AM PST by tobyhill

Barack Obama used yesterday's Oval Office meeting with President Bush to press for immediate aid for the struggling US car industry, according to leaked reports.

Mr Bush said that he could support some aid in exchange for approval of a free-trade agreement with Colombia – but there was no sign that either the President-elect or his Democratic colleagues were willing to bend on that issue.

Senior Democrats asked the Administration at the weekend to consider expanding the $700 billion bank bailout package to include assistance for car companies struggling under a legacy of debt and falling sales.

Mr Obama's spokesman, Robert Gibbs, said yesterday that the plight of automakers was one of a number of issues discussed in a two-hour meeting with Mr Bush to discuss the transfer of power at a time of war and financial crisis. Other issues included housing, mortgage foreclosures, and, more generally, "the need to get the economy back on track".

(Excerpt) Read more at timesonline.co.uk ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Culture/Society; Extended News; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: bush; obama; obamatransitionfile
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To: tobyhill

Make that car companies with big Unions. Is why they want bailout.


21 posted on 11/11/2008 5:39:58 AM PST by screaminsunshine
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To: Boiling Pots

Why should the government bail out ANYONE who has made bad decisions? If you can’t figure out how to make money after 100 years in the business, then you need to go under.
Decades of bad decisions by the management and years of stabbing the golden goose by the unions has driven the domestic car industry to the verge of bankruptcy.

But the point is moot because Obama and the ‘Rats WILL bail them out without precondition because of the millions of union votes that they represent.


22 posted on 11/11/2008 5:41:53 AM PST by Blood of Tyrants (Obama is the Antichrist.)
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To: olezip
With that $1800 surcharge do it come with a DVD player?
23 posted on 11/11/2008 5:42:38 AM PST by tobyhill (No Honeymoon For Obama. Free Obama Bashing 24/7)
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To: Blood of Tyrants

We will rue the day taxpayer funds were used to bail out anyone.

I’m sure McCain already rues it. He could have won the election if he had of come out against it.


24 posted on 11/11/2008 5:43:21 AM PST by Boiling Pots (Time to put Bush/McCain "conservatism" back to the back)
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To: olezip
GM is in trouble because they cannot be competitive with a $1,800 surcharge on each and every car thanks to demands by union thugs. Now the thugs want the taxpayers to pay the $1,800 for them; that is socialism.

We've spent the last eight years being told that dissent is the highest form of patriotism.

I choose to express my dissent using my wallet. Will NEVER by an American nameplate car again. Ever (besides, Toyotas and Hondas easily last 2x as long with lower maintenance costs).


25 posted on 11/11/2008 5:43:56 AM PST by tanknetter
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To: tobyhill

Pres. Bush owes the UAW and the Democrats who have sunk Michigan absolutely nothing. He certainly does not need to obligate taxpayers in the conservative states to their bailout.
There is a mechanism for failed businesses. It is Chapter 11 bankruptcy. That’s what “the little people” have to face when their businesses fail, so why should GM be given special treatment?


26 posted on 11/11/2008 5:49:15 AM PST by kittymyrib
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To: raybbr

Don’t forget State employees and Teacher’s unions - money they lost in the recent “downturn” of the market will be made up on the backs of taxpayers. We went through this before in Texas when the market crashed (1989?) - watch for higher property and school taxes coming soon to a location near you!


27 posted on 11/11/2008 5:55:42 AM PST by WhyisaTexasgirlinPA (Tagline scrubbed to prevent invitation to indoctrinization camp)
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To: tobyhill

I don’t understand why the UAW doesn’t just do a hostile takeover of GM and then run it like “it should be run.” They keep complaining how it is mismanaged, well now it is their opportunity to step up to the plate. The union won’t though because they need victims(the poorly treated worker) in order to survive and they certainly aren’t going to give up that cash cow.


28 posted on 11/11/2008 5:58:52 AM PST by SirFishalot
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To: kittymyrib
Pres. Bush owes the UAW and the Democrats who have sunk Michigan absolutely nothing.

Hussein and Jennifer Granholm (who is on his "economic committee") will bail out the car companies. Of that there is absolutely no doubt. However, Hussein wants Bush to do it so he can point to the Bush administration when it doesn't work. He wants ALL bailouts to be done by Bush for the same reason. He wants to come in with all that behind him and able to blame the prior administration.

29 posted on 11/11/2008 5:59:03 AM PST by TexasRedeye (Eschew obfuscation)
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To: tobyhill

I don’t understand why the UAW doesn’t just do a hostile takeover of GM and then run it like “it should be run.” They keep complaining how it is mismanaged, well now it is their opportunity to step up to the plate. The union won’t though because they need victims(the poorly treated worker) in order to survive and they certainly aren’t going to give up that cash cow.


30 posted on 11/11/2008 5:59:12 AM PST by SirFishalot
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To: Boiling Pots

Yep. He lost the election not because his message was different from Obama’s. He lost the election because he was only a shade less socialistic.


31 posted on 11/11/2008 5:59:25 AM PST by Blood of Tyrants (Obama is the Antichrist.)
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To: tobyhill
  There's a very good book called "The Myth of the Robber Barons" that every congressman should read. The book makes the case that entrepreneurs who work the government for deals, subsidies, protections,etc. fail much more often than the entrepreneurs who do not seek assistance from the government.
32 posted on 11/11/2008 6:04:04 AM PST by Maurice Tift (You can't stop the signal, Mal. You can never stop the signal.)
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To: tobyhill
Gee, if only they had asked sooner, the Big 3 could have had their congresscreeps add a little more pork to the bailout bill.

A measly $25-50 Billion wouldn't have been that much more.

33 posted on 11/11/2008 6:14:52 AM PST by N. Theknow (Watching FOX News now is like sifting through a roomful of horse$hit to find a pony.)
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To: OpusatFR
Yup. I enjoy paying a 400% increase in property taxes over three years so our public employee retirees can collect 95% of their pay and have COLA and medical too.

You got it. With the govt unions there is no chapter 11 to renegotiate the contracts. They just keep going up. No bail outs are required because they get a bailout each year when taxes are raised.

34 posted on 11/11/2008 6:36:32 AM PST by RedStateGuyTrappedinCT
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To: tobyhill

Did anyone else watch last night’s “American Experience” on PBS?

Wow...parallels to October 1929 were uncanny. Oh, and, Durant (founder of GM) lost everything while the bankers used their own money (not ours) to prop-up the market.


35 posted on 11/11/2008 6:45:20 AM PST by Cletus.D.Yokel
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To: chainsaw

“When Detroit makes a better car I’ll buy one, Not until then.”

I have a 2007 Dodge Caliber. Had it for 1 1/2 years now. I like it a lot.


36 posted on 11/11/2008 6:45:30 AM PST by FroggyTheGremlim
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To: tanknetter

The most revealing thing is that the elitist dems (trust fund marxists) and others that consider themselves arbiters of governing (NEA teachers) all drive around in imports; subarus, hondas, toyotas. All the while supporting “unions” and voting for D’s.

I’d wager we would find that the majority of those who voted for Opossum don’t drive UAW built cars.


37 posted on 11/11/2008 6:50:45 AM PST by Cletus.D.Yokel
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To: WhyisaTexasgirlinPA
Teachers and state employees don't make as much as car manufacturers.
38 posted on 11/11/2008 7:08:24 AM PST by teacherbarbie (I would go into politics, but I like to keep my youthful looks.)
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To: Boiling Pots

Any company asking for a bailout should force at least 10% pay cuts on all workers. The UAW needs to get their costs in line. Why should taxpyers subsidize them? Also kill the total scams of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.


39 posted on 11/11/2008 7:16:52 AM PST by Frantzie
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To: teacherbarbie

So? We should keep bailing out their retirement plans? Who bails out the private sector retirement plans?


40 posted on 11/11/2008 7:18:04 AM PST by WhyisaTexasgirlinPA (Tagline scrubbed to prevent invitation to indoctrinization camp)
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