Thursday, April 09, 2009

Hells Bells

Ottawa Jumps Into the Car Warranty Business

“Government will spend up to $185-million to back warranties of new GM, Chrysler cars to prevent crisis from causing sales collapse.”

Hey. Something doesn’t feel right about this.

I’ve been paying for one hell of a lot of home repairs these past few years. The one thing that isn’t giving me any grief is my car - a Subaru. (Knock on wood.)

But now I’ll be paying for repairs on other people’s cars.

With the bail-outs and now this, I’m beginning to feel I own some of GM and Chrysler via my tax dollars – and I don’t want to.

I budget and manage my own finances and I’m responsible for fixing my own mistakes/repairs. And if I don’t? I’ll have my very own financial crisis and my house will collapse.

Too simplistic a view? So be it.

I still don’t like the way this is playing out.

10 comments:

Sherry said...

I don't like this either. The auto industry has always been "over the top" -- what they earn, the pull their union has, the benefits package. For jobs that we always see as "rote", working in a factory. But we often forget that there are people in the offices, and management and CEOs and on and on...and those people earn BIG dollars too. And now we, who have "so little" compared to them, are bailing them out and keeping them afloat. I ask myself...would GM et al be so willing to sacrifice to keep a smaller factory open? I think not. Maybe I'm wrong.

All I hope is that by doing this the Government knows something we don't and that if they keep the auto industry fluid it will keep our entire econmy afloat. Wishful thinking?

Barrie said...

I'm with you. And to answer your question...not as much writing as I should have. Although it was me, not the place.

oreneta said...

Completely agree! so completely.

Seraphine said...

well, nobody will buy gm or chrysler products if they know the company will be out of business in three months. maybe it's better to let them die. but too, millions of jobs are in the balance, and people's lives, and maybe it costs more in the near term to pay the dole on the unemployed than to pay the repair bills on a new car.
it feels like we are throwing too much money at the "bad" and that only puts off the inevitable pain for a short while.

The Bodhi Chicklet said...

Yeah, I'm with you on this one. Something smells. It's like punishing the child who works hard and does well and rewarding the child with no sense of self-discipline. I feel this will have a bad ending. And yet, I can see the oddball reasoning behind it. Sometimes I can reason something bad for myself but that doesn't make it right.

Charlotta-love said...

You aren't alone in your opinion. However, despite how big the mass is that opposes this bailout, it will still happen.

Uh...

Something is off.

I agree with sherry lee. Hopefully the government knows something we don't.

Maggie May said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Anonymous said...

It sounds very wrong to me. I just don't think is the right solution to a very serious problem.

Excellent point/post.

XXXXXXX

JR's Thumbprints said...

I'm a proud UAW member and support our autoworkers 100%. It's the banks that caused this whole mess and now that they've gotten their government bailout money they're being uncooperative. As for buying foreign cars, I have no problem with that; I don't think that's what caused the mess for the auto industry in the first place. Our auto companies sell a good product. I wish I could say that same thing for all those banks and their shitty investments, their "on paper" products.

PG said...

I feel conflicted about all of this. On the one hand, the jobs lost are/would be pretty devastating. On the other hand, if a company isn't operating well, why should tax payers bail them out? Let well-run companies succeed. It's the downward cycle effect on the economy that is scary.