Essay on The Senate's Bailout of Automakers

The government stepped in and bailed out the banks for making poor decision and providing home loans to individuals who could not afford those loans. The government also bailed out large vehicle business like Ford and Chrysler that would not change their business modern to keep up with foreign vehicle companies that could produce low efficiency vehicle at a lower price. America had outsourced most of the manufacturing jobs and we no longer had the ability to fully employ our own workforce. Businesses could operate in foreign counties and make a profit. The hard-working American workers were pushed aside, because the company could make more profit by operating overseas and utilizing foreign

many production lines fail around the country, furthering the depression. "Manufacturing fell byhalf, with the production of automobiles dropping 75 percent" (Byas). It was so bad that only

On December 18th 2014 the auto industry bailout ordeal came to a close when the US Treasury Department sold the last of its stock in General Motors, for 19 billion dollars, in the end recouping about 39 billion out of 50.1 billion that was pumped into the Big Three automakers at the tail end of 2008 by the Bush and Obama administrations (Muller). The big question that comes up in the end of this ordeal by many people on both sides of the party line is that, was all this worth it? What would have happened if we didn’t bail out the automotive industry?

So this also caused an immense hit to the American automotive industry. Although the The oil embargo was lifted in March 1974, although oil fees remained high.

In 2007, the U.S. economy experienced one of the greatest downturns since the Depression era, and furthered by the collapse on a global scale. The bubble burst on the housing market and the house of cards called the mortgage industry tumbled down, no longer able to sustain charade of success. This caused the collapse of some of the largest financial institutions, once thought to be immortal. This rippled into a massive tightening of the belts of many companies, as they found themselves without lines of credit, lack of business, and the daisy-chain collapse of their support networks. Who paid the final price? Companies cut costs through pay cuts, layoffs, and closings. While this may have saved jobs for many, the feeling of loss and

The Federal Reserve made emergency loans to the big companies in order to prevent large banks from failing when their investors frightened. With the stock market crashing, on October 3, 2008, President George Bush signed the Troubled Asset Relief Program into law. TARP used 250 billion dollars of federal money to “bail out” the banks, and later automakers including General Electric. Government-working accountants reviewed large Wall Street banks’ balance sheets and disclosed to the public which were sound in order to instill more confidence within investors.

An article published by the New York Times details Obama’s bailout. According to the article, the bailout was mainly focused towards the auto companies General Motors, and Chrysler. Evidently, this costly bailout was in vain. For example, cars such as the Focus and C-Max Hybrid were being sold at such a low rate that factories producing these vehicles were shut down for over three weeks. Also, due to low gas prices, automobile companies will have a harder time selling fuel efficient cars. This bailout is a great example of why the market should be allowed to regulate itself based on consumer demand. Libertarian economic policies are constructed with this value in

The government decided to take an equity stake at GM and thus was facing the possibility that a substantial amount of these funds would never be repaid. The government has already written off or realized losses of over $7 billion as of April 2012[2]. More losses will come as the government sells its remaining stake in GM and Ally Financial. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that the auto bailout will ultimately cost taxpayers a total of about $20 billion[3]. The Treasury Department is even more pessimistic, projecting that, at GM’s current stock price, taxpayers will lose $23 billion[4].

Under the Bush Administration, General Motors and Chrysler auto companies were stuck in a situation that had 2 options; get a loan, or file for bankruptcy and lose 3 million employees. Due to the carelessness of General Motors CEO’s and the failure to create a viable business plan were the reason why they must make this choice that could affect millions of people worldwide. General Motors and Chrysler went to President Bush to look for a loan where Bush then went to the Troubled Asset Relief Program, (TARP) to lend General Motors 9.4 billion and $4 billion to Chrysler. The loan of $13.4 billion (Ikenson) lasted long enough for General Motors and Chrysler to get the next future president convinced that they were worth funding. Although he admitted there was not a viable business plan, President Obama was convinced through the fear of traditional bankruptcy and he decided to help fund General Motors and Chrysler. The Obama Administration decided to have the taxpayers pay for 60% of General Motors and 10% of Chrysler. Obama told a group of General Motor workers, “Your survival and success of our economy depended on making sure that we got the U.S. auto industry back on its feet.” (Ikenson) The greatest concern of the auto bailout is the consequence that could affect people worldwide - “the undermining of the rule of law, the property confiscations, the politically driven decisions and the distortion of market signals” (Ikenson)

The financial crisis that put our economy on a downhill rocky road is known as the Great Recession of 2008. The U.S. Governments resolution to one the biggest panics was revolved around multiple bailout and fiscal measures. The fight to pull our weakening economy out of a dark hole left the American people with hope of advancing what gets thrown their way. The many bailout programs implemented by the U.S. Government can only hold the economy together for so long until were up to our knees in debt.

In conclusion, the long-lasting results of the 2008 recession could have been far more severe. While in the moment it seemed as though the world was coming to an end as banks were and companies were folding by the week. In desperate times our government made the extremely unpopular call to bailout large banks and automobile companies through fiscal stimulus. Instead of bailing out hard working Americans. While extremely unpopular it is hard to deny the positive effects that have come from their decision. If money was not invested back into the banks the private sector would have fallen apart through time. Passing the Troubled Asset Relief Program kept the banks and automakers afloat. Through a $431 Billion stimulus package which the majority

The bailout was a slap on the wrist for the major banking companies; they were not punished for their risky investments. The amount they were forced to pay in fines was merely nothing compared to the amount of money their bank makes per year. As said by William Cohan who worked on Wall Street for seventeen years as a mergers and acquisitions

In the latter part of 2008, the United States’ economy was rapidly plummeting - the stock market crashed, the housing bubble burst and gas prices skyrocketed. The majority of U.S. based firms faced the reality that they would not be able to survive during such desperate economic times. The U.S. automobile industry, in particular, began to buckle under the depressed economy. The government stepped in proposing a multi-billion dollar bailout to stimulate the economy and restore economic balance. The possibility of this unprecedented government intervention was condemned by many economists. If the government helped the ailing automotive industry, this industry would have to tighten their expenditures and plan for the future to prove to

A London-based Wall Street Journal reporter, Charles Forelle warned the enthusiasm over investing will change dramatically if the shutdown continues, and especially if the U.S. government defaults on its debt. European markets are currently the most susceptible, and any delay in the stabilizing the US market will delay economic recovery there as well (Krugman, 1999). According to a senior International Monetary Fund official, in case of a U.S. debt default the entire global economy will be negatively affected, Stock markets crashes in many countries is a distinct possibility which will add to the problems of the recession that most of the world is currently undergoing. More damaging could be the failure to raise the debt ceiling which could cause a default in most economies is increasing ambiguity to a still shaky global economy.

The 2008 financial crisis was a difficult time for all participants of the automobile industry. Jackson Automotive System’s reluctance to carry debt coupled with a strong working capital position and a conservative financial policy helped bring the company through the financial crisis. After the