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Obama reaffirms commitment to auto industry aid

 
3 1,687 views Nov 7, 2008
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The affirmation comes as GM and Ford announce huge losses and plans to cut staff and production

The affirmation comes as GM and Ford announce huge losses and plans to cut staff and production

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During his campaign for U.S. President, Barack Obama repeatedly declared his support for the auto industry and indicated he would support it against the tide of the economic downturn. Today President-Elect Obama reaffirmed that commitment with a speech on the economy delivered in Chicago, noting that the depth of the industry, which includes suppliers, small businesses and whole communities, requires action to help preserve it.

Obama said his Transition Economic Advisory Board would help keep the nascent Obama administration informed as the Bush Administration winds down its residency in Washington. Through the board, Obama is working on policy options to help the auto industry 'adjust', as he puts it, to the current financial crisis and the changing face of consumer demand for oil and attendant government regulations like the CAFE standards.

The support for the auto industry will be taken through existing law where appropriate, and new law may be drafted or proposed should the need arise. The auto industry forms the core of the second prong of Obama's three-pronged plan for the economy, the first being a plan to help worker losing their jobs, and the third being to stabilize the financial markets - both of which will indirectly aid the auto industry and its workers as well, should they prove successful.

Nevertheless, as Obama carefully pointed out in his speech today, "The United States has only one government and one President, and until January 20th of next year, that government is the current Administration," meaning there can be no help for Detroit without action on the part of the current Congress and the Bush Administration. That matter may yet be an uphill struggle, but discussions are already underway.



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Comments (3)

  1. ma_NoNameDenton avatar NoNameDenton Posted: 11/7/2008 1:51pm PST

    Tax payers should not have to pay to help prop up businesses that can not survive on their own, the business world is very Darwinian and the weak companies should die.
     
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  2. ma_Edward avatar Edward Posted: 11/8/2008 7:49am PST

    Yes, the business world is very darwinian. But since the U.S. economy is so consumer dependant, letting the Big 3 automakers die will take a lot of cash out of circulation pushing the economy even lower.
     
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  3. ma_SuperSkyline89 avatar SuperSkyline89 Posted: 11/8/2008 12:27pm PST

    Ya it might push the economy even lower, but who said that aid packages will change anything? Politicians can talk all they want, but where's the proof that this will help? There's one reason this is happening, no one wants the cars the Big 3 make. The Big 3 have too many dealerships and assembly plants and shit low demand. They need to stop making giant behemoths and close factories until the supply is in line with demand. Every politician is obsessed with stopping these job cuts, they're to damn scared to admit that those cuts are the only way that the Big 3 can survive. If they really want to combat these job losses, then give foreign makers a reason to set up shop and hire the workers that the Big 3 are getting rid of.
     
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