Bail-out mania moves north of the border

Originally, I don’t think that Stephen Harper was going to use Canadian taxpayer money for a bailout until the three stooges complained about it. If you heard Jack Layton, Gilles Duceppe and Stephane Dion, the three stooges of coup scam, that was one of their complaints about Harper and the Conservatives and one of the reasons for their plot to topple Canada’s newly-elected government. Sure, I think it’s unfortunate that Harper followed George Bush’s lead on bailing out, but I also believe he was pressured into it by the opposition, and had it been the liberals or the NDP (or both had the coup succeeded) handing out money, the amount of Canadian taxpayer money divied out would have been much higher than the $3.3 billion Harper agreed to. Boy, this world is changing fast. Just like 911 changed our world forever. I believe this world financial crisis has done the same. Our world is changing fast. We are entering into a new era.

It’s a problem. Look at your meat case-do you like the label on your beef that says “product of United States, Mexico, and Canada”?
Trust me. Canada & Mexico don’t follow the same safety laws, use of drugs, pesticides etc in producing your meat as we American producers do.
Canada=two-faced.

The salient point is that the demand for cars is the same whether GM exists or not. If the Big 3 were not in existence, the demand that they are currently filling would simply be transferred to the other brands, all of whom operate plants in the US and Canada, and would need to expand operations to handle the greater demand.

As I just pointed out, if the Big 3 collapse, Toyota, Honda and the other transplant operations would be hard pressed to maintain current production levels, let alone satisfy the demand of even today’s withered 10 million unit domestic auto market. Add the fact that a Big 3 collapse would dump a 4-6 month supply of distressed merchandise – dealers will sell their inventory for pennies on the dollar just to get some cash, and then there’s the 4 month supply in GM, Ford & Chrysler storage lots. Toyota and Honda won’t sell many cars while the market absorbs those cars sold at fire sale prices.

But what do I know? I just get paid to write about cars and the auto industry.

has nothing to do with economics

… how much more American industry would you like to see decimated here at home and owned over seas?

In this insane bailout environment, I’m looking for one of the larger automakers outside the US, perhaps Toyota, to bring a case before WTO against GM and Chrysler on the same basis.

That’s because you’re an ignoramus about the global auto industry. Toyota and Honda (both of which are now operating in the red) have both come out in favor of US gov’t assistance to the domestic automakers. If GM collapses, taking many of its suppliers down with it, Toyota and Honda, which share about 50% of the suppliers to their US assembly operations with the domestic auto companies, will not be able to avoid disruption of their production. Since the yen is so expensive, importing cars from Japan is no solution.

Of course you’re ignoring the enormous help that Toyota and Nissan have gotten over the years from Japan’s Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI). Honda has gotten less aid, but that’s because MITI wanted Honda to make motorcycles, not cars. Honda’s major auto market is the US. As a matter of fact, Honda’s CEO has threatened to close their Japanese plants, move their HQ out of Japan and import cars to satisfy their Japanese market, where they are an also ran next to Toyota and Nissan.

This bailout has nothing to do with economics and everything to do with politics.

A collapse of the Detroit Three automakers would put nearly 600,000 Canadians out of work within five years, most of them in Ontario, according to a recent report by provincial advisory panel.

Well first off Ford is not in any danger of collapse, so right off the bat we’re down to 400K lost jobs.

Of those 400K, you are assuming that every single person who works in the auto industry would be unemployed. Which is ridiculous. Those 400K include among others mechanics and employees at parts suppliers.

Mechanics will be fine since they work on used cars not build new cars.

And parts suppliers would simply supply the likes of Ford or Honda or Toyota who would quickly ramp up production to make up for the lost GM/Chrysler production.

But it’s easier to not think at thing gee 600K jobs lost? Man we better send GM and Chrysler some money ASAP!

Queen Elizabeth II is the Head of State. Old Country Boy, you are wiser than the wise_man here.

(metafor warning)
I don’t think there will be any WTO repercussions for the bailouts. Everybody is doing them. All the WTO members have the violent organizers outside their front doors. Nothing concentrates the liberal marxist mind then the impending blame for something they did. They will do anything, pay any amount of somebody elses money, to evade the blame. The interesting ingredient to this mix is the conjoining of the superaffluent wall street oligarcs with the violent organized masses. Say, isn’t this what happened at the beginning of the French revolution and during the of the major totalitarian government of our era? I wonder what will happen when those rich wall street dudes find they can’t control the organized masses.

Of course, it won’t, anymore than the billions the Americans are giving to Detroit will convince Americans, especially those without jobs, to buy Detroit cars. It’s a political move in both countries, without any economic rationale….

In this insane bailout environment, I’m looking for one of the larger automakers outside the US, perhaps Toyota, to bring a case before WTO against GM and Chrysler on the same basis.

One bit I didn’t get from articles on the Canuck bailout, however: will the Canadian federal govt and Ontario govt have to issue new debt to cover the cost of this bailout?

If so, the capital investment markets are gonna shrink worse than that episode of Seinfeld where Costanza got out of swimming in cold water in front of Elaine…

/SIGH

A collapse of the Detroit Three automakers would put nearly 600,000 Canadians out of work within five years, most of them in Ontario, according to a recent report by provincial advisory panel.

Seriously.

wise_man on December 21, 2008 at 12:49 PM

Yeah, remember that Canada has about 1/10th the population of the US. That would be equivalent to a loss of 6 million jobs in the US, and we already have significantly higher unemployment.

I am very happy that Canada is doing their part. I drive a Canadian made truck with the “Oklahoma options”. My #2 son often makes the oilpatch run from Tulsa to Calgary and Edmonton. Western Canada’s future and that of fly-over country U.S. are very closely dependent.

Ontario has enough already. They didn’t need this to begin with but they whined and cried enough like a spoiled child to get it. No more.

That was true 20 years ago, but today the right in the US is also merely an arm of the left.

A PM is not the same thing as a president by another name. In Canada there is a parliamentary system, very different than in the US. It’s not just semantics.

old enough not to give a sh*t that the canadians call their president a prime minister

You sound like some 15 year-old. Do your parents know you are talking to adults on the internet?

How old are you?