stephanie
03-27-2009, 02:32 PM
msnbc.com news services
updated 2:08 p.m. CT, Fri., March. 27, 2009
WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama will announce a government plan to help ailing U.S. automakers Monday, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said.
"The president's autos task force is meeting today. I think they are winding down the decisions that have to be made and putting in place a plan that the president will announce on Monday," Gibbs said.
"The president, I think, will outline what he thinks is the best way forward to achieve viability for the companies in both the short term and the longer term."
Obama is expected to announce a new aid package for General Motors and Chrysler in the coming days and says the carmakers must make “pretty drastic changes” to save their industry.
Obama gave a preview of his administration’s approach to fixing the struggling U.S. auto industry during an online town hall meeting Thursday, promising additional aid only if the Detroit change its ways and receives concessions from stakeholders.
“We will provide them some help,” Obama said. “I know that it is not popular to provide help to auto workers — or to auto companies. But my job is to measure the costs of allowing these auto companies just to collapse versus us figuring out — can they come up with a viable plan?”
He added: “If they’re not willing to make the changes and the restructurings that are necessary, then I’m not willing to have taxpayer money chase after bad money.”
General Motors Corp. and Chrysler LLC have received $17.4 billion in federal loans since December and are seeking billions more to stay afloat. A task force created by Obama has been meeting with industry officials and studying restructuring plans submitted by the companies to put them on the path to long-term profitability through tough concessions.
“Everybody is going to have to give a little bit — shareholders, workers, creditors, suppliers, dealers — everybody is going to have to recognize that the current model, economic model, of the U.S. auto industry is unsustainable,” Obama said.
The president said he agreed with a questioner at the town hall — a Maryland woman with family members who work for GM and Ford Motor Co. — that “there’s been a lot of mismanagement of the auto industry over the last several years.”
Obama stressed that the industry must be preserved, not only symbolically but because of the large number of jobs connected to the companies and suppliers. Obama said his job was to protect U.S. taxpayers and he wouldn’t spend federal dollars on “a model that doesn’t work.”
“A lot of it’s going to depend on their willingness to make some pretty drastic changes. And some of those are still going to be painful,” he said.
read the rest..
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29892438/
updated 2:08 p.m. CT, Fri., March. 27, 2009
WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama will announce a government plan to help ailing U.S. automakers Monday, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said.
"The president's autos task force is meeting today. I think they are winding down the decisions that have to be made and putting in place a plan that the president will announce on Monday," Gibbs said.
"The president, I think, will outline what he thinks is the best way forward to achieve viability for the companies in both the short term and the longer term."
Obama is expected to announce a new aid package for General Motors and Chrysler in the coming days and says the carmakers must make “pretty drastic changes” to save their industry.
Obama gave a preview of his administration’s approach to fixing the struggling U.S. auto industry during an online town hall meeting Thursday, promising additional aid only if the Detroit change its ways and receives concessions from stakeholders.
“We will provide them some help,” Obama said. “I know that it is not popular to provide help to auto workers — or to auto companies. But my job is to measure the costs of allowing these auto companies just to collapse versus us figuring out — can they come up with a viable plan?”
He added: “If they’re not willing to make the changes and the restructurings that are necessary, then I’m not willing to have taxpayer money chase after bad money.”
General Motors Corp. and Chrysler LLC have received $17.4 billion in federal loans since December and are seeking billions more to stay afloat. A task force created by Obama has been meeting with industry officials and studying restructuring plans submitted by the companies to put them on the path to long-term profitability through tough concessions.
“Everybody is going to have to give a little bit — shareholders, workers, creditors, suppliers, dealers — everybody is going to have to recognize that the current model, economic model, of the U.S. auto industry is unsustainable,” Obama said.
The president said he agreed with a questioner at the town hall — a Maryland woman with family members who work for GM and Ford Motor Co. — that “there’s been a lot of mismanagement of the auto industry over the last several years.”
Obama stressed that the industry must be preserved, not only symbolically but because of the large number of jobs connected to the companies and suppliers. Obama said his job was to protect U.S. taxpayers and he wouldn’t spend federal dollars on “a model that doesn’t work.”
“A lot of it’s going to depend on their willingness to make some pretty drastic changes. And some of those are still going to be painful,” he said.
read the rest..
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29892438/