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“As for our auto industry, everyone recognizes that years of bad decision-making and a global recession have pushed our automakers to the brink. We should not, and will not, protect them from their own bad practices.
“But we are committed to the goal of a re-tooled, re-imagined auto industry that can compete and win. Millions of jobs depend on it. Scores of communities depend on it. And I believe the nation that invented the automobile cannot walk away from it.”
38 Comments on “Bailout Watch 418: Barack Obama Tells Germany Not To Abandon Their Auto Industry...”
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This guy is one smooth talker. He could get me out the door in a Volvo … even though this is my Saab Infatuation Month.
Saab? Save your money and get a Saturn. Its the same car.
“And I believe the nation that invented the automobile cannot walk away from it.”
I don’t think the Germans are going to help us on this one…
(or the French, if your definition of automobile extends that far)
Agreed, allythom.
“And I believe the nation that invented the automobile cannot walk away from it.”
Barry’s first visit to Berlin should be rather interesting…
“the nation that invented the automobile”…
So we are going to help Germany?
Perhaps he should have qualified the statement with
“the nation that invented the mass-produced automobile industry“
In order for all of us to live in peace, why don’t we just create one state (Arizona?, Utah?) where there are only union employees. There they can have factories, produce cars.. whatever they want. Have the most ridiculous benefits, have job banks,.. they also can be upper management, engineers (of course without studying hard in school)… they can have union elections, the union secretary can be governor, whatever they wish. They just have to live off what they earned by selling those cars.
All the people who go to school and want to work hard live in all the other states. There is free trade between them, but no transfer of tax money of any kind. Then everybody will be happy and is responsible for their own actions. No one needs to hate (or subsidize) the other group.
Oh, wait we used to have that already. It was called East and West Germany, or North and South Korea…
Edit: Daimler and Maybach were Americans????
“And I believe the nation that invented the automobile cannot walk away from it.”
Barry’s first visit to Berlin should be rather interesting…
Uh-oh. He better not come to Stuttgart. So who’s complaining about intellectual property infringement?
So if they didn’t invent it, can they walk away?
At least he didn’t preempt Lost, although I’m sure it’s coming next week or the week after that.
“But we are committed to the goal of a re-tooled, re-imagined auto industry that can compete and win.”
That sounds a lot like it would involve Chapter 11 reorganization.
So is he basically saying that GM and Chrysler won’t be allowed to fail as long as they start building a government approved vehicle lineup?
Maybe he meant the US started the mass production of the automobile. That would be a true statement.
That’s so funny, I didn’t get it. I thought he actually was referring to Germany. There was some bs flag-waving commercial a couple of years ago, I forget what for, that implied the same thing.
mtypex :
February 24th, 2009 at 9:49 pm
This guy is one smooth talker. He could get me out the door in a Volvo … even though this is my Saab Infatuation Month.
President Obama is much smoother than Bill Clinton.
I always felt like Clinton was trying to sell me a timeshare in the Ozarks.
“the nation that invented the automobile” – ah, yes.
Obama was the guy that said the U.S. had 57 states, too.
But, seriously, since when have these Obama liberals decided cars are such a good thing. They’ve spent decades trying to force us into mass transit.
Did this come about because all of a sudden there’s no way to pay the UAW its pensions and benefits?
After all, we never were going to “walk away” from the domestic auto industry. We were just going to drive away from it in Toyotas built by Americans who don’t belong to the UAW.
kaleun
let’s also have a state where only industrialists rule. Kids don’t need school since it would keep them from working in the factories. Pollution is not regulated, except by the free market since that is the most efficient regulator. No need for fancy safety devices since that just slows production.
Why was BO telling the US Congress what Germany should do?
Come to think of it, Obama did say he visited something like 57 states. This could explain the extra seven states. The state of Germany, etc.
Picky picky…
He made a common mistake. Germany indeed invented the automobile, but it was an American who made it an object for the everyman and not a plaything for the rich (Ford). Henry Ford is more correctly called “the man who put the world on wheels”, but obviously he didn’t invent the automobile … just the means of making them in volume.
Oddly enough, in his time Henry did what in modern times other countries have often done with US inventions and put them into real mass production.
Back to what he said …
What did he really say?
The auto industry will not be protected, but the jobs will?
Well, we’re basically German:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/45/Census-2000-Data-Top-US-Ancestries-by-County.jpg/800px-Census-2000-Data-Top-US-Ancestries-by-County.jpg
I think he means Ford, too. In that case there is additional irony.
In the midst of the Great Depression, Henry Ford stated, “Let them fail; let everybody fail! I made my fortune when I had nothing to start with, by myself and my own ideas. Let other people do the same thing. If I lose everything in the collapse of our financial structure, I will start in at the beginning and build it up again.”
Henry Ford never claimed to have invented the automobile. In fact, Ford fought a lengthy battle against the Selden patent, obtained by one George Selden who claimed that he had invented the automobile.
Ford claimed that the Selden patent was invalid and that no one had a valid US patent on automobiles. The history of Ford, the Selden patent, and the battles and machinations fought by the various owners of the Selden patent is one of the more interesting patent histories.
Obama did not only get patent history wrong. We are not talking about killing off the car industry here. We are talking about continuing to pour money into two failed companies who are wallowing in debt and burn through money as fast as it is put into them.
A hundred years of history in countries around the world tells us that government industrial policy can do nothing to help rebuild an industry like this. Economically it makes no sense to prop up the weak to compete with the strong. It only makes sense politically.
The shame of it is that politicians who try gain a short-term benefit at the expense of greater long-term harm. Shame on Obama (and Bush before him) for not showing the leadership to build a better future by enduring the political pain now.
No wonder Toyota had a shake-up at the top, if their numbers are this bad, then help us all. (Keeping Daihatsu and Hino out of it).
Worldwide production down 42.6% in January. Exports from Japan of passenger cars, down 58.2%.
Sales in Japan, passenger cars, down 23.8%
And production in Japan tanking at -40,3%
And to provide a bitter coating – Lexus sales in Japan down by 57.7%, though Lexus doesn’t move that many units (1,270 in January).
It’s not a recession, anymore.
(And here is Snopes on those 57 states. Worth reading).
http://www.snopes.com/politics/obama/57states.asp
I hope TTAC holds all politicians and posters to the standard of this nit picky post.
I think Chapter 11 is in the works. In terms of protecting American interests, the pseudo-conservative amongst us will always have George W Bush.
Factually wrong, but it did fit with the “gung ho” nature of the speech.
Stein: Thanks for the Snopes link. I often answer goofy e-mails with a Snopes reference.
Saab? Save your money and get a Saturn. Its the same car.
For the record:
Saturn = Opel
hummmm. i did notice it when i read it in the paper this morning, but chose not to pick on it, because it fit in the speech and you can well argue that Ford did invent the concept of the car for everyone. While Germans first thought of it as a luxury item.
in any case, Ford is the only American manufacturer that still hasn’t needed Obama’s deep pockets, and Mercedes well i have a feeling if they cut a bit of that alphabet they have running there, they should be in the clear of any Teutonic spending.
It was a slip made by thousands of Americans. I hear it every so often on TV by people who should check their facts. Ford brought the assembly line to auto buidling. His interchangeable parts and moving the product down a long line were Ford’s or at least his Lieutenant’s ideas. This allowed cheaper cars available to the masses and yes goes right up there in importance with actually inventing the gasoline automobile done by Karl Benz. So as not to get too much hubris, it was Ford who stumbled first in the 1920’s by refusing to change his moded T that caused GM to take the lead and stay there for 80 some years. I don’t have to tell you what GM did with their lead….
If Bush would have said this he would have been ridiculed before the speech was even over. Yet Obama is a genius, and the MSM either didn’t notice or is ignoring it. Sure there is no media bias…
Basically he said that GM and Chrysler won’t be allowed to fail as long as they start building a Pelosi. Being forced to look at that fluff mug in the background for an hour was like running fingernails over a blackboard.
By the way, a “Pelosi” is the new definition for anything which destroys enjoyment. Pass it on…
I am sure Dieter Zetsche will be happy to give him a tour of the Mercedes-Benz Museum in Sindelfingen when Obama visits Germany.
Opel-Vauxhall-Holden-Saturn-Saab-Shanghai (GM China)-Daewoo should all be the same. GM World Cars. They could cut loose North America and go!
jerry weber: His interchangeable parts and moving the product down a long line were Ford’s or at least his Lieutenant’s ideas.
It was the Lelands, working for Cadillac, who perfected the concept of interchangeable parts. Cadillac won its first Dewar Trophy for this (the second trophy was for inventing the self starter, which also first appeared on a Cadillac).
I knew I wasn’t the only one that caught that flub.
I caught that error as well, but yes, we’re really picking nits here.
cleek: I always felt like Clinton was trying to sell me a timeshare in the Ozarks.
EXACTLY! I could never listen to Clinton for that reason. He was a cheap salesman trying to sell me something while I needed to be somewhere else. And then there is the whole question of honesty and honor… “I did NOT have a relationship with…” and the classic “What IS the definition of IS?”
I would have respected the man much more had he just been honest. And of course I recognize the Republicans were on a witch-hunt.
I couldn’t listen to Bush either. Plant the seeds of fear of WMD so they can march into Iraq and set up camp. Fear your international neighbors. Foothold in the Middle East with a puppet gov’t under their thumb. The Iraqi gov’t tries to look legitimate and substantial…
I can listen to Obama. The man can talk. He can sell. The problem is I had pretty high hopes for his presidency and increasingly he just looks to me like the front man for all the stereotypical Democrat agendas. Not necessarily leading by careful consideration and wisdom but the same old same old Democrat agenda with a shiny exterior. I hope he proves me wrong…
Just like Detroit we need federal leadership that will make TOUGH choices like never before. Yet when Congress hands out the money we have all of these unnecessary projects with big price tags tacked on. Maybe Obama’s leadership is getting diluted by the DC political machine.
“We are committed to reorganizing the American auto industry.”
There are SO many things the federal gov’t could do to change the game. They could use immiment domain against Chevron concerning the NiMH batteries which are capable of pushing a CUV 100 miles per charge and lasting beyond 150K miles. It’s the perfect battery for the next decade until the Lithium battery is perfected. It works TODAY. VERY recyclable unlike Lithium. Doesn’t age as badly as Lithium. Robust enough to power EVs based on existing CUV or compact car designs.
They could realign the European and American safety standards so that the car industry formerly known as the big three could bring over more fuel efficient vehicles easier (if it is certified in the EU then it is certified here too). Vouchers for vehicle discounts for American citizens (of course we KNOW the dealers would instantly jack up prices -greed- to erode the buying power of these coupons.) Sure I know that at $1.80 fuel efficiency isn’t priority number one but if we have another summer driving season price hike thanks to the speculators Detroit would be better positioned.
How about addressing our country’s ailments AND THEN “changing us for the better” with Liberal social programs??? I worry they are setting up a bunch of things that will require tax dollars to keep rolling year after year.
Can you imagine the Federal gov’t stopping the Social Security program cold? Nope won’t happen. Medicaid and Medicare? Not hardly. Public schools? Riiight… Never going away. If the Federal gov’t sets up nationalized health care then we won’t be able to get rid of that either whether we can afford it or not. From where I sit it looks like future tax rates in America will be sharply higher to pay for these programs and pay down the national debt. Don’t know about you but my quality of life won’t increase with additional federal programs that come with additional federal taxes to support them. How about federal insurance programs – programs that set fixed insurance rates for healthcare to combat ever increasing healthcare insurance rates? Are they increasing because somebody is being greedy or is there some valid underlying cause???
Not only does Detroit needs a sharp turn around, our federal gov’t might need one too. I doesn’t look like (I fear) this president is going to be any different than the last one. Spend, spend, spend…